Out Of The Blue
How Thatgamecompany is expanding the horizons of multiplayer gaming
How Thatgamecompany’s transcendent Sky is expanding the horizons of multiplayer gaming
Slowly, we amble up to the edge of the platform and stop. To our right a large ghostly hand appears, gracefully swiping upward like some higher power inviting us to jump. After a moment’s pause, we do, plunging like a stone until an updraught catches us, and suddenly we’re flying, our cape now a pair of wings as we soar through pillowy clouds. Our thumb instinctively guiding us, we dive and climb effortlessly, the score swelling as we soar up and on. That first takeoff is the one moment that perhaps sums up Sky better than any other: it’s at once everything you’d hope for and expect from a Thatgamecompany game on mobile, and a bold step beyond.
But if Sky ultimately challenges your expectations, at first it seems more than happy to meet them. Turn your eyes to the horizon and you’ll see mountains and tall columns of heavenly light. This is a world of whispering winds, swaying grass and glittering sands, all sumptuously lit and backed with an orchestral score that swells at all the right moments. You’ll set ancient mechanisms rumbling to life and encounter friendly spirits. Your avatar’s energy is once again contained in an item of clothing, only this time it’s a cape rather than a trailing scarf. And if your favourite individual moment of
Journey was that sunset sand-surfing set-piece – and let’s face it, that’s probably most of us – well,
IF SKY ULTIMATELY CHALLENGES YOUR EXPECTATIONS, AT FIRST IT SEEMS MORE THAN HAPPY TO MEET THEM
there’s plenty of that sort of thing in Sky, including an exhilarating downhill race across soft, snowy slopes, with a twisting ribbon of ice running through the middle if you want to go even faster. It feels fantastic, too: even given the natural adjustment from thumbstick to touch controls, your avatar moves with unusual grace, whether airborne or on the ground. And landing is every bit as fun as taking off: get your angle of approach right and you’ll skid across the ground for a while before stopping. We’re playing the game on an iPhone XS, and with haptic feedback the sensation is irresistible.
Yet for many, Journey’s appeal ran deeper than superficial sensation, its power born not from a connection with its world but a bond forged with other players they encountered on their adventure. In fact, a number of its players, having finished the game and fully upgraded their scarves (and thus their traversal capabilities) returned as whitecloaked shepherds, guiding newcomers through the game. Sky, in many ways, is an extension of that – it supports up to eight players, and subtly incentivises playing in groups.
As Thatgamecompany co-founder and creative director Jenova Chen explains, the studio received dozens of emails from players after completing
Journey, asking if there was some way to play with friends and family. “I mean, technically
you can set up two PlayStations to do it, but nobody has two PlayStations at home,” he says. “But what we learned is a lot of the people who played the game found it had this therapeutic effect on them. That is something honestly I had not planned – the fact that a lot of people would find value in playing this game and that it made their life better. I wanted to create a game that could truly bring something positive to people’s lives, but to a much bigger audience.”
A move to mobile was inevitable, then – not least since Chen was once again keen to make his game accessible to a broader audience. His studio, after all, has always sought to simplify controls as far as possible. Flow is controlled with a single analogue stick and one button; Flower uses tilt controls and a single button. And Journey was a concerted effort to use the DualShock’s motion sensors to escape the complexity of twinstick controls. He explains: “The thing I care about the most is for people who don’t usually consider themselves gamers to have a good time. And I noticed that when there’s too many buttons, they’re kind of intimidated. People understand how to operate a stick but they’ve never practised how to operate both at the same time. I saw this lady playing [ Journey] and she could jump and she could move separately but she just couldn’t jump and move at the same time. And so it was a real struggle for people who had no experience of platforming games.”
It was 2013 when work on Sky began in earnest, at which point Chen had noted that most mobile players hated the idea of virtual sticks on touchscreen devices. And so he and his team spent a long time trying to find a touch-native setup that offered a similar degree of control to a standard gamepad. “We felt like if we didn’t do that, then people would just say, ‘Oh, I would rather just play this on a console’,” he says. As a result, Thatgamecompany spent the best part of two years prototyping all kinds of control schemes. Having tried countless alternatives, the studio finally settled upon one that Chen was happy with. Another year later, in 2016, development was about to wrap up. “And that’s when the market changed.”
At the time, Sky still supported multiplayer, but it was structured very much like Journey: a simple, reasonably short story with linear progression in which players would travel through stages in chronological order, reaching the end and then – hopefully, as many did with Journey – starting again. But then Chen had a conversation with Apple, and Sky began to evolve into something
“THE THING I CARE ABOUT MOST IS FOR PEOPLE WHO DON’ T USUALLY CONSIDER THEMSELVES GAMERS TO HAVE A GOOD TIME”
very different. “They were concerned about our business model, because they’d seen a big decline in people’s willingness to pay for a game that comes with a huge price.” Huge is relative, of course – by console standards, Journey was cheap, but on the App Store, it was another matter. “Even Monument Valley, which was like a House Of Cards [for Apple] – the sales numbers were pretty low compared to what we did on the PlayStation with Journey and Flower.”
Just when the game was ready for its final spit and polish, Chen was told he should consider making Sky a free-to-start game.
Paying upfront was out of the question, then, and Chen quickly dismissed the option of charging players partway through the story. A third solution was briefly mooted: a virtual gift shop. “Like when you come to see a show or an exhibition for free, and then on your way out, there’s merchandise at the end. But what kind of merchandise can you sell? If it’s a mobile game, it’s not like you can sell a T-shirt. I mean, it’s possible, but I’ve never really thought about becoming a company that focuses on selling T-shirts!”
