Florence | |
---|---|
Developer(s) | Mountains |
Publisher(s) | Annapurna Interactive |
Director(s) | Ken Wong |
Composer(s) | Kevin Penkin |
Engine | Unity |
Platform(s) | |
Release |
|
Genre(s) | Interactive novel, Minigames |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Florence is an interactive story and video game developed by the Australian studio Mountains and published by Annapurna Interactive. The game was released on February 14, 2018 (Valentine's Day) for iOS, on March 14, 2018 for Android, and for macOS, Nintendo Switch, and Windows on February 13, 2020.
In Florence, the player follows the story of 25-year-old Florence Yeoh as she lives her daily routine and meets Krish, a cellist she sees in the park. The game features little written dialogue and tells Florence's story through a series of brief chapters. Puzzles are used to reinforce pieces of Florence's life as players progress through her story.
Lead designer Ken Wong wanted to create games that eschewed violence and was inspired by his work on Monument Valley to have a more narrative-focused experience that included puzzles. The game received critical acclaim that praised the game's art-style, music, and narrative structure, but received some criticism for its ending.
Florence is divided into 20 chapters, each featuring a different portion of Florence Yeoh's life. [3] The chapters are separated into six acts, which represent different portions of Florence's growth and change. The game plays out linearly, requiring input from the player in the form of short minigames which help mimic or reveal Florence's thoughts and actions. [3] [4] These games include: Florence brushing her teeth, Florence following the sound of a cello to find Krish, Krish cleaning his room before Florence visits, and Florence packing up her things when Krish moves in—and giving Krish's things back to him when he moves out—among others. A single play-through of Florence takes approximately 30 minutes. [3]
The game follows Florence Yeoh, a 25-year-old woman who lives alone and is settled into a monotonous routine of working at her job and mindlessly interacting with social media on her commute. [5] One morning, her phone dies and she follows the sound of a cello and sees Krish, a street performer, for the first time. [5] Krish befriends her and they go out on some dates. [5] [6] They kiss for the first time and begin to take their relationship more seriously. Krish moves in with Florence and is pushed by her to follow his dreams of being a great cellist. As a thank you, Krish gives Florence a painting set and Florence fantasizes about following her passion of being an artist. [4]
The couple have their first fight six months later at a grocery store. [7] After a year, the two have fallen into a routine and begin to drift apart. [5] After another fight, Krish moves out. Florence decides to quit her job and follow her painting passion, where she finds success. [4]
After his success with Monument Valley , game designer Ken Wong felt that he had done what he could at his development studio, Ustwo, and wanted to create his own studio. [9] He chose to move back to his native Australia after seeing the game development scene in Melbourne grow. [9] Wong founded a new company, Mountains, in Melbourne. [9] [10]
After hiring staff, Mountains had no direction on what kind of game they wanted to create. [9] Wong's approach was to first hire the team and then come up with a solid game. [9] The staff discussed how film and books regularly explored love and human emotions, but that it was missing from game design and it would be a "good challenge." [9] They opted to move forward and create Florence. [9] It was the first game Wong had worked on since Monument Valley. [11]
Wong and the rest of the team wanted to create a game that eschewed violence. [8] Wong said, "I wanted to explore what kind of stories and what kind of dynamics we can get without resorting to violence." [8] Mountains decided to make the game on mobile so it could be as accessible as possible. [8] The team's goal was to create a game where players focus on exploring emotions instead of achieving goals. [11] In contrast to Wong's previous game, Monument Valley, Wong wanted to create an experience that was similar to a comic book or silent movie with a focus on narrative. [8] Wong and the team were inspired by film in creating Florence, and specifically cited 500 Days of Summer , Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , and Titanic . [8] [12]
The developers wanted to make the game a linear experience early on in the process because of a concern that people with more life experience would make the "correct" choices and avoid the moral of the game. [13] Mountains was inspired by the way people consume other media for the emotional connections they bring, and wanted to bring that feeling to video games. [11] The team decided to use music as a substitute for dialogue throughout the game, with the cello representing Krish while the piano follows Florence. [14] Mountains used musical themes for the characters after accidentally creating them during development of the "Groceries" chapter, where Krish and Florence have their first fight. [13] Wong chose the name Florence as she was designed to be a Chinese Australian whose parents picked an "old fashioned name" for their daughter when they immigrated. [14]
