Journey Artbook and Videogame

Back in 2012 when Journey was released by ThatGameCompany it blew everyone away with the breath taking visuals, gameplay, soundtrack and most importantly the experience and emotional connection it brought with a complete stranger if you are fortunate enough to experience that in a play through.

The story is about a humanoid scarfed character who is placed in an abandoned civilization in the desert, one thing you do know is you are trying to travel to this mountain seen from the distance. The main story of the game is told with pictographs and the game contains not a single word or text. The pictographs depict a once tranquil highly advanced civilization that came to ruin due to a catastrophic event.

Pictograph of the Mountain Destination.
Cover the book under the slip.

Journey is meant to be played online on PSN. If not the experience is not the same. As you travel through the game you may encounter another character. The catch is chat and text is disabled and players have to communicate through song and dance. The game blocks your username so you do not know who you are playing with and you won't find out who until the game is beaten. I get spammed by noobs a lot because they see my gamer tag is a relatively high level. Top 100,000 in the U.S yo.

Honestly I think the purest form of any art medium is what experience and emotion you can evoke from someone by seeing and feeling the artwork. Another key element is have the audience understand the intention without explanation.

From a game reviewer I think it was from when G4 was active I heard is one reason why gamers play videogames is what experience and emotions the game brings and what adventure the player experiences while playing the game. It is a difficult question when people ask me on the spot what is my favorite game? Usually I'll say what game I'm playing at the moment and then reveal after much thought what my favorite top 5 games ever are. Which I'll talk about them in the future.

The game has some of the best color direction I've ever seen in any digital form.

Take a peak here.

If you plan on playing this game scroll through this part. If you have either finished the Journey or just don't care. Use your mouse to highlight the invisible text in between the brackets to reveal my spoilers.

~~~!!SPOILERS!!!~~

{{{{{{{My life story quick version is for most of my life I lived out of a suitcase not out of choice.

Every place I lived at its kind of cool except my true real home town

I have a lifelong friend I still talk to frequently. So with traveling constantly you are going to lose people. Back on track the main point is that the feelings of losing a good friend or someone who is like family but isn't is one of the most strong intense feelings a human can feel. Almost close to mourning for loved one.

This game brought those emotions. Too strongly. Which was beautiful in a way.

So when I got near the end of the summit I lost my Companion who I played with for about a third of the game. I was distraught and I didn't want to go to the end of the game by myself so I believe I looked around in the game for an hour looking for the other person. I've wondered if the other person felt the same way and maybe looked for me as well. I could not find them so toward the end when you climb up the mountain everything slows down you can only hear the snow crunch under you. The feeling of loneliness and dread as you wanted the other player to experience this crucial moment with you. While you slowly walk into the light you actually are reborn and after the credits roll you restart the game.

Link: Press here or right click the URL to copy and see what I'm talking about the end sequence :Link

As a person with PTSD being surprised and unprepared for the immense emotions is troublesome. So I frickin' cried for a very long time after the credits rolled. Just because of the feelings the game wanted one to feel. Yes it was bad I cried but its the feeling of friendship as one of its essential themes the game evoked. Grown men have admitted to crying at some of this game. I'm not the only one.}}}}}}}

The game was emotionally beautiful to experience a bond with someone you didn't know and cannot communicate words but understand their feelings. It was a fantastic journey and I'll have to replay it again.

ThatGameCompany is an Indie developer.

Art, Illustrations and Art direction by Matthew Nava.

I am honored and proud to present the Art of Journey artbook

It is a 184 page hardcover book. The print quality is top of the line. It is a bit pricey but the production value was high so one shouldn't complain too much about that. The thing I am bummed about the most and wanted to see for myself is the augmented reality. I've spent an extra week trying to research it but it seems that the app no longer exists and not many people know about it only a few from the first print run of the book. I have the second edition.

The book is 9x12 horizontal x vertical. I've noticed some people the format because its rectangular. I believe in any other format the art would not be showcased the way it was meant to be seen. If it was standard 8.5x 11 a regular sheet of paper the layout would be either be cluttered and the full page spreads would be across two pages and have a lot of empty space for panoramic shots would distract the viewer. Some of these images span two pages horizontally,

One of my favorite parts of the game is the color maps. I wished they showed more. In one of the interviews it was interesting the use of complimentary colors. Colors that are on the opposite sides of the color wheel create tension and work together at times. Say like the most recognizable one is green and red. Christmas colors...together they pop. So with that concept the sky color in the orange desert in green. To create a feeling of uneasiness and not until the end of the game one sees a blue sky for the first time. I thought it was interesting this concept because its not noticeable conscious but unconsciously it affects you.