Flower Dev Goes on a Journey

[Logan Westbrook]

Flower Dev Goes on a Journey

A leaked factsheet gives us a glimpse at thatgamecompany's mysterious "Project 3".

A leaked factsheet has revealed Flower [http://www.amazon.com/flOw-Online-Game-Code-Playstation-3/dp/B002GP6WBS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1277737577&sr=1-1] developer thatgamecompany's third PSN title a little ahead of schedule. The game is called Journey, and is described as "an exotic adventure with a more serious tone." You take on the role of a cloaked figure, exploring a huge desert littered with the ruins of an ancient civilization. The game also has a multiplayer element and you can explore the desert with other people that you encounter along the way.

"With Journey, thatgamecompany continues its tradition of delivering simple gameplay and accessible controls in a rich interactive environment that invites players to explore and experience emotional chords that are still uncommon in video games," says the factsheet. "Journey's innovative approach to online play encourages players to explore this environment with strangers who cross their path from time to time. By traveling together, they can re-shape the experience - creating authentic moments they will remember and discuss with others."

The factsheet, along with a bunch of screenshots, found their way on to the NeoGAF [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=398445] forums with no mention of sources or even a hint of how they got there. This seems pretty genuine, but it is a leak, so it's probably best to take it with a pinch of salt.

Source: NeoGAF [http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=398445] via 1up [http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3179923]





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[Jumplion]

Oooooooooooooo, looks interesting.

I loved flOwer, so I can't wait to see what Thatgamecompany comes up with next.

 

[mikecoulter]

Hmm, sounds pretty interesting. I'll be buying this.

 

[Casual Shinji]

From what I've seen of it, it seems very much like a Team Ico game only more colourful.

Either way, this is more interesting to me than any of the "big" reveals at E3.

 

[The Red Spy]

Nice, it's good to see news that isn't based around MOARGUNZ. I miss being able to find such variety or fresh ideas on my GAME store shelves.
I'll be watching for news.

 

[Jared]

Very, very pretty! From the screenshot, loving the graphical look!

 

[Hiphophippo]

Looks a lot like the Mmo "Love", not that that's a bad thing. You can count on these people to progress the medium at least.

 

[Truly-A-Lie]

I love thatgamecompany. So far they've got better each game. With the exception of Cloud hurting my mouse finger after a while I've never had a complaint with their games. Can't wait for Journey.

 

[erbkaiser]

This looks really good, but I am worried about the other players part. People online tend to be asshats, ruining all games.
I'll reserve judgement until I see how it actually works though. I love their earlier games,

 

[laryri]

Don't stop believing, even if it is a leak from a shady source it still seems pretty genuine.

 

[UkibyTheMaid]

I love thatgamecompany. So far they've got better each game. With the exception of Cloud hurting my mouse finger after a while I've never had a complaint with their games. Can't wait for Journey.

I thought I was the only one having problems with Cloud's controls XD

Anyways, I love thatgamecompany and I was expecting to hear something new from them. I play Flower on a regular basis and, damn, the music, the graphics, everything <3 <3

 

[Iron Lightning]

I'm kinda worried about the online aspect of Journey. The "Team Ico" sub-genre relies heavily on immersion, something that chat boxes and people with "lolLazor420" written above their heads tends to undermine. Even without those cliches, one must still fiddle with their headset to and hear a barely intelligible reply. Communicative multiplayer has the affect of truly breaking immersion.

In a game about exploration, multiplayer also destroys much of the relevance of reaching a destination. Why make the journey to unknown Kadath, where the crawling chaos Nyarlathothep dwells in the vacant home of Earth's Gods, only to find it desecrated by the unwholesome presence of AfroNinja093 and SeMOrBUTz.

This game may well fail if single player is not an option.

 

[SonofSeth]

I'm kinda worried about the online aspect of Journey. The "Team Ico" sub-genre relies heavily on immersion, something that chat boxes and people with "lolLazor420" written above their heads tends to undermine. Even without those cliches, one must still fiddle with their headset to and hear a barely intelligible reply. Communicative multiplayer has the affect of truly breaking immersion.

In a game about exploration, multiplayer also destroys much of the relevance of reaching a destination. Why make the journey to unknown Kadath, where the crawling chaos Nyarlathothep dwells in the vacant home of Earth's Gods, only to find it desecrated by the unwholesome presence of AfroNinja093 and SeMOrBUTz.

This game may well fail if single player is not an option.

So I take it you know what's the game play about?

 

[dragonburner]

I absolutely loooooved Flower. I got my eye on this one.

 

[Iron Lightning]

I'm kinda worried about the online aspect of Journey. The "Team Ico" sub-genre relies heavily on immersion, something that chat boxes and people with "lolLazor420" written above their heads tends to undermine. Even without those cliches, one must still fiddle with their headset to and hear a barely intelligible reply. Communicative multiplayer has the affect of truly breaking immersion.

In a game about exploration, multiplayer also destroys much of the relevance of reaching a destination. Why make the journey to unknown Kadath, where the crawling chaos Nyarlathothep dwells in the vacant home of Earth's Gods, only to find it desecrated by the unwholesome presence of AfroNinja093 and SeMOrBUTz.

This game may well fail if single player is not an option.

So I take it you know what's the game play about?

From what I can tell from the little there is to see, the gameplay seems to be mainly about exploration with a MMOG-like multiplayer aspect. Finding new lands, meeting new (online) people, and all that jazz. This is, of course, an assumption. Considering that the leak post reads: "An exotic adventure with a more serious tone, Journey presents TGC?s unique vision of an online adventure experience. Awakening in an unknown world, the player walks, glides, and flies through a vast and awe-inspiring landscape, while discovering the history of an ancient, mysterious civilization along the way." I'd hazard my assumption about the game's base mechanics to be fairly accurate.

The point I wanted to make is that Team Ico style exploration and MMOGs do not mix. Team Ico games rely almost entirely on immersion, while MMOGs do just the opposite. If Thatgamecompany are trying to mix the two genres then they are almost certainly making a huge mistake. Who knows, they might do something clever.

In bowling, the hardest shot to make is a 7-10 split. The best course of action when confronted with a 7-10 split is to try to knock down either the 7 pin or the 10 pin. Try to get both and you'll most likely end up in the gutter.

 

[Andronicus]

I loved Flower, and just looking at the picture of this reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus, which I adore...
...
...
So who do I give my money to for this game already?

 

[SonofSeth]

Communicative multiplayer has the affect of truly breaking immersion.

There is no voice or text chat in this game.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Communicative multiplayer has the affect of truly breaking immersion.

There is no voice or text chat in this game.

Please, good sir, might I ask you where you have learned that there is no voice or text chat in this game. While having dumb characters may be interesting from an experimental point of view, I fail to see how it would work given Thatgamecompany's purported vision for Journey.

 

[SonofSeth]

They have singing, they have drawing in the sand. I learned this information from a preview done by Giantbomb and Kotaku.

Little Big Planet has text chat and voice chat, but most of the time you can just gesture enough to convey what you mean, this would work even better in a thatgamecompany game. Also they said it's still work in progress and online stuff is still being figured out.

I figured as much that you fail to see how it would work.