thatgamecompany » Flower

Fan Art from Around The World

Aaron — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:49:15 +0000

Hello 2012! We’re in the final stages of working on Journey, preparing the game for it’s Spring launch, so we though we’d share some fantastic art made by some really awesome fans!

flOw and Cloud fan art is somewhat hard to find, especially with all the Flower and Journey fan art that’s making the rounds, so this time we present you only with Flower and Journey art. Without further adieu, here we go!

Creative-Theory, while sick and drowning in Midterms, made this Journey fan art:

NinePageApology made this Flower fan art

Pixiv user fu kka made this Flower fan art: (One thing you’ll notice about the Flower fan art, is that on Pixiv, they pretty much always add in a character/avatar.)

Cursors added some much needed rain to the desert:

TheSpudonkey doesn’t stay in the lines with this Journey fan art:

What would happen if you crossed Journey with Bioshock? deviantART user Evolvyn figures it out in this unique fan art:

A Pixiv user adds a little character (did you get it?) to Flower(y):

sihu shows the world some “Cat People in Hoods”:

RpgFantasysquare made this shortly after the release of Flower, but it’s still pretty good:

The same thing goes with this fan art by UNICOMICS-Chowkofsky:

Gekidami made this Journey art that I thought was a screenshot of the game the first time I saw it!

Although this fan art is from Pixiv, a Japanese art website similar to deviantART, it doesn’t have an added character!

Last, but certainly not least, is this Flower fan art by DeadlyNightfall:

We certainly hope that you enjoyed all of this fan art, as we certainly did!
If you have any fan art that you’ve made, e-mail it to us, post it on our Facebook page, or tweet us it on Twitter!

A New Dose of Fan Art

Aaron — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 14:00:21 +0000

So, it’s been a year since we posted the last piece of fan art on the blog, as we’ve been posting them on our Facebook and Twitter pages instead. Here are some highlights of the past few years, but there are plenty more where that came from! Check out our Facebook Fan Art album and the deviantART Fan Art group to see even more amazing fan art!

As seen above, we’re starting out with a Journey costume made for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion by forum user Natterforme. Even though his computer crashed, he still remade and finished the costume for public use! As a mod, it’s always a work in progress, so keep looking at the thread here if there are any more updates. And click on the image after the jump to download the file:

Check

Here’s some fan art of flOw from deviantArt member Hisui-Lipo:

Here’s some Journey art by dA member cherryblossomcolor that reminds me of something by Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Samurai Jack:

dA user Diamond4444 gives some interesting cloth texture on this Journey piece:

dA user Trapiki thought it would be cool to make a Chibi version of the Journey world:

Here’s a huge piece inspired by Journey by dA member IMAGINeye:

Natterforme also has a couple more pictures he made up on deviantArt:

Here’s a big piece by MisteriaXIII on dA:

Loweak gives an Art Deco look to Journey:

hesit8in puts some emphasis on the journeyer’s scarf:

Next up is this AWESOME Flower action figure made by NecroDoll and AStRAL:

Here’s a piece by Pixiv user tamon:

And last, but not least, here is a piece by Pixiv user muse:

We always look forward to seeing new fan art of our games, so if you have any, please post the link(s) in the comments or e-mail them to us at info (at) thatgamecompany (dot) com.

Get To Know thatgamecompany’s Michael Peddicord

Aaron — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 07:55:34 +0000

This week, we bring you another interview, this time of Michael Peddicord:

What do you do on a day-to-day basis for thatgamecompany?

Michael Peddicord: I’m a tools engineer here at thatgamecompany. I’ve been here about a year. Basically, I’ve been working pretty closely to tools, the artists, and the designers, trying to create a workflow that is quick and effective, so they can get their stuff done!

Simone Di Gravio/@AltairJp3: How did you get into the game industry? Inspirations etc.

This is my first actual full time job at a game company, but [my history in game development] started around high school. I learned that a friend was making games for mobile phones, and I was like, “That’s amazing! Tell me how you do that!” He gave me some references and I started learning C++ and started making games. In college, I entered contests, specifically the “Experimental Gameplay” contests. I was able to win myself a summer internship at EA Tiburon in Florida. That led to another summer internship with Robin Hunicke at EALA working on Boom Blox 2. Then I took a summer off and then I started working here.

