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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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402:. 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.
274:—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.
1051:
339:, 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.
277:
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
346:
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
413:
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
197:
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.
1247:
327:. 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
209:
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
793:
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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228:. The game was received well by critics, who cited its visuals, music, and relaxing atmosphere as high points. Chen and
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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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796:
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,
725:"Go With the fl0w: Jenova Chen on Console Independence"
947:"Got a Minute? Then We've Got 15 Free Games for You!"
1012:"Finding A New Way: Jenova Chen And Thatgamecompany"
1182:
1136:
164:
152:
144:
132:
122:
84:
72:
60:
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548:"IGF Student Showcase Q&A: Cloud Team (Cloud)"
424:more of an "experience" than a game. Ron White of
220:won the Best Student Philosophy award at the 2006
849:"Video Game Grad Programs Open Up The Industry"
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193:. The team began development of the game for
8:
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363:student showcase, Chen and Santiago pitched
205:'s childhood; he was often hospitalized for
480:. 2006-07-28. pp. 5, 8. Archived from
224:, and a Student Showcase award at the 2006
1253:Video games developed in the United States
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447:. Thatgamecompany has considered remaking
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43:
1080:"Thatgamecompany | TGC » Cloud"
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687:
916:"Top Ten Games You've Never Heard Of".
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185:developed by a team of students in the
759:"Interview: Redefining Video Games".
384:Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition
222:Slamdance Guerrilla Games Competition
7:
386:and a Student Showcase award at the
808:Association for Computing Machinery
1278:Independent Games Festival winners
25:
1010:Sheffield, Brandon (2008-05-05).
667:University of Southern California
638:University of Southern California
478:University of Southern California
187:University of Southern California
1049:
880:Durham, Jr., Joel (2006-12-14).
239:, which has considered remaking
1028:from the original on 2010-08-10
992:from the original on 2010-09-19
963:from the original on 2008-02-24
859:from the original on 2009-03-26
847:Chaplin, Heather (2009-03-25).
741:from the original on 2010-08-07
705:from the original on 2010-01-03
611:from the original on 2010-03-26
564:from the original on 2010-05-10
409:claimed that "everything about
235:went on to co-found the studio
67:USC Interactive Media Division
1:
514:. Game Tunnel. Archived from
512:"Cloud Review by Game Tunnel"
510:Usher, William (2006-11-01).
471:"Cloud Instructional Booklet"
695:"Interview with Jenova Chen"
595:. Vol. 14, no. 7.
434:"would set your mind free".
325:USC School of Cinematic Arts
243:as a commercial video game.
894:. p. 2. Archived from
585:Shamoon, Evan (July 2006).
1294:
1258:Video games set on islands
1173:Sky: Children of the Light
982:"Thatgamecompany - Flower"
723:Wen, Howard (2007-01-22).
634:"Cloud Release Build V1.0"
388:Independent Games Festival
361:Game Developers Conference
226:Independent Games Festival
29:
1233:Single-player video games
945:White, Ron (2007-05-07).
769:. July 2010. p. 34.
191:Interactive Media Program
51:
1243:Video games about dreams
957:International Data Group
264:single-player video game
30:Not to be confused with
816:10.1145/1183316.1183324
309:, and Vincent Diamante.
310:
256:
390:. It was featured on
293:
254:
882:"Download This! #35"
375:Reception and legacy
587:"Check Out My Flow"
342:According to Chen,
212:video game industry
1268:Windows-only games
1228:Puzzle video games
1057:Video games portal
810:. pp. 56–58.
311:
257:
1203:
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825:978-1-59593-386-7
318:Interactive Media
268:Microsoft Windows
214:usually ignored.
195:Microsoft Windows
183:puzzle video game
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16:(Redirected from
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1218:2005 video games
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1086:on 16 March 2011
1082:. Archived from
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663:"Cloud Creation"
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98:Stephen Dinehart
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333:Kellee Santiago
323:program at the
321:master's degree
303:Kellee Santiago
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237:Thatgamecompany
233:Kellee Santiago
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1088:. Retrieved
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675:. Retrieved
671:the original
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646:. Retrieved
642:the original
630:Chen, Jenova
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613:. Retrieved
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566:. Retrieved
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520:. Retrieved
516:the original
489:. Retrieved
482:the original
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109:Aaron Meyers
62:Publisher(s)
36:Cloud Strife
32:Cloud gaming
18:Cloud (game)
1223:Indie games
1190:Jenova Chen
1137:Video games
353:game engine
329:Jenova Chen
307:Jenova Chen
294:Members of
286:Development
203:Jenova Chen
134:Platform(s)
124:Composer(s)
112:Erik Nelson
94:Jenova Chen
86:Designer(s)
74:Producer(s)
1212:Categories
1032:2011-01-06
996:2011-01-21
967:2011-03-28
902:2011-01-31
892:Ziff Davis
863:2011-01-05
745:2011-01-05
709:2011-01-06
677:2011-01-20
648:2011-01-20
615:2011-01-05
597:Condé Nast
568:2011-01-21
522:2011-01-24
491:2011-01-24
455:References
400:CBS Sunday
181:is a 2005
115:Glenn Song
1273:Art games
1017:Gamasutra
932:1067-6392
775:1067-6392
730:Gamasutra
605:1059-1028
553:Gamasutra
189:'s (USC)
1183:Founders
1026:Archived
990:Archived
961:Archived
952:PC World
924:GameStop
857:Archived
834:15562160
767:GameStop
739:Archived
703:Archived
609:Archived
562:Archived
427:PC World
392:Spike TV
247:Gameplay
230:producer
154:Genre(s)
1166:Journey
1090:29 July
887:GameSpy
407:GameSpy
165:Mode(s)
145:Release
139:Windows
1159:Flower
930:
832:
822:
800:Boston
773:
603:
444:Flower
398:, and
357:Dyadin
272:avatar
207:asthma
159:Puzzle
1145:Cloud
830:S2CID
592:Wired
485:(PDF)
474:(PDF)
449:Cloud
432:Cloud
422:Cloud
411:Cloud
380:Cloud
365:Cloud
349:Cloud
344:Cloud
314:Cloud
299:'
296:Cloud
280:Cloud
260:Cloud
241:Cloud
218:Cloud
178:Cloud
47:Cloud
1152:Flow
1092:2009
928:ISSN
820:ISBN
771:ISSN
601:ISSN
396:G4TV
369:Sony
266:for
262:, a
1022:UBM
853:NPR
812:doi
735:UBM
558:UBM
367:to
34:or
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872:^
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38:.
20:)
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
