Most online game artwork books observe a sure template: Load up on idea artwork, present how the sport advanced throughout manufacturing, add some commentary to attach the dots. Some lean extra closely on a studio’s historical past and others give attention to method, however it’s a confirmed method that, in the most effective instances, has produced books which can be themselves artworks.
I’ve been particularly impressed by Thatgamecompany’s books over time, although, due to what they’ve added to that template. Beginning with The Artwork of Journey in 2012 and following with The Artwork of Sky in 2024, the studio has checked all of the packing containers you’d count on from an artwork e book, then layered on customized interactive extras.
In The Artwork of Journey, that meant releasing an augmented actuality companion app that allow you to see character fashions come out of the e book, and in The Artwork of Sky, it meant letting gamers scan a star to unlock a duplicate of the e book within the sport (which they may then use to be taught in regards to the sport’s growth from inside the sport itself). Each set a brand new bar by together with digital bonus options as a part of the artwork e book expertise.
As a part of an effort to highlight game-related books and documentaries, todaysviralmedia is operating an e mail interview collection with the folks behind them. Try the total record to learn up on a Mega Man e book, a Housemarque documentary, and others. Beneath, The Artwork of Sky e book mission director Cecil Kim and STAR characteristic designer Julian Jimsa talk about the historical past behind Thatgamecompany’s books and the way the STAR characteristic happened.
todaysviralmedia: Again at Sony, you labored on some books with a bunch known as Bluecanvas. Are you able to give just a little historical past on what Bluecanvas was (is?) and what your involvement was in it?
Cecil Kim: Whereas working at Sony, I met Justin Yun, the founding father of Bluecanvas, an artwork journal and on-line neighborhood platform just like ArtStation however with a stronger give attention to conventional artwork. I ultimately joined the corporate as a companion and chief artistic officer, serving to spin off a sport studio that turned Part Studios. Because of my relationship with Sony, we have been capable of work on Artwork of Journey in 2012. We additionally printed a number of sport artwork books, together with Artwork of Order 1886, Artwork of God of Conflict Ascension, and Artwork of Homeworld. Once we first mentioned creating an artwork e book for Sky, it felt virtually like déjà vu, as each video games have been developed by Thatgamecompany! I additionally had [the privilege of] working intently with each Matt Nava [and] Jenova Chen on Artwork of Journey.
Would you draw a direct connection from these Bluecanvas books to The Artwork of Sky?
Kim: Sure, Bluecanvas was a boutique studio the place creativity was our high precedence, and we maintained a robust collaborative relationship with builders. Slightly than merely handing off art work photos and writing captions for each bit, we aimed to create one thing that was extra in keeping with the sport’s expertise and narrative construction. Artwork of Journey set a excessive bar for each high quality and content material, so we positively referenced it and sought to proceed the legacy of lovely artwork books from Thatgamecompany.
What sorts of trial and error went into getting the STAR characteristic working in The Artwork of Sky? Had been there different bodily/digital crossover concepts you thought-about?
Julian Jimsa: We had two targets in thoughts with the STAR characteristic: to really feel like a director’s commentary, and in addition a scavenger hunt. We wished to offer our gamers a behind the scenes look of the degrees they know and love. It took many iterations to search out the right visible results to show the character of our ranges, and many time went into deciding which objects to border in the course of the cutscenes to boost these visuals. Iterating on the stream of the expertise was additionally essential, particularly as a result of we wished this to be a social, multiplayer characteristic that gamers might take pleasure in collectively.
Asking on behalf of my bookshelf: Why did you determine to make the Sky e book related dimensions to the Journey e book, however not precisely the identical dimensions because the Journey e book?
Kim: The selection of dimension wasn’t primarily based on a selected purpose, aside from our need to make the e book simpler to carry, particularly since we knew the Sky artwork e book would have extra pages than the Journey artwork e book.