Get To Know thatgamecompany’s Aaron Jessie
Posted by Aaron on August 15th, 2011
Here’s our latest Ask TGC interview, this time with Aaron Jessie:
What do you do on a day-to-day basis for thatgamecompany?
I’m one of the Environment Artists here at thatgamecompany, so I make everything outside of characters: the rocks, the dirt, the ground, the trees, the sky, just about everything off in the distance, and on and off the beaten path of the player.
How long have you worked for TGC?
I’ve been here for about eight months. Prior to this, I was working on God of War III at Santa Monica Studios.
Samantha Vick: What is your favorite part of game development?
I liked this idea of collaboration and I have always loved video games. That’s kind of the icing on the cake, getting to work on things you’ve always loved as a kid. To me, the greatest part in development is getting to be a part of something that is really exciting and you hope that people will love.
Alex P.: What is the process you follow to create emotional engaging experiences?
Before anything we start off with a general mood scale that we want throughout the game. Whether it’s curious, excited, struggling, etc. Once that’s established we get the level blocked out and establish the mood as visual artists through lighting, fog (atmosphere), scale of the world, faster or slower animations along with music and sound to back it up. Because emotion is so strong at this studio most of our time is spent getting all these elements to feel cohesive and make sense on top of being fun to play.
Categories: About TGC, General, Journey Comments: No Comments
Journey Music Played By Golden State Pops Orchestra
Posted by Aaron on August 2nd, 2011
The Golden State Pops Orchestra played an arrangement of Journey’s music called “Woven Variations.” Journey composer Austin Wintory wrote the piece specifically for the concert. Tina Guo, the cellist for the game, is also featured in the orchestra rocking the cello. This was the first ever live performance of music from Journey, and it couldn’t have been any better! Four different camera angles of the orchestra make up this video, and it has amazing audio, so we hope you’ll like it!
Sound Byte, the music blog over at GameSpot.com, has the video exclusively, together with a brand new interview of Austin Wintory about composing for Journey and the specific arrangement made for the Golden State Pops Orchestra performance.
Click on the image to read the interview and watch the video, or click this link:
http://www.gamespot.com/features/6326086/sound-byte-journey
The Golden State Pops Orchestra’s website
Keep checking on our blog, Facebook page, Forums, and Twitter account for more info on Journey in the future!
Journey E3 2011 Preview Wrapup
Posted by Aaron on June 21st, 2011
In case you missed the onslaught of news articles about Journey over the past two-and-a-half weeks, here’s a roundup of Journey previews from E3 2011:
IGN: Journey: The Basics
“It’s hard to know what Journey is just by looking at screenshots or watching the trailer, so let’s take a closer look at one of the most beautiful games we’ve seen in years.”
G4TV: Journey Hands-On Preview
“Since Journey doesn’t feature dialogue or text-based info of any kind, you’ll have to piece together what catastrophic event has befallen the game world and left in its post-apocalyptic ruin.”
GameSpot: E3 2011: Journey Hands-On Preview
“Whether you decide to meet up is up to you. Like when you bump into someone during your trek up a mountain, you can decide to make the journey together or continue at your own pace, and there’s always the possibility of bumping into the person at another point.”
GamesRadar: Journey Hands-On Preview
“One of the first things you’ll notice when exploring Journey’s vast desert is the pleasure of movement. Everything from sliding down steep dunes to gliding is smooth, joyous, and playful, making the long trip towards the ever-dominant mountain in the distance really quite fun.”
GameInformer: Uncover The Vast Mysteries Of A Desert In Journey
“Even though I was given no explicit directions, Journey’s environmental design did an excellent job of leading me toward my next goal without any handholding which was refreshing and appreciated.”
Check out more interviews in English as well as nihongo, Italiano, and Português by clicking the “more” button below.
Journey Interview Video Wrapup
Posted by Aaron on June 14th, 2011
Wow! That was one heck of a week! I’ve been busy tweeting and Facebooking about all of the awards and nominations that Journey has been getting, and there are a couple that the winners haven’t been announced yet.
Anyways, a “News Roundup” thing wouldn’t really work that well for E3, because there were dozens of articles all over teh interwebs from big sites, and even more from little indie sites. So, I’ve decided to put up something that is more awesome than words! Videos! Here are five video interviews from GameTrailers TV, G4TV, IGN, and GameSpot.
Click on each image to open the video in a new tab/window:
GameTrailers TV
G4TV
thatgamecompany is Five Years Old!
Posted by Aaron on May 19th, 2011
thatgamecompany turned five years old today (Editor’s mistake: Yesterday, oops!), so here’s some cake that’s not a lie!
It’s been a great five years, with our third game coming out soon, and we are looking forward to another five great years making games that challenge the traditional meaning of games and appeal to hardcore, dormant, and non-gamers.
