Jenova Chen speaks on the art of making games
UCR students learn the creative process of game development
Ryan Simon
Issue date: 6/2/09 Section: Entertainment
Last Tuesday afternoon was a stimulating time for prospective game designers, artists and writers at UCR. "Art, Entertainment, and Video Games", an event presented by the Mellon Workshop on Affect, Technics, and Ethics, featured Jenova Chen, a 28-year-old up-and-coming game developer, creator and co-founder of thatgamecompany.
Chen, a first-generation video game design graduate from USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Program, is the designer of the award-winning "Cloud" and "flOw", as well as the creative director of "Flower" (pictured above), all three of which are original video games for PlayStation 3 and PC.
The event began with a hands-on experience with Chen and company's latest work, "Flower". The first thing one will notice about "Flower" is its immediate beauty and its contrast between urban cities and nature. There is something soothing about the art direction, the music and the motion-controlled game play. In fact, the whole point of "Flower" is to immerse the player into a welcoming field of grass and flowers "inspired by the fields leading to San Francisco," Chen would later explain. The objective of the game is to guide a sole flower petal through the various fields in the game while hitting other flowers, and causing them to bloom. There is no death, no "Game Over" screen, no failures; it is best described as a silent interactive film, and even that description cannot give justice to the game's amazing allure.
After several people gave the game a try, Chen arrived along with a few more students and professors eager to hear his presentation. He began by asking how many gamers sat in the audience, and looking around mostly everyone raised their hands, save for a few Humanities students. "Well, this should be an easy presentation then," Chen laughed, and the audience laughed along with him. Chen went on to note that, thanks to innovations like Nintendo's Wii and DS, more than just young kids and adults that grew up with the Atari and NES are trying video games.
Chen, a first-generation video game design graduate from USC School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Program, is the designer of the award-winning "Cloud" and "flOw", as well as the creative director of "Flower" (pictured above), all three of which are original video games for PlayStation 3 and PC.
The event began with a hands-on experience with Chen and company's latest work, "Flower". The first thing one will notice about "Flower" is its immediate beauty and its contrast between urban cities and nature. There is something soothing about the art direction, the music and the motion-controlled game play. In fact, the whole point of "Flower" is to immerse the player into a welcoming field of grass and flowers "inspired by the fields leading to San Francisco," Chen would later explain. The objective of the game is to guide a sole flower petal through the various fields in the game while hitting other flowers, and causing them to bloom. There is no death, no "Game Over" screen, no failures; it is best described as a silent interactive film, and even that description cannot give justice to the game's amazing allure.
After several people gave the game a try, Chen arrived along with a few more students and professors eager to hear his presentation. He began by asking how many gamers sat in the audience, and looking around mostly everyone raised their hands, save for a few Humanities students. "Well, this should be an easy presentation then," Chen laughed, and the audience laughed along with him. Chen went on to note that, thanks to innovations like Nintendo's Wii and DS, more than just young kids and adults that grew up with the Atari and NES are trying video games.
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