One of the biggest surprises of 2017 for me was seeing thatgamecompany, the award winning studio behind such amazing games as Journey and the recently released on iOS Flower ($4.99), announce their newest game during an Apple event this past September. The game is called Sky and while it debuted on an Apple TV it’s actually going to be fully universal with support for iPhone and iPad. In fact, being that the game is developed for mobile first, the entire thing has been designed around touchscreen controls and should largely be playable with just a single thumb or finger. While thatgamecompany has said that Sky is a “game about giving" and we knew there was a huge social component with other live players all playing inside the same world, we still don’t really know a ton of details about what you actually do in the game. Well, the good folks over at IGN have posted a lengthy video narrated by thatgamecompany co-founder Jenova Chen which shows off the beginnings of the game while he discusses some of the thinking that went into the design decisions in Sky. It’s incredibly interesting, check it out.

There are so many interesting insights in that video it’s hard to single out just one. I think it’s really interesting that so many people who played Journey wished that they could have played the game together with friends and family, and I love that they’re heavily leaning on the social aspect of Sky because of that. Also, this relates to another interesting design decision in that multiple players will need to work together in harmony to accomplish certain goals. It’s certainly fun to compete directly with other humans, but it’s also very rewarding to work together towards a common goal. Beyond any specific design points, Sky is just an incredibly interesting world in general, and I really can’t wait to explore it when it releases first on iOS in the coming months.

[Via IGN]