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[Family Fry]

Braid was $15 at launch. He wanted to do $20 on PC a year later but ended up bringing it back down to $15 before it came out.

Way back then it was 1200 Microsoft points and people said they weren't paying more than 800 points for an indie.

Ah how times have changed.

 

[March of the Crabs]

I've seen a lot of people say they're happy with the price conversion for this game when pre-orders went up on steam. Apparently it's $43.99 on the canadian steam store, so hopefully the same can be said when it goes up on PSN.

That'd be awesome pricing if true. Can't wait for this game.

 

[TheExodu5]

Happy about the Canadian price at least. $44. Thanks for not making us take too big of a hit with our dollar. I may pick this up at launch.

I am a bit concerned about the game though. It's heralded as being Myst like, but nothing I've seen from the game indicates that. Myst is all about puzzles that are integrated seemlessly into the lore and environment. Preview media hasn't really given me the impression that this will be the case here. Hopefully I'm wrong.

 

[toythatkills]

Way back then it was 1200 Microsoft points and people said they weren't paying more than 800 points for an indie.

Ah how times have changed.

3,300 Microsoft Points is my limit for indie trash so this is just within it

 

[Corleth the Fey]

$40 is a perfectly reasonable starting price. Don't want to pay for it? Wait one year or two for a steam sale when it will half priced or less

I doubt you would have to wait that long.

I'm fairly interested, but I think I'll wait for impressions before buying. I'm fine with price, I just need to know if the gameplay is something I personally want.

Reading between the lines - it was fairly obvious that it would be in this price range.

Blow is clearly no fool. People super stoked for the game will buy at this price. There's plenty of time and room for discounts later. Why cheapen yourself at the start?

 

[Jeronimo Jones]

I kept thinking I had bought the somewhst comparable Talos Principle for a similar price to this in a sale but it turns out I waited and don't even own it yet... I still have Soma, Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, and Transistor unplayed too.

I don't have a problem with the price/value itself but I should wait.

 

[Vexidus]

Happy about the Canadian price at least. $44. Thanks for not making us take too big of a hit with our dollar. I may pick this up at launch.

I am a bit concerned about the game though. It's heralded as being Myst like, but nothing I've seen from the game indicates that. Myst is all about puzzles that are integrated seemlessly into the lore and environment. Preview media hasn't really given me the impression that this will be the case here. Hopefully I'm wrong.

I agree about the Canadian price, very generous really.

There are many similarities to Myst. The puzzles in The Witness seem to be very overt and clearly-identified mechanisms, which does differ slightly from Myst and Riven. Of course there are many mechanisms in those games but they blended in more and felt like more natural parts of the world. We haven't seen enough of The Witness to judge it properly though but I tend to agree that the panels feel less natural but nonetheless part of the constructed world.

Other than that, you are alone like in Myst. Isolated and trying to figure out what the purpose is to all these mechanisms and why they exist in the first place. We know the island is segmented into lots of discrete areas that you need to gain access to using your understanding of those particular environments. You do exactly that in Myst to gain access to each age. Each area seems to be unified by lasers that all point to a mountain. Reminds you of the library tower on Myst island, which used a laser on a map to direct the tower rotation.

You are trying to figure out why you are there and how to make sense of the world. Reading subtle clues from the environment to piece everything together. That sense of mystery and wonder about your surroundings is the biggest similarity in my eyes.

There may be even more as we explore the game ourselves. Perhaps we meet the person who built the island, as we do in Myst/Riven.

All I know is that I am excited as hell to jump into this game.

 

[PolishQ]

I agree about the Canadian price, very generous really.

There are many similarities to Myst. The puzzles in The Witness seem to be very overt and clearly-identified mechanisms, which does differ slightly from Myst and Riven. Of course there are many mechanisms in those games but they blended in more and felt like more natural parts of the world. We haven't seen enough of The Witness to judge it properly though but I tend to agree that the panels feel less natural but nonetheless part of the constructed world.

