Florence (video game)

Florence shows the awkwardness of a first date through a puzzle minigame. As Florence becomes more comfortable talking with Krish, the puzzles become easier.[2]

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]

Ken Wong, the lead designer for Florence, wanted to create a game that eschewed violence.[8]

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] The staffer, who served as the lead developer on Florence, accused Wong of abusing him emotionally "to the point of depression and suicide."[16] 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]

• Official website