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[Amir0x]

Utterly sad. There is no problem. The problem was fixed. Years and years ago. You press a button and you see all the interactive spots. Bam! no more pixel hunting.

This is a sad reflection of a part of P&C devs that are for some reason oblivious to this solution and still design their games on pixel hunting. Case in point, the highest-profile P&C title in years, Broken Age, has no Hotspot indicator and doesn't allow you to skip conversations.

I don't like that solution either though. It reduces a lot of the fun of observation from the mix.

The best solution is actually integrating immersive cues into the mix. People perhaps glancing at certain areas nervously; a light shining off a coin at intervals; a specific sound effect indicating an area of attention. In this sense, you give nods to the player as to what perhaps might be of interest, without removing the sense of exploration or discovery.

 

[Bartholomuse]

2016 off to a bang,

 

[Manny Calavera]

Excellent news, loved Braid and been looking forward to this for a long time now.

 

[Walpurgis]

This looks beautiful. I'm sure that it will do very well in the reviews. I can't wait.

 

[INTERNET]

Aaand hype's gone. What a baffling choice for a singular puzzle design. 650 panels of drawing line after line after line after line.


Utterly sad. There is no problem. The problem was fixed. Years and years ago. You press a button and you see all the interactive spots. Bam! no more pixel hunting.

This is a sad reflection of a part of P&C devs that are for some reason oblivious to this solution and still design their games on pixel hunting. Case in point, the highest-profile P&C title in years, Broken Age, has no Hotspot indicator and doesn't allow you to skip conversations.

The problem is more that the hotspots tend to be arbitrary and disconnected from the environment. In other words, there should be no need for a hotspot indicator, because design should lead you to the obviously manipulable item.

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Bring me the Blue Pages.

 

[Warm Machine]

It took him 6.5 years to follow up Braid. I'm seeing a ton of snail maze panels and a game that doesn't look much better than the couple other competitors in this genre.

 

[jmaine_ph]

Yes! Finally a release date. I can't freaking wait. This game looks beautiful

 

[KooopaKid]

Finally 2016 is really this time the year of the PS4.

 

[nib95]

It took him 6.5 years to follow up Braid. I'm seeing a ton of snail maze panels and a game that doesn't look much better than the couple other competitors in this genre.

Then you didn't watch the trailer. There's more to the puzzles than just maze panels, and there's also a hell of a lot more to the game than shown in a 1 and a half minute trailer.

 

[wild wild rice]

Looks quite beautiful. Braid had its head a little too far up its ass for me to really enjoy, but I'm really looking forward to this.

 

[Plasma]

Cool it's good to have a game to play early on in the year.

 

[bsp]

It took him 6.5 years to follow up Braid. I'm seeing a ton of snail maze panels and a game that doesn't look much better than the couple other competitors in this genre.

6.5 years to create an engine and build a game. That isn't too bad at all.

The language invented for the puzzles isn't always contained just inside the maze screens. As the new trailer showed, they begin to reflect in the environment itself.

 

[OnionPowder]

This game is going to be something special isn't it? I've been waiting for this for what feels like ages now, I'm glad Blow and his team are finally getting it out the door. Day 1 no questions asked. Blow is a true artiste and I'm ready to experience his vision

 

[hey_it's_that_dog]

It took him 6.5 years to follow up Braid. I'm seeing a ton of snail maze panels and a game that doesn't look much better than the couple other competitors in this genre.

Maybe what's good about it can't be captured in a 1 minute video.

 

[Traffcore]

Really looking forward to the game since the reveal in 2013. Now there is an end of the road.

 

[Stumpokapow]

It took him 6.5 years to follow up Braid. I'm seeing a ton of snail maze panels and a game that doesn't look much better than the couple other competitors in this genre.

Sounds like shit, you should skip it and save your money.

 

[wild wild rice]

These lines puzzles look kinda pleasant to deal with in a way.

