Gamasutra 20 'Breakthrough' Honoree:
Thatgamecompany
http://www.thatgamecompany.com/
Studio overview
The company was founded in 2006 by two USC grads who had a
goal of making games that evoke a specific feeling. The company's first title
was flOw, which was part of cofounder
Jenova Chen's thesis for graduation from the Interactive Media Division.
Key staff
Creative director Jenova Chen graduated from USC in 2006,
where he helped develop flOw and concept
the as-yet unrealized Cloud; after
graduation, he worked at Maxis for a brief period of time but left to continue
on full-time with thatgamecompany.
Kellee Santiago, who is the president and cofounder of
thatgamecompany, worked with Chen on Cloud;
she also was involved with developing Darfur
is Dying, which highlighted the plight of Darfur
refugees and received a grant from MTVu.
Resume highlights
Thatgamecompany's first release, flOw, which has gamers evolving an organism over a series of
levels, began as a student project for graduation. Based on the theory of
Active Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment (ADDA), the game was built with the idea
that players should be able to adjust the difficulty of a game without having
to exit to a menu or start over.
The project eventually led to a three-game
deal with Sony for PlayStation Network, the first of which was flOw, which was released in the spring
of 2007; the game was later ported to the PSP in 2008.
What's next
The developer's next game, Flower, continues the themes of flOw
-- both in terms of its naturalistic world, and its innovative,
technology-driven gameplay. It will be released later this year.
Our take
"The company's single release, flOw, has gotten lots of press, not just for its thoughtful
approach to casual game design, but also as early proof of the PlayStation
Network's worth as a service. As a company, thatgamecompany is different, from
its unassuming name to its small-team structure and lofty goals.
TGC is one of
a new breed of students-turned-professional-developers, with plenty of theory
under the members' collective belts, and a different approach to what
constitutes "fun".
The next release, Flower, should prove the company is not just a one-trick pony. Not
that I know anything about it..."
-
Brandon Sheffield
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1.) Kyle Gabler
2.) Joseph M. Tringali, Jeremiah Slaczka
3.) Frank Lantz
4.) Katsura Hashino, Shigenori Soejima
5.) Tom Fulp, John Baez, Dan Paladin
6.) Max Hoberman
7.) Tim Schafer
8.) Goichi Suda
9.) Randy Pitchford
10.) Vlad Ceraldi, Joel DeYoung, Ron Gilbert
11.) Steve Fawkner
12.) Akihiro Hino
13.) Mark Healey, Alex Evans
14.) Mare Sheppard, Raigan Burns
15.) Shinji Mikami, Atsushi Inaba
16.) Dylan Cuthbert, Kenkichi Shimooka
17.) Jenova Chen, Kellee Santiago
18.) Masato Maegawa
19.) Michael Booth
20.) Dave Gilbert
Also, a football team is made up of a lot of people - however, that doesn't stop us from learning and talking about star players like Bret Favre, Joe Montana, etc.
Also, a film is made by many people - however, that doesn't stop us learning about key creators like William Golding, Steven Spielberg, Francois Truffaut, Roman Polanski, etc.
Also, many people are needed to construct a building - however that doesn't stop us giving recognition to key designers like Frank Lloyd Wright, Daniel Libskind, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, etc.
(Shall I continue...?)
There is no excuse for the game industry to obstinately refuse to acknowledge and celebrate the talent of those individuals who have exceptional talent.
I'm...not sure what you want!
I sure am making a post on the internet. Hi mom!
Besides, I didn't know posts could be edited. Where's the button?
We can't go in to these studios and evaluate their skills and find that hidden gem. Nobody will pay us to do that. It's the responsibility of two parties, the companies themselves, and the persons themselves.
-end quote-
There IS a completely logical and near-effortless alternative: contacting the developers before these articles are written and polling them directly for key personnel on their staff. For instance, some noteworthy people who work/have worked with Dave Gilbert are Peter Gresser (Lead Musician), Ian Schlaepfer (Lead Artist for Blackwell Legacy/ Portrait Artist for Blackwell Convergence), Erin Robinson (Lead Artist for Blackwell Unbound), and myself (sprites/animations for The Shivah and Lead Artist for Blackwell Convergence).
I'm sure a quick email could've gotten you all this and more, though! :)
"with Activision apparently opting not to publish the title after acquiring Vivendi Games. "
Err... Sorry????
It's Vivendi who aquired Activision & merged it with Vivendi Games. Yes it's true that the Activision board now lead the game branch of Vivendi but still.. Vivendi IS THE BOSS.
Vivendi holds 54% of Activision Blizzard, so I'm not sure you can tell that Activision aquired anything..
Citing other industries and media is no excuse. I find it just as bad in the film industry that the talent of a whole team and the culture of the company that team resides in (which contributes hugely to how a game is produced) is neglected in favor of single-person worship/stardom.
So, I think that naming the companies AND some of the names of the leads there is appropiate.
Just naming the few leads - like you suggest - is just not enough.
No, Vivendi Games is indeed now a subsidiary of Activision. Also, Vivendi (the parent company, not Games) owns a controlling interest in Activision.
Excuse for what? For standing up for the contributions of key creators?
Like it or not, experience and hundreds of years of history show that key talented people - leaders, shapers - make a difference far out of proportion to their singular number. You can argue against this, but you do so in the face of a vast amount of evidence.
If you have a team of 100, you can pull someone at random and the creative output probably won't change - but if you pull a leader, a shaper, then suddenly the quality and quantity of that output falls a full magnitude.
But what's more - recognition of the effort AND talent of individuals is fundamental to progress out of the dark ages of collectivist tribalism into the enlightenment of self-awareness and humanistic accomplishment.
When faced with real talent, humans generally skew along three trends. They actively suppress it (the old "barrel of monkeys pulling down anyone who rises"); they tolerate it, and let it be "part of the team"; or they openly celebrate it and actively search for and fund it (and that means rewarding it).
I am arguing for the latter.
This, however, already happens. Maybe not enough though.
someone started http://www.internetgamedatabase.com/ but it has no content yet...
What is wrong to actually SHOW some people, see the people who make consumers and gamers enjoy and have good time for HOURS. Show the people we want to cherish, copy and celebrate.
Claiming it's unfair for the ones who are not on the picture is pure BS and so lame. If they work on a project they love next time they will, and next time they will demand to appear on the "collective shot for Gamasutra, the gamedev industry bible".
It's all about making change! We're not made in the stone.
I love to see the face of Introversion guys, or have a big picture of Ken Levine or Will Wright or Jon Blow speaking on a video stream... Watching Raph Koster playing guitar and all,
Of course you can be a big fat nerdy gamedev and so what, making efforts like Gabe Newell (he did lose weight and it was not to use Outlook) isn't bad for you.
And it's certainly good for us, gamedev people. Step up and exist!