1.1 Icon: Jenova Chen

Jenova Chen strives to create games that can be played by any kind of person without requiring much experience with games and whatnot. The beauty in his work lies in the simplicity and organic elements both in gameplay, design and control. Jenova is the creator and developer of some of the best non-linear games that have a natural narrative ingrained into them, like FlOw, Flower and Journey, which were part of a deal with Sony and became fairly popular among Playstation gamers.

I chose Jenova not because I know him so well, but because from a fairly young age he inspired me to look for games and experiences that are much like his work.

I play video games when I'm looking for a feeling that I would similarly get while experiencing a digital interactive art installation. I want to feel like I can interact with them, but at the same time I don't want the game to require me to do anything or hold my hand too much. This autonomity is a special quality in digital art and can easily be applied too generously, the trick, like nature tells us, is too use just enough so that a fine balance can exist which allows a story to more naturally unfold.