Those of you who’ve played Florence will know it’s one of the most enchanting games around.
And if you haven’t, please do go and play it now. It’s cool, we’ll wait.
Okay, finished it? Wiped that tear from your eye? Well, we were so captivated by this game that we asked Florence creative director Ken Wong to talk us through the creative process behind it.
“The story of making Florence was one of discovery,” Wong tells us. “For each moment in the relationship we wanted to portray, we often had to try many different images and interactions before we found the right combination that would evoke the right feeling in the player.”
“These would range from art style tests to storyboards, to fully functional levels that for one reason or another, were cut from the final experience.”
Below, Wong reveals the ideas and concepts that didn’t quite make it into the final game. Spoilers below – you have been warned.
Fragments
“This is an early mock-poster for Florence, back when we were calling it ‘Fragments’. You can see here the first steps towards our final art style.”
Growing
“Here are two iterations of the same idea: Florence growing from a happy child to a worrisome adult. Each image is a jigsaw puzzle that the player needs to put together, and the number of pieces increases, suggesting her life gets more complicated.”
“In testing, we found that players were too focused on the puzzle-solving to care about what was actually in the images. The version of this scene in the game uses a clock instead and is combined with other scenes of Florence’s childhood.”
Clock
“These are captures of an early prototype level where the player turned a clock to watch a year go by in the life of Florence and Krish. We were excited about the story we were telling, but in the end we didn't feel this was the best way to do it.”
Crush
“This scene was intended to show Florence having a crush on Krish. The player would have to tap on the ‘footsteps’ button to get Florence to approach Krish with a love-note. The idea didn't feel very strong so we cut it, but this mechanic came back when Florence needs to push Krish into applying for music school.”
Distance
“This was intended to show that Krish and Florence had grown apart, by putting together a jigsaw puzzle of a couch that pushed them further and further away from each other. Ultimately this was too similar to our ‘Drifting’ level, which we felt was a stronger expression of the same idea.”
We think the final product is all the richer for this careful editing process; every moment in Florence is designed to gently advance the story or evoke an emotion.
It’s this game’s peerless fusion of mechanics and storytelling that makes it an absolutely essential download. And now, an Apple Design Award winner.