Top 84 Quotes & Sayings by Jenova Chen

I think that our language, culture, age, fortune, property, and our fame is all a facade. In the end, we're all the same.

For 'Journey' to create a sense of smallness and a sense of awe will encourage the players to be together and exchange emotions. When you put the two players together online and put them in a difficult environment, they will create a bond.

Each game we make, we like to introduce an emotion that is rarely experienced by gamers in the console game industry.

I'm a perfectionist.

I always have a problem playing text-heavy games. I'm a slow reader. I don't speak English well. As a kid in China, trying to play these games, I just wanted the text to go away.

The focus of 'Flower' is emotion and to make you feel peaceful.

If we can make great games for PS3 players... how many PS3 players are out there? If we can make great games for everybody, that's a much bigger service. There's no reason I shouldn't do that.

'Journey' is a way for us to explore the crossing, the intersection of our lives between each other.

I'm a game designer, so I care about the whole experience.

There are many sides of the urban life that I dislike, but there are many sides I am deeply in love with and attached to.

With 'Journey,' we created an emotional arc for two different scenarios. So, if you play alone, it's a good game. You have what we think is a complete emotional arc. You will feel, I guess, a sense of transformation in the single-player. Because it's a hero's journey.

Even in film, books, and music, there's always action - there's always rock and roll. Young people appreciate that kind of experience.

I really like 'ICO' and 'Shadow of the Colossus.'

Video games have always been a part of my life.

Our goal is always to make games that can move people, that are designed for everybody so the whole family should be able to play it together, and that bring people together and really move them in a way.

When I read a good story, I often start thinking, 'Should I live my life according to what this character chooses and values?' It makes me think. I feel like I grew up to be a more mature person while thinking about character development in these fictional situations.

I don't believe in a particular god, but I believe in the unknown. I believe that there's something bigger than us.

Any established media, such as literature, music, or film, offers a wide variety of experiences touching emotions from the very primal to the deeply complex. No matter who the audience are or what kind of mood they are in, there will always be something right for them. Video games, as a fast-growing new medium, is on its way to catching up.

We try really hard to avoid those conventional experiences, these adrenaline rush, anger, competition, violence. We intentionally avoid that. We try to create a game that's serene and tranquil and filled with love.

I was not grown up in the U.S., nor in Japan. In order to create a video game that people around the globe can enjoy and relate to, I can't draw things deeply rooted in the local culture that I'm not familiar with. That's why we are not doing games about football or samurai.

I would rather see a game where you play to feel happier and to make other people like you and to make the people you care about happy.

At TGC, we are firm believers in the value of making games that respect our players.

In the free-to-play industry, the most money-making games are often coming from making people fighting against each other and really hating each other and wanting to revenge, so they spend more money to dominate.

I would say 'Flower' had a story. It is told through the environment.

I studied Computer Science when I was in my undergrad and minored in Digital Art & Design.

Creativity is not talent but attitude.

When we approach games, we're always emotional-focused, so if a free-to-play business model works against the emotion, we won't use it. If it actually works well with the emotion, or if we can come up with a new way to do monetization that's different and that's unique for the game, I would go for that.

A great painter can paint something really complex, but they can crystallize it into something really simple.

Our vision is for games to offer a wide variety of different experiences and attract all kinds of gamers and nongamers.

I feel, as a game maker, we are responsible to make content that stretch the ruling structure and emotions so that everyone can enjoy.

A strong story can move me to tears, and it doesn't matter whether it's a science-fiction or fantasy world. It's about what happens to a person, the choices they make. That's what's interesting.

The struggle we went through in the last year of 'Journey' was pretty insane, and I think that is also why, when I was working on the struggle level, I was able to channel my own struggle into the game.

When I was a teenager, I felt my life was constrained by rules, school, my parents. I wanted to feel like I was empowered and different; that's why superheroes, comics, manga, and video games filled my needs. When I got older, I realized power is not free; it comes with responsibility.

Nothing truly bad happens. There's always good and bad in any changes.

I just feel like I'm on a quest to fail if I try to even compete with myself.

Look at the genres women like: a romantic comedy game doesn't exist. Few examples of a documentary game exist. What is the equivalent of a real drama game? They don't exist. Emotion with that complexity for a more mature, older audience are necessary to make medium-like video games healthy so it can be highly respected like the film industry.

I always thought if I was born 2000 years earlier, I would be a monk, probably carving a monastery or some giant pantheon buildings.

If you can imagine the delight of visiting a theme park where lasting memories are made, we envision 'Sky' will sometimes feel like that.

A lot of people asked us why 'Journey' didn't let them play with friends or family, and obviously we had a reason - because that would have defeated the purpose of the game. But for a game to be truly be accessible to both children and adults and to men and women, it has to allow people to play with the ones they love.

I was very impressed with the scope and scale and impact that came from originally one person making 'Minecraft.' It's inspiring for me to think how our team can do more with less.

I always played games with my friends, but as I got older, my friends stopped playing.

We founded thatgamecompany to push the boundary of video games as an interactive medium.

My dream is to make everyone love video games.

I feel like that nature has this great power.

When humans are hungry, they look for food. But they are also hungry for certain feelings. They go out to look for entertainment - from music to movies to novels to games - to satisfy their emotions.

'Flower' is about the sublime.

It's stressful when you run a company.

A lot of the greatest artists, their work is always about life and the world. I think there needs to be that for video games.

Every artist wants his or her work to connect with someone. I think that's why people make art.

'Journey' was very much inspired by Joseph Campbell's work for 'The Hero's Journey,' but, from among his works, I like 'The Power of Myth' best.

For adults to enjoy something, they need to have intellectual stimulation, something that's related to real life.

Humans are lazy but not stupid.

If a game is meant to be played by everybody, it deserves to be on multiple platforms so everybody can play it.

If our games can help people, that's the best reward we can get.

Games have to be relevant intellectually.

We are all born alone and die alone. The loneliness is definitely part of the journey of life.

I grew up in Shanghai, a big urban city.

What I find the most interesting about games is the feeling of accomplishment. I think this is an emotion that cinema can't do and books can't do. You feel like you've personally accomplished something. You feel you get better at something.

Thatgamecompany was founded with the philosophy that games are a form of entertainment, and entertainment is the food for emotion.

'Cloud' and 'Flower' are very much egocentric about my own expression. 'Flow' is more utilitarian, and 'Journey' is more about collaboration between various creative voices in the team.