===Thick air=== * Absorb/disperse * Porous boundaries ===Game progress=== * Start with a normal human view * Then perceive with a plant's eye view * Get more abstract as game goes on (toward '[[plant perception]]') ===Game mechanic actions=== * Use the plant guild list * Raise water * Store nitrogen * etc Open L systems - capable of modeling multiple plants and the interactions between them at the same time. ===Work plan=== * Release early * Lots of iterations, based on player feedback * Test multiplayer asap, see what people (test on us first) want to do ===Game time=== * Day/Night - different plants * Link to real world sunset and sunrise * Means people will want to play at different times to see what it's like Link to local weather conditions for similar reasons ===Ownership=== Increasing people's attention span by creating a sense of ownership * Plant graffiti * Plants emailing/messaging you after you have created them ===Gameplay duration=== * Shouldn't be overly worrying about creating a game with a long gameplay duration * 5 minute games are often more interesting than games that take months to complete * Means less of a focus on goal directed play ===2 types of gameplay=== * Resource management - sole player, 'build your plant' * Multiplayer - connections with other players, and the environment Sense of environment slowly changes into plant sensed - air thickens ===Communication=== Pheromones - represented by colour, transport abilities such as: * Flowering amount * Sounds Broadcast via * Wind * Insects Decision to concentrate on communication, multiplayer without resource management. Start game with a random plant. ===Plant googles=== "Glasses" with which to see different views/properties. * Choice/selection of different views * Your choice influences the type of plant you become ===Setting=== * Urban - cracks and forgotten places in the city * Plant view of the city ===Cacti on trollies=== * Keeping a sense of the unpredictable/non-sequitur * Need to make it easy to create lots of elements - low overhead means more experimentation and fun! ===Looking at games=== ==Flower== [[http://thatgamecompany.com/games/flower/]] * Backstory is about conflict, all be it a flowery one * Sound is important * Nice grass ==PixelJunk: Eden== [[http://pixeljunk.jp/]] * 2D = good * Nice animation * Techno plants ==Flow== [[http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/]] * Lack of rules * Simple growth * Complexity in textures rather than geometry ==Nobi Nobi Boy== [[http://o--o.jp/]] * Good example of game design by setting up a world and then throwing lots of stuff into it
Noby Noby Boy is an important step forward for videogames as a whole. It puts a dollar value on an experience more akin to a box of LEGO than a true gaming experience. It's a decidedly risky move – providing a plaything that has ultimately very little payoff for players (wiggle 'BOY' around, submit your length, help 'GIRL' reach the next planetary body). It's experimental stuff; whereas Katamari and its variants had a defined structure and goals – something that even the most 'sandboxy' games out there have – Noby Noby Boy's sole request is that you submit your length to the greater good.
[[http://uk.ps3.ign.com/articles/956/956989p1.html]]