Other than that, you are alone like in Myst. Isolated and trying to figure out what the purpose is to all these mechanisms and why they exist in the first place. We know the island is segmented into lots of discrete areas that you need to gain access to using your understanding of those particular environments. You do exactly that in Myst to gain access to each age. Each area seems to be unified by lasers that all point to a mountain. Reminds you of the library tower on Myst island, which used a laser on a map to direct the tower rotation.

You are trying to figure out why you are there and how to make sense of the world. Reading subtle clues from the environment to piece everything together. That sense of mystery and wonder about your surroundings is the biggest similarly in my eyes.

There may be even more as we explore the game ourselves. Perhaps we meet the person who built the island, as we do in Myst/Riven.

All I know is that I am excited as hell to jump into this game.

Sums it all up nicely.

 

[Fuz]

Mh. More expensive than I thought.

Gonna buy anyway.

 

[Icyflamez96]

I will pay 250 gamerscore and 4 bronze trophies for this game, MAX.

 

[IvanJ]

$40 is a perfectly reasonable starting price. Don't want to pay for it? Wait one year or two for a steam sale when it will half priced or less

I predict it will be $20 during Easter Sale 2016.
I can wait two months.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I predict it will be $20 during Easter Sale 2016.
I can wait two months.

Blow said there would not be a sale price or cut any time soon, other wise the launch price is basically a "fake price". You'll be waiting a while.

 

[IvanJ]

Blow said there would not be a sale price or cut any time soon, other wise the launch price is basically a "fake price". You'll be waiting a while.

I won't actually be waiting, I'll probably be too busy playing The Division, Far Cry and/or Uncharted to care about this game then.
It will be $10-15 one day, and will still have the same number of puzzles.

Or I'll just get it on iPhone for a fiver, doubt he'll dare ask for more there.

 

[More_Badass]

I won't actually be waiting, I'll probably be too busy playing The Division, Far Cry and/or Uncharted to care about this game then.
It will be $10-15 one day, and will still have the same number of puzzles.

Or I'll just get it on iPhone for a fiver, doubt he'll dare ask for more there.

Nah, will probably be $10 or $12 on iOS. Dropsy, XCOM, GTA, Bioshock are $10 on IOS

 

[IvanJ]

Nah, will probably be $10 or $12 on iOS. Dropsy, XCOM, GTA, Bioshock are $10 on IOS

The Witness is not Bioshock, and it's definitely not GTA. To charge the same price for it would be ridiculous. Maybe having one hit game a decade ago did some damage to his ego, but I doubt he can think he is in a GTA category.

 

[JaseC]

I predict it will be $20 during Easter Sale 2016.
I can wait two months.

Steam has no Easter Sale. The first sale of the year is the Summer Sale, which is held in June/July.

 

[KTallguy]

If the atmosphere is like Myst, but the puzzle solving isn't random bullshit like Myst, I'm all for it.

Edit: Why can't I preorder this on PSN?

 

[IvanJ]

Steam has no Easter Sale. The first sale of the year is the Summer Sale, which is held in June/July.

PSN will have an Easter sale for sure.
I have no interest in Steam at all, I don't even own a PC.

But I guess Steam people will just have to wait a bit longer for this game to be priced reasonably.

 

[Htown]

Well I guess I was expecting more or less your normal indie pricing.

What is normal indie pricing?

 

[JaseC]

PSN will have an Easter sale for sure.
I have no interest in Steam at all, I don't even own a PC.

Ah, right. The person you quoted mentioned Steam specifically, so given the absence of a platform in your own post, I assumed you were also talking about the PC version.

 

[EatinOlives]

The Witness is not Bioshock, and it's definitely not GTA. To charge the same price for it would be ridiculous. Maybe having one hit game a decade ago did some damage to his ego, but I doubt he can think he is in a GTA category.

So is this still about a game's value or about your bone to pick with Jonathan Blow?

