I’m studying a game design course and I’m really impressed at your approach and methodology to play testing. Where play testing has become an integral part of your development process which is constantly occurring. Where you dont see play testing as just getting an opinion or an after thought near the end of development like some developers. But rather as a dynamic invaluable tool to refine the game.

It’s refreshing to see that when you get results of play tests you dont just simply consider them, but act directly at them. Where your bold enough to take the feedback and radically change your game to fix the issues. This has to be one of the largest benefits of being an independent where theres no corporate structure to hold you down and instead focus on creating the best possible and unique experience for the player no matter the time or effort.

Your stance at taking a third person approach such as at PAX where you wanted to observe players in an environment where they are playing a game for their first time unexpectedly was brilliant! As one of my lecturers for a business subject put it; through observation you can pick up processes that a person carrying out doesn’t even realise and then analyse why and how they came about this process. Such as, did this process come about from redundant practices? or did something new and dynamic cause this?

Anyway keep up the great work and your truly an inspiration to new (and im sure old) game designers!

I saw some gameplay of the witness and there didn’t appear to be any impending danger, but I realize that the game is still in development.

The idea of Braid was the experience of the player as his/her mind processed the puzzle and figured out the solution, thus making it an intensely personal experience. The Witness has been described by Mr. Blow as an “existential” game, outlining the fact that you are lonely and in this by yourself in the end. (Sorry if I do your thoughts no justice, Jonathan). Again, this theme leans towards an intensely personal experience which would be best explored alone.

The trouble with games akin to Braid and The Witness is that they are essentially “A Thinking Man’s Game”, meaning that to fully experience the playthrough, one must constantly be thinking.

A game like Portal 2, however, while fantastic on it’s own merits, is not like Braid. It is simply aiming to be a good time (at least in the co-op sections). Not a demerit to the game at all, so far it is fantastic on my playthough.

For Number None to go into co-operative gameplay development would be for them to completely change their style of game – which is a rare enough style in the industry as it is. – Keep up the good work.

Also i’m glad to hear youre making a ‘high-density’ experience. Although Braid is kind of short, it doesn’t matter because you had the story and puzzles and delivered them perfectly so it all came together in the best way possible. so stick to it :P

you should have some thoughts of co-op in your future games. With two people having to work together to solve the puzzle, they could be endlessly complicated! just a thought :)

I hear your concerns, but I think you will find they are inapplicable to this game.

As for duration, last time we playtested, there were something like 8-12 hours of gameplay, depending on who was playing. The game isn’t done yet, so that number is likely to go up. However, my goal is not to raise the hours-of-gameplay or number-of-puzzles. My goal is to make a very interesting, high-density experience, and where that involves cutting content I will do that. (I’ve already deleted maybe 50 puzzles, as you’ll find mentioned in an earlier entry.)

Are the puzzles completely original, or straight from the stock puzzle warehouse?

Solving good puzzles uses inductive and deductive reasoning. Simply hiding the answer inside the puzzle is bad, as is making random guessing an unproductive process.

Are you using scattered clues? Be sure that context is provided! Room A has a lock, Rooms B, C, and D have clues, but without the clue all the way over in room Z, it’s unsolvable, and when you get to room Z, there could easily be not enough context to link the clue to the previously passed puzzle.

Thanks for actually responding to the release-time-frame question. I guess this will give me adequate time to familiarize myself with the Dhammapada. Thanks for frequent updates!

How hopeful are you of actually shipping the game before the end of the year?

i found this in a totally unrelated topic but is very interesting and it explains alot a bout braid and jon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwsi7TEQxKc&feature=related

and finally the bastards at gametrailers decided to publish the interview with: “indie genius revolutionare Jonathan Blow, amazingly awesome and handsome fast talking Chris Hecker and the incredibly lazy ‘Notch’ ” unfortunately gametrailers is run by retards that only care about traffic and profit so they divided the interview in 4 parts that they will release throughout the month , but the interview is great and very informative about inde scene:

http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/503?ch=1&sd=1

“The students recorded the talk and will post a video sometime soon, I think.”

Thanks.

Jonathan Blow:Giving a short talk at UC Berkeley tomorrow, about the aesthetics of programming one forms as a productive game developer, and how this

sweet! post the video when its ready! how long does it normally takes for schools to release this kinds of things?

hey, what if someone had professional recording equipment and asked to video you, would you allow that person to go with you to talks and record video and audio of them to share for free on the internet? b/c most talks are not recorded for kids to learn from or you have to pay for a membership to a vault to see presentations or what ever, and i just think this is very important