Grad-School Thesis Becomes PS3 Game

Carl Bialik from WSJ writes, "USC student Jenova Chen's Flash game, 'flOw,' attracted interest from Sony, which commissioned an enhanced version that will be sold through its PlayStation Network, WSJ.com reports. From the article: 'Gameplay is incredibly smooth, particularly for a Flash game. But it's the design touches that set flOw apart. Players will notice faint outlines of the creatures lurking at lower depths, a foreboding sign that vicious manta- and squid-like enemies await. The water darkens as the creature advances to deeper levels. The game's ambient sound is somewhat hypnotic. The intuitive controls and design simplicity are among Mr. Chen's mandate: build immersive games for people who don't consider themselves gamers. 'My parents and grandparents don't play games. My girlfriend, she doesn't play either,' he says. 'I want to make games that those people can appreciate.'"

Good

[Ekhymosis]

It's about time someone decides to make a game that doesn't depend on the bleeding edge graphics, but focuses more on gameplay and fun factor. I hope Sony doesn't rape this student's idea.

Sigh, I miss the lucas arts adventure games days. Crap graphics, damn good fun.

Re:Good

[Brain Damaged Bogan]

"It's about time someone decides to make a game that doesn't depend on the bleeding edge graphics, but focuses more on gameplay and fun factor." umm... Nintendo have been doing this for years... and has made this the major focus of the Wii... I'm surprised that Nintendo didn't go grab this guy before sony...

Squid???

[Anonymous Coward]

Yea.. when I want my father or my girlfriend to play a game, I just tell them "Keep playing.. THERE'S SQUID!"

I don't mean this to be a troll.. I'm just saying things like Nintendogs are a little more compelling than "Find the darker water with the giant squid. Then kill it, and you'll find even MORE, DARKER squids!"

For non-gamers, Cute puppies > Ugly squid, that's all I'm saying.. and that's not even bringing Sims 2 into it.. my girlfriend couldn't understand why I liked building houses and stuff until she actually got the hang of it. Now it's one of her primary relaxation games, and frankly, her being entertained is worth a hell of a lot more than what I spent on it (especially since it frees the TV up for me to play Saint's Row hehehe)

Not a fanboy of any system, just my own experience and opinion :)

Re:Good

[Gulthek]

Crap graphics!? An insult! Are you really saying that Monkey Island 2 or The Dig weren't a couple of the prettiest examples of pixelart ever to grace a gamer's screen? You sure as hell better not be including the wonderful world of Grim Fandango in your reference. Gah!

Oh and look up Nintendo -> Wii. Sheesh. Everyone always drags out this tired argument of "Games today don't care about anything but graphics" and ignore all the hojillion great games we have available that aren't all about the shiny graphics. We have more choice in gameplay NOW than ever!

Re:Good

[scoot80]

I agree - a lot of games these days with slick graphics, but poor gameplay. A game which really involves you is going to be good regardles of whether it has DirectX 40343233 or is text mode. Hell, has anyone played LORD on a BBS before?

Re:Good

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm sorry, but I think all the hype about this game is ridiculous. Everyone I know who's actually played the game did so for maximum half an hour never to play it again after. Mod me down if you want, but I think this is bullshit. I'm not saying the game itself isn't well made, because it certainly is, but it does NOT appeal to many people and it doesn't even follow the pretentious thesis that it's supposedly designed after.

Re:Good

[Korin43]

Seems like it's an odd choice for Sony to try for "normal people". With a $600 system they shouldn't be making games for anyone but hardcore gamers..

Re:Good

[Anonymous Coward]

Way to rewrite history, there. LucasArts adventure games had quite good graphics at the time. Certainly better than their competition from Sierra. They're not that great now, but one of the draws of LucasArts games was their excellent graphics direction (not necessarily the best graphics, but consistent and appropriate to the game). Sure shoots a hole in your theory, eh?

I suppose you're arguing about the point-and-click style games? Well... you could argue that the Myst series had excellent graphics, too - and a substantial number of gamers (and "historians" like yourself) would agree with you, while others (like me) think they were boring, non-interactive and too cinematic (much like the old LucasArts games, but admittedly with much better graphics than those).

But really, how's it anything but a subjective opinion? I believe Myst and Riven are the only games my mom has ever enjoyed, for instance. And even I still remember how much fun it was to discover the different endings of many of those LucasArts games, way back when.

But I'd never say the Lucas Arts games were "historically significant" because of their graphics, though. Illustrative and "appropriate" as you contend, perhaps... there were FAR superior games graphically in that day and age, even on the NES - just look at... any side scroller. Ones with ghosts that appeared out of nowhere with intensifying opacity, and convincing lightning, rain & snow, and all the hallmarks of "video game realism", all in less than 20 colors. The Ninja Gaiden's come to mind... even had theatrical cutscenes.

Maniac Mansion, on the other hand, could (for the most part) be done as a text-based game and still retain some of its fun. Ninja Gaiden? Right.

I don't even care, I just don't like trolls who whoop out the old strawman for the sake of their karma. He didn't have a theory, and he certainly didn't rewrite history! You gave him a theory for you to shoot down. Very simple. And it worked, you got your stupid karma points.

*cough*strawman*cough*

Re:Good

[Coryoth]

I'm sorry, but I think all the hype about this game is ridiculous. Everyone I know who's actually played the game did so for maximum half an hour never to play it again after.