After Florence's release, lead developer Ken Wong was accused of being verbally abusive by one of Mountains's staffers during the development of Florence. [15] [16] One staffer, who served as a lead developer on Florence, accused Wong of abusing him emotionally "to the point of depression and suicide." [16] Another staff member described Wong during this period as "a very cruel person in a position of power who liked to make people feel bad to make himself feel better." [17] Wong publicly apologized for his behavior in a statement, saying, "There are a lot of things I should have done better or differently during that time." [16] The abuse by Wong and its impact on Mountains along with abuse by auteur developers at two other development studios that had publishing contracts with Annapurna Interactive were featured in a March 2022 People Make Games video. [18] [19] A policy was implemented after Florence's development that allowed staff to decline one-on-one meetings with Wong if they thought he was overstepping and to use a safeword that would immediately end any conversation with him. [18] [19]
Aggregator | Score |
---|---|
Metacritic | iOS: 82/100 [20] NS: 90/100 [21] |
Publication | Score |
---|---|
Destructoid | 8/10 [4] |
Edge | 8/10 [22] |
Game Informer | 8/10 [23] |
GamesTM | 9/10 [24] |
IGN | 9.6/10 (Japan) [25] |
Pocket Gamer | [26] |
The Guardian | [27] |
TouchArcade | [28] |
The Sydney Morning Herald | (favorable) [2] |
Florence was announced on October 24, 2017. [29] A demo shown publicly at PAX Australia 2017 focused on the first 15 minutes of the game, where it received positive marks from Australian video game journalists. [29] [30] Kotaku Australia 's Rae Johnston called Florence her "stand-out game" and felt that the game's minigames succeeded in making her invested in the characters. [30] PC Authority 's Alayna Cole praised the game for standing out with a story about love and diversity, describing it as feeling "like a rarity" in modern video game culture. [29]
Florence was well received by critics. CJ Andriessen of Destructoid described the game as "a truly beautiful product" and felt that the game was one of the most imaginative storytelling devices he had ever seen. [4] Tim Biggs of The Sydney Morning Herald felt that the minigames made Florence "truly special" and that it was "breathtaking and emotionally affirming". [2] Jordan Erica Webber of The Guardian praised Florence's ability to capture "what it's like to fall in love for the first time." [27] Eurogamer 's Christian Donlan noted that the game's puzzle format to life doesn't "quite work" but still loved the journey the game provided. [5] The Hollywood Reporter 's Patrick Shanley praised Wong and his team for nailing the "getting to know you" aspect of dating. [31] IGN Japan 's Esra Krabbe called it a "universal work of art" and praised it as a game that anyone could play. [25] The Guardian's Simon Parkin listed Florence as his "Game of the Month" and noted that the game never felt trite and was well executed. [6]
Many reviewers compared the game to the WarioWare series. [7] [32] The Verge 's Andrew Webster compared the game to a "webcomic crossed with Warioware," and Polygon 's Allegra Frank praised the game's minigames as making the emotional component of the game resonate with the player. [7] [32] Destructoid's Andriessen echoed Frank on the effectiveness of the minigames and felt that the game was a "beautiful product". [4]
Criticism focused on some story elements, specifically its ending. [4] [5] [32] Destructoid's Andriessen stated that the game left him with a "pessimistic opinion" about love and noted that "it's the narcissistic pursuit of their real passion, art, that wins out in the end." [4] Eurogamer's Donlan felt that the ending traded "one easy cliché for another", although concluding that the ending's disappointment may have been the point. [5]
Florence made its development costs back, but did not make enough money to fund Mountains' next project. [33] Ken Wong, Florence's lead designer, described the game's sales as "okay" and stated that "Premium mobile is tough." [33] At a panel discussion, Wong mentioned that half of the sales for Florence were from China, and noted that more people had played the game in Mandarin than in English. [34] Wong reported at Game Developers Conference 2019 that 88% of sales were on iOS, with 41% of those iOS sales coming from China. [33]
The game was a runner-up for "Best Moment or Sequence" with "Trying to Piece the Relationship Back Together" in Giant Bomb 's Game of the Year Awards 2018. [35] Polygon named the game among the decade's best. [36]
Year | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
2018 | Golden Joystick Awards | Mobile Game of the Year | Nominated | [37] [38] |
The Game Awards 2018 | Games for Impact | Nominated | [39] [40] | |
Best Mobile Game | Won | |||
Best Debut Indie Game | Nominated | |||
Gamers' Choice Awards | Fan Favorite Mobile Game | Nominated | [41] | |
Australian Games Awards | Australian Developed Game of the Year | Nominated | [42] | |
2019 | New York Game Awards | A-Train Award for Best Mobile Game | Won | [43] [44] |
