Comments on: The island this week.

By: Entar

Entar — Thu, 20 May 2010 04:50:25 +0000

Uh oh, strange numbers appearing on a mysterious island?

But really, it’s looking good, keep it up. I’m looking forward to The Witness.

By: stoo

stoo — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:57:05 +0000

This is looking pretty awesome. I’m wonderfully perplexed as to what’s happening on the island – I can see what looks like an old fort, a rocket ready for launch, and a WW2 style pillbox. Not to mention the other blog posts featuring fairly nondescript (but very intriguing) empty rooms.

Good stuff.

By: Zaphos

Zaphos — Tue, 18 May 2010 07:00:21 +0000

This is fun :)

A request: try using the same camera angle if you keep doing this (at least, as much as this is possible …) It’ll make it more fun to go back and flip through all the images later, I think.

By: BiggerJ

BiggerJ — Mon, 17 May 2010 06:29:52 +0000

I’ve heard a theory that The Witness will be to Myst what Braid is to Mario. Braid obviously imitates the Mario series in some ways, while at the same time adding twists to it, outright subverting it, and overall saying some very interesting things about the Mario formula – its gameplay, story and underlying concepts. As a whole, all that is, of course, only one of the things Braid has to say. Will The Witness do the same to Myst? Or anything else?

By: justin?

justin? — Sun, 16 May 2010 23:00:58 +0000

the darker colors from the island a few weeks back looked more… right? i guess it makes it look more realistic? without that sand :s

By: mg

mg — Fri, 14 May 2010 08:33:43 +0000

The stratified depth turned out to be reflection in the hard-to-see water :) Thanks for the response!

By: tony

tony — Thu, 13 May 2010 22:51:16 +0000

I just wanna say this is really exciting. It’s like watch sim city or something. Watching the island come together really tickles my model train nerve. I hope you keep em’ comin’!!!!

By: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow — Wed, 12 May 2010 23:07:38 +0000

We haven’t put out any of that kind of information, and it’ll be a while before we do (largely because the gameplay is in a constant state of flux).

It is not much like Braid, though.

By: Imaria

Imaria — Wed, 12 May 2010 20:14:23 +0000

Is there any teaser information on what the gameplay will be like yet? I just got Braid (and am still plowing through) and am now very curious as to what kind of game The Witness will be.

By: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow — Mon, 10 May 2010 19:40:04 +0000

I don’t know what you are referring to by stratified depth?

There are no immediate plans to do screenspace operations on the shadows. That may change. Shadows are good enough for gameplay design right now and that is all that really matters.

We don’t do anything complicated yet for leaves. In fact leaves are currently kind-of broken; you’ll note you can pretty much see through the leaves.

By: mg

mg — Mon, 10 May 2010 17:18:04 +0000

How about some technical insights to spice it up a bit? :)

– What’s going on with the stratified depth at the bottom of the image? (and the edges)
– Any immediate plans to screenspace blur the shadows? Half-res?
– Anything interesting going on with the leafs on the tress? Some inferred lighting-like lit translucency maybe?

Thanks :)

By: Hamish

Hamish — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:32:45 +0000

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could measure gameplay quantity in something other than time? “The game is now 0.4 counterstrikes deep.”

By: Jonp382

Jonp382 — Mon, 10 May 2010 01:38:11 +0000

Sweet, keep these coming!

By: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow — Sun, 09 May 2010 20:59:00 +0000

You mean in terms of length of gameplay? No idea. Also, it sort of depends on what the player wants to do, and what you consider gameplay.

By: Phil Willis

Phil Willis — Sun, 09 May 2010 07:03:38 +0000

Looking great Jonathan!

You said you already had around 5 hours of gameplay prototyped and working? Any idea how large the game will be when you’re finished?

Best of luck
–Phil

By: nine

nine — Sat, 08 May 2010 06:03:14 +0000

yeah, but REAL islands aren’t squares. Everyone know they’re circles. And have a palm tree in the middle.

By: DOLLS

DOLLS — Sat, 08 May 2010 01:32:56 +0000

That’s pretty handsome!

By: Elvis Brevi

Elvis Brevi — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:56:39 +0000

really nice!