Journey: Preview & Trailer Round-up
A round-up of video coverage of the new game from thatgamecompany ahead of its general release this week.
Journey, the first of our indie games to look forward to in 2012, finally goes on general release this week. Like the two previous games by developers thatgamecompany Flow and Flower Journey is exclusive to PlayStation Network, and marks the end of the studio's three-title exclusivity deal with Sony. The release comes at the end of a long gestation period: as a small development studio, TGC traditionally take several years to complete each of their games, and the debut trailer for Journey first surfaced back in December 2010: http://youtu.be/fI_NnlTsLME This initial trailer introduces the first playable characters of any TGC game the faceless, billowing cloth characters - and demonstrates the game's epic desert landscapes and barren vistas. Then last summer, IGN uploaded a short gameplay teaser trailer featuring clips of Journey's multi-player co-op gameplay: http://youtu.be/5NlVttFRPpU Journey is the first TGC title to feature online multi-player gameplay, and the co-operative possibilities of the central quest promises to introduce extra depth and involvement for the player. In January, a special trailer was released featuring music from the game by composer Austin Wintory: http://youtu.be/lNHtReya_p0 The soundtrack was recorded by the Macedonia Radio Symphony orchestra, and is TGC's first live-recorded game soundtrack. It expands on one of the most exciting and original aspects of the game to feature in the debut trailer, which hinted at a soaring instrumental score evidencing far greater ambition in terms of sound and music design than most other independent games. Lastly, Playstation have released two developer diaries in the past week featuring behind-the-scenes footage of the game's development process and interviews with its producers, designers and developers. The first video diary looks at TGC's focus on emotion and developing an experience for the player, and how they foster a collaborative working environment in order to create a polished gaming experience with only a small team: http://youtu.be/aO-sKHz6HMI Kellee Santiago, co-founder of thatgamecompany, explains: In Journey I think there is a bit more of a story than our previous games but we still want it to be a very accessible experience: we're not just talking about the controls and the technology, but also the content as well.The second diary includes more information on Journey's gameplay, goals and character arc, and features interviews with crew members on the game's landscape design and development and why they decided on a non-verbal approach to co-op gameplay in order to create a universal experience for a multinational audience: http://youtu.be/qXzYbIguAOE In light of the earlier video covering the game's soundtrack recording, a particularly interesting feature of this diary is a discussion of the influence of the soundtrack on the game's development, and vice versa. TGC and composer Austin Wintory entered into a very iterative process that resulted in the complimentary synthesis of audio and visuals featured in the earlier trailers. Journey is released on PSN on 13th March in North America and 14th March in Europe, and will cost $14.99 / £9.99. It is already available for download for PlayStation Plus subscribers.