After 4 years of quiet, right here come the primary hints on what Jenova Chen is as much as subsequent.
a recreation about giving – @thatnextgame pic.twitter.com/kQ9et5bj3T
— thatgamecompany (@thatgamecompany) November 1, 2016
Journey, Flower and flOw developer thatgamecompany has begun to tease its subsequent mission in the end.
As effectively as posting the picture above, thatgamecompany has opened a brand new Twitter account dedicated to the mission, which at the moment has the moniker “thatnextgame”.
It has made solely made a few posts to this point, however two of them included photographs, one in every of which can even be a screenshot regardless of the painting-like type.
– @thatnextgame pic.twitter.com/W1LI3FL8A3
— thatgamecompany (@thatgamecompany) November 1, 2016
– @thatnextgame pic.twitter.com/giePVQv24N
— thatgamecompany (@thatgamecompany) November 1, 2016
Although the photographs might not instantly appear to speak a lot, I’m within the side ratio and portrait orientation; don’t be stunned if thatnextgame is a cellular launch, given Chen’s comments about touch controls and general ambition of making games available to everyone, all over the place.
Chen has additionally stated the purpose of this new mission is to emphasise human connection even more powerfully than Journey did, though he thinks it could be inconceivable to high a perfect game.
The Twitter feed additionally talked about thatgamecompany is hiring, which isn’t massively stunning; a number of key figures from the aggravating Journey years have moved on because the award-winning downloadable launched in 2012.
Journey producer Robin Hunicke jumped ship instantly for Tiny Speck, then co-founded Funomena with former thatgamecompany engineer Martin Middleton. Journey and Flower artwork director Matt Nava went on to discovered Giant Squid, which produced the lovely (and very Journey-like) Abzu.
Designer Bryan Singh is at Naughty Dog now, and labored on The Last of Us and Uncharted four: A Thief’s End, whereas design colleague Chris Bell is at The Unfinished Swan developer Giant Sparrow engaged on the mysterious What Remains of Edith Finch.
I’m unsure about John Edwards, who led Journey’s programming together with Middleton, however his LinkedIn profile exhibits his employment at thatgamecompany might have resulted in September this 12 months. Even co-founder and president Kellee Santiago moved on, later becoming a member of Google Play Games amongst different business roles.
Journey surroundings artist Aaron Jessie and designer Nicholas Clark are nonetheless with thatgamecompany, although, and naturally Chen directed the mission and stays on board his personal studio.
Journey was in improvement for 3 years, and was the ultimate launch in a three-game contract between thatgamecompany and Sony, which incubated the workforce at its Santa Monica studio.
It was by far essentially the most formidable mission the 18-person studio had ever tackled, and blew out its supposed improvement time by greater than two years, driving the studio bankrupt. It cost “millions of dollars” to make and didn’t begin generating income for thatgamecompany for well over a year. No marvel the studio shed workers!
The outcome was positively price Sony’s money and time, with Journey accumulating a stack of well-deserved awards, however who is aware of if its creators really feel the stress was equally justified.
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