Gardens of Kyresoo FAQ - Flowers and Trees Will I be growing familiar flowers in Kyresoo? The world of Kyresoo is a world of crystalline plants quite unlike the familiar earthbound variety. The Stewards of Kyresoo, the tiny alien beings of that world, don’t see light as we know it, but the “life energy” of the growing plant. This “life energy” is represented as light for your eyes, but doesn’t entirely act like it. For example, it does not cast shadows. Kyresoo plants consist of small number of triangular cells, unlike the thousands of often square shaped cells of an earthbound plant. But the underlying cell biology is quite similar to ours, which gives the plants an alien yet familiar quality as you watch them grow. What does the world of Kyresoo look like? The world of Kyresoo is a colorful place I believe, with jagged mountains, wide plains, energy storms of frightening intensity, and crystal plants that range from minute to gigantic. It’s a bit hard to say really, as all I know of that world is how it is seen by the Stewards of Kyresoo. Their world is confined to the great crystal trees of Kyresoo, where the Stewards plant their gardens within the hollow crystal leaves of the tree. As a Steward, you will be able to travel along the outside of the tree to visit the leaves tended by other Stewards. And travel within those gardens along the formal pathways laid out by the gardener. See “The World of Kyresoo” in the Documentation section for more on this. Why are the gardens inside leaves? Much of the art in gardening in Kyresoo is tied to creating beautiful spaces, while bound by some fairly strict formal limits. The enclosed spaces of the crystal leaves give the Stewards a lot of control over the view visitors have of their garden, while at the same time adding to challenge. The tree and leaf structure also contributes to the peaceful nature of the Stewards. The tree can simply be persuaded to grow more leaves in popular spots, rather than fighting over the “best” land. Do I need a degree in biochemistry to play Gardens of Kyresoo? Well, when it comes to using the GeneLab tool, some college course in Molecular Biology would be a help. You can produce new flowers though by mutation and cross breeding, purely by exercising patience and a eye for good results. When the game is fully functional, I expect most people will simply tour gardens with their friends, and pick seeds from attractive flowers to plant in their own gardens. Breeding flowers will always be quicker and more varied than in the earthbound world, but I would expect it to be a minority interest in the final game.