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Grad-School Thesis Becomes PS3 Game

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the hitting-the-bigtime dept.

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes, "USC student Jenova Chen's Flash game, 'flOw,' attracted interest from Sony, which commissioned an enhanced version that will be sold through its PlayStation Network, WSJ.com reports. From the article: 'Gameplay is incredibly smooth, particularly for a Flash game. But it's the design touches that set flOw apart. Players will notice faint outlines of the creatures lurking at lower depths, a foreboding sign that vicious manta- and squid-like enemies await. The water darkens as the creature advances to deeper levels. The game's ambient sound is somewhat hypnotic. The intuitive controls and design simplicity are among Mr. Chen's mandate: build immersive games for people who don't consider themselves gamers. 'My parents and grandparents don't play games. My girlfriend, she doesn't play either,' he says. 'I want to make games that those people can appreciate.'"

4 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. Call me crazy, by QuantumG · · Score: 3, Interesting

    but wasn't "flow" that minigame which was inspired by the first level of Spore? So wouldn't the "production version" of that game, be, umm, Spore? Or are we not making Spore now?

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
    1. Re:Call me crazy, by Yusaku+Godai · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Well, I'm pretty sure flOw came first, actually.
      But if you RTFA it turns out the creator of flOw is now actually on the Spore team. I'm shocked.

      I just wonder if he was hired before or after they had already created the underwater stage of Spore. I would guess after, but it's still amusing.

  2. Great Game by MrIbanez · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The game is great itself. Though the entertainment value isn't as good as the typical games that you would pay for today, the concept itself is good. The construction of the game is also very smooth. Though the goal of being a relaxing game is sometimes not achieved, considering that competitive gamers could get frustrated with not being able to "grow larger".

    Definitely something everyone should try out. Keep in mind though that the Flash game itself is incomplete, but you can post on the forums to give suggestions and discuss the concept with the creator.

  3. Re:You must have missed it. by SnowZero · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Believe it or not, but Katamari Damacy was a challenging game to make work from a graphics standpoint. There was a good article about it in Game Developer magazine a while back. The katamari ball builds up a huge number of objects, thus necessitating the use of low-poly models, even after fancy depth-based culling was implemented for the ball. What's funny is that they turned that "limitation" into a feature by going for a retro look, and nailed it. Along with the simple controls, an excellent soundtrack, and a very different concept of success/failure, it was an instant classic. It does push a playstation to its limits on a triangle-rate basis though.