xx

That’s pretty cool the way you’re thinking about the puzzles. Reducing confusion by reducing certain actions, which is great ’cause what I found when I played portal 2, at times there was something going on in my head I don’t know what, but it caused me to solve puzzles the way they were never meant to be. I think it was just the ability to jump that caused me to think in some puzzles that if I were to shoot a portal near me and then one near the exit, jumping through would cause me to land directly at the exit; surprisingly it worked. Later I investigated and found out that that was not initially intended by the game designer. It’s just that the use of the jumping action allowed for such things to happen; however jumping in portal 2 is a vital action so yeah they should’ve designed their puzzles a bit better.

@ justin

If check the date, that should be enough of a clue to tell you something about Bloopie. I’m sorry I’m not sure if you’re being sarcastic or joking or whatever.

Also,

Secrets of Braid that I (and possibly some of you guys) never knew about:
http://www.cracked.com/article_19172_8-creepy-video-game-urban-legends-that-happen-to-be-true_p2.html

scroll down and you’ll see.

When I played the game, I read all the stuff but then later on I just thought it was like a mental thing where the character was going crazy which for me at that time was a good enough explanation. Now I know that the witness should have something really cool behind the scenes.

yeah, i wasn’t worried. i was just curious!
in Braid you can’t get inside the cannon and shot yourself out of it. there is no co-op partner like Bloopi to make solving puzzles “fun”. but the game doesn’t need it, it’s its own thing not every game is GTA or whatever

i just don’t know what The Witness is and i am curious!

http://www.davidhellman.net/blog/the-art-of-braid-part-5/

lol, no. just kidding, im not gona do the soulja boy. im just kind of like i dont know what the game is… and im just so excited. like i said i trust jonathan and what ever he does will make the game perfect but i understand what you mean. is like when you talk to your little brother about Planescape Torment and he talks about Hale 5 or whatever. Myst is a very excellent game *I* didn’t like it but i know what it is and i respect it, just like i know and respect great literature but i have never read a book b/c of a mental disorder but you are right i should not have made any sort of negative statement towards that loved game and i guess beign somewhat young and used to modern games i just think differently but it was stupid to expect to swim just b/c there is a lake in the game, the game is not about that. i understand and i should’t have doubts on jonathan! he has made the best game ever!

i almost passed all of Myst i was doing great! then came the puzzle in the rocket for the selenitic age… here sound, make sound and i just could get it right, i watch tutorials and walktroughs b/c of that puzzlebut after a week of trying i gave up. i wish i could finish.. i would like to know how it ends. BUT TO PLAY IT SO DONT TELL ME!

I hate to disappoint, but there’s no throwing boxes in this game, neither is there any swimming in water. It is not trying to be a Simulate an Immersive World kind of game.

Rather, the game sets up a scheme where interactivity is as simple as possible (nope, there is not even any concept of jumping!) in order to make the game dynamics very clear and tight. That way, confusion relating to puzzles is drastically reduced (“do I have to jump at the right time to solve this? Do I have to throw a box and hit this lever with it while standing on the other side of this gap?” Well, since there is no jumping or box-throwing, there is no confusion about these things).

There are different kinds of games. In some games, throwing boxes is just great, but in this one, it is other things that are just great.

i hope the Witness will be really interactive, like Braid and not like other adventure games like Myst or Monkey Island Or Dark Fall Lost Souls. b/c i don�t know about you guys, but now in the modern ege if i see a box in the world i expect to be able to pic it up and trow it and interact with it. if i see water in the environment shouldn�t i expect to be ableto swim? i still im not in the point of �if there is trees i want to clim them� b/c not alot of games do that. but that would be cool�. also painterlysucks! go for realistic!

