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Posts with tag thatgamecompany

Jenova Chen talks about flOwer and Sony's interest in 'grown up gamers'


Not much is known about thatgamecompany's mysterious flOwer. The PSN downloadable was revealed at TGS as their big follow-up to the best-selling flOw, but few gameplay details have been unearthed. Jenova Chen talked to Gamasutra about developing another PSN title, and how the team has finally come to grips with the incredible power of the PS3.

"When we were working on flOw we didn't really use any SPUs, which is the biggest asset of PS3. Or, even if we used them, it was done by other programmers, not the programmers on our team," explained Chen. "But now, the team has caught up, and they've all started doing SPU programming. So that is really making a difference. We actually used the power of the PS3 this time."

After flOwer's release, thatgamecompany is still obliged to producing at least one more game for Sony. Thankfully, it appears that Sony has been incredibly respectful of the development process. "So far we have had a great relationship with Sony. They totally understand what we are doing, and they appreciate what we are doing." Sony's quest for artistic games is something that resonates with both parties: "I think Sony is much more interested in making games stylish and artistic; more appealing to adults. On that aspect, I think they are the same as we are. Because we are making games for people who are, I would say, like grown up gamers, who expect to see more out of a game than traditional actions."

thatgamecompany make a game in 24 hours that we want to play



thatgamecompany, the developers behind flOw and the upcoming flOwer have started a regular feature on the PlayStation.Blog showcasing their game development skills. The 24 Hour Game Jam projects are exactly as they sound - thatgamecompany will develop a small, playable game within a 24 hour time limit. The main objective? To produce something fun. That's what games are all about, right?

The first 24 Hour Game Jam project is a title named Gravediggers and is a multiplayer deathmatch game where you have to collect the skulls of zombies and deposit them in crypts to gain points while avoiding other gravediggers who will kill you for your skull collection. Sound like fun? It looks even more so. There's probably no chance that we'll see any of these Game Jam projects being released to the public, but we can wish. Our favourite part? The sound effects. "Wise from your gwave" hasn't gotten old since we first played Altered Beast all those years ago.

So what's up with Flower?


Ever since we first got wind of Thatgamecompany's next project, Flower, we've wondered what the game actually was. With flOw, we learned that there's more to gaming than explosions and storylines, and with this game, we figured there was some sort of similar cathartic mechanism in the works. The first "details" of the game have been released and all we can say is there's certainly a lot of emotion to go around, but we've still no idea what to expect.

You raise flowers in a field, but the game aims to make you "experience a field in a way you couldn't in real life," according to Thatgamecompany's Kellee Santiago. During the game's development cycle, the team constantly wondered what the emotion interaction would be with the field if you played as the wind, or the sun, or the "emotional impact of flying petals around" as well as the emotions felt when growing a flower.

The game originally had you controlling petals in the wind in an early prototype, but it's unclear whether or not that's still part of the game. Initially, there were even magical elements and special abilities in the game, but those were removed since they got in the way of your emotions. No matter what Flower ends up being, we know it's going to be an experience that will be difficult to explain to friends, but once we give them the controller, they'll understand. Maybe they'll shed a tear. Or not.

TGS07: fl0w team's next game, fl0wer

It's amazing to see what adding two letters to the end of a word can do. thatgamecompany, creators of the fan-favorite fl0w, is working on a brand new project. Not much is know about the new project, but considering the unique atmosphere created by the team's previous endeavors, we're excited to see what they can bring to the table.

[Via Joystiq]

GDC 07: fl0w top selling Network game; no sequel planned


With 110,000 downloads and counting, fl0w has managed to be the top selling PlayStation Store game so far. thatgamecompany wanted to create a new kind of game that broke through traditional conventions: considering its success so far, it appears that the experiment is working.

Jenova Chen and the rest of the team don't plan on being content on the incredible success of their downloadable title. The team revealed at GDC that they are working on a new title, one which is guaranteed not to be a sequel to fl0w. Considering the support they've received from Sony, it wouldn't be surprising to see their next title land on the PS3 yet again: maybe they'd like to do a Cell-remake of Cloud?

GDC 07: fl0w was almost on Wii


Jenova Chen, Kellee Santiago and the rest of the thatgamecompany team discussed their latest motion-controlled PS3 title fl0w. The game certainly would have been an incredible addition to the Wii library, considering its use of motion controls, relatively subdued graphics, and non-gamer-friendly gameplay. Santiago revealed that fl0w was pitched to two companies: Nintendo and Sony.

Well, Sony won. Sony's aggressive approach to supporting new developers was what gave PS3 the edge. "They [Nintendo] weren't right for us at the time. Sony kind of came to us with the process of incubation ... They helped us get our studio started."

Sony has proven at GDC that they care about developers through the announcement of Edge and extending their Network offerings to independent developers. This kind of approach has allowed Sony to earn the respect of valuable talent. For example, LittleBigPlanet comes from the developer of Rag Doll Kung-Fu, who was originally interested in making titles for Nintendo. Sony's attractive development options will continue to make the system gain new, interesting and truly innovative, exclusive software for the platform.

See also:
Joystiq interview: Jenova Chen

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