Journey

Journey

Research

http://thatgamecompany.com/games/journey/

http://www.fastcocreate.com/1680062/game-designer-jenova-chen-on-the-art-behind-his-journey

Journey is an unusual online adventure game created by ThatGameCompany in 2012. It features a small character in a red cloak making a journey across a large expanse of land towards a mountain. Made by the same creators as Flow and Flower, this game has the same beautiful art style with unique and immersive gameplay. Journey pushes the boundaries of gameplay, with its developers wanting to create something new.

“And we wanted to be a company to extend the depth and the width of the emotional spectrum that games can communicate.”

The use of the online feature in this game is completely unique, as players encounter each other randomly and can only communicate through noises. They can also help each other out, but it forces players to communicate in a unique way than the usual.

“And so our focus for Journey was to make the player feel small and to feel wonder, so when they run into each other in an online environment, rather than thinking about how am I supposed to use my gun on the other player, we wanted them to feel a connection to another player.”

Journeys environment and characters creates the narrative in this game, and although it is not crystal clear it is apparent. The player feels empathy for this small character in this massive world, and they want to help it complete its journey.

“Journey is more like a story broken apart. There are two stories: There’s the ancient civilization’s story and the story of the player’s own journey. The civilization’s story is more broken apart and spread throughout the world for the player to discover. But what is more important is the arc of the player’s journey itself, which is based upon the Hero’s Journey, part of the monomyth.”

The main reason why I chose to study Journey is because of its unique art style and its beautiful environments. The use of colour in this game and its artwork is bright and vibrant, and the use of different colours in the game to show mood is powerful in creating a mood.

“Journey started relatively peaceful and calm. So when we choose the color we like to keep it low contrast, overcast lighting and everything is very yellow. When it gets slightly exciting in the first act, when the players are surfing through the sand, we want the sand to be more contrasting, using the color to make it feel exciting. Then when the player is lost in the underground, we want the color to feel cold, cyan and blue and green, to give you this lost and underwater feeling. And during the mountain level we wanted the player to feel lifeless, their energy and use is gone, so the white color works great there. And then in the end, the climax, we wanted a color that brings a sense of freedom, a sense of liberation, and so the blue sky and the mountain streams are the right fit.”

What drew me to this games art style are the brightness of the colours and the simplicity of it as well. They are mainly bold, block colours used in a certain way to create a beautiful environment. I want to try and use Journey as an influence in the development of my own art style as I want to have a unique and vivid look to all of my images like Journey.