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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.'"

19 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. "My girlfriend, she doesn't play either." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    No wonder he has the time to create games. Poor bastard.

    1. Re:"My girlfriend, she doesn't play either." by stud9920 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I bet she does ! Nudge, nudge, Know what I mean?

  2. Good by Ekhymosis · · Score: 5, Insightful
    It's about time someone decides to make a game that doesn't depend on the bleeding edge graphics, but focuses more on gameplay and fun factor. I hope Sony doesn't rape this student's idea.

    Sigh, I miss the lucas arts adventure games days. Crap graphics, damn good fun.

    --
    Fighting over religion is like seeing whose imaginary friend is best.
    1. Re:Good by Brain+Damaged+Bogan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "It's about time someone decides to make a game that doesn't depend on the bleeding edge graphics, but focuses more on gameplay and fun factor." umm... Nintendo have been doing this for years... and has made this the major focus of the Wii... I'm surprised that Nintendo didn't go grab this guy before sony...

      --
      -- Sex is the antonym of pringles. Once you pop it's time to stop.
    2. Re:Good by Gulthek · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Crap graphics!? An insult! Are you really saying that Monkey Island 2 or The Dig weren't a couple of the prettiest examples of pixelart ever to grace a gamer's screen? You sure as hell better not be including the wonderful world of Grim Fandango in your reference. Gah!

      Oh and look up Nintendo -> Wii. Sheesh. Everyone always drags out this tired argument of "Games today don't care about anything but graphics" and ignore all the hojillion great games we have available that aren't all about the shiny graphics. We have more choice in gameplay NOW than ever!

    3. Re:Good by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I'm sorry, but I think all the hype about this game is ridiculous. Everyone I know who's actually played the game did so for maximum half an hour never to play it again after. Mod me down if you want, but I think this is bullshit. I'm not saying the game itself isn't well made, because it certainly is, but it does NOT appeal to many people and it doesn't even follow the pretentious thesis that it's supposedly designed after.

    4. Re:Good by flimflammer · · Score: 4, Informative

      I work at Sony Computer Entertainment America in their FPQA division (I'm a game tester)

      While I really cannot legally spill any details about any of the current projects that are in this department, I will say if you enjoyed the original flash game, the enhanced version will be a treat.

      Rest assured, the idea was not raped.

    5. Re:Good by pla · · Score: 4, Informative

      I'm sorry, but I think all the hype about this game is ridiculous. Everyone I know who's actually played the game did so for maximum half an hour never to play it again after.

      I'd have to agree with you, and I will admit that I did enjoy it for that half-hour.

      As the biggest problem I see with turning it into a "real" game, it lacked any conceptual hooks whereby you could flesh it out into something that would take significantly longer than that half hour to finish.

      I suppose they could add bigger, meaner enemies (though by the lowest depths, the enemies had already gotten absurdly complex - More than once, I found myself chasing a fast enemy in tight circles, slowly wearing it down by eating 10 of its energy pellets for every 9 it nabbed from me). They could stick in artificial "quests" such as the old standby of find-the-keys and save-the-princess-slash-hostage. They could break it into more expansive worlds for each depth (though then how do you prevent the player from killing 27,416,318 bunnies at the first level by locking the controller in a tight turn for a week, then breezing through the rest?), but just about anything you tack onto it would detract from the original intuitive UI design.


      Oh well, good luck to Sony with that. Perhaps they will make something good out of it - I suppose, with a lot of artificiality tacked on, they could manage something as playable as E.V.O. for the SNES. And in five years, when the PS3 goes for $50 and its games for $10 on the used market, I might even pick it up and give it a try.

    6. Re:Good by Fred_A · · Score: 4, Funny

      And it can be used to press wild flowers
      And you can build houses out of it (if you buy enough units)
      And "PS3" upside down looks like "ESd"
      *And* it fits in your pocket ! (if you have very large pockets)

      What a deal !

      --

      May contain traces of nut.
      Made from the freshest electrons.
    7. Re:Good by DrXym · · Score: 4, Informative
      I've played Flow all the way to the bottom and onto the next level and I sort of agree with what you are.

      Part of the problem with the game is there are no obvious instructions as what you're meant to do. It turns out you eat everything in site (except the blues & reds that move you up and down). You even eat the humongous creatures by going for the spots in their body. Once you get all the spots the creature (without it eating you in turn), it will dissolve into bits that you eat.

      But it is a trippy experience and I can see that the game could be fleshed out in interesting ways, or even make a cool screensaver. BTW, Want to know what happens when you get to the bottom? You start again in an orange ocean as a different creature.

    8. Re:Good by ectal · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yes, LucasArts adventure games are gorgeous!

      Are the graphics-obsessed gamers of today simply victims of advertising? Programmed to forget what impressed them yesterday and to discard everything that isn't NEW NEW NEW?

      What was gorgeous on the PS2 (ICO, for instance) is now in the category of HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE? Games from Xbox 1 that made me drop my jaw once (DOA3) are now crude, primitive reminders of a forgotten time? Or how about that "terrible" GameCube with that "awful-looking" and "low-res" Resident Evil 4 game that came out not that freakin' long ago?

      It's getting so boring! In my world, you have to go back 20+ years to start talking about most things looking ugly. And what about games like Metroid on the NES? Aren't those great graphics? Didn't that old Mac game Dark Castle have incredible graphics? What about the first Prince of Persia?

      No, no, no. Not to today's zombie consumer gamers or zombie whore game reviewers... If it came out more than a year ago or if it's on the Wii, it's got crappy graphics.

      The first Half-Life, every Zelda game, POP: Sands of Time, Morrowind, Halo, you name it... Fun to play? Sure. But I guess the graphics are now crap, crap, crap, crap, crap...

      --
      http://nerdcartoons.com/
  3. You want your grandparents to game? by PaulB007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    For the grandparents, try suggesting "The Depression: Revisited" It will be an MMORPG based on the hardships of 30's living. You will get to experience the thrills, and the excitement of living in this time. You can choose to live in a Hooverville, even better, work someones field for them at a nickle an hour, and maybe you will be able to buy a few pieces of bread to keep your character alive. Feel the excitement of jumping onto a train! If you miss, well your fault. Blood and gore of bodies cut in half by the trains. Go to work in a factory! You can start producing weapons to bring back those good time memories of the beginning of World War II.

  4. Squid??? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Yea.. when I want my father or my girlfriend to play a game, I just tell them "Keep playing.. THERE'S SQUID!"

    I don't mean this to be a troll.. I'm just saying things like Nintendogs are a little more compelling than "Find the darker water with the giant squid. Then kill it, and you'll find even MORE, DARKER squids!"

    For non-gamers, Cute puppies > Ugly squid, that's all I'm saying.. and that's not even bringing Sims 2 into it.. my girlfriend couldn't understand why I liked building houses and stuff until she actually got the hang of it. Now it's one of her primary relaxation games, and frankly, her being entertained is worth a hell of a lot more than what I spent on it (especially since it frees the TV up for me to play Saint's Row hehehe)

    Not a fanboy of any system, just my own experience and opinion :)

  5. You must have missed it. by Tokerat · · Score: 4, Informative

    Katamari Damacy

    --
    CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
  6. Get it here by TubeSteak · · Score: 4, Informative

    The link to the website only seems /.'ed
    The direct links are still alive
    Try the Coralized links first

    Offline Version
    ftp://intihuatani.usc.edu.nyud.net:8090/Cloud/flow _04142006.zip
    http://intihuatani.usc.edu.nyud.net:8090/Cloud/flo wing/flow_04142006.zip
    The SWF
    http://intihuatani.usc.edu.nyud.net:8090/cloud/flo wing/core.swf

    -ftp://intihuatani.usc.edu/Cloud/flow_04142006.zip
    -http://intihuatani.usc.edu/Cloud/flowing/flow_041 42006.zip
    -http://intihuatani.usc.edu/cloud/flowing/core.swf

    --
    [Fuck Beta]
    o0t!
  7. Re:I've Always Wanted to Say This... by i.of.the.storm · · Score: 4, Funny

    How ironic... post screaming DUPE gets modded redundant.

    --
    All your base are belong to Wii.
  8. Also for PS3's "older crowd"... by Kadin2048 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think my folks are holding out for the action-packed title "When I Was Your Age: Walking Home From School In the Snow, Uphill, Both Ways".

    It's a sort of FPS/RTS hybrid game. The atmospherics alone are going to blow your mind.

    --
    "Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
  9. 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.

  10. Not much depth by ikarys · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For a game thats touted as being so excellent, its pretty boring and shallow.

    I played fl0w for about 30 minutes.. you just grow this creature in a pretty limited fashion by eating things on different z-depth levels.

    The stuff I've read on flow is all about freedom of choice, and playing how you want, and being simple to pickup, and the sense of satisfaction - After 30 mins, it becomes extremely boring, there is no sense of satisfaction, and it gets surprisingly hard (well i guess its hard.. these other huge "creatures" try to eat some bulby bits off you.

    Perhaps there is some amazing part of fl0w that I've missed - other worlds, a "level up" feature, some ability other than swimming to the mouse cursor

    This game is not fantastic, however, the ideas behind its design are great