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

Game looks great visually, but those are some strong words.To me this doesn't seem like a type of a game able to provide 80-100 hours of playtime.

If you're following a walkthrough I'm sure it'll take much shorter than that, but if you're trying to solve all the puzzles on your own and they are as difficult as Blow claims? I can believe that figure.

 

[Mifune]

I don't think the puzzle interface will make sense until we play it. And I'm fine with that.

 

[Saty]

I don't like that solution either though. It reduces a lot of the fun of observation from the mix.

The best solution is actually integrating immersive cues into the mix. People perhaps glancing at certain areas nervously; a light shining off a coin at intervals; a specific sound effect indicating an area of attention. In this sense, you give nods to the player as to what perhaps might be of interest, without removing the sense of exploration or discovery.

Yes, there are probably numerous ways to experiment with that. The point is that if you want to make a P&C title devoid of pixel hunting, you can. The issue is that a lot of these games still rely on pixel hunting and the act of identifying and locating as a big chunk of the difficulty and challenge.

What's Blow's solution? Every bit of challenge in this game coming from tracing lines through mazes on 2d panels and then through 3d mazes? Is the solution to the interactivity problem to basically scream 'don't bother trying anything in this lavish island we built; only mind the panels that plainly stick out'?
You don't pick up items in the Witness. You don't have an inventory in The Witness. Why is pixel hunting even a concern here?

 

[Servbot24]

Aaand hype's gone. What a baffling choice for a singular puzzle design. 650 panels of drawing line after line after line after line.

It's a very risky choice, but one I admire a lot. They have faith in their design and are not compromising on it. That is extremely rare in game design.

 

[Nozem]

This game is going to be something special isn't it? I've been waiting for this for what feels like ages now, I'm glad Blow and his team are finally getting it out the door. Day 1 no questions asked. Blow is a true artiste and I'm ready to experience his vision

I feel the same. This game is gonna be magical.

Spoiler

Now if only Phil Fish would make another game...

 

[ReturnOfTheRAT]

Feel's good man.

 

[Ark]

That trailer is phenomenal. Consider me there day one. Been waiting for this since the PS4 reveal conference.

 

[v1lla21]

Damn guys, they just showed everything you can do in an 80+ hour game within a minute. :/ drawing lines? Fuck that might as well buy an etch a sketch.

 

[ShogunX]

Visually it's amazing but I'm not sold on the gameplay yet. The puzzles in the trailer look uninteresting although I'm sure the game has lots of complex stuff like Braid did.

 

[Gestault]

It took him 6.5 years to follow up Braid. I'm seeing a ton of snail maze panels and a game that doesn't look much better than the couple other competitors in this genre.

If you're not interested, it's totally fine to find something you do want to play. If the game design is bad, then it'll be a bummer, but I didn't get the same impression as you from the trailer/info we have. I hope I'm right, but once the game is out, the dev time won't mean all that much (good or bad).

 

[JP]

There are a few games that, like this, I keep forget and then I'm really pleased when one mow info is released.

Not sure how I feel about the 80 to 100 hours and I probably won't be until I start playing it properly. I'd like to believe that there's a worthwhile 100 hours of gameplay in this but it will be a hell of an achievement if they've managed to do that.

Really looking forward to spending time with this.

 

[OnionPowder]

I feel the same. This game is gonna be magical.

Spoiler

Now if only Phil Fish would make another game...

I'm with you on that. If only he could get over himself and just make a game without the melodrama. Such a good designer and wasting his talent over stupid bullshit.

 

[Sum-Mischief]

Game looks super.... Hype , Hyped !
Day One.... !

 

[LegendofDragoonLives]

Smart to release it at that time, don't want that kind of game to go during the November-December behemoth time. I think it would have been smarter to wait a month and show the release date at PGS. Same with U4 release date and MP BETA date shown at the show then. Weird that these announcements are coming at random times.

