• Absorb/disperse
• Porous boundaries

• Start with a normal human view
• Then perceive with a plant's eye view
• Get more abstract as game goes on (toward 'plant perception')

• 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.

• Release early
• Lots of iterations, based on player feedback
• Test multiplayer asap, see what people (test on us first) want to do

• 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

Increasing people's attention span by creating a sense of ownership

• Plant graffiti
• Plants emailing/messaging you after you have created them

• 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

• 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

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.

“Glasses” with which to see different views/properties.

• Choice/selection of different views
• Your choice influences the type of plant you become

• Urban - cracks and forgotten places in the city
• Plant view of the city

• 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!

http://thatgamecompany.com/games/flower/

• Backstory is about conflict, all be it a flowery one
• Sound is important
• Nice grass

http://pixeljunk.jp/

• 2D = good
• Nice animation
• Techno plants

http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/

• Lack of rules
• Simple growth
• Complexity in textures rather than geometry

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