22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards | Portable Game of the Year | Won | [45] [46] | |
Outstanding Achievement for an Independent Game | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction | Nominated | |||
Outstanding Achievement in Story | Nominated | |||
National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers Awards | Game, Original Adventure | Nominated | [47] | |
Game, Special Class | Nominated | |||
SXSW Gaming Awards | Excellence in Narrative | Nominated | [48] | |
Mobile Game of the Year | Nominated | |||
Game Developers Choice Awards | Best Debut (Mountains) | Won | [49] [50] | |
Best Mobile Game | Won | |||
Innovation Award | Nominated | |||
Best Narrative | Nominated | |||
15th British Academy Games Awards | Debut Game | Nominated | [51] [52] | |
Game Beyond Entertainment | Nominated | |||
Mobile Game | Won | |||
Narrative | Nominated | |||
Music | Nominated | |||
Original Property | Nominated | |||
International Mobile Gaming Awards | Grand Prix | Won | [53] | |
Italian Video Game Awards | Best Mobile Game | Won | [54] | |
Game Beyond Entertainment | Nominated | |||
2019 Webby Awards | Best Art Direction | Nominated | [55] [56] | |
Best Game Design | Won | |||
Best Music/Sound Design | Nominated | |||
Best Writing | Nominated | |||
Games for Change Awards | Best Gameplay | Nominated | [57] |
WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Microgames!, known as WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania in the PAL region, is a minigame compilation video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The debut title in the WarioWare series, the game is about rapid completion of "microgames", short minigames given to the player consecutively and with increasing speed per each game complete. The game's concept was inspired by the "Sound Bomber" mode of Mario Artist: Polygon Studio for the Nintendo 64DD. The music and sound effects were recycled from Wario Land 4. The game was produced by Takehiro Izushi and directed by Hirofumi Matsuoka. Matsuoka was also the director of Polygon Studio. Mega Microgames! was released in 2003; in Japan in March, in North America and Europe in May and in Australia in June.
Monument Valley is a puzzle and indie game by Ustwo Games. The player leads the princess Ida through mazes of optical illusions and impossible objects while manipulating the world around her to reach various platforms. Monument Valley was developed over ten months beginning in early 2013 based on concept drawings by company artist Ken Wong. Its visual style was inspired by Japanese prints, minimalist sculpture, and indie games Windosill, Fez, and Sword & Sworcery, and was compared by critics to M. C. Escher drawings and Echochrome. The art was designed such that each frame would be worthy of public display.
Night in the Woods is a 2017 single-player adventure video game developed by Infinite Fall and published by Finji. Set in a world of zoomorphic humans, the story follows a young feline person named Mae, who drops out of college and returns to her hometown to find unexpected changes, alongside Bea, a gothic crocodile woman and her childhood best friend. The game was funded via Kickstarter, where it earned over four times its initial US$50,000 funding goal.
Donut County is a puzzle video game developed by American designer Ben Esposito and published by Annapurna Interactive in 2018. The player moves a hole to swallow objects, which makes the hole increase in size. The concept originated in a game jam based on pitches from a Twitter account parody of game designer Peter Molyneux and later added a mechanic similar to that of Katamari Damacy. Other inspirations for the game included Hopi figurines—a theme Esposito later relinquished—and locations from Bruce Springsteen songs. Donut County was released in August 2018 for iOS, macOS, PlayStation 4, and Microsoft Windows platforms, while versions for Xbox One and Nintendo Switch were released in December 2018. It was also released for Android in December 2020.
Stardew Valley is a 2016 farm life simulation role-playing video game developed by Eric "ConcernedApe" Barone. Players take the role of a character who inherits their deceased grandfather's dilapidated farm in a place known as Stardew Valley. The game was originally released for Windows in February 2016 before being ported to other platforms. Stardew Valley is an open-ended game, allowing players to grow crops, raise livestock, fish, cook, mine, forage, and socialize with the townspeople, including the ability to marry and have children. It allows up to eight players to play online together.
Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony is a visual novel developed and published by Spike Chunsoft. The game was released in Japan in January 2017 for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, and in North America and Europe by NIS America in September 2017. A Windows version was released worldwide on the same date. An enhanced version of V3 with the subtitle Anniversary Edition was released for Nintendo Switch in Japan in November 2021, and worldwide in December 2021. This improved version was also released for Android and iOS in April 2022, and for Windows 10 and Xbox One in September 2022.