He laughs, but the issue of monetisation has clearly been a thorn in his side. Chen admits he spent some time looking at other successful F2P games and found their approach too aggressive. “My main perspective is how people feel. And a lot of people, when they pay for these free-to-play games, I guess they feel somewhat shameful? Because it’s self-weakness – you know, ‘If I just pay a buck, I can beat this level’. Or, ‘I want to get a loot box with a legendary drop – just two more bucks’. And you might have buyer’s remorse, and you don’t really want to tell your friends that you put a lot of money into something for selfish reasons. I’m trying to make a game that touches people’s hearts. As a director, I never thought about spending money as part of the experience. Now, I’m trying to make something that does not interfere with the core message of the game.”
How exactly Sky will be monetised is still, pardon the pun, up in the air, though Chen is adamant that there will be no nickel-and-diming. There’s talk of an Adventure Pass that doubles rewards for players who complete seasonal events. And Chen hints at an altruistically motivated model whereby players will feel rewarded for helping others. “We realised that people are more likely to tell their friends and feel good about spending money in a situation of charity. Like, ‘Hey, I bought my wife this amazing diamond ring’. People are proud to say that, because it’s not like you bought it for yourself,
IT WAS CLEAR SKY HAD TO GROW. THAT GAME COMPANY HAD SET OUT TO MAKE A RIDE. NOW IT HAD TO BUILD A THEME PARK
right?” Regardless, before any decisions had been made, it was clear Sky had to grow. As Chen puts it, Thatgamecompany had set out to make a ride. Now it had to build a theme park.
His analogy makes perfect sense during a multiplayer session with a handful of Thatgamecompany employees, alongside one or two beta players who seem keen to join the group. Chen has used a temporary shrinking spell on his avatar to make it smaller, and as we clasp his hand he skips forward, dragging us along with him. It looks for all the world like a kid excitedly tugging their parents around Disneyland – and, indeed, that’s the feeling Chen says he’s aiming for, even if he reckons he’s “not quite up there with Pixar and Disney just yet”. From a large hub area, the Aviary, you’ll gradually gain access to six themed lands, each designed to provoke a different sensation in the player, from wonder to magic, freedom to fear. Just as Journey had its darker moments, the Wasteland biome features a stealth-focused section with a giant shadowy beast (Chen refers to it as The Krill) that patrols a large area, rushing at you should you wander into the roving spotlight shining from its eye. It’s here we see the benefits of sticking together and collaborating: one player can distract the beast while the others slip away unnoticed. If the creature does manage to land an attack, you’ll lose some of your collected spirits, which need to be retrieved quickly.
MULTIPLAYER IS A‘ SOFT’ REQUIREMENT: CERTAIN PUZZLES AND CHALLENGES ARE MORE DIFFICULT IF YOU’ RE ALONE
That’s just one of a number of reasons Sky is best played with at least one other player – including the ability to have all eight players hold hands, forming a chain to glide down mountains or float off to new horizons. Multiplayer is a ‘soft’ requirement, Chen explains: certain puzzles and challenges are more difficult if you’re on your own, though he says experienced players should be able to get through them without assistance. This becomes apparent as we trek through a rainy forest, ducking under cover to keep our character’s light intact. Along the way, we can light clusters of candles and huddle by them to recover. But to complicate matters, your main objective involves carrying an object which not only slows you down, but its own power can run out unless you reach the next glowing collectable in time. Travel with a couple of companions, however, and you’ll naturally replenish one another’s light supply.
There are some other puzzles that demand a helping hand, though the areas they unlock are relatively small, and they’re inessential for the main thrust of Sky’s story, which revolves around awakening a number of slumbering spirits. The larger ones supply the most useful upgrades, but the others play a role that becomes increasingly important to Sky’s social side. Revisit them and supply them with enough light and they’ll give you various cosmetic items (from new masks to cape colours) and emotes – which in turn can be upgraded further. Eventually, you’ll unlock musical instruments, with which you can launch into impromptu jam sessions or, if you’ve collected a music sheet, perform preset songs via a touchbased rhythm-action minigame.
Even if you’re alone, there are plenty of reasons to come back. Chen recognises that people often play mobile games in short sessions, and that has, in part, dictated the studio’s approach. We never expected to play a Thatgamecompany game where farming items is not only possible but encouraged, but you’ll always find candles that need lighting scattered
about the world. Doing this, and burning away certain obstructions, will earn you wax to top up your own supply of candles, which are the game’s main currency, exchanged with the aforementioned spirits for rewards. That’s one way of spending them, at least. But as soon as you begin Sky, you’re encouraged to play altruistically. Your friend list is a friend shrine, a twilit hub where you splash around in shallow waters, bestowing ‘wing blessings’ on your friends to give them a boost for their next play session. If you’re feeling flush, you can send a gift of three candles which equates to a heart, a second currency reserved for special items. And if a friend is already playing the game, you can tap their spectral avatar to teleport directly to wherever they are in the world.
Getting Sky to the place where kindness is encouraged without forcing it upon players has been one of the biggest challenges, Chen says.
Journey managed it organically, but a free-to-start mobile game is a very different proposition. He recalls an experiment around two or three years ago as an example of how it shouldn’t be done. “There was this really attractive tool that the player could unlock – if you came with a friend, you could basically pull up ‘Excalibur’ and unlock it right away,” he says. “We made it so that levelling up the relationship between you and a stranger would cost gold or resources, so you’d spend money or time to befriend someone. And what happened was, players would just befriend whoever happened to be there. Then they’d both get the tool and just walk away from each other, because they’re not real friends. Afterwards, they all said they resented the relationship – like, they don’t even know who this person is, but now they’re in their friend list.”
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