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about making a game about clouds. It was given a story to "create the premise and help player to be emotionally invested"; however, the team avoided making the story too strong, as it would "distract the player from the core experience" of flying freely and shaping clouds. In the early stages of development, the game had an involved backstory about an alien who attempts to clean up the environment, but this was cut down to "a simple 'poetic' introduction to the cloud child trapped in a hospital bed". The team intended
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391:. The game immediately received a great deal of attention when it was released; site traffic overran the server that hosted the website, and then crashed those of the school. By February 2006, just over three months after the game's release, the website had been viewed over one million times and the game downloaded over 300,000 times. By July 2006, it had reached six million visits and 600,000 downloads.
263:—the projection of the boy into his dream world—and guides him through his dream of a small group of islands with a light gathering of clouds. The avatar's direction and speed are controlled with a mouse; movement is generally on a horizontal plane, but vertical flight can be attained by holding down the third button of the mouse. The player may interact with clouds only while flying horizontally.
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328:, director of the Game Innovation Lab. The game won the 2005 Game Innovation Grant of $ 20,000 from the lab, which was intended to support the production of experimental games. The idea for the game was partially based on Chen's childhood experience, as he was often hospitalized for asthma and would daydream while waiting for the doctors.
266:
The game contains three types of clouds: white clouds, which follow the avatar; gray, neutral clouds, which become white when touched; and black clouds, which may be combined with white clouds to cause rain, dissolving both clouds. A large number of white clouds more easily dissolves a small number
335:
was designed to "expand the spectrum of emotions video games evoke". Chen had the first idea for the game; while walking to school one day he looked up at the sky, noticing the difference between the fluffy clouds there and the "polluted and gray" clouds of
Shanghai where he was born, and thought
402:
is simply jaw-dropping", and cited its music, visuals, and sensation of flying as high points. William Usher of Game Tunnel also praised the visuals and audio: he believed that its graphics created a relaxing atmosphere, and that the "touching musical score" would emotionally move any player. A
186:
in
January 2005 with a US$ 20,000 grant from the USC Game Innovation Lab; the game was released as a free download that October. By July 2006, the hosting website had received 6 million visits, and the game had been downloaded 600,000 times.
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316:. The game was made as a funded research project in the USC Game Innovation Lab. Development began in January 2005 and the game was released in late October, receiving its final update in December. The group was headed by
198:
and would daydream while alone in his room. Assuming the role of the boy, the player flies through a dream world and manipulates clouds to solve puzzles. The game was intended to spark emotions in the player that the
782:
Fullerton, Tracy; Chen, Jenova; Santiago, Kellee; Nelson, Erik; Diamante, Vincent; Meyers, Aaron; Song, Glenn; DeWeese, John (July 2006). "That Cloud Game: Dreaming (and Doing) Innovative Game Design".
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of dark clouds than an equal number, and vice versa. White clouds stop following the avatar if the player moves too quickly and they resume following if approached again. Each of the four missions in
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has a different objective, including forming patterns in the sky with clouds, eliminating black clouds, and creating rain over each of the islands.
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A screenshot of the boy flying in the sky. Above him black clouds and white clouds that the player has moved are combining to form rain.
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said that the game pointed "to a bright future" in which games would inspire a wider range of emotions; however, the writer called
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The game centers on a boy who dreams of flying while asleep in a hospital bed. The concept was partially based on lead designer
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representative John Hight as the first game in the "Zen" genre. Hight was interested, but Sony declined to publish the game.
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to "communicate a feeling of youthfulness, freedom, and the wonder of imagination". It was built on a modified version of a
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similarly called it "the most relaxing experience I've ever had that involved a computer". Durham concluded that
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as a commercial video game, but has decided to do so only if the staff cannot conceive any other game ideas.
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and included
Stephen Dinehart, Erik Nelson, Aaron Meyers, Glenn Song, composer Vincent Diamante, producer
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Video games affiliated with the USC Interactive Media & Games
Division
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won the Best
Student Philosophy award for artistic achievement at the
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The game received positive reviews from critics. Joel Durham, Jr. of
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was designed and released in 2005 by a team of seven students in the
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s development team. From left to right: Erik Nelson, Glenn Song,
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785:
Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGGRAPH symposium on
Videogames
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Chen and
Santiago went on to co-found the video game studio
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developed by several team members for their previous game,
714:"Go With the fl0w: Jenova Chen on Console Independence"
936:"Got a Minute? Then We've Got 15 Free Games for You!"
1001:"Finding A New Way: Jenova Chen And Thatgamecompany"
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153:
141:
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121:
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73:
61:
49:
35:
537:"IGF Student Showcase Q&A: Cloud Team (Cloud)"
413:more of an "experience" than a game. Ron White of
209:won the Best Student Philosophy award at the 2006
838:"Video Game Grad Programs Open Up The Industry"
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182:. The team began development of the game for
8:
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352:student showcase, Chen and Santiago pitched
194:'s childhood; he was often hospitalized for
469:. 2006-07-28. pp. 5, 8. Archived from
213:, and a Student Showcase award at the 2006
1242:Video games developed in the United States
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436:. Thatgamecompany has considered remaking
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32:
1069:"Thatgamecompany | TGC » Cloud"
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676:
905:"Top Ten Games You've Never Heard Of".