I just wanted to make sure we've officially finished the transition.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

What is normal indie pricing?

$15-$20.

 

[YianGaruga]

What is normal indie pricing?

Three paper clips and a piece of lint

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

What is normal indie pricing?

$0-$60.

 

[JaseC]

If the atmosphere is like Myst, but the puzzle solving isn't random bullshit like Myst, I'm all for it.

Edit: Why can't I preorder this on PSN?

Because PSN pre-orders have to be set up "months in advance" and Blow wasn't aware of this. It's fair to point the finger at Blow and say he should be familiar with PSN procedures, but Sony having such an antiquated system in 2016, while not surprising, is really quite ridiculous.

 

[More_Badass]

The Witness is not Bioshock, and it's definitely not GTA. To charge the same price for it would be ridiculous. Maybe having one hit game a decade ago did some damage to his ego, but I doubt he can think he is in a GTA category.

The biggest indie ports are probably Transistor and Broken Age, both at $10, followed by The Banner Saga at $10. And the most comparable price wise is XCOM Enemy Within, $30 on PC, launched for $12 on IOS, now $10.

Other $10 successful mobile games include Sentinels of the Multiverse, Implosion, Desktop Dungeons,

The Witness being $10 on iPad is the most likely possibility. I'd be surprised if it's lower and I actually expect it to be $12

 

[cpp_is_king]

The Witness is not Bioshock, and it's definitely not GTA. To charge the same price for it would be ridiculous. Maybe having one hit game a decade ago did some damage to his ego, but I doubt he can think he is in a GTA category.

Bioshock, if I'm not mistaken, is a port of an almost 10 yaer old game. GTA was a port of an 11 year old game.

It must be a strange world you live in.

 

[robotrock]

The iOS Witness release should work for the Apple TV as well, right?

 

[Crzy1]

Wasn't sure how much I was expecting to be. Fired up Steam and saw the price, think I'll go ahead and... fuck there are too many games this month...

Playing Dragon's Dogma, need to play RE: Zero and Rise of the Tomb Raider is out in a week... Xcom is a week later and then Street Fighter V... god damn... not even counting free-to-play games that I want to give a spin... PC hasn't been this stacked with releases in a long time...

I'll probably go ahead and get it, not sure it will hold my attention, but dammit Braid was a masterpiece.

 

[piratepwnsninja]

But I guess Steam people will just have to wait a bit longer for this game to be priced reasonably.

So you know it is overpriced?

 

[IvanJ]

So you know it is overpriced?

Of course I know, the price is in the very first post.

 

[daxy]

I agree about the Canadian price, very generous really.

There are many similarities to Myst. The puzzles in The Witness seem to be very overt and clearly-identified mechanisms, which does differ slightly from Myst and Riven. Of course there are many mechanisms in those games but they blended in more and felt like more natural parts of the world. We haven't seen enough of The Witness to judge it properly though but I tend to agree that the panels feel less natural but nonetheless part of the constructed world.

Other than that, you are alone like in Myst. Isolated and trying to figure out what the purpose is to all these mechanisms and why they exist in the first place. We know the island is segmented into lots of discrete areas that you need to gain access to using your understanding of those particular environments. You do exactly that in Myst to gain access to each age. Each area seems to be unified by lasers that all point to a mountain. Reminds you of the library tower on Myst island, which used a laser on a map to direct the tower rotation.

You are trying to figure out why you are there and how to make sense of the world. Reading subtle clues from the environment to piece everything together. That sense of mystery and wonder about your surroundings is the biggest similarity in my eyes.

There may be even more as we explore the game ourselves. Perhaps we meet the person who built the island, as we do in Myst/Riven.

All I know is that I am excited as hell to jump into this game.

Man, I haven't been doing too much reading on what the nature of the world and the game is, but this is the premise I'm hoping for and I hope it delivers. It could be something else entirely, but if Blow makes good on his design ideas then it will certainly be a hell of a ride nonetheless.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Funny thing is that I don't see people claiming $40 is too expensive when there's also a side-by-side physical release which is also $40. In that case, people are fine with buying the digital release because it's the same as the physical release.

