“I wanted to see if I could create something that is emotional between people. Existing games are about killing each other or killing something together. The idea of social emotion means people need to share feelings. At that moment, the players are in sync. The problem [with many games] is there's no chance to share emotion. Most of them are busy, [there are] explosions everywhere. So we got rid of all the background noise and we had to get rid of the guns.” PeopleIfsNeedsMeanIdeasMomentsFeelingsProblemWantedTogetherGamesSocialChanceEmotionPlayerShareEmotionalGunKillingBusyBackgroundsNoiseIf I CouldThat MomentExplosionsMean PeopleSyncKilling Each OtherBackground Noise Author:Jenova Chen
“So my resolution this year is: I'm not a money guy, but I want to make our next product a commercial success, so that people will say, 'Hey, there's a huge market out there. If you make a high-quality games that can touch people, it's going to do great business.” PeopleIfsWantYearsGuyNextGamesQualityProductsHugeHeyResolutionHigh QualityGreat Business Author:Jenova Chen
“I think free-to-play is both exciting and also really dangerous.” ThinkingPlayDangerousExciting Author:Jenova Chen
“Entertainment, in the end, is a food industry for feeling.” EndsFeelingsIndustryEntertainmentFood Industry Author:Jenova Chen
“Your children are your retirement plan. Because of that, all parents want their children, their only children, to do really well financially, so that they can essentially take care of their parents when they are older.” ChildrenCareParentOur ChildrenTake CareYour ChildrenRetirement Author:Jenova Chen
“The girl has to be, you know, "the man," who is going to take care of everybody.” MenCareGirlHe ManTake Care Author:Jenova Chen
“When parents want you to do really well academically, they want to avoid you getting into anything that would distract you - you know, rock and roll music, or really serious, long novels that you get so absorbed in, you forget to study.” LongParentForgetNovelStudySerious Author:Jenova Chen
“We do have to learn poetry at school. Poetry is interesting to me, particularly Chinese poetry. It's like an ancient form of song. There's five sentences, seven sentences - they're very different from English poetry. Chinese poetry is much more rigorous. You can only use this many words, and they will form some kind of rhythm so people can actually sing it. To me, poetry is quite abstract but also quite beautiful.” PeopleKindDifferentSchoolBeautifulSongInterestingSevenAncientRhythmChineseAbstractPoetry Is Author:Jenova Chen
“Honestly, I can't understand English poetry. Because I am not an English speaker, when I read it I never know how to read it in the right rhythm.” HonestlyRhythmPoetry IsSpeakers Author:Jenova Chen
“In cinema we have all kinds of ways of communicating: cinematography, lighting, character performance. If you pay attention to silent era movie actors, they are big about postures and really exaggerated expressions so you can understand how they feel. We use all kinds of techniques from cinema to help communicate emotion.” KindCharacterHelpingEmotionAttentionSilentCommunicateAll KindsPay AttentionCinematography Author:Jenova Chen
“There are words that exist in one language and not in another language. It creates barriers that keep us from understanding each other. I'm often frustrated using words to talk to people.” PeopleLanguageUnderstandingBarriersFrustrated Author:Jenova Chen
“I think "artistic" simply means there's more of the creator in the thing. Whether it's painting or song or movie or game, the creator puts more of themselves into the piece, so when the audience see it, they feel something real, they feel something human, they feel something that's like a person.” ThinkingMeanRealSongAudiencePaintingArtistic Author:Jenova Chen
“I still hope that more people can create art, even though artistic genres may never be the most popular or money-making genres. But the thing is, I think art is more long-lasting. It stays in people, and it changes them.” PeopleThinkingArtArt IsArtistic Author:Jenova Chen
“Today, the era has changed. Everybody is indie now. Everybody making a random stupid mobile app is essentially indie, because they make it at home; they make it through Unity, and there are so many of them. We don't recognize everybody anymore.” HomeTodayStupidChangedUnity Author:Jenova Chen
“When people see success, particularly investors, they are much more willing to invest in artistic projects.” PeopleArtisticInvestors Author:Jenova Chen
“What I want to try to prove is that artistic games, when done properly, can still be a commercial success. By doing that, I will be able to essentially shift the industry and create more opportunity for people to create artistic games. In a way, making money is important for us right now. Not because we need it, but because the industry needs it.” PeopleTryingImportantDoneOpportunityProveArtisticMaking Money Author:Jenova Chen
