Flow’s creator Jenova Chen aimed to create a game that closely matched the principles of "Flow." A concept described by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Flow is the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in what he or she is doing by a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity (from Wikipedia). This was Jenova Chen's goal in making Flow. Flow is a simple game. The player pilots the fluid movements of a worm, the worm eats other creatures in order to evolve. Levels are stacked vertically and exist as two-dimensional planes. Each level has one red and one blue object, in addition to myriad creatures swimming with you, eating these will bring you to a high or lower level respectively. A player does not have to meet any particular objective in order to progress through the levels, they merely have to eat the red objects, however in doing this the player would miss the most rewarding aspect of the game. As a player eats other organisms the worm evolves, adding segments decoration and wings. Each time the game is played the worm evolves differently depending on which organisms are eaten when. The game is more about the journey than the destination; in this way it embodies Mihaly's principals of flow.
Enemies are placed at random throughout a level. As mentioned about levels are stacked, the next level can actually be seen ghosted below the players worm giving a glimpse of what is on the level below. Some levels have enemies, some enemies are very large, watching one swim under up on the level below can be ominous.
I am particularly interested in the subtle narratives that arise as the player navigates the levels and evolves their worm. Each time a player may choose to play the game different results are yielded. The fun comes from the game unfolding as it is played. These are aspects I want to embody in my thesis project.
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