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174:developed by a team of students in the
748:"Interview: Redefining Video Games".
373:Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition
211:Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition
7:
375:and a Student Showcase award at the
797:Association for Computing Machinery
1267:Independent Games Festival winners
14:
999:Sheffield, Brandon (2008-05-05).
656:University of Southern California
627:University of Southern California
467:University of Southern California
176:University of Southern California
1038:
869:Durham, Jr., Joel (2006-12-14).
228:, which has considered remaking
1017:from the original on 2010-08-10
981:from the original on 2010-09-19
952:from the original on 2008-02-24
848:from the original on 2009-03-26
836:Chaplin, Heather (2009-03-25).
730:from the original on 2010-08-07
694:from the original on 2010-01-03
600:from the original on 2010-03-26
553:from the original on 2010-05-10
398:claimed that "everything about
224:went on to co-found the studio
56:USC Interactive Media Division
1:
503:. Game Tunnel. Archived from
501:"Cloud Review by Game Tunnel"
499:Usher, William (2006-11-01).
460:"Cloud Instructional Booklet"
684:"Interview with Jenova Chen"
584:. Vol. 14, no. 7.
423:"would set your mind free".
314:USC School of Cinematic Arts
232:as a commercial video game.
883:. p. 2. Archived from
574:Shamoon, Evan (July 2006).
1283:
1247:Video games set on islands
1162:Sky: Children of the Light
971:"Thatgamecompany - Flower"
712:Wen, Howard (2007-01-22).
623:"Cloud Release Build V1.0"
377:Independent Games Festival
350:Game Developers Conference
215:Independent Games Festival
18:
1222:Single-player video games
934:White, Ron (2007-05-07).
758:. July 2010. p. 34.
180:Interactive Media Program
40:
1232:Video games about dreams
946:International Data Group
253:single-player video game
19:Not to be confused with
805:10.1145/1183316.1183324
298:, and Vincent Diamante.
299:
245:
379:. It was featured on
282:
243:
871:"Download This! #35"
364:Reception and legacy
576:"Check Out My Flow"
331:According to Chen,
201:video game industry
1257:Windows-only games
1217:Puzzle video games
1046:Video games portal
799:. pp. 56–58.
300:
246:
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814:978-1-59593-386-7
307:Interactive Media
257:Microsoft Windows
203:usually ignored.
184:Microsoft Windows
172:puzzle video game
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1207:2005 video games
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1075:on 16 March 2011
1071:. Archived from
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87:Stephen Dinehart
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322:Kellee Santiago
312:program at the
310:master's degree
292:Kellee Santiago
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226:Thatgamecompany
222:Kellee Santiago
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68:Kellee Santiago
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688:Tale of Tales
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1077:. Retrieved
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660:the original
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635:. Retrieved
631:the original
619:Chen, Jenova
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602:. Retrieved
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505:the original
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471:the original
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324:and advisor
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98:Aaron Meyers
51:Publisher(s)
25:Cloud Strife
21:Cloud gaming
1212:Indie games
1179:Jenova Chen
1126:Video games
342:game engine
318:Jenova Chen
296:Jenova Chen
283:Members of
275:Development
192:Jenova Chen
123:Platform(s)
113:Composer(s)
101:Erik Nelson
83:Jenova Chen
75:Designer(s)
63:Producer(s)
1201:Categories
1021:2011-01-06
985:2011-01-21
956:2011-03-28
891:2011-01-31
881:Ziff Davis
852:2011-01-05
734:2011-01-05
698:2011-01-06
666:2011-01-20
637:2011-01-20
604:2011-01-05
586:Condé Nast
557:2011-01-21
511:2011-01-24
480:2011-01-24
444:References
389:CBS Sunday
170:is a 2005
104:Glenn Song
1262:Art games
1006:Gamasutra
921:1067-6392
764:1067-6392
719:Gamasutra
594:1059-1028
542:Gamasutra
178:'s (USC)
1172:Founders
1015:Archived
979:Archived
950:Archived
941:PC World
913:GameStop
846:Archived
823:15562160
756:GameStop
728:Archived
692:Archived
598:Archived
551:Archived
416:PC World
381:Spike TV
236:Gameplay
219:producer
143:Genre(s)
1155:Journey
1079:29 July
876:GameSpy
396:GameSpy
154:Mode(s)
134:Release
128:Windows
1148:Flower
919:
821:
811:
789:Boston
762:
592:
433:Flower
387:, and
346:Dyadin
261:avatar
196:asthma
148:Puzzle
1134:Cloud
819:S2CID
581:Wired
474:(PDF)
463:(PDF)
438:Cloud
421:Cloud
411:Cloud
400:Cloud
369:Cloud
354:Cloud
338:Cloud
333:Cloud
303:Cloud
288:'
285:Cloud
269:Cloud
249:Cloud
230:Cloud
207:Cloud
167:Cloud
36:Cloud
1141:Flow
1081:2009
917:ISSN
809:ISBN
760:ISSN
590:ISSN
385:G4TV
358:Sony
255:for
251:, a
1011:UBM
842:NPR
801:doi
724:UBM
547:UBM
356:to
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861:^
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27:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
