Hey folks!
This is Justin, the programmer for When the Wildflowers Leave!
At the time of writing, there isn't a whole lot of deep information about Wildflowers (a good bunch of it we want to show more of, and some we want to keep secret 😉).
To help that I'm going to tackle some questions below that are my best guess of what you might want to know more about; and if I happened to miss a question you have or you want more detail on something, maybe I can answer that in the comments or in another post!
What is the minute-to-minute gameplay like?
When the Wildflowers Leave is a narrative game first, an RPG second, and an inventory game third.
A LOT of this game is talking with characters and yourself. A good deal of effort has been put into making sure the dialog feels dynamic, sometimes funny, and always relevant to our powerful themes on mental health, politics/capitalism (nice), family, and immigration. You'll find yourself in conversations ranging from pulling a nervous stock trader's strings, convincing a guard to let you onto a contentious shipping boat, and figuring out what one of your companions is killing himself over. Throughout the game you stop in towns which contain their own plots (there's also a main plot which is developed over time). Where the dialog and story actually goes depends on what you decide to do.
That's where the rpg elements come in! Wildflowers has a super flexible dialog system built so we can really open up the amount of choice you have and how the game can react to it. Supplementing the system are two sets of stats that makes the story of your version of Mele unique:
Potential represents your set of capabilities as an individual. At the end of each town/episode, your Potentials will actually shift based on how you acted; showing how you've changed as a person during that time!
Status changes more quickly and represents your current mental state, which will give you the capability to do and say things you normally couldn't. Watch out though! Each of your Statuses can be pushed past their limit and cause a mental break; drinking too many substances and gaining too much Torpor/Sloth can lead to a bad, bad time.
Both these sets of stats unlock special paths of dialog and affect your odds at achieving difficult tasks.
Now you may ask what's the inventory part? Well... we're still figuring out some details there... BUT expect to pick up things and cook a diverse set of foods. More details later to come 😉
Who's working on this game?
There's about two to four of us depending on your definition!
Two of us (Archer and Justin) are the co-creators and work on this as our part/full-time jobs.
Archer is the artist and has years of experience creating digital art based on commission and for personal enjoyment. Justin is the programmer who spends the day as a backend engineer for the AAA sphere and uses his free time working on Wildflowers.
There's also Clover-Lynn! A southern-gothic/bluegrass musician who is gracing this game with an original soundtrack on her banjo.
And also Drew! He's a cool guy and the creator of our website which you can check out HERE.
What stage of development is Wildflowers in?
In one word, early.
In game dev terms, close to a half of feature complete and far from content complete/ready to publish.
We've spent around a year designing, debating, learning, programming, drawing, and building up the base of our game. Most of the general plot and locations are planned out (it takes so much willpower to hold back from telling you some of my favorite parts), but there's still a lot of art to be hand drawn and writing to be written.
A peek at the process of building an environment
We're now at a stage where we have a solid idea of how to make the game, and are in the progress of making the first town/episode for you all to play as a demo (news to come!).
The game is anthological, meaning each town has its own story/episode that relates to the main plot. This does make it easier for us to cut the game into chunks that could potentially come out through their own special updates. We'd honestly love to hear how you'd like to see this come out! Does a Patreon with early access sound appealing? Does playing the game in separate, bigger Acts sound better? Or would you rather kickstart the game, have early access, and get it as a full thing a couple years later?
It's important to note we're currently self funded, which comes with its whole set of ups and downs. Some proper funding would drastically raise the ceiling of our development speed and quality.
Thank you!!
Seriously, even if you skimmed through this page, we really appreciate you taking some time out of your busy life to take an interest in our game. When the Wildflowers Leave is being made from our love of other games and the urge to take a new stand in the narrative/rpg genre. It's something that's given us a lot of excitement and happiness (even if some days are rough), and if you're interested in following along, please consider wishlisting, picking your poison of social medias, and telling your friends!