So the problem really isn't "I don't want to pay $40 for a digital release". The problem is "I don't want to pay $40 for an indie game". But for some reason nobody wants to come out and just say that directly.

 

[AstroNut325]

I want more games like this! I love puzzle solvers. Will definitely buy, but I buy after my PS4 backlog goes down a bit! Price isn't an issue for me. I'l gladly pay $40 for a game like this. I might end up buying it anyway just to show my support of puzzle solving games.

 

[rudds]

Discuss it, Brad!! Gah, the wait is killing me.

I am very excited to talk to people about The Witness.

 

[lazyproblems]

The biggest indie ports are probably Transistor and Broken Age, both at $10, followed by The Banner Saga at $10. And the most comparable price wise is XCOM Enemy Within, $30 on PC, launched for $12 on IOS, now $10.

Other $10 successful mobile games include Sentinels of the Multiverse, Implosion, Desktop Dungeons,

The Witness being $10 on iPad is the most likely possibility. I'd be surprised if it's lower and I actually expect it to be $12

This War of Mine is $14.99 (launched with a sale at $11.99), and that game did well and has charted several times.

$9.99-14.99 is about what I'm expecting.

 

[More_Badass]

This War of Mine is $14.99 (launched with a sale at $11.99), and that game did well and has charted several times.

$9.99-14.99 is about what I'm expecting.

Forgot about that one, another good example..

 

[Family Fry]

If the atmosphere is like Myst, but the puzzle solving isn't random bullshit like Myst, I'm all for it.

Edit: Why can't I preorder this on PSN?

Blow said that in order for it to be available to pre-order on psn a few things were suppose to be done a few months ago. No one told him this a few months ago, so its not available to pre-order.

 

[GhaleonEB]

Bringing this over from the other thread, some information on what is required to beat the game vs. what is optional:

New interview about the puzzle design: http://www.dailydot.com/geek/jonathan-blow-interview-the-witness/

We have hard numbers now: you can win the game by solving any 7 of the 11 areas of the island.

Q: How would you guess players are going to digest The Witness? They’re going to sit down and, beginning to end, finish and then move on to the next game? Or they’ll take long sessions with a week in-between, or plunk away at it for years. Do you have any concept of that?

I think that’s up to the individual, really? I don’t necessarily have a prescription for that. I mean, it’s a long game. If you do everything in this game it might be 80 to a hundred hours. There’s a ton of stuff.

Sometimes I do things and they seem pretty obscure, and I’m like, “Oh, not many people are going to get this,” and in some cases if it’s not a very good idea in the first place, it’s like “We’re just going to cut that, because it’s not that good, and it’s not going to work for most people.”

But if the idea is good, what you really want as a designer is other ways of incorporating that into the game where it’s not a requirement for everybody, but the people who get it can get it, and the people who don’t need to get it or don’t like it don’t have to.

The way the game is structured is there’s a tremendous amount of optional stuff. To actually win the game there’s a certain amount of things that you need to do, but only a very small portion of it is required. There’s all these different areas you can explore, and you need a certain number of them solved, but no specific one of those areas have to be solved. Seven of them out of 11 have to be, and you can pick.

It's a very good article / interview with no spoilers.

 

[PolishQ]

I am very excited to talk to people about The Witness.

Could you perhaps give us a look at it ... quickly?

 

[More_Badass]

If the atmosphere is like Myst, but the puzzle solving isn't random bullshit like Myst, I'm all for it.

Edit: Why can't I preorder this on PSN?

This is for you then. Blow has said that's specifically something he wanted to avoid, by giving the puzzles a common structure then iterating and evolving from there

 

[WeTeHa]

Funny thing is that I don't see people claiming $40 is too expensive when there's also a side-by-side physical release which is also $40. In that case, people are fine with buying the digital release because it's the same as the physical release.

