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Jenova Chen intentionally made Flower less fun
At the Develop conference currently underway in the UK, Jenova Chen mentioned during a talk a critical point in the development of Flower, recounted here.At one point in its production, Flower included mechanics like spells - after Sony said the game needed more depth - yet play testers were only shouting out expletives or cheering when they succeeded. These base emotions weren't what the team were trying to convey, so despite purportedly 'making the game more fun', Chen had the features cut out.
Sony deserves credit for letting Chen have his way (Flower was the first of a three-game deal Sony signed with Chen's studio, Thatgamecompany). Chen's comment highlights one of the reasons that the concept of "fun" is largely useless in the discussion of videogames, and even during the development process. Unlike so many people who write about and make videogames, he understands that "fun" is only a superficial layer, so gossamer thin and indeterminate as to be impossible to capture and nearly useless to discuss. It's more of a byproduct than a goal. If a game developer does his job, fun will happen."Games should make the player think and touch the gamer's emotion. Gameplay needs to be like any other medium - it has to evoke all kinds of responses. Otherwise our industry will flatline."
He said emotional content is still 'a new frontier' for video games, and that this created a ripe opportunity. Provided game developers try not to stick to what they know - he pointed out that broad genres like 'action' and 'simulation' are just specific human feelings like 'empowerment' and 'immersion'.Chen also applies his perspective to how games should be reviewed. From this account of his talk at the conference:A few years ago Chen collated information on a group of games reviewed, and all used the same language and phrases, he said, such as 'crystal sound', stunning graphics', 'best FPS' and '60 hours gameplay'.
But reviews and their writers are missing the point, he said.
"That's like talking about a car and how fast it goes - saying 'it has great graphics' is like saying 'this car has four seats'. Reviews should be talking about what a game makes players feel.In other words, we should be discussing games as experiences, not products. Hear, hear.
(That nifty picture up there was taken by Max S. Gerber for an excellent Wall Street Journal article about Chen's sudden and well-deserved success.)
