Monday 22 September 2008

A flower that needs to grow...

Title: Flower Girl
Author:
toonaholic (John Sullivan)
Release date: 17 september 2008
Playtime: 10 minutes
Size: 36.7Mb

From the start of the game I was captured by the graphics style of this cute little production. My first thought was the resemblance with another kids game: Freddi Fish. The game itself isn't much but the character you meet along the way make up for it. You'll explore the area, which isn't big but want to know what's behind the corner: what will be the next character and what will it look like.

During the intro you'll get a good presentation of the graphics capability of the gamemaker. His spellings and grammar is lacking but not too bad to become annoying. The music is present but could have been made more in line with the game: more dramatic during intro, cheerful when wandering around and more serious when talking to characters. In the present form it's a nice way to get rid of the silence but doesn't really contribute.

Like said: the puzzle isn't much. Actually there isn't one. You just walk from place to place bringing items back and forth, resulting in other items. There are some hidden 'treasures' but there were some moments in the play that I couldn't quite follow. Maybe toonaholic had more in mind and didn't proceed with it (I still don't get the squirrel part) just to finish the game.

Then the size: it's a massive 36.7Mb compressed (67.2Mb uncompressed) and I wonder where that huge size comes from. The world you play in isn't that big, there isn't a great amount of animation and the music isn't that complex to eat up all those bites.

But all in all for a first one it's a polished graphics beauty but needs much more of a story and puzzle. This part is one for the kids. But I can't wait till Flower Girl grows up ...

No comments: