Your use of the word "deserve" is the root of the problem imo.
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Dice 2013: Thatgamecompany was bankrupt when they shipped Journey
- Thread starter TheOddOne
- Start date
Your use of the word "deserve" is the root of the problem imo.
They had a three game contract deal. So they never had intention of working with them permanently.
Hydrargyrus
Member
I don't know why Sony did not buy this studio...
Some of you guys need to learn how a publishing deal works. It's not a blank cheque.
Maybe it was overvalued by its owners? Maybe Sony decided there's no point after the key creatives left? Could be any number of reasons.
Maybe it was overvalued by its owners? Maybe Sony decided there's no point after the key creatives left? Could be any number of reasons.
Hydrargyrus
Member
But they sould be create another one like this or do a little team inside Media Molecule. A small team for innovative games, with low budget.
Phoenician_Viking
Banned
TGC wanted to stay independent. Sony can´t do much if anything about that.
Pseudo_Sam
Survives without air, food, or water
lol, one page design doc. Either that's not the actual design doc and they're just trying to score some weird indie artsy cred, or there's some pretty ridiculous mismanagement within TGC. I mean there's no way they didn't write down animation movesets or menu flowcharts or anything else.
Baconsammy
Banned
Really? I thought it was one of the few times Sixaxis worked well. Granted my only other real experience with it was log-walking in Uncharted 1.
Kenshin001
Member
Maybe the head people at Sony are just clueless. Speaking of which, thought it was weird they thanked Shuhei Yoshida at DICE since early last year Chen said it was because of Phil Harrison they signed the deal. Poor Phil got snubbed.
Oyashrio-Sama
Member
...What?
You're talking about maybe a 10 man development team. It isn't like they had designers hand things off to engineers or anything, they literally just made it themselves. You really don't need any design docs in that kind of space. Especially if they're constantly iterating.
Pseudo_Sam
Survives without air, food, or water
Because smaller dev teams don't write things down. Okay. Though it would go some way to explaining the dreadfully anemic gameplay I guess.
toastyToast
Member
Oh fuck :lol
Oh shiit am hurt lolol.
les papillons sexuels
Banned
remember that game snake?
the one where you're 4 blocks and you eat things and gain a block... Now, imagine that game, but as a cloud, or as some microbe, or perhaps flower pedals...
And rightfully so. This is probably the one award in gaming that actually matters. Being recognized by your peers is a great thing.
zerokoolpsx
Member
Damn dude....
I got cold chills, I can't say I'm jelous of the experience that person had and the events which caused it but I could say I can at least understand.
Your inability to perceive the simple depth to the game (and it really is quite simple) isn't our problem. The ridiculous quantity of praise and awards heaped on them is completely deserved. Sorry you don't see it, perhaps it was over hyped for you, or you had too high expectations (or both) - I went in to the game with high expectations after the incredible flower and couldn't believe they'd made an even better game.
Both Journey and Flower are without any question at all, the finest examples of video games as art that exist.
fvng
Member
The implication of your post is that Sony is nefariously screwing those developers and causing them to shut down (this isn't true in the least, especially since those devs will continue to operate on a smaller scale)
They were second party studios hired to make game(s). That's it. Contract completed.
It's funny how the press or gaffers will spin a story with a headline like the
"Sony officially cuts ties with Superbot"
When a more accurate headline would be:
"Superbot moves onto other projects after completing one game deal with Sony"
Which headline gets more clicks? Which headline is eaten up by anyone looking for additional cannon fodder against Sony?
Obviously GAF's headline implies some sort of bad blood between Sony and TGC and then gamers eagerly take the bait since it's sensational.
How is this any better than Kotaku on their worst day?
You are essentially perpetuating the misrepresentation of what happened with your previous post.
My prediction with regard to quantic dream's 3 game deal with Sony. Once their third game is done they will obviously move on to other multi platform projects. The press will spin the contract completion as the result of irreconcilable differences and the result of bad blood between David Cage & Sony. GAF eats it up and says Sony mistreats their second party studios
The only thing which even comes close to me is Okami HD - not the same feelings but similar joy, innocence and beauty. Definitely not as good but a great game regardless.
feint_ruled
Member
Oh my, that letter in the Polygon article. I've.. I've got something in my eye...
Magic Mushroom
Member
Nice to see this cleaned up at the DICE awards. As for that letter, it shows how much of a chord this game struck. Wonderful.
Naked Snake
Member
I for one loved Journey a lot more than Flower. I loved the first few levels of Flower, but at some point the experience broke down for me and I lost interest (didn't finish it). Not so with Journey, that game had very few of any low moments for me.
test_account
XP-39C²
Daymn, Journey won 8 awards on Dice! Congrats, ThatGameCompany!
Brad Grenz
Member
No kidding. And I'd love to see the multiplatform publisher that would have signed a blind 3 game deal with complete creative control for the developers.
It's amazing that we've gotten to the point that the fact that Sony has been so proactive about backing so many niche and risky projects is being spun as a negative. They take way more chances than any other publisher of a comparable size. Of course they have more failures, and not everything is going to get an automatic sequel. But a lot of the teams people are grumbling about got 3 years of paid work for a lot of people that they never would have gotten from any other publisher. There's only so much Sony can do when the market turns its nose up at games like Starhawk and All-Stars.
AbandonedTrolley
Member
Flower was amazing and somehow seemed more of a game to me than Journey, although I loved that too.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Doesn't seems like the story they will carry. Too positive for a videogame article
reddwarf42
Member
Burn. Good one.
Yup, this is how I felt about thatgamecompany's games... downloaded the fl0w demo and didn't particularly care for that one. But Flower was soooo awesome, apart from the sixaxis controls (wish they'd give you the option to control with the analog sticks).
badcrumble
Member
Journey's verbs (move/jump/sing/camera) are pretty simple, and they got about as much out of them as they possibly could. Gorgeous art and the multiplayer was gorgeously designed too (the inability to grief or compete and the sensitivity of the assorted verbs made it easy to cooperate and made personality emerge from another player's actions - they never felt like NPCs). Brilliant way to give people positive feelings without resorting to aggression or leveling up to give the basic achievement high.
GhaleonQ
Member
I don't understand why they're speaking at a DICE summit. Their experience was not replicable. It's not advisable. Is it just supposed to be inspiring? It is that.
I hate it when snark derails a topic, but this once:
That got a full-body laugh. Wonderful.
I hate it when snark derails a topic, but this once:
That got a full-body laugh. Wonderful.
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
--Frost
Looks like the article has been updated with the full video of the presentation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S684RQHzmGA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S684RQHzmGA
I am saying that it would probably be a smart idea to identify developers of talent, even if their games aren't initially a smash. That it'd be smart (and admirable) to take someone like Sanzaru and keep them around so they can continue to make good games for your platform. Same with Lightbox, and especially TGC.
Just watched this, thanks for posting this link. Boy am I glad they went for that extra year even though in the end it bankrupted the company which is quite tragic. In the end, the product speaks for itself and I would be proud as one can be for being a part of the team that created this amazing game/experience.