Are you tired of violent, first-person shooters? Are you looking for a peaceful and pleasant new gaming experience? Have you heard of Sky: Children of the Light?
Brought to you by the creators of Journey, Sky: Children of the Light is a social adventure game developed by the game studio thatgamecompany. It debuted in July 2019 as free to play and is playable via Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Steam. In the game, you explore and soar the skies of a once-prosperous kingdom. You have the option to meet and befriend other players and encounter “spirits” and “children of light” who can present them with new items, abilities, and currency.
Sky is a pleasantly calm game that is perfect for anyone looking for a low-stakes adventure. I was introduced to the game months ago and have enjoyed it immensely since, so I was ecstatic to learn that the creative team behind Sky would be presenting at WonderCon 2024. If you want to read about my 2024 WonderCon adventure, click here.
I attended the Making of Sky panel, where they answered questions about what inspired and maintained this particularly beautiful game. It was great to learn what went into making Sky, so I arranged to interview the game designer and official design manager, Atlas Chen. Keep reading if you are interested in the making of Sky: Children of the Light and how it became a success amongst cozy game enthusiasts.
As a game without dialogue, what would you argue makes Sky popular among all ages?
Atlas Chen: From the beginning, we designed Sky to be accessible to all ages, and we invited people who generally do not play video games to be our playtesters.
Many of us on the Sky team grew up playing video games, and we know that games can touch us deeply and positively impact our lives. We want to share our love for games with everyone, including our families and those who may not identify as traditional “gamers,” by making emotionally impactful games that anyone can easily pick up regardless of age, gender, and cultural background.
The limited use of dialogue and text is also part of the effort to make the game more accessible. Instead of relying heavily on text, which often requires translation into different languages and a certain level of reading proficiency, we look for universal languages all human beings share, such as visuals, music, audio, body movement, and interactions.
How would you pitch Sky to potential players?
Atlas Chen: It’s not our official pitch, but when my friends ask me what I’m working on, I normally tell them Sky is a game where players can become friends and help each other. Connection and camaraderie are at the heart of exploring Sky’s world above the clouds.
Unlike mainstream social games, was Sky designed to forge real friendships and develop compassion for others?
Atlas Chen: Yes, these are precisely what we aim to achieve.
A key element of genuine friendship is that it is not seen as a means to an end. In the early development phase before Sky was released, we rewarded players when they made friends, and it soon became toxic. People made friends to get the reward and then disappeared. We ended up removing any extrinsic rewards for making friends, and the only reason to make a friend is just that – the desire to make one.
It is also crucial to ensure that friendship is a choice; you cannot force real friendship. We initially designed an economy system where the only way you could obtain collectibles was by getting gifts from others. This sounded very idealistic, but eventually, it made friendship and gifting the mandatory way to progress in the game. As a result, everyone started to trade with others to get what they wanted instead of being real friends. It became a social expectation that if I gift you, you must reciprocate immediately; otherwise, I would be mad. Eventually, we allowed players to obtain collectibles by playing the game, and gifts became only one additional route toward their goals. We also made sure all friendship progression was in agreement, and there were safety measures for people who wanted to disengage with particular friends.
In Sky, we intentionally designed stories and gameplay that enable players to connect deeply with each other – to have compassion for each other. Sometimes, it involves light-hearted ice-breaking activities; other times, it’s about experiencing life-and-death situations together in the game. Etymologically, compassion means “suffer together,” and players can experience this in Sky’s final area, the Eye of Eden. We’ve heard many beautiful stories about how this experience transcended players’ friendships with each other and even their relationships with their loved ones in real life.
A barrier to connection, empathy, and compassion is the discrimination of “I” and “not I,” the attachment to ego. We designed the character to be an innocent child free of all labels. We wanted Sky’s gameplay experience to feel like re-experiencing childhood when we did not discriminate against others based on their skin color, gender, wealth, or cultural background, and we could quickly become friends with whoever played with us at the playground. We designed our story content to encourage people to recognize that we are all the stars of one Sky, no matter how seemingly different we are.
What has building and maintaining Sky meant to the creative team?
Atlas Chen: We have a very diverse group of talents, so it’s hard for me to speak for the entire creative team. For me, it’s about building an online community where players can experience a different possibility of society—a society built on compassion where people are genuinely friendly to each other and always enjoy helping each other. I hope this can spread the message of compassion among our players and inspire them to think differently about how they can live their lives and how they can build a better world in their own circumstances. After Sky’s release, this artistic endeavor has become a co-creative experience with the player community. Over the past five years of maintaining Sky, we’ve received so much wonderful feedback and critique from the players that have helped build Sky into a better online community.
I know many of my teammates feel the same way. Some of my teammates were Sky players before they joined, and for them, it’s like contributing to the game and community they have come to love. I feel very fortunate to work with a group of people who are deeply caring for our players, driven by compassion and eagerness to bring positive changes to the world.
What can fans expect from thatgamecompany in the near future? Will Sky remain free to play?
Atlas Chen: We are busy preparing a five-year anniversary event for Sky, where more exciting news will be announced. I think Sky will remain free to play in the foreseeable future. We want to spread the belief that video games can bring positive change to as many people as possible. Setting a price barrier is against that goal.
What would you say to aspiring game designers?
Atlas Chen: If you are aspiring to be a game designer, I encourage you to start making games and find a community of game creators. Nowadays, there are a plethora of free tools and learning resources available to make games. Having a group of friends with the same interests who you can learn from, playtest your games, and exchange ideas with you is important. Also, learn from the masters. Play good games and analyze why they are designed in this way.
I also think that starting small is smart – don’t try to make the biggest ever game as your first project. Making something small but complete can give you a full picture of what the whole process of making games is like, and putting your game out there for players can give you a lot of feedback that you won’t get without finishing it. Don’t try to make the perfect game on your first try or any try, and consider your games as the residues of your progress moving forward as a game designer. You can always learn your lessons and apply it to the next project.
Have you been convinced to play Sky: Children of the Light? Tell us in the comments, and soar to your heart’s content!
