Recently, Chen Xinghan, the developer of Journey, said in an interview with IGN that the game was influenced by the social system of Demon Souls during the development process.
In Wind Traveler, players are automatically matched with another random player in the same area and can choose to travel together. While they can't interact directly, players can use button input to "chime" each other, use it to guide the path to be taken, or simply express joy at overcoming obstacles.
In 2009, when Chen Xinghan developed Wind Traveler, it was the time when Zynga social games were booming. Although Zynga claims that FarmVille is a social game, Chen Xinghan thinks: "Is this social? It's just trading crops and numbers... The socialization I want is a meaningful emotional transfer between two people. ”
At the same time, Chen Xinghan is also playing FromSoftware's Demon Souls, and he is fascinated by the design of players leaving messages to each other and seeing the spirits of other players without direct interaction. Through this limited system, players work together to explore dangerous worlds, creating a largely active, invisible community of support and guidance.
Chen Xinghan said: "The Dark Souls series is very antisocial, it puts the player in a fragile state, the whole world is trying to kill you, making the player feel very, very small. That's what Wind Traveler does: make players feel vulnerable and small, and be in awe of the world. ”
"At the time, we thought the game was like work because there was always a boss: 'Soldier, your mission is to take that mountain over there and kill this boss.'" All the information is displayed to you, what rewards you will get... Even before you explore, you know what's about to unfold. ”
With Wind Traveler, we want to show that the player doesn't know what's on the back of the mountain. You feel vulnerable when you don't know the purpose and history of the world, and that sense of awe makes people want to socialize more intimately.
The wordless structure of Wind Traveler allows players to enter the desert world without context or explanation from the beginning, allowing them to find their way forward. At that time, it was suggested that Chen Xinghan should add voice chat to the game so that people could play with friends, which could theoretically increase sales. But after Mr. Chen asked his friends and colleagues for advice, everyone said they hated the game's voice chat feature because people would become mean.