OFFICIAL Journey THREAD

Posts : 162 Join date : 2011-09-02

Game Info

Developer : thatgamecompany

Publisher : Sony Computer Entertainment America

Director : Jenova Chen

Platform : PlayStation 3 [PS3]

Release Date : TBA 2011

Media : PlayStation Network [PSN]

In Journey you play the armless, red-robed explorer you can see in the screenshots, roaming around an arid, empty-looking world that's occasionally dotted with ancient ruins, sandfalls pouring over rocks, tombstone-like markers rising out of the sand, and long tapestries of cloth flapping in the breeze.

Gameplay

Quote :: It's a journey in an online world, exploring vast sand landscapes and a "mysterious civilization". People will be able to choose to play the game alone or with others, depending on this choice their experience will be different.

With Journey thatgamecompany is setting a record for the number of buttons used in one of its game: two. One is for jumping, and one is... singing? You run around with the analog stick and control the camera with Sixaxis tilt. Much like it did with flowers in, um, Flower, the developer has put a lot of effort into its sand tech in Journey, and you leave a trough behind you when you run around in it. You can also ski down sandy hills to move around faster.

Chen is tired of the empowerment fantasies inherent in most modern games. He said he wants to return players to a feeling of being small and powerless, with a sense of awe toward the wide unknown world. That means no rocket launchers or double jumps in Journey. The game is about exploring this strange world as a hapless character with no foreknowledge of his or her strange surroundings. There's an ever-present giant mountain with a beam of light off in the distance that serves as your constant goal, but other than that, you're just there to explore.

There will be some things to find. Chen ran behind a sandfall in one area and found a cloth covered with ancient glyphs on it. That seemed like some sort of collectible. Later, there was a bit of rudimentary platforming across a series of long tapestry-like pieces of cloth, which your character can "harmonize" with when it touches them, stiffening them and allowing you to climb on them. Finally, Chen encountered a statue that briefly came to life and imparted some sort of information to the player character, but he didn't elaborate on the meaning of that interaction. There will also be other AI-controlled characters in the game as well. What, you think they gave us anymore information about that ?

Visual Style

As described in the September issue of PlayStation The Official Magazine: "Just like Flower showcased some nifty tech in the motion of the game's grass and petals, Journey offers up an achingly beautiful take on sand. Our avatar will feel what it's like to shuffle through sand, Chen (creative director for thatgamecompany) tells us, feet sinking in as we run, leaving trails in our wake that will slowly fill in behind us."

Other Info

You may have heard Journey is an online game. (If you haven't, Journey is an online game.) But it doesn't sound like any sort of normal online game. Chen was extremely cagey about the multiplayer details since thatgamecompany is still figuring out how it will all work, but for now the gist of it seems to be that you'll have the potential to occasionally encounter another player running around in your game world. Chen likened this setup to hiking. You go out for a hike, and while hiking, you might pass some other hikers. You might stop and engage them in conversation, and then walk with them for a while. Or you might just let them go their own way while you go on yours.

You're probably wondering if you can play Journey entirely by yourself. You can. And I'm not sure exactly what you'll do with another player, but Chen did say that's what singing is for. There's no voice or text chat in the game, but you'll be able to produce different kinds of singing based on the way you press the sing button, and this is intended to provide some degree of communication between players. You can even harmonize with the other player if you sing well. Hey, just like that other Journey!

Videos

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Screenshots

OFFICIAL Journey THREAD Rviu6p

Blog From Developers

The inspiration for Journey came from Jenova's feeling that in the modern world where man has so much power, we have lost an integral aspect of the human experience - awe towards the unknown. And we can see this in our video games as well. But don't take it from me! Here's Jenova to talk about it more:

" In today's society, man is powerful - We can travel at 60 mph; we can fly; we can connect with just about anyone, anywhere, at anytime. But on the street, people pass by each other ignoring the wonderful existence of other beings. We are overwhelmed by the attention needed to gain and execute our own power - just like we are in most video games. While we are doing that, we can become isolated and insecure deep inside our mind.

On the contrary, when we are hiking in the wild, we become tiny and weak again. These feelings make every other person we encounter much more important and enjoyable. We greet them, giving them genuine and useful help. We might travel together for a period, learn from and rely on each other. Struggling against the dangerous nature together, somehow, makes us warm and powerful inside. (This doesn't make any rational sense, but somehow that's how I feel. And I'm sure many of us do.)

While most video games offer the sense of empowerment in the online gaming experience, we felt the player will pay more attention to the other players if they are less distracted by the power, and the online gaming experience will be quite unique if it carries the feeling of awe towards the unknown. In a world where the majority of the players are distracted by technology, evoking a sense of awe and mystery could be very refreshing and powerful."

To realize these goals, we aimed to create a world that feels vast and somewhat unfamiliar. And so the game begins with a character waking up in a desert, with no clues as to what might have happened before or what will happen later. There's only a tall mountain in the distance, beckoning the player to set out and explore.

As you travel through the world, you may encounter a stranger who is on his or her own journey. But we don't want to talk too much about the online experience right now. In part, because we really don't want to inform your own experience of it; also, because we really enjoy seeing what happens when experiences come without explanation. But there's plenty of time left for us to talk about it in the future.

One thing is for certain: we love getting to talk about a new project! It means that we can't just navel-gaze about our own work anymore. It's out there. You're responding to it! And it also means we're that much closer to getting the game into your hands. So we'd like to extend a HUGE thanks to everyone who has already expressed words of encouragement - they really do help!

Sony Shares Our Vision

"From my own experience working with Sony and PSN, I can say that I truly believe that this team shares a similar vision with us,"

"We both want to make great videogames for a maturing gaming market and make videogames a mature medium for everyone," continued Chen. "From their support for artistic game studios such as Team ICO and Quantic Dreams, to their dedication with highly polished blockbuster franchises such as the God of War and Uncharted, they are always looking for excellence in entertainment."

Chen added that Sony's willingness to explore new concepts was key to getting his games made. "Even on the smaller scale, you can find their unique taste through the PSN library. Without Sony's trust and support over the past four years there wouldn't be flOw, Flower, or Journey."