The Beauty and Fun of FlowScape

FlowScape is a design tool you can download from Steam that allows you to create a world of your own imagining. It can be a lush jungle, a medieval city, frozen mountain ranges, or a desert plain.

It starts with picking the landscape. Will it be flat? Will it be mountainous? Will there there be a volcano? Is there a lake or steam?

Then comes the act of “painting” the world into existence. There are hundreds of objects to choose from such as trees, plants, shrubs, cactus, buildings, carts, lamps and animals. If that’s not enough, import more. Then select some colorful flowers and watch them grow into existence. Click to place a tree, and watch it spring to life and sway in the breeze. Create a town square. Draw a cobblestone street. Create a fishpond. Set it to bright sunny day. Dim the sky to sunset. Have the dark clouds of a storm rolling in. All of it is possible.

FlowScape is a deeply satisfying experience. You can add as much or as little to the landscape as you want. Or, you can have the computer generate one for you as inspiration. And when you’re done, you can drop into your world and literally walk around it. The voice of Bob Ross will truly be whispering in your ear as you bring things to life.

I adore this program and have barely scratched the surface of what it has to offer. But, everytime I sit down with it, several hours go by and I’m just amazed at what appears on the screen.

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