The journey is a game where you explore the ancient, mysterious world as you soar above ruins and glide across sands, snow and air to discover its secret. It is a breathtaking, visually stunning game. It won many awards and is loved by everyone who played it. And the most impressive part? It's wordless. Unlike most games, this game doesn't teach you how to play, there is no tutorial, there is no voice-over, there is no name tag, there is no map where you can locate yourself, not even compass, there is nothing written or said on what you have to do in this game, no list of objectives, nothing. So how do you figure out what to do in this game? How do you enjoy this game? Just good visuals and randomly roaming around? No. You have to play it to know it. There were countless game design techniques that I observed, felt and understood. 3 of them stood out most. Let's begin a journey to understand the journey, Shall well?
#MeaningfulProduct
On the back: have non-intrusive, non-attention seeking, little to no objects. On the front: Have only and only one glowing/attention-demanding object. Making next steps intuitive, attentive, desirable introducing nothing but curiosity that makes people question: What is there? 😮. Reveal important things when people reach to the final object."
After a short cut scene, this is the first screen you see. It's mostly desert here. There is a small hill and some small objects over there. Sun is in the same direction. So it naturally drives you to wonder "What is there?" and makes you want to go there.
You just go there and this is what you see
Above the huge mountain, you see a beam of light coming out and a big title card drop: Journey. And in that very moment, you are rewarded. You know where you are supposed to go. You know what's your goal and what's your journey. To reach the mountain.
Throughout the game, you can see this effect being used on multiple scales. See the image[with a highlighted light source with yellow marker] to understand this clearly.