Starker on 24/9/2015 at 23:49
Jonathan Blow's next game, a pretty colourful and intriguing Myst inspired first person puzzle/exploration game is coming on January 26th to PC and PS4:
[video=youtube;SPMMKFX78x0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPMMKFX78x0[/video]
Renzatic on 25/9/2015 at 04:06
Despite the fact that Jonathan Blow is a little...douchy? Yeah. We'll go with that. He makes an interesting game. I've been modestly stoked over this one for awhile now, and I'll happily give it a go when it comes out.
Renault on 25/9/2015 at 06:19
If we didn't play games because the developers were assholes/jerkoffs...well you know the rest. Yes, being a big Myst fan, I've been looking forward to this. Glad to see it finally has a release date.
Starker on 25/9/2015 at 12:21
Quote Posted by Renzatic
Despite the fact that Jonathan Blow is a little...douchy?
Huh? Why? What did he do? I don't really pay a lot of attention to developer drama.
Is it because he proposed that a new programming language should be created specifically for game development? I remember that got people riled up for a while.
Edit: here's the programming language stuff, btw: (
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmV5I2fxaiCKfxMBrNsU1kgKJXD3PkyxO)
I remember that got some people really mad for some reason. People were calling him the c-word and lots of other colourful names, but I never really understood why.
Renault on 25/9/2015 at 14:11
I think it's more based on the fact that when Braid came out and won a bunch of awards, he got kind of a God complex. He basically strutted around saying that most games (besides his) were shit and not worth anyone's time. The most common phrase I've seen when describing him is "pretentious douchebag." A lot of the criticism is based on things he said during Indie Game: The Movie.
Being somewhat aligned or connected to Phil Fish doesn't help much either.
Renzatic on 25/9/2015 at 16:28
What Brethren said. He and Phil Fish both came across as huge prima donnas back during the heyday of the indie game discovery rush, letting their newfound hipster cred and accolades go a little too much to their heads. But you know, Braid was good, and I loved Fez, so...eh. As long as they keep making fun games, I don't care what they say.
Shadowcat on 26/9/2015 at 04:23
I think the proof will surely be in the pudding for The Witness, as to whether the puzzle gameplay is going to be fun. I really enjoyed the puzzles in Braid, so I'll be interested to see what the reviews think of this. I will say that he sure has made it look pretty in the interim. But then it's been... what... five years? (edit: Wikipedia says it was started in 2008, and originally planned for release in 2011. I hope for his sake that it turns out well.)
Starker on 26/9/2015 at 05:58
Wasn't Braid also supposed to be "basically finished" in 2005 and then it took 3 more years?
But yeah, the puzzles will break or make the game. It's not all that easy to make a puzzle game that most people can play without dumbing it down. I'm pretty terrible at puzzle games, so I rarely find one that's absolutely right for me -- not too easy, not too hard. I used to often get stuck in old adventure games and puzzle games like Smart Games Challenge, unless it was something like Castle of Dr Brain, and I have a bunch of puzzle sites that I've abandoned mid-attempt: Project Euler, Dracula's Riddle, The Master Theorem, Planetarium...
The solution that games often come up with is to give hints until even the stupidest of people can get it, but that always feels to me like an invitation to take the easy route. I don't like games that patronise me that way and I especially loathe when games start automatically giving hints when you don't solve the problem after a certain amount of time has passed. That's why I like SpaceChem -- even stupid people like me can finish the game, but then the smart people can go and optimise the solution. And it makes you feel like the solution is uniquely yours.
Renault on 26/1/2016 at 20:17
Well, this came out today. Anyone planning on picking it up? At $40, I think I'll wait for some reviews first.
