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Engadget: Braid creator Jonathan Blow sacrifices his fortune to build The Witness
- Thread starter hydruxo
- Start date
Messofanego
Banned
Great to hear.
lukeskymac
Member
What a horrible comparison.
TakeItSlowDude
Member
He has a team of artists and other developers working on it with him.
There's better ways to say that. This is, even if it's obviously not exactly what was meant to be said, poorly worded, and an editor should have caught that.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Thought the same thing.
HyperZone<3
Member
The Witness is in fact, a bit of a risky proposition.
Adventure games have seen a comeback in recent years, but very few of them have been huge sellers. Even the recently released (and friggin amazing) The Talos Principle, which had pretty much everything going for it, hasn't seemingly lit the world on fire. If The Witness is indeed an artier take on Myst, well then, even Myst itself wasn't making great bank for its makers, not since the 90's.
I'll put money down for it, but its in no means a guaranteed hit.
Adventure games have seen a comeback in recent years, but very few of them have been huge sellers. Even the recently released (and friggin amazing) The Talos Principle, which had pretty much everything going for it, hasn't seemingly lit the world on fire. If The Witness is indeed an artier take on Myst, well then, even Myst itself wasn't making great bank for its makers, not since the 90's.
I'll put money down for it, but its in no means a guaranteed hit.
Alec
Member
I was actually just thinking about this. I would definitely buy it again.
Maybe with a developer commentary feature?
entremet
Member
Should'n't be too much work since there already exist a x86 version via PCs.
Hibiki Kurosawa
Member
Maybe the beginnings of the indie movement, but "original indie game" is uncomfortable wording, yes.
Also, didn't he say something similar about spending everything on Braid. He'll likely make a handsome profit, anyway.
I think the definition of indie is what's at question here - agreed that it's not worth going over. Braid's release is notable, one way or another.
You can engage me as to why or just drive-by. I wonder which shows better.
It's much better if people go into debt from borrowing and then stake their entire well being on the success of a single product. That's the American way.
Mass Effect
Member
Well I'll definitely be buying The Witness when it releases... whenever that is...
Bought Braid day one, will buy this day one.
Bought Braid day one, will buy this day one.
DJSharpeCheddar
Banned
Set aside the concept of the 'indie scene'--Braid made indies on consoles a big deal. That's not, like, an opinion. It's what happened. After Braid, independent games blew up. They were talked about, they were anticipated, they started getting reviewed alongside (and better than, in some cases) your average AAA titles, and the console companies started taking them very seriously, which continues to this day. Braid wasn't the first, but it was definitely the turning point.
Messofanego
Banned
Same.
toythatkills
Member
I'm surprised you think that. Braid had a range of appeal, platforming, puzzles, a rewind mechanic which hadn't yet been utterly done to death. And it launched at the right time.
The Witness has a LOT of puzzles with lines and grids. Basically it's a really pretty game full of Sudoku. I wouldn't have thought it'd have nearly the same size of audience that Braid had. The Witness will sell, but I don't know if it'll make back what he spent on it. I just hope it does.
I will very happily buy a PS4 version of Braid aid as well as the Xbox 360 and Mac versions I bought. A stunning game. Want it again (360 power cord is broke and playing on my mac is rubbish 
).
Hope they make this happen, surely a pretty easy port with minimal investment required..?
). Hope they make this happen, surely a pretty easy port with minimal investment required..?
Ah, thank you. My skim completely missed the mention of 9 main staff and 8 additional contributors.
Always-honest
Banned
Oh right... I thought that game was supposed to be released a couple of months after launch.
Here's a fair, non-hyperbolic description that is actually usable and not some statement of convenience. Kudos.
Like the hat?
Banned
Calling it the original indie game is like when people say pong was the first video game, or wolf3d was the first fps. Not first in the timeline sense, but first in the making it a thing that mainstream people paid attention to sense
No, they were right, it's a weak comparison. Not all games in a genre are interchangeable in terms of quality and reception, and the circumstances (and financial goals) here are different from a more traditional studio. For the scale of production, a recent release like Talos Principle already demonstrates the market interest.
Chairman Yang
if he talks about books, you better damn well listen
My understanding is that the line/grid puzzles aren't the meat of the game; just little introductory things to teach you principles that then have to be applied to "real" puzzles in the environment.
walltowall
Member
The fact that I share a cold blooded animal's sentiments exactly is very,very frightening.
0.1.1.2.3.5.8.13.21.34.55
Banned
I thought this was going to be a launch game... I've been waiting patiently ever since.
Nonetheless, Blow has my money when it eventually hits the shelf.
Nonetheless, Blow has my money when it eventually hits the shelf.
Castle Crashers was The Behemoth's second game. Alien Hominid was really their big break, 4 years earlier.
Ditto. Blow has earned my respect.