So the problem really isn't "I don't want to pay $40 for a digital release". The problem is "I don't want to pay $40 for an indie game". But for some reason nobody wants to come out and just say that directly.

Well, maybe for some. I don't care whether the game is indie or AAA. I do care about physical vs digital though. I really want this game, but I do not want to pay 37€ for a digital game. I don't buy digital games, unless they are really cheap from the beginning or have a very high discount. Hell, most of the time I even pick up the disc version of a game even though I have to pay more for it.

Man, if the game had a physical release I'd pre-order this in a heartbeat, but spending that much for a digital only game without having something for my shelf/collection? Still have to think a while about whether I'm willing to pick it up at release or wait for a sale.

 

[More_Badass]

Well, maybe for some. I don't care whether the game is indie or AAA. I do care about physical vs digital though. I really want this game, but I do not want to pay 37€ for a digital game. I don't buy digital games, unless they are really cheap from the beginning or have a very high discount. Hell, most of the time I even pick up the disc version of a game even though I have to pay more for it.

Man, if the game had a physical release I'd pre-order this in a heartbeat, but spending that much for a digital only game without having something for my shelf/collection? Still have to think a while about whether I'm willing to pick it up at release or wait for a sale.

It's getting a physical release later

 

[GhaleonEB]

Well, maybe for some. I don't care whether the game is indie or AAA. I do care about physical vs digital though. I really want this game, but I do not want to pay 37€ for a digital game. I don't buy digital games, unless they are really cheap from the beginning or have a very high discount. Hell, most of the time I even pick up the disc version of a game even though I have to pay more for it.

Man, if the game had a physical release I'd pre-order this in a heartbeat, but spending that much for a digital only game without having something for my shelf/collection? Still have to think a while about whether I'm willing to pick it up at release or wait for a sale.

A physical release is planned, but it will come some time after the digital.

 

[lingse22]

A physical release is planned, but it will come some time after the digital.

Is there an article or link to Blow mentioning this somewhere/do we know this for fact? I've followed this game for quite a bit now and I don't remember seeing this anywhere.

 

[Cmagus]

This feels like the type of game I'd really like to play in VR.

 

[PolishQ]

Is there an article or link to Blow mentioning this somewhere/do we know this for fact? I've followed this game for quite a bit now and I don't remember seeing this anywhere.

The official Witness site is down at the moment, but here's the quote from a few months back:

We’ve had some people asking us whether there will be a physical retail release of The Witness. It’s seeming likely, as we have been in talks with a couple of parties for a while about that possibility. *However*, it looks like if there is a retail release, it won’t happen until a little bit after the digital release. The reason is just that we need all the time we can get up until the release date in order to get all the finishing touches into the game; but because of the lead-time involved in physical manufacturing and distribution, we would have to freeze the game right about now in order to have it on store shelves for the release date. *Or* we could delay the digital release date in order to wait for the physical. But I don’t see a good reason to do either of those things. I would rather just focus our energy on making the game as good as we can make it, and a retail version can lag behind by a little bit.

 

[lingse22]

The official Witness site is down at the moment, but here's the quote from a few months back:

Thanks! While that's great news on one hand for myself and other collectors of physical copies, I really don't want to wait an unknown amount of time for that physical copy. May have to double dip on this. Anyone else feeling the same way?

 

[WeTeHa]

A physical release is planned, but it will come some time after the digital.

It's getting a physical release later

The official Witness site is down at the moment, but here's the quote from a few months back:

Ha, damn, thanks a lot. I've been looking for confirmation, but couldn't find anything about it. I'm definitely waiting and picking up the physical version day 1. Hopefully it doesn't take too long to come out, I want to play the game :/

 

[malboroking]

Of course I know, the price is in the very first post.

Oh, so you've played the game from start to finish, have fully assessed the quality of its assets and content and have determined the value of the game. Amazing, considering the game isn't even out yet.