Over the coming weeks I'll be posting various information about Flowerworks - reviews for the game, comments about development, answering questions, some updates on the sales of the title (not unit sales, but general commentary on how it is doing), and so on... so it seemed a good idea to create an official thread, and stick everything in here.

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Flowerworks(r) is a WiiWare title developed by Nocturnal Entertainment Australia (aka Nocturnal), an Australian 'indy' developer located in Melbourne - which has been around for a few years. Previous works of mention include 'Ultimate Arcade Games' (a GBA retail title published by Telegames in the US, part of the 'ultimate' game series) and 'Catapult' (a all-in-one GBA game development system for the PC).

Shams (yes, yours truly - long time VGChartz addict) is the CEO of Nocturnal, and the lead designer/developer on Flowerworks. Many thanks to the rest of the team who slaved away on the title...

Flowerworks (http://flowerworksgame.com) is also available as a PC download game - although the WiiWare version is definitely superior (and half the price!).

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In Flowerworks, the player controls the heroine 'Follie' - a confused (but friendly!) plant-sprite-alien creature.

The story has it, that on the way to delivering a cargo-load of Flowerwork seeds to her Aunty - Follie crash lands on a mysterious planet 'Elilia', and loses her seeds in the process.

Why did she crash land? Why does Elilia seem to be uninhabited (mostly)? How will Follie recover her seeds, and escape the planet?

'Flowerwork' flowers - which are native to Follie's home planet - are a unique breed of flowers that launch into fireworks as they bloom. This becomes an essential part of the flowers life-cycle, with fireworks helping other flowers to grow and produce new seeds. Flowerworks also help transform the terrain around them, as the pollen from flowers spread around the planting site (the bigger the flowers, the larger the transformation).

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Flowerworks is available now for 1000 Wii points on WiiWare (US only). The Europe/AU/NZ release will happen sometime in early 2010.

The game includes the main adventure mode (10-20hr adventure, depending on skill...), a tutorial and arcade mode (with 3 difficulty levels). Its a single-player game, and only requires the Wiimote. Supports 480p, has a digital soundtrack, runs in true widesceen and at 60fps.

Its ESRB rating is 'E' - and is a original, non-violent, family game - which is definitely safe for kids to play and enjoy.

An album with screens from the game can be found here:

http://www.vgchartz.com/photos/album.php?album=2729

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List of reviews:

8.5 - http://thehanafudatimes.com/?p=4863

8 - http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/reviews/2009/12/flowerworks

8 - http://www.gogaminggiant.com/2009/12/11/wiikly-wiiware-wiiview-flowerworks-stop-stress-magnetis-dolphin-learning-pooyoos/

8 - http://www.gamersdailynews.com/article-2260-Flowerworks-Review-WiiWare.html

9(A-) - http://www.wiisworld.com/wiiware-reviews/Flowerworks.html

7.5 - http://www.wii-brasil.com/?sec=leranalise&id=216 (new!)

9.3 - http://www.wiiloveit.com/games/flowerworks---wiiware-review (new!)

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Just for interest, I'll release one piece of information about the game which has not been publicly mentioned before:

The game was designed around a original control/gameplay mechanic (which is now actually quite different from the original concept). This was done before any other element or idea for the game was created.

And the inspiration for the gameplay mechanic (which is essentially the 'seed of birth' for the entire game) is...

...Mario Galaxy.

Now, can someone guess what part or element of Galaxy inspired the gameplay model?

Better go pirate the PC version!

I support this message!

I'm still waiting for reviews. This game looks like shovelware.

SmokedHostage said: I'm still waiting for reviews. This game looks like shovelware.

I'm waiting for reviews as well... the game may not be everyones ideal game (i.e. not violent enough!), but in my (biased) opinion its definitely not shovelware. I'm expecting most reviews to be in the 7..8 range. Anything 6 or less, and I'll be disappointed with.

Its a WiiWare title *I* would buy - and I'm generally quite picky and critical. (its somewhere between Swords & Soldiers and LostWinds II in my books...).

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As for piracy... well, good luck. I won't tell you how long we spent developing our own custom DRM for it. :)

shams said: SmokedHostage said: I'm still waiting for reviews. This game looks like shovelware. I'm waiting for reviews as well... the game may not be everyones ideal game (i.e. not violent enough!), but in my (biased) opinion its definitely not shovelware. I'm expecting most reviews to be in the 7..8 range. Anything 6 or less, and I'll be disappointed with. ... As for piracy... well, good luck. I won't tell you how long we spent developing our own custom DRM for it.

I'm expecting a final score in the 67-72 range from metacritic based on the exterior of your title.  Also, there's always a way to bypass DRM, ALWAYS.

On a more serious note, I hope this game does well.  The premise looks very child friendly but at the same time, very old school arcade like.  Best of luck to you and your studio.

SmokedHostage said: shams said: SmokedHostage said: I'm still waiting for reviews. This game looks like shovelware. I'm waiting for reviews as well... the game may not be everyones ideal game (i.e. not violent enough!), but in my (biased) opinion its definitely not shovelware. I'm expecting most reviews to be in the 7..8 range. Anything 6 or less, and I'll be disappointed with. ... As for piracy... well, good luck. I won't tell you how long we spent developing our own custom DRM for it. I'm expecting a final score in the 67-72 range from metacritic based on the exterior of your title.  Also, there's always a way to bypass DRM, ALWAYS. On a more serious note, I hope this game does well.  The premise looks very child friendly but at the same time, very old school arcade like.  Best of luck to you and your studio.

Metacritic... who knows. I have seen some great games get hammered - and some crappy games get good scores. Compared to the scores that I have seen a lot of WiiWare titles get... I guess that range wouldn't shock me. It could get some 6's... but it might also get some 9's (who knows).

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re: DRM - unless you (or your mates) are up for some serious hacking/development (or we just stuffed up) - there will be no easy bypassing of this DRM. The entire application in RAM acts as a digital certificate for the application itself - minor hacks will not work. I'm not going to go into the details here, but there was some pretty hardcore work done on the DRM ;)

Ironically, we would have been MUCH better off ignoring the PC release completely (thanks for the stuff-around Steam!) and focusing on the WiiWare release. It would have been out months ago.

Anyway... getting slightly off topic :)

I hope it works because on the net this file is making it's way. EDIT: Removed by request

And get the game to europe!!!