Joe Sullivan, an independent developer, has been germinating a seed. The gameFloraMancer: Seeds and Spellshas been his passion project for a while, and it’s finally getting into the hands of players on March 5, which naturally asks the question of what will come next.
FloraMancerbegan as the idea of Sullivan’s partner, Chloe Dougherty, who took the corecombat-to-cozy gameplay loop ofMidnighterand applied it to her favorite genre, farming sims. Motivated by the idea and his inherent love of forests, Sullivan created a game where farming is the means of arming a defender of nature. Game Rant caught up with Sullivan ahead ofFloraMancer’s release to speak about his final stretch with the game and what he might do next. Ultimately, he hopes that as the hours tick down toward release, he’ll be able to find peace with the game as it stands and not overthink the last-minute changes or polish.
Looking Past FloraMancer’s Release
FloraManceris a stylistic blend of farming and fighting with a strong environmental message and a strange lonely fight carried out by the last FloraMancer against the robot swarm turning. Chiseling the broad notes of an idea to the refined elements of a release-ready game was a long journey, and the moment of release is equally exciting and nerve-wracking.
That weekend before the launch, I will hopefully remain sane, and I won’t be looking too hard into tiny details about the game and worrying about those. I hope to fully accept the game as it currently is without overthinking it.
This is all a hope. In reality, I might just spend that whole weekend blasting out as many emails as I possibly can. We’ll see which one of those two things wins out.
Once the game is out in the world, Sullivan’s interested in what direction players want to see the game go in and will let their feedback guide future development, but he’s also keen on expanding certain elements of the game. Namely, he’s interested in adding a crossbreeding system that will let players combine thespell effects of theirFloraMancerseeds.
The idea that I floated around with the two artists that I work with is that if the game does well enough, we’re thinking about adding in a simple crossbreeding system where we’ll just make more spells so that the combination of them will produce something…I plan on deciding what to expand upon on players' reactions after launch.
That said, he’s also looking at future projects beyond the world’s final forest. Sullivan said that one ofFloraMancer’s spells, the air spell, may become a core element of where his next game goes. The Air spell can reflect enemy attacks back at them, which is something he was proudest of inFloraMancer, he explained.
Sullivan’s Next Ideas
As for the next game or project, he plans to test a handful of prototypes as a starting point. His process involves creating small prototypes of as many concepts as he can over a few months in what essentially amounts to apersonal game jam. As he goes through these concepts, he’ll analyze each for what can be done on his scale as a self-published solo developer and what he thinks will be most rewarding for players. And he’s very connected with his players.
[That relationship] is definitely something I strive for. My favorite part, as a player of video games, is the way that they bring folks together. Playing games on the couch with somebody else is my favorite part about playing video games, for instance.
Ultimately, what’s next remains to be seen, but March 5 isFloraMancer’s time. It’ll be interesting to see what unfolds in the days, weeks, and months after its release nonetheless.
FloraMancer: Seeds and Spellsreleases March 5 on Steam.
