Jenova Chen - Biography - Thatgamecompany

Thatgamecompany

The next game, Flower, was Chen and Thatgamecompany's "first game outside the safety net of academia". Chen was the creative director in charge of the game, while Santiago was the producer and Clark was the lead designer. The company ranged in size from six to nine people at varying stages of the game's development. Flower was intended by Chen to primarily to provoke positive emotions in the player, and to act as "an emotional shelter". Chen described the game as "an interactive poem exploring the tension between urban and nature". He decided on a "nature" theme early in the development process, saying that he "had this concept that every PlayStation is like a portal in your living room, it leads you to somewhere else. I thought; wouldn't it be nice if it was a portal that would allow you to be embraced by nature." Chen designed the game around the idea that the primary purpose of entertainment products like video games was the feelings that they evoked in the audience, and that the emotional range of most games was very limited. To make Flower have the "emotional spectrum" that he wanted, Chen looked at the development process as creating a work of art, rather than a "fun" game, which would not provoke the desired emotions. In 2008, during Flower's development, Chen was named to the MIT Technology Review TR35 as one of the top 35 innovators in the world under the age of 35.

After Flower was released to critical praise and awards, Chen and Thatgamecompany moved on to their next game, Journey. Journey was intended by Chen to focus on the element of communication and social interaction in video games. Since in most games the communication between players is focused on specific goals, in Journey Chen intended for the player to be able to either play alone or to come across other players, but not be able to communicate with them directly. Instead, players have to build relationships with each other through their actions, helping each other or leaving as they choose. Journey was released on the PlayStation Network on March 13. 2012.

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