Jenova Chen

Birth : , Shanghai, China

History

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Xinghan Chen ( pinyin: Chén Xīnghàn), known as Jenova Chen, is the designer of the award-winning games Cloud, Flow, and Flower, and is co-founder of Thatgamecompany. Chen is from Shanghai, where he earned a bachelors degree in computer science and a minor in digital art and design. He then moved to Los Angeles, where he got a master's degree from the University of Southern California's Interactive Media Division. While there he created Cloud and Flow, and met fellow student Kellee Santiago. After a brief period at Maxis working on Spore, he founded Thatgamecompany with Santiago and became the company's creative director. The company signed a three-game deal with Sony Computer Entertainment, and has sold Flow and Flower through the PlayStation Network. Chen and Thatgamecompany are currently working on Journey, their third game for Sony. As Chen was born in one culture and lives in another, he chooses to try to make games that appeal universally to all people. His goal with his games and Thatgamecompany in general is to try to help video games mature as a medium by making games that inspire emotional responses in the player that other games are lacking. Although he and Thatgamecompany can and have made more traditional games, he does not plan on commercially developing any of them, as he does not think that it fits with their goals as an independent video game developer. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jenova Chen, licensed under CC-BY-SA,full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Movies

Video Games: The New Masters of the World
Video Games: The New Masters of the World
Self
In thirty years, the video game has conquered an increasingly wide audience. Drawing on the recent work of economists, sociologists, experts and interviewing major players in this field, this investigation unravels the overwhelming domination of this new mass media.
Us and the Game Industry
Us and the Game Industry
Himself
This film follows several independent game developers (Jason Rohrer, thatgamecompany, Douglas Wilson, Zach Gage, Aledander Bruce) examining why they make digital games. The film delves into their creativity and explores some of their thinking and design strategies. Game developers operate in terrain that demands both programming logic and aesthetic quality. The work is hard, however that's what they want to do. The film explores how the developers go deeper into the notion of entertainment and discovery.
Playing Columbine
Playing Columbine
Himself - Game Designer
Chronicles the history of the game "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!." The film traces back the 16-bit role-playing game to its inception, through the 2006 shooting at Dawson College in which the game was singled out by the media as a "murder simulator" that "trained" the shooter, and finally the game's removal from the list of finalists at the Slamdance 2007 Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition - prompting half the entries and a sponsor to pull out of the festival in protest. Written by tolka