It’s been a long time, but anyone who has played Journey will never forget the feeling of their first trip through the desert. The work of thatgamecompany It amazed like few others, it marked a before and after in the indie market and 10 years after its premiere it still remains a benchmark in the industry.
On the occasion of such an important date, the title art director, Matt Nava, has wanted to share various conceptual arts that originated with the development. Discarded ideas, different points of view or very clear ideas that are compiled through an extensive thread on Twitter.
10 years ago today @thatgamecompany released #journey. I was the art director. It set the course of my career and my art. I’m forever grateful to the community of players and their incredible love for the game. This is a thread comparing early dev images and how things shipped. pic.twitter.com/alcHmHWUmM
— Matt Nava (@matt_nava) March 13, 2022
10 years ago today Thatgamecompany released Journey. I was the art director. He marked the course of my career and my art. I will always be grateful to the gaming community and their incredible love for the game. This is a thread that compares early development images and how they ended up being.
For example, it shows us the different models for the humanoid character that we control and points out that they were all controllable at some point. Regarding the color of the sky, we start with a green tone and Nava he wanted to give the player the sky blue in the final stretch As a reward.
One of the most memorable moments of Journey is when we sand surfed a really big section. Nava explains that it was one of the most difficult parts of the entire work to create due to its complexity. The shadows of the game do not appear automatically either, so the person in charge he managed to paint them by hand. A brutal dedication.
There are many anecdotes that Nava tells and that you can review in his thread. Her artistic contribution is unique, as can be seen in his other projects such as Abzu or The Pathless. On the other hand, austin wintorycomposer of the beautiful soundtrack for Journey, has reinterpreted it with the London Symphony Orchestra and the result is spectacular.