And I would say that the Talos Principle has at least eaten part of The Witness' lunch.
Green Wiggly
Member
Pretty ballsy. Not a fan of Braid, but I hope it works out for him.
Hero_of_the_Day
Member
Doubt it. We still have no clue when The Witness is coming, and when it does it will sell a ton off of the hype Blow has because of Braid. I can't imagine that anyone who has been looking forward to TW is suddenly not because of TP.
D
Deleted member 102362
Unconfirmed Member
I assume they mean indie in a contemporary sense.
Braid was good. I'm planning on getting The Witness because of that.
lukeskymac
Member
Like you just did, you mean?
The context behind Uru and The Witness is completely different. Uru was very experimental from the outset: in some areas it was nearly an opposite game to their previous work.
Myst and Riven were solitary single-player games. Uru was originally meant to be a multiplayer puzzle game, which is a wonky idea by itself.
Riven, like Myst, had pre-rendered 2D vistas with hotspot movement with 1st person view. Uru was fully 3D with 3rd person view.
The downsides of 3D 3rd person for puzzle-solving, the obvious lack of content that was scrapped when the multiplayer went to shit, and the shoddy puzzle design occasionally found all give away a big part of why Uru failed. But then you remember that the market for puzzle games had been declining very rapidly around its 2003 release, and then it becomes almost painfully obvious.
The Witness, on the other hand, is built on top of a proven formula and is going to be released in a better market situation ("From the creator of Braid" also helps). The extra time and resources poured into it are but a layer of polish, unlike with Uru.
Earlier you used the point that an audience didn't react to the Uru release, which was a sign that this wouldn't be worth it. Now you're saying that an audience reacting to Talos Principle is a sign this wouldn't be worth it.
LurkerPrime
Member
Funneling so much money into another game seems sorta reckless, to be honest. But if he believes in it that much, I can't say he's wrong for doing it.
From everything I've heard about The Witness (assuming I'm not thinking of some other crazy puzzle/adventure/experience game) makes it sound interesting, at the very least. Coming from "The Creator of Braid" should give it enough visibility to sell well... but I don't know if it'll recoup such immense costs.
PC stuff never counts, my dear.
I was going to suggest the same thing. He's probably busy with the Witness right now, but Braid: Definitive Edition would no doubt sell quite well, if only from its previous prestige.
From everything I've heard about The Witness (assuming I'm not thinking of some other crazy puzzle/adventure/experience game) makes it sound interesting, at the very least. Coming from "The Creator of Braid" should give it enough visibility to sell well... but I don't know if it'll recoup such immense costs.
PC stuff never counts, my dear.
I was going to suggest the same thing. He's probably busy with the Witness right now, but Braid: Definitive Edition would no doubt sell quite well, if only from its previous prestige.
Not really.
Braid was clearly a bigger deal than any of those games regarding indie games blowing up in the mainstream, which is pretty obviously what the writer meant.
It's no different than when people refer to, say, Gears of War as the 'orginal' cover-based shooter or Doom as the original FPS even if there were other games that did the exact same thing before. It's just because that's the game of it's type that made the biggest splash.
Icyflamez96
Member
Well it looks AMAZING. With all the passion he's putting in to this project, it's going to be great. I see this having much more of a draw on consumers than Braid too.
We won't know if "the creator of Braid" moniker will still have the purchase-pushing power until the game actually comes out, whenever that is. And if it will recoup Blow's personal investments.
I didn't make first mention of the Talos Principle since I was merely reacting to your statement about it. I'm not the only one who feels this way as you can go to page 1 to find others.
CrimsonCrescendo
Banned
So I guess you could say Mr Blow... blew his load.
Thank you, I'm here all week.
On a serious note, I hope things work out for him.
Thank you, I'm here all week.
On a serious note, I hope things work out for him.
U n i o n 0015
Member
How did XBLA sales fall so far off the deep end? I loved buying stuff from XBLA. So much great content from around '09 until maybe 2011. Now all the new stuff seems like it was sent there to die.
As an Xbox 360 owner in the previous gen, it was basically a content graveyard in the late going. Microsoft abandoned it.
fargofallout
Member
I've also wondered about the price he'll be asking for this game, considering how long it's been in development. I'd pay at least $40 for it, but how many other people would? $15-$20 seems to be the most common price for these download-only games that are made by small teams, and I worry people will pass if it's more than that.
As for release, recent things he's said on Twitter and whatnot makes me think the game is in polish mode. He mentioned people playing what he refers to as a beta, so I'm hopeful it will actually come out this year. If not, I've waited this long, so what's a little more?
As for release, recent things he's said on Twitter and whatnot makes me think the game is in polish mode. He mentioned people playing what he refers to as a beta, so I'm hopeful it will actually come out this year. If not, I've waited this long, so what's a little more?