Did Robin help you start working/get a job at thatgamecompany?

Yeah, absolutely. It definitely helped working with her, she got a good feel of my personality and she thought I was a good fit for the company.

Samantha Vick: What is your favorite part of game development?

Michael: I think my favorite part is to be able to explore new ways of doing things, new ideas, and being able to communicate those ideas to a player. Game development is a really neat way of giving your ideas to other people. I do a lot of thinking in my own head, and it’s nice to have a medium to convey those thoughts to other people.

Kieran R.: What do you do apart from gaming in your time off?

I try to get out and experience the world. Spending most of your time in a studio every day is great and all, but it’s nice to get out into the world. From my perspective, the world is this huge, amazing thing, and there are a lot of people! I often get blown away by the scope of the world. Getting out there and understanding the world and the people in it is important for me. I like to do a lot of exploring, whether it is urban exploring or just kind of taking off in a certain direction and just seeing what’s out there.

@o0_Rapture_0o: What is the general work flow?

Since I haven’t been here for an entire game development cycle, I don’t think I should comment on the work flow for the studio. For me, usually it requires that I keep an eye out for potential problems in other peoples’ work flow and identify different ways that it can be solved. Sometimes other people will come to me with changes that they’d like to see and then I try to work them into a schedule that fits me.

David Roberts/@drobdesign: What do you think will be the biggest complaint from the general public about Journey after its release?

I think the biggest complaint is that it doesn’t give you the things that traditional games nowadays tend to give you. In this game, you have to kind of bring your own sense of wonder to it. Compared to other games, where they tell you, “Do this, okay, now do this, okay, now do this,” it’s less directed, it’s more exploring, and wondering/imagining what this world is. So for some people it may feel slow, but for others it will be an experience of wonder while trying to explore this cool world and finding out what it’s about.

@BmFGrimReaper: What is one aspect of the game industry you would change today?

The thing I would like to see change in the games industry is to see things become less massive and more backed by love. Games that come from the heart seem to really ring true to me.

@pks_blog: What game do you think sets the bar for emotion in video gaming this gen?

Flower came out before I was here, and in my opinion, it is Flower. It’s interesting because now I’m working for the company. I’m not sure if it’s a conflict of interest at this point.

When you were a kid, what did you want to do when you grow up?

Games were such an integral part of growing up that I think it was a natural progression to go into games. I’ve always kind of had an obsession with computers. I enjoyed playing with the basic version of Windows Paint back in the day, that got me on the computer. Then I started using it more and eventually learned how to program. Games were such a basic thing in my life that it just made sense to start making them.

What was your first video game experience?

I remember back when I was really young, my family had an NES and they had all of the different Mario Bros. I remember myself, even though I was really young, playing the third one a lot, and I just loved that game. It was the first really impactful game that I ever really played. It’s probably not my favorite game, but definitely an important one.

@jay_akers: What kinds of art, movies, or music are you into?

I’ve never been drawn to art specifically. I definitely think that there is something to it, but I just never really give it any time. I usually listen to alternative rock. Other times it’s things like Lemon Jelly and electronica type stuff. I’m really bad about movies; I’ll watch anything. I don’t care if it’s crappy, I get enjoyment from all kinds of movies whether they’re good or bad.

Weston Alvers: Do you feel that the genre of artistic gaming can lead the way as well?

I think that the video game community has already began accepting artistic games as something that can be done. I know that right now it’s mostly indies, like Passage, that are creating games as an art form. It’s very about the feeling that you get when you play, and all the games we make here are all about the feelings. At GDC this year, my biggest take-a-way was the fact that people are opening up to the fact that games are art, and I think that in the future we’ll be seeing more of this, and I think it’s super exciting!

Alex Camilleri/@SnakeEaterITA: Does video game development makes your life better or much more intense?

I’m not sure about more intense, but I do know that working for a video game company, the atmosphere is usually “chill,” and all the people working here are a bunch of level-headed people which I enjoy working with. In that regard, working on a game is very awesome if you have the right kind of company. Other companies have a “crunch time” that usually yield longer days and more stress, which could be intense, but TGC doesn’t crunch!

