flOw

Game Share!

http://www.jenovachen.com/flowingames/flowing.htm

screen shot of game

I was reminded of one of my favorite games the other day when I was in the lab with the students. I had given them "Free Time" to chose games to play and one of these kids discovered a download of flOw. This is a game in which you are a micro-organism and it is your job to survive . . . which is the basis of life. 


You grow as you find food, which is basically anything you can overcome in your travels. You control the game by pointing the mouse wherever you want to go and at whomever you want to eat with your wide open mouth.  Some organisms go down in one gulp and others you must battle. Be careful because some of the creatures, such as the jelly-fish, are very hard to overcome and they are more likely to overcome you!


You move through the game in several ways. Usually most of the action and food is close to two items . .  a blue organism which brings you up a layer and a red organism which brings you down a layer in your puddle of life . . . For instance if you wish to go to a deeper level, look for the red wave and head toward it where you will find a small organism with a red dot inside . ..  eat it and you go down .  . easy!


And the deeper you go the darker it gets. Eventually you reach the bottom where you find a creature that looks like you . .  this is the final boss and you battle this guy to the death . .


The boy, who found the download in my lab, loved it so much that he came back later looking for it . . . but . . . he couldn't get to the computer that had that game and he couldn't find it anywhere else on any of the other computers. He started to weep in frustration and it was a teaching moment for me as I tried to convince him that there were other great games to play . .  but oh no! . . . it had to be flOw or nothing . . .


Here is a link to what Jay is Games said about this game:
http://jayisgames.com/archives/2006/03/flow.php
also with a little more explanation on game play . . .


One final suggestion . .. the game has beautiful sounds and music and also a feeling of serenity (especially if you avoid the jellyfish) when you just swim around looking at things and eating just a few items to see how you grow and gain wings . . . it can be a peaceful, playful time or . . .a battle to the death . . . its your choice . . .


ENJOY!

P.S. The game is difficult to find as a download but I found it when I clicked "play" and then the "download" on that page . . .