Flower – AIAS Casual Game of the Year

[Icemage]

Originally Posted by Iceman_II

Am I the only one who does not like the last level before you enter the city, it's just so... depressing... and thats without getting scorched every time I turn around. All that rain, gloom, garbage, and the general industrial wasteland.

Getting zapped just adds insult to the depression!

I'm pretty sure the depressing mood is intentional. Even when you finish the stage and fully bloom that purple flower, it never really perks up.

I remember in an interview a while back Jenova Chen (one of the founders of thatgamecompany) was talking about how they wanted to incorporate emotions into their games. If you're depressed by that level, it sounds like they succeeded.

[dereksworl]

I found this pretty funny. 360 can't even render grass good enough

PS3 Flower's grass impossible on other systems
Monday, 16 Mar 2009 15:35

Flower ThatGameCompany describes their dependence on the PlayStation 3's SPU processors in rendering Flower's multitude of grass blades.

I was incredibly impressed by the graphics of ThatGameCompany's Flower when I reviewed the game in February. There are thousands of grass blades that all interact with you (the wind) during gameplay.

In an interview with Kellee Santiago, co-founder and president of ThatGameCompany, we spoke on the technology and techniques used in rendering the PlayStation Network game. After complementing the game's graphics, I asked how the developer used the PlayStation 3 in ways they couldn't with their first game flOw:

"We learned so much on flOw, especially about SPUs! The grass system really leverages the PS3 to render 200,000 blades of grass simultaneously, and gives the player this sense of blowing wind through them," said Kellee.

When asking for more detail on intensively using the Cell's SPUs, she responded:

"An artist friend of ours came to us, really hoping that we could tell him some clever trick that we used to make it look like we had so many blades of grass. He was reluctant to believe that really John Edwards just made it happen on the SPUs.

"It really would be impossible to make it look the same on any other system. But, it's one of the pros with knowing your game is exclusive to a specific system - you can really design everything towards that one platform."

The full ThatGameCompany interview will be posted soon, and will cover everything from the inspirations behind the game, whether the company might branch out into full retail games and how many flowers are actually in Flower.

Clicky

[jamclaur]

I LOVE this game... except for the pure trophy and level. It just feels like it destroys the flow of the game...

[cajmoyper]

That's definitely my least favorite level and was glad I got the Pure trophy when I did so I could be done with it. As far as that article, I love reading how much the xbox sucks. Oh, and the wii.

[robinandtami]

I bought it.... I was expecting something truly spectacular and unique based upon all of the reviews.... but I found it to be rather meh and boring after a couple of levels. The concept itself is not really new.... just following a path and picking up all the objects you can on the way. I was also expecting really spectacular and colorful graphics, but they were pretty meh as well.

[Simplayer]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

I bought it.... I was expecting something truly spectacular and unique based upon all of the reviews.... but I found it to be rather meh and boring after a couple of levels. The concept itself is not really new.... just following a path and picking up all the objects you can on the way. I was also expecting really spectacular and colorful graphics, but they were pretty meh as well.

Well aren't you a Debbie Downer.

[robinandtami]

Originally Posted by Simplayer

Well aren't you a Debbie Downer.

No.... just expected a lot more than I got because of all the pre release hype. Honestly though.... if I'd never heard anything of it and just saw it and played a demo... I doubt I would have bought it.

[jamclaur]

Originally Posted by robinandtami

No.... just expected a lot more than I got because of all the pre release hype. Honestly though.... if I'd never heard anything of it and just saw it and played a demo... I doubt I would have bought it.

I thought the colors were good, but could have been better. But seeing ALL those blades of grass move because I made them move was awesome.

[Seeking_Alpha]

Originally Posted by caliblue15

I got ever flower on every level, played level 3 - 3 times, played level 6 - 5 times.

Oh jeez maybe i'll aim for that final trophy some other time. I am actually sick of playing the game lol

[caliblue15]

Originally Posted by Seeking_Alpha

Oh jeez maybe i'll aim for that final trophy some other time. I am actually sick of playing the game lol

it wasn't that bad.. lol.. the final level can be finished in like 2 mins..

[owa]

Not sure this link really goes in this particular thread but I wasn't sure where else to put it. Anyway, CNN has an article on the developer of the game Flower (specifically mentions the PC game Cloud, and the PS3 games flOW and Flower):

http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/23/s...edx/index.html

[Spiderbri]

any strategies for getting the Pure Trophy? I get the idea, don't get shocked, which is easy in the first 2 stages, but the third with all that falling debris is tough. And to be honest I don't want to play the level 15 times just to get the trophy based on luck. How does it work, does it only shock you if the core petal hits something or does it shock you when any of the petals touch metal?

Can you get rid of petals? Should I fly high during that stage or really low to see them coming? what has worked for all of you? Thanks a lot for your ideas and wisdom.

[Shin-Ra]

Originally Posted by Spiderbri

any strategies for getting the Pure Trophy? I get the idea, don't get shocked, which is easy in the first 2 stages, but the third with all that falling debris is tough. And to be honest I don't want to play the level 15 times just to get the trophy based on luck. How does it work, does it only shock you if the core petal hits something or does it shock you when any of the petals touch metal?

Can you get rid of petals? Should I fly high during that stage or really low to see them coming? what has worked for all of you? Thanks a lot for your ideas and wisdom.

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Pure you either need to collect as many petals as possible so you fly more quickly and trace the flower pattern on the ground during the final falling/rising danger sequence or collect as little as possible and scrape along the walls but even that takes some skill and patience.

I personally scraped along the left side.

Flower Patch
Posted by Kellee on April 15th, 2009

Since some of you have been asking through our forums, I thought I would post an update on the blog, too.

You might have noticed, if you played Flower this week, that there is an update you will be asked to download. This patch is a fix to some of the audio issues that players have been having. If you were having audio problems with Flower before and have downloaded the patch, we’d love to hear your experience in the comments here or on our forums. Thanks!

[Shin-Ra]

Two-part video dev commentary/Q&A on IGN

Part 1's more about about the concept and part 2 the technology.

Flower's also the top PSN full game download, second month running.

[Simplayer]

Originally Posted by Shin-Ra

Two-part video dev commentary/Q&A on IGN

Part 1's more about about the concept and part 2 the technology.

Flower's also the top PSN full game download, second month running.

That's pretty neat. I need to go back to this game, to atleast finish my trophies anyways.

[mikejet]

Finished Flower last night. Kind of still soaking it all in. Great game.

BTW, how come two of the stages I completed have fallen leaves in the pot?

[ryry]

Originally Posted by mikejet

Finished Flower last night. Kind of still soaking it all in. Great game.

BTW, how come two of the stages I completed have fallen leaves in the pot?

each leaf represents a 'hidden flower'. there are 3 hidden flowers for each level.

[mikejet]

Originally Posted by ryry

each leaf represents a 'hidden flower'. there are 3 hidden flowers for each level.

So I've got a lot of work to do then!

[ryry]

Originally Posted by mikejet

So I've got a lot of work to do then!

well, if you consider floating around in the breeze "work", then yeah!

[hardcore_canadian]

I saw this ad today. It reminded me of this game...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O65HMPsnlXs

It's for a perfume from Gucci, which incase Anybody's wondering... is Great. And a Cool ad, love me Some Donna Summer