Dimitri Vrehen: Do you brush your teeth before or after breakfast?

I think it makes more sense to brush after breakfast, because then you have clean teeth for the rest of the day. However, that’s not the usual routine, because I brush my teeth and then breakfast happens on the way to work.

We’ll have more interviews up for all of you soon!
And again, if you have any questions, please post them here in the comments.

4 color rebellion Interviews Jenova and Robin

Aaron — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 18:28:40 +0000

I tried having a longer title for this post because there are just so many things covered in this two part interview, but there’s a limit to what one should do. (And each part is a lot bigger than most other recent interviews.) Even though this article was published back in December, it still has a lot of great information about TGC and our members’ views on gaming.

What topics are talked about?

Artistry, prototyping, the industry as a whole (and compared to other industries), TGC’s culture, and that’s just on the first page!

If you’d really like to educate yourself on progressing the game industry or just like to hear what thatgamecompany has to say, here is one great two part article:

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2010/12/20/4cr-interviews-that-game-company/

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2010/12/23/4cr-interviews-that-game-company-part-2/

If you are as big a fan of finding out how the creative process works in all kinds of media as I am, make sure you read part 2!

Vote for flOw and Flower to be shown at The Smithsonian

Aaron — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 14:52:42 +0000

Between March 16th and September 30th, 2012, The Smithsonian American Art Museum will have a gallery called, “The Art of Video Games.” The Smithsonian is exploring the 40-year evolution of video games. From the humblest of beginnings on things nowhere near as powerful as your cell phone you stopped using 10 years ago, to these chunks of metal and plastic that would beat out any supercomputer just a few years ago.

http://www.americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/

What The Smithsonian has done is opened up a website where the public can vote on what they would want in the exhibition. There are already games nominated, and each game only has two competitors, so don’t worry about having too much trouble deciding which game you should vote for.

The reason we’re telling you this is because flOw and Flower have both been nominated for inclusion in this! flOw is up for the Next Generation Era/Modern Windows category and Flower is in the Next Generation Era/PlayStation 3 category. So, go ahead and vote for two of your favorite games right here:

http://www.artofvideogames.org

And if you didn’t notice, the banner for the The Art of Video Games voting website is surprisingly familiar…

Kellee Talks about the Flower Design Process

Kellee — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 02:50:46 +0000

This is a talk that Jenova, Nick Clark, and myself have done at a number of different conferences, but I thought I would put it here for those who couldn’t attend and are interested. I take the audience through our general design philosophy, but then demo a number of the prototypes we developed as we searched for the final “Flower” experience.

Click here to watch.

Featured Fan Art: CheekyNana

Kellee — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 19:07:58 +0000

CheekyNana’s DeviantArt Page

Flower Makes The GameCola’s Top 50 List

Kellee — Mon, 24 May 2010 18:07:10 +0000

The GameCola, a video games news and reviews site, has listed “Flower” as #45 on their Top 50 Video Games Ever Made list. It’s so awesome to see our humble little game among such incredible titles! Thanks so much to the folks over a The GameCola!

Featured Fan Art – Michael Inglis

Kellee — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 19:45:28 +0000

From the artist: “I started making it about 6 months ago for an art class. After much thought, (and hours of Flower played) I made the decision to base it upon Flower. The landscape was created using Papier-mâché, and the Flowers were animated Origami which was added later on Adobe After Effects. The petals were also added on After Effects. I unfortunately was unable to use the official soundtrack due to the ‘bugs’ in the EU release.”

Love the origami!

Tell Us Your Flower Stories

Kellee — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:22:44 +0000

We’ve teamed up with the folks at Playstation Blog to run a contest that’s all about you. Your stories about Flower!

Here’s what you do: type up your essay about your Flower experience in 2000 words or less, and email it to myflowerstory@thatgamecompany.com before 9 AM (PST) on April 28. You just have to be 13 years old or older, and a legal resident of the United States or District of Columbia. In your email, be sure to include your name and date of birth.

The top 5 stories (judged on content and style of storytelling) will be featured in future Playstation Blog posts. The writers will receive $20 PSN Cards, and be ranked as incredibly awesome by us!

Click here for all of the rules & details.

Looking forward to hearing from you!