Most of the artistic video games follow a specific template: download on the art of concept, show how the game developed during production, add some comments to connect points. Some tend greatly on the history of the studio, others focus on technology, but it is an installed formula, in the best cases, produced artistic books.
I have been particularly affected by the books of thatgamecompany over the years, due to what they added to this template. Starting Journey In 2012 and the following with Sky In 2024, the studio examined all the boxes you expect from an artistic book, then a layer on dedicated interactive additions.
in JourneyThis means launching an enhanced realistic facilities application that allows you to see the personal models that come out of the book, and in SkyThis means allowing players to survey a star to lock a replica of the book in the game (which they can use to learn about the development of the game from within the game itself). Both set a new tape by including the features of digital rewards as part of the experience of the artistic book.
As part of an attempt to highlight books and documentaries, Polygon manages an e -mail interview with people behind them. Check the full list of reading on a Mega man Book, Housemarque Documentary, and others. less, Sky The director of the Book Project, Cecil Kim, and feature designer Julian Jamesa, discusses history behind the books of thatgamecompany and how Star feature appeared.
Polygon: Once again in Sony, I worked on some books with a group called Bluecanvas. Can you give a little history about what was (he?) What is your participation in that?
Cecil Kim: While working in Sony, I met Justin Yun, founder of Bluecanvas, an online societal magazine and a similar online platform for artStation but with the most powerful focus on traditional art. I finally joined the company as a partner and chief creative official, as it helped overcome the game studio, which has become a section studios. Thanks to my relationship with Sony, we were able to work on it Journey In 2012. We also published many artistic books for games, including System Art 1886and The art of the God of war ascendingAnd HomeWorld Art. When we discussed for the first time the creation of an artistic book skyIt looked like Déjà Vu, where both games were developed by thatgamecompany! Me too [the privilege of] Work closely with everyone who dies Nava [and] Genova Chen Ali Journey.
Do you paint a direct call from Bluecanvas books Sky?
Kim: Yes, Bluecanvas was a boutique studio where creativity was our top priority, and we maintained a strong cooperative relationship with developers. Instead of just handing over artistic works and writing the illustrations of each piece, we aim to create something more in line with the game’s experience and its narrative structure. Journey Set a high tape for both quality and content, so we definitely referred to it and sought to continue the heritage of beautiful artistic books from thatgamecompany.
What are the types of experience and error in obtaining the star’s feature that works in it Sky? Was there other physical/digital crossover ideas that you thought about?
Julian Jamesa: We had two goals in mind with the Star feature: to feel as if we were commenting the director, as well as chasing Zalab. We wanted to give our players a look behind the scenes to the levels they know and love. It took many repetitions to find the correct visual effects to expose the nature of our levels, and went a lot of time to determine the things that should be framing while cutting to enhance these images. Repetition on the flow of experience was also very important, especially because we wanted this to be a multi -player social advantage that players can enjoy together.
Ask On behalf of my book shelfWhy did you decide to work? sky Reservation of similar dimensions to a trip A book, but not exactly the same dimensions a trip book?
Kim: The selection of dimensions did not depend on a specific reason, unlike our desire to facilitate the retaining of the book, especially as we know sky The technical book will have more pages than a trip Art Book.