 

[Vexidus]

That Ars Technica writeup is great, and made me even more hyped for this game. I love the new screenshots and can just imagine myself being completely and utterly immersed in the world, with my pencil and graphing notebook at my side like I had for Fez. It will be a glorious experience.

 

[Sande]

Looks gorgeous. I'm equally intrigued and terrified how that puzzle solving system is going to work out. I can imagine things getting ridiculously abstract and obscure with that.

 

[derExperte]

YES. Sony's slow trickle of good news these past few months has been awesome.

wut

They're not publishing this or anything.

 

[CarbonFire]

That Ars Technica writeup is great, and made me even more hyped for this game. I love the new screenshots and can just imagine myself being completely and utterly immersed in the world, with my pencil and graphing notebook at my side like I had for Fez. It will be a glorious experience.

From what little we've seen and heard about the game so far, it does seem like one of those type of games.

Can't wait!

 

[googleplex]

This and No Mans Sky are the two games I most want to play in VR.

 

[Cave Johnson]

The budget must be the near double digit millions to be delayed this long. I'm expecting a $60 tag on this.

 

[Warm Machine]

If you're not interested, it's totally fine to find something you do want to play. If the game design is bad, then it'll be a bummer, but I didn't get the same impression as you from the trailer/info we have. I hope I'm right, but once the game is out, the dev time won't mean all that much (good or bad).

I'm disappointed in that the visual style isn't leveraged in the gameplay. Unfinished Swan, for example had an immediate connection between its style and its unique gameplay. It conveyed immediately in its trailer and I'd never seen anything like it.

Right now I'm seeing a colourful Myst meets Talos Principle. I had higher hopes considering the pitch for the game was all about observation and seeing the world in a specific way which was to lead to the unveiling of secrets.

Don't get me wrong, I'm really fond of Braid. I'm just not feeling it here.

 

[wumster3000]

My PS4 is gonna get a major workout in 2016. My thumbs are ready.

 

[d00d3n]

Are all puzzles in the witness built around "drawing lines through mazes" like they show in the trailer?

 

[Mifune]

Are all puzzles in the witness built around "drawing lines through mazes" like they show in the trailer?

That's how you interact with the puzzles but not necessarily where the solving of them is done.

 

[ElTorro]

Finally. At least it's January 2016 and not Summer or something like that.

Definitely getting this.

 

[GhaleonEB]

From what little we've seen and heard about the game so far, it does seem like one of those type of games.

Can't wait!

Indeed. From the Polygon article:

"I try to make puzzles in The Witness as simple as they can be," Blow says. "You just don't get it. It's not only that you don't get it, but you don't feel like there's anything to tell you how to get it. It's as much of a brick wall as possible, with no red herrings or anything. So eventually, when you manage to stick your head through that brick wall and see what's past it, it's the most magical. I'm designing to optimize the experience of having those miniature epiphanies over and over again."

Notes will be taken.

Are all puzzles in the witness built around "drawing lines through mazes" like they show in the trailer?

The game is about learning what to do, not how to do it. It's about observation and learning. He chose a simple mechanic - mazes - and then pushes it as far as he could. It sounds like some of the puzzles layer on a large number of concepts that you have to learn gradually, and then apply. So it's simple mechanically, and complex conceptually.

 

[d00d3n]

That's how you interact with the puzzles but not necessarily where the solving of them is done.

Hmmm, ok, I guess that expands the possibilities a bit.

 

[CarbonFire]

Finally. At least it's January 2016 and not Summer or something like that.

Definitely getting this.

It'll be Summer down under

 

[Visualante2]

[sighing intensifies]

 

[Kenzodielocke]

.

Would you kindly add PC/PS4 in the title please?

 

[DangerMouse]

Ok whats happening right now..2016 is so stacked it's absolutely incredible. Any word on a physical release

Yup, it's crazy!

 

[Stampy]

I hope licenced music was used only for the trailer. After hearing this song like for milion times, it just lost its spark.