Congratulations! You’ve hit rank 50 in another first-person shooter. Now it’s time for something completely different. Welcome to The UnderGarden.
We at Vitamin G Studios are excited to introduce you to our new game, coming to PSN this winter.
The UnderGarden is about exploration. It’s part game and part experience, with a little bit of puzzle solving mixed in. The game takes place across different worlds of windy tunnels, dark places filled with fog, and areas where electricity turns large rock gears endlessly. As the player, you float through these dark caverns, and fill them with colour and music. You’ll need to collect pollen to grow beautiful flowers and exotic plants. Some of these plants bear fruit, used to manipulate doors, levers, gears, and other contraptions you find along the way. There are also special items to collect, and new flora and fruit to discover, and as they bloom the lighting and animations make the entire environment spring to life. Music also plays a huge part in the game, and almost everything you touch makes different musical tones. As you fill the world with music, you’ll run into the musicians, who play different instruments and will keep you company on your journey.
The game supports drop-in/drop-out co-op play, so a second player can join in and play along for the whole game, or just a level or two. We wanted to make it fun for two people to play together, even if they aren’t both at the same skill level. In co-op, the second player is there to help the first gather pollen and solve puzzles. So you don’t have to worry about getting lost or left behind: they always get pulled along and you’ll always be close together. The second player can even just float around making everything colourful and musical while the first player does the heavy lifting: it’s up to you. We think it is a great way to get a friend or significant other into the game, especially if they don’t usually play games.
Many games are really fast-paced and full of tension. The UnderGarden is pretty much the polar opposite of that. It is about creating rather than destroying: you can’t die, you can’t really fail, and you play at your own pace. In the right state of mind, it is a nice relaxing experience. You can pour yourself a beverage, shut off the lights, and just float around the world. If you are a fan of games like Flower, or Flow, then you’ll be right at home here. Even if you spend more time playing shooters, The UnderGarden is a great change of pace to help you unwind afterwards.
So who are you and why are you here? Your name’s Ludwig and you’ve been described as everything from a floating baby to a space monkey. But who you really are, and what this place is, are things you’ll have to figure out on your own, so you’ll have to use your imagination there!
Over the next few weeks, we’ll talk about some of the ideas behind the game, and the music as we get closer to release.
We hope to see you in The UnderGarden soon!




















26 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 5:38 pm by quarkquest
It is just a beauty
looking forward!
2
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 5:41 pm by Antonio Santamaria
Thanks! We hope you will enjoy it!
3
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 5:47 pm by adz2k7
Looks great. I’ll be keeping an eye on this for sure
4
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 5:56 pm by patacama
Looks nice, I will keep an eye on this one.
5
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:13 pm by DoomnY
Atari – craps only.
6
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:37 pm by Mulukh
maybe im missing something but this does sound like a Flower clone. Not that that is a bad thing and i like the co-op idea. Are the controls motion based?
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:46 pm by Antonio Santamaria
It’s definitely not a Flower clone. The UnderGarden plays quite differently, but we were definitely aiming for that Zen-like relaxing experience similar to what can happen sometimes in extended sessions of Flower.
By “motion based”, do you mean sixaxis and/or Move? None at the moment, but Move support is something we’d like to think about for the future.
7
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:37 pm by anonymus212
any move support ?
8
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:38 pm by Carl-G
“Congratulations! You’ve hit rank 50 in another first-person shooter. Now it’s time for something completely different”
LoL Soooooooooooo TRUE. COD 2009, COD 2010, COD 2011…Zzzzz
Thank god for PSN and these different games i say.
Cool video, looks dreamy;)
9
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:40 pm by Mulukh
am i right thinking this winter is 2010/11 quarter 4?
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:48 pm by Antonio Santamaria
It sure feels like winter here in Canada now! So we’re looking at alot sooner than that, early 2011.
10
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:56 pm by Mulukh
thanks Antonio, had a feeling that it was just an inspiration rather than just copying. I ment either sixaxis or move, but using buttons instantly makes it different. The game does sound good though, please can you get a trailer on PSN?
11
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 6:58 pm by almighty-slayer
This looks good
12
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 7:09 pm by Mightyowl28
any details on UK Pricing? looks like the sort of quirky game i’d love.. if… its not stupidly priced
13
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 7:12 pm by mango1234
Just because of the epic sarcasm at the start of this blog post… I might consider buying this XD
14
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 7:24 pm by PenguinGlen
@13 Agreed!
That and the fact that it looks like a very nice game.
15
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 7:52 pm by Saber_IV
Played this on PC, and it’s an extremely pretty game. But just not for me.
16
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 7:58 pm by FGras
wannebe flower?
looks nice tough
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 8:18 pm by Antonio Santamaria
Well, they both have flowers in them, but I think you will find they play quite differently. Still, Flowers’ good company to have!
17
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 8:46 pm by asparagus_hunter
This may well jump to the top of my buy list when it gets released. Looks very nice indeed.
18
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 8:58 pm by Ti_dus
This looks very nice. Remember about the good pricing and another copy will be sold
19
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 11:18 pm by JENNA-BABE-88
Hi Antonio, you had me at “congratualtions! you have reached rank 50 on yet another first person shooter. and now for something completely different” You sir, are a marketing genius!!!
Glad to hear this isnt sixaxis either, Flower was a great looking game marred by the fact it was sixaxis. I’ll be watching this one very carefully and will be buying if as poster 18 says the pricing is good.
20
Posted on 13 January, 2011 at 11:27 pm by JENNA-BABE-88
Oh and will it have trophy support?
21
Posted on 14 January, 2011 at 6:44 am by Cloudedpaul
this looks very good, i love a good chillout game, remember 2 things though, have a downloadable soundtrack for it on psn and a day one discount for plus members please!
22
Posted on 14 January, 2011 at 8:20 am by Tridentmorph
At the right price I will pick this up and give it a try, would be nice to play something a bit different.
23
Posted on 14 January, 2011 at 2:19 pm by Mutt
Wow. I love the look of this. Price it ok (less than £10) and I’m there day 1.
24
Posted on 14 January, 2011 at 7:48 pm by Bonyman
It looks gorgeous and a fine game to play too from what i’ve read… Sold!
25
Posted on 16 January, 2011 at 8:58 am by whoismilan
This looks amazing!
The game does reming me of Flower (so far my favourite thing downloaded from PSN) in that it looks very relaxing to play, but obviously it looks completely different with completely different gameplay elements.
This just became one of my most anticipated games of 2011.
26
Posted on 21 January, 2011 at 8:49 am by billyDvelo
WOW just WOW and 5/5 stars definitely look out the colour the music is awesome. 5/5
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