Gamasutra has interviewed thatgamecompany's Robin Hunicke about the company's approach to development, including Journey. Here's an interesting snippet:
- "Visuals, sound and movement... it all has to come together, and when it doesn't, it's usually obvious," she says, and then laughs: "It's usually painfully obvious."
- Even making small adjustments, such as moving the placement of a light or changing the angle of nearby visual signals to ensure the player's eye is being drawn in the correct direction is important. "This is one of the things that's great about having the time to work on Journey that we've had, and iterate over a longer period of time," she says. "We can make changes to the fundamental mechanics."
- There is something of a risk in owning a unique artistic signature, especially when a team aims to create outside the bounds of the familiar. "We talk a lot about what it means for a game like Journey to exist, and why we want it to exist, and how we can make that appealing to the broadest segment of people," Hunicke says.
Does Journey, with all its uniqueness, appeal to you? It certainly seems quite intriguing to me!