thatgamecompany has released a new behind-the-scenes video on Dear Van Gogh, the Vincent van Gogh-themed experience inside Sky: Children of the Light.
The five-minute video features artists, musicians and game designers from the studio. They explain how the team turned the world of the 19th-century post-impressionist painter into something players can walk through and explore.
Dear Van Gogh launched on July 17th as a standalone experience within Sky. The game is a free-to-play massively multiplayer online (MMO) title from the Santa Monica-based studio, whose previous games include Journey.
According to a release, the video covers how the developers adapted van Gogh's painting style into 3D environments. It also looks at the letters exchanged between Vincent, his brother Theo and his sister-in-law Johanna. The team used these letters as the basis for the experience's story, which centres on family, commitment and love. The video also addresses van Gogh's mental illness and his early death. According to the release, the studio wanted to celebrate the artist while still acknowledging the struggles he faced in his life.
Jenova Chen, CEO and Creative Director of thatgamecompany, said the letters had a strong effect on him during development. "Reading the letters [between Vincent and Theo], I immediately started to cry to hear a story about a painter that focuses on these unconditional, unsung heroes," Chen said.
He added: "It was tremendous to see how our game can actually influence other younger generations to rediscover one of the greatest artists in the world." The studio has described the video as a 'meaningful and mesmerizing' look at how game storytelling can be combined with a historical figure. The full video is available to watch on YouTube.
Sky: Children of the Light since launch
thatgamecompany released Sky in July 2019. It is now available on iOS, Android, PC via Steam, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch. According to the studio, the game has passed 300m downloads.
Sky was named iPhone Game of the Year in 2019. The following year, it won Best Mobile Game and the Audience Award at the Game Developers Choice Awards, as well as Mobile Game of the Year at the SXSW Gaming Awards.
