Journey’s Creator Is Definitely a Final Fantasy VII Fan
The creator of Journey, which took players across an unforgettable, surreal landscape, took his name from Final Fantasy VII. When in high school English class in China, his friend picked his name as Cloud. And of course, his instinct was to choose the even more powerful character, Jenova.
“I felt like I can’t be behind Cloud; I have to pick a character that’s better than Cloud,” said Jenova Chen, game designer from thatgamecompany. “Sephiroth is just too difficult to spell and difficult to pronounce. And I was trying to see, out of the entire Final Fantasy VII [roster], if there’s anyone who is better than Cloud?”
Since both Cloud and Sepiroth stem from Jenova, he decided to name himself after the genderless mother figure.
The company is currently working on Sky, which is set to be an iOS exclusive. It looks to be just as captivating as Flower and Journey, which were both unique in their own right.
“If you really think about the player-to-player interaction in Journey, it’s very minimal,” said Chen. “It’s almost like playing one single tone across the whole melody. But now with many people, we have all kinds of parameters.”
“Like the number of people in a scene, the type of mechanics [in which] they engage with each other. Are they helping each other? Are they competing with each other? Are they potentially protecting each other? That interpersonal gameplay is now a new element that we could utilize to add a new feeling to the game.”
“It’s hard to explain the game, but a good place would be to say that Sky is a game specially created to be played, and shared, among loved ones and family,” said thatgamecompany. “If you can imagine the delight of visiting a theme park where lasting memories are made, we envision Sky will sometimes feel like that.”
Sky is rumoured to release on Apple TV, iOS, and iPad in March 2018. However, it’s release has already been pushed back before, so take that with a grain of salt.