Thatgamecompany, the studio behind critically acclaimed indie darlings Flow, Flower, and Journey, simply does not miss. Traditionally, its games have made me listen to myself and feel truly lonely. Sky: Children of the Light, however, is a departure from the studio’s renowned single-player titles – it’s a multiplayer experience where you free spirits by reliving their memories as you fly through deserts, caves, and floating islands in the sky. I recently caught up with thatgamecompany co-founder and creative director Jenova Chen to understand what caused the revered indie studio to combine Journey’s design ethos with a new form of play.
“For me, Sky is as personal as Journey and Flower,” Chen tells me. “One big thing I felt when we finished Journey was a sense of gratitude. We were a very small team and it was a difficult process. We had to go through a lot of mental and financial struggles just to get Journey out the door. To see so many people loving the game… I really feel blessed.
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“I feel thankful for the game, gamers, and gaming editors. At the time when Journey won Game of the Year at IGN, I received three different emails [from editors]. They all congratulated us for winning [even though] I’d never met them. That level of love and connection was the inspiration for Sky. I wanted to make a game that could let the player feel that connection – that we are not alone. I am on the other side of Earth, [but] I feel connected to you because we all love the same thing.”
Chen exudes exactly the kind of warmth you'd expect from someone who makes games about using wind to make flowers blossom and finding companionship in the desert. His philosophy is all about human connection and emotion – that’s what drove him to initially launch Sky exclusively for mobile.
“[After Journey,] a lot of people wrote letters to us,” recalls Chen. “Each story they told was like – they played and met someone in the game, and as they reached the end they felt that person was someone they had lost in the family, and it helped them come out of grief. It’s almost therapeutic. A veteran was contemplating giving up living because he lost his legs in the war, and in Journey he sees hope. He told me it would be amazing if we could share that Journey-like experience with more of his soldier friends.
“I think if people love that experience – connecting with someone online – I want to make it more available. Not just limit it to a platform. A dad asks me, ‘Can I play with my daughter but I don’t have two PlayStations?’ And so I was like, ‘How can I make the next game that can spread what people really like about Journey [available] to a wider audience so a whole family can play together?’ I love games. I know many big gamers love games, but their siblings and spouse and their parents may never appreciate the games. That’s why I feel the only way I could bring more players is to put [Sky] on a platform they own.”
Now that Sky is also out on Nintendo Switch, and supports full cross-play and cross-progression, Chen says with some relief that his dream for a game that can connect people has finally come true. He loves the thought of someone playing the game on a big TV, while their friends visit and join in on their mobile phones or tablets. That way, they can all collectively share the Journey-like experience Sky offers.
Sky has been live for two years now, and there are currently eight worlds available for players to explore, all of which come with their own unique landscapes, puzzles, and stories. It clearly takes inspiration from Journey, both in terms of its art style and emphasis on cooperation with other players. Some puzzles require two people to complete, and you can always count on strangers to come to your aid.
“The number one inspiration we took after Journey being out for so many years is that even today there are still people gathering [and] playing Journey, particularly on the anniversary,” says Chen. “People loved the experience – that they were helped and that their companion was a real person.
“The human to human level… I’m a human being and you’re a human being, we’re on this journey in this world and I was there with you. Many of them said they still want to play it because they want to deliver that experience they had, when someone helped them, to someone else. That’s really the central core to Sky. There’s no incentivisation to help anybody. You don’t get coins, you don’t get experience. When someone helps you, they do it because they want to.”
As I played Sky, another player guided me for a very long time. They extended their hand to me, and when I took it, they led me soaring through the clouds and towards all of the spirits I could unlock. I adore the handholding mechanic because it’s such an expression of friendship and love – to offer your hand to someone and have them take it is a beautiful gesture that is perfectly realised in Sky. We sat down and talked – something you can only do in specific parts of the game’s world – and the guide told me they were from Japan and had to leave to go to bed. The sense of human connection and gratitude Chen so passionately speaks about washed over me.
“This guide system is a new system, it’s literally a day old,” explains Chen. “What we noticed is a lot of the new players, they don’t know how to ask. People don’t know if you need help, so we were thinking, ‘Can we potentially do a little nudge for the players?’ Not like, ‘Hey, if you help a newbie you’re gonna get a candle,’ right? More like making the people who potentially need help be more visible. And so many people decide to stay in this game because [of] the warmth they felt when someone helped them.” Because of this, Chen’s goal is to “maintain the chaos and make people behave nice, and still actually feel that human warmth when you interact with a player that could come from anywhere in the world.”
Chen’s humility, compassion, and warmth ooze throughout every ounce of Sky: Children of the Light. Sharing lit candles and holding hands while soaring through clouds and caves with strangers makes me feel more connected to others than I thought possible in a game. His philosophy, ultimately, is all about kindness.
“The moral core of the Journey value is the Sky value,” Chen says. “I see Sky as [Journey's] younger sister.”
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