I sat down and played the game. It was fun, and had an extremely simple and intuitive interface. For a flash game it had quite a high degree of polish. I'm not sure of its replay value as it stands however. As you suggest, I played for about half an hour but don't find myself feeling any particular desire to continue or go back to it. The weakness, ultimately, is the relative sameness of the gameplay as you advance - there simply isn't anything particularly new or different; nothing to aspire to achieve. Of course in a full blown version there will likely be rather more effort put into developing and extending the levels so that new material can be introduced as you proceed - perhaps the "evolution" steps could introduce significant new skills so as to overcome new challenges etc.

So I guess I both agree and disagree with you. Yes the game, as it stands, is intriguing but lacks replay value. On the other hand the base is reasonably strong, and if someone creative can expand upon that to creater a longer fuller game experience... so much the better.

Not much depth

[ikarys]

For a game thats touted as being so excellent, its pretty boring and shallow.

I played fl0w for about 30 minutes.. you just grow this creature in a pretty limited fashion by eating things on different z-depth levels.

The stuff I've read on flow is all about freedom of choice, and playing how you want, and being simple to pickup, and the sense of satisfaction - After 30 mins, it becomes extremely boring, there is no sense of satisfaction, and it gets surprisingly hard (well i guess its hard.. these other huge "creatures" try to eat some bulby bits off you.

Perhaps there is some amazing part of fl0w that I've missed - other worlds, a "level up" feature, some ability other than swimming to the mouse cursor

This game is not fantastic, however, the ideas behind its design are great

But the whole point

[el_womble]

was that it was a nice little inuitive game. This crys out to played on the DS or the Wii (more likely the DS).

analog stick mouse touch pad

I think the wrong super power bought this game - in the same way as trying to squeeze GTA onto a DS would be stupid.

/usr/games/snake anyone?

[PhotoGuy]

Move around, eat something, grow larger? Kind of based on the classic BSD (I think) and other early computer game, "Snake." (But with fancy graphics, smooth navigation, and Z levels.) Cool, yes. Revolutionary? Ummmm...

Re:Good

[ectal]

Yes, LucasArts adventure games are gorgeous!

Are the graphics-obsessed gamers of today simply victims of advertising? Programmed to forget what impressed them yesterday and to discard everything that isn't NEW NEW NEW?

What was gorgeous on the PS2 (ICO, for instance) is now in the category of HORRIBLE HORRIBLE HORRIBLE? Games from Xbox 1 that made me drop my jaw once (DOA3) are now crude, primitive reminders of a forgotten time? Or how about that "terrible" GameCube with that "awful-looking" and "low-res" Resident Evil 4 game that came out not that freakin' long ago?

It's getting so boring! In my world, you have to go back 20+ years to start talking about most things looking ugly. And what about games like Metroid on the NES? Aren't those great graphics? Didn't that old Mac game Dark Castle have incredible graphics? What about the first Prince of Persia?

No, no, no. Not to today's zombie consumer gamers or zombie whore game reviewers... If it came out more than a year ago or if it's on the Wii, it's got crappy graphics.

The first Half-Life, every Zelda game, POP: Sands of Time, Morrowind, Halo, you name it... Fun to play? Sure. But I guess the graphics are now crap, crap, crap, crap, crap...

Re:Good

[twistedsymphony]

It plays Blu-ray ... movies

While I agree it does do a lot, most of those things aren't why it costs $600

That $600 price tag is due mostly in part to that one little bullet item right there, the price could almost be halved if they removed that "feature". In my personal opinion it's that one price raising feature that changes this console from a "sure buy" into a "I'll wait a few years for a price drop"

Not only has that feature raised the price of the console itself, but it's also mostly responsible for the nearly year long delays we've experienced and the laughably small number of consoles available. It also raises the price of disc manufacturing, has slower disc read speeds (which directly hinders gameplay), and throws gamers directly in the middle of a format war whether they like it or not.

You're not paying $600 for a feature filled PS3, you pay about $300-$400 for the PS3 and another $200-$300 for Blu-Ray. Personally, I think consumers and the Playstation brand alike would have been better off without it.

I don't know which is more infuriating.

[kinglink]

The fact that a graduate student made a game similar to early levels of Spore.

The fact a graduate student thinks a casual gamer is going to buy a 600 dollar console.

Or the fact that the graduate student thinks a console is better for a casual gamer than a flash?

Re:Good

[MikeBabcock]

The original Prince of Persia had beautiful graphics, so did Zelda on the N64. Dig had beautiful graphics, and so does Grandia III. I only played Dig because it looked gorgeous ... the plot didn't intrigue me until several hours into the game. Prince of Persia was more famous for its perfect (for the time) animations of human movement than for gameplay. Zelda had intrigue and fun as well as good graphics, and I very much enjoyed the plot of Grandia III as well despite some of its gameplay issues.

Would Burnout 3 or 4 be as much fun without pretty graphics? Maybe, but the incredible collisions and blurring movement are more than half the fun of that game, and I have people travel to my house to play them in PLII surround regularly because it has great sound too.

There's a lot of room for gameplay improvements in games, and a lot of room for graphics improvements as well, and I'm most looking forward to sound improvements what with live dts and DD capabilities on the PS3 (yes, I know the Xbox did DD -- didn't have any games I wanted to listen to).