Celeste is a 2018 platform game developed and published by indie studio Maddy Makes Games. The player controls Madeline, a young woman with anxiety and depression who aims to climb Celeste Mountain. During her climb, she encounters several characters, including Part of You, a personification of her self-doubt who attempts to stop her from climbing the mountain.
Super Mario Odyssey is a 2017 platform game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. An entry in the Super Mario series, it follows Mario and his new ally Cappy—a sentient hat that allows Mario to control other characters and objects—as they journey across various kingdoms to save Princess Peach from Mario's nemesis Bowser's plans of forced marriage. In contrast to the linear gameplay of prior entries, the game returns to the primarily open-ended, 3D platform gameplay featured in Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine.
Fire Emblem Heroes is a free-to-play tactical role-playing game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for Android and iOS. The game is a mobile spin-off of the Fire Emblem series featuring its characters, and was released on February 2, 2017. Fire Emblem Heroes received a number of awards and nominations in "Best Mobile Game" categories. As of 2020 the game had grossed over $656 million worldwide, making it Nintendo's highest-grossing mobile game.
Monument Valley 2 is an indie puzzle game developed and published by Ustwo Games. It is the sequel to the 2014 game Monument Valley. It was released for iOS in June 2017, and released for Android in November 2017. A new chapter called The Lost Forest was freely added in October 2021. Monument Valley 2+, an Apple Arcade exclusive, was released on March 11, 2022. The PC version of the game, Monument Valley 2: Panoramic Edition, released on Steam in July 2022. A sequel, Monument Valley 3, is set to be released in December 2024.
A Way Out is a 2018 cooperative action-adventure video game developed by Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is the second video game to be directed by Josef Fares after Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons. The game does not have a single-player option; it is playable on local or online split screen co-op between two players.
Annapurna Games, LLC is an American video game publisher and developer. The company is a division of Annapurna Pictures, and was founded in 2016, and has focused on publishing innovative and emotive indie games. Notable games published by the company include Donut County, Kentucky Route Zero, Outer Wilds, Sayonara Wild Hearts, Wattam, What Remains of Edith Finch, Telling Lies, Neon White and Stray.
Moss is a virtual reality adventure game developed and published by American video game development studio Polyarc. The game is presented from a blend of first-person and third-person perspectives, with a primary focus on solving puzzles. Moss was released for the PlayStation 4 in February 2018. In June, a PC version featuring high-resolution graphics was released. A PlayStation 5 version was released in February 2023.
The Game Awards 2018 was an award show that honored the best video games of 2018. It was produced and hosted by Geoff Keighley, creator and producer of The Game Awards, and was held to an invited audience at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles on December 6, 2018. The event was live streamed across more than 45 digital platforms. The show featured musical performances from Harry Gregson-Williams, Daniel Lanois, Lena Raine, and Hans Zimmer, and presentations from celebrity guests including Jonah Hill, the Russo brothers, Brendon Urie, and Christoph Waltz. The show opened with a group speech by Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aimé, PlayStation's Shawn Layden, and Xbox's Phil Spencer, representing the unity of the industry. Keighley began planning for the show immediately after the previous ceremony, and spent months traveling to studios around the world to secure announcements and trailers.
Super Mario Party is a 2018 party video game developed by NDcube and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the eleventh main installment in the Mario Party series, and the first for the Nintendo Switch. The game was described as a "complete refresh" of the franchise, bringing back and revitalizing gameplay elements from older titles while also introducing new ones to go along with them. The game was released worldwide on 5 October 2018, and sold 1.5 million copies by the end of the month.
Reigns: Game of Thrones is a 2018 strategy game developed by Nerial and published by Devolver Digital. The third instalment in and a spin-off from the Reigns series, it is based on the television series Game of Thrones. Reigns: Game of Thrones was released in October 2018 for Android, iOS, Linux, macOS, and Microsoft Windows. A version for Nintendo Switch was released in April 2019.
Untitled Goose Game is a 2019 indie puzzle stealth game developed by House House and published by Panic Inc. Players control a goose who bothers the inhabitants of an English village. Players must use the goose's abilities to manipulate objects and non-player characters to complete objectives. It was released for macOS, Nintendo Switch, Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
It Takes Two is a 2021 cooperative action-adventure game developed by Hazelight Studios and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S in March 2021, and was released for Nintendo Switch in November 2022.
The GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Video Game is an annual award that honors video games for excellence in the depiction of LGBT characters and themes. It is one of several categories of the annual GLAAD Media Awards, which are presented by GLAAD—an American non-governmental media monitoring organization founded in 1985—at ceremonies in New York City and Los Angeles between March and May.