So what's up with Flower?

by Nick Doerr { Nov 29th 2007 at 12:15AM }

Ever since we first got wind of Thatgamecompany's next project, Flower, we've wondered what the game actually was. With flOw, we learned that there's more to gaming than explosions and storylines, and with this game, we figured there was some sort of similar cathartic mechanism in the works. The first "details" of the game have been released and all we can say is there's certainly a lot of emotion to go around, but we've still no idea what to expect.

You raise flowers in a field, but the game aims to make you "experience a field in a way you couldn't in real life," according to Thatgamecompany's Kellee Santiago. During the game's development cycle, the team constantly wondered what the emotion interaction would be with the field if you played as the wind, or the sun, or the "emotional impact of flying petals around" as well as the emotions felt when growing a flower.

The game originally had you controlling petals in the wind in an early prototype, but it's unclear whether or not that's still part of the game. Initially, there were even magical elements and special abilities in the game, but those were removed since they got in the way of your emotions. No matter what Flower ends up being, we know it's going to be an experience that will be difficult to explain to friends, but once we give them the controller, they'll understand. Maybe they'll shed a tear. Or not.

Tags: flower, thatgamecompany

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Beseiged @ Nov 29th 2007 11:42AM

If you check the japanese store you will see a video of flower.

jango fett @ Nov 29th 2007 12:43PM

glad to see developers are getting smarter and more origina. if only this happened with music ameerica would be a much better place.

Dru @ Nov 29th 2007 2:07PM

flOw was cool. Here's hoping Flower will be as well.

Nacho @ Nov 29th 2007 4:23PM

What is this game again?

Kodiak @ Nov 29th 2007 9:24PM

Hey blog people, make sure you get your games right. The art you used in this article is from an indie game called "Clouds."

James @ Nov 30th 2007 1:03PM

I'm 99% sure that Fl0w and Cloud (singular, I think) are from the same guy (Jenova Chen). I think Cloud was first. It's pretty interesting, though the camera could be a bit of a pain (scale issues). You're a boy dreaming that he can fly. You fly up against clouds to collect them, then you're tasked with releasing them into patterns, making a big cloud that looks like a car or a lollipop. It is pretty relaxing, but I liked Fl0w loads better.