Wow, reminds me of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSXofLK5hFQ

The statement that Myst is “just reading books and walking around clicking on stuff” is quite inaccurate of what Myst is actually like. Unfortunately, there is no shaking off the Myst likeness whenever “island” and “puzzles” are mentioned in the single sentence, though we’ve seen enough of the game in videos and screens to know what’s different already. That does require having adequate familiarity with Myst (like kn0wing there are several worlds, and the types of puzzles that Myst and Riven seemed to favor, recognition (and this is biased) of a disconnect between the abstract puzzles and vacant environments).

Why would you expect to throw boxes in any game? Doesn’t the aesthetic design of the game have more to do with how the objects are perceived within the game? Were you annoyed that you couldn’t push some of the boxes? Or interact with the cannons in an active way? I was pretty happy I couldn’t swim in Limbo, since the water-rising puzzle or two were really quite fun.

It’s strange that you’ve aimed these preemptive criticisms at the designer of Braid. Let the man fail at something first.

I have this question too! i thought the Witness was going to be point n click… well it obviously isn’t. In Totilo’s video we see this is not the case but im worried the game will be like Heavy Rain or worse L.A. Noire. i know Jonathan would never do that but what if the game is not… what i call “real” game like Braid. where you can interact with everything.

It sets me on edge! like why the fuck can’t i go trough the trees? why can’t i go to the water or why does the water kill me? why can’t i jump or run? why m’i so slow? is nor like a *real* game. not like “go every where do everything” but something like what Braid did. no cut scenes or what ever but pure game play. that’s a real game!

like, i heard L.A., Noire has a button to skip game play sections so that you get to the real game: cut scene after cut scene after cut scene and you are not bother by the half assed interactivity. its just like Heavy Rain, an interactive movie, lol!!!!

that’s what im afraid of! i trust jonathan and i know that whatever he choses it will be perfect! but still i hope its nothing like Myst (reading books, and just walking and clicking on stuff) and be more like Braid (reading books of cool speculative stuff and full interactivity where you controll and see and do everything)

i would be suprised if L.A noire had that “skip game play” button. lol

so yeah! i hope the Witness will be really interactive, like Braid and not like other adventure games like Myst or Monkey Island Or Dark Fall Lost Souls. b/c i don’t know about you guys, but now in the modern ege if i see a box in the world i expect to be able to pic it up and trow it and interact with it. if i see water in the environment shouldn’t i expect to be able to swim? i still im not in the point of “if there is trees i want to clim them” b/c not alot of games do that. but that would be cool…. also painterly sucks! go for realistic!

This looks great.

You and your artists should be really proud.

All the best
–Phil

Are you going to talk a bit more about the kind of puzzles and the game mechanics in exploring and solving them? I’d like to know more about the game and how it works. :)

http://store.steampowered.com/app/104100/

+ omg, i can’t believe you guys, painterly style would suck! only Braid could pull that off!
i hope the Witness is realistic looking yet stylized to look very fantasy like. like a dream or something… like in Braid, thats exactly what Braid did!

i hope the game ends up being sort of speculative fiction, like Braid. it was based on the real world and events that make human beings great (playing with time to create the atom bomb) but besides being realistic it was also sci-fi and fantasy theme… my guess is that the Witness will be like that touching on another subject that makes human beings great (either religion or going to space)

I’m kinda curious how you guys are going to handle the transition of ambient color from a technical standpoint. I see each of these images has a slightly different ambient color and am wondering if you are going to use lightmaps for this effect or if not than what? It’s probably too early to tell, though.

I’m assuming everything will be baked with the same environment settings and light, so even if different colors are used for materials in the end they are going to have a more unified look (which of course is both good and bad, depending on what you want).

Or are you going to do some sort of post process color correction that is going to vary depending on where the player is? (which, could also be tricky, since if you are in an open area, buildings faraway are going to look like they have different colors, than from close by).

can i just say i hope you handle the dark parts of the island well (if there are any) i dont know about anyone else but i thought the last levels of Braid (the time bubble one) felt a bit cold and i didnt enjoy those levels as much

cant wait for more news and pics :)

I can’t wait. :D

I am curious what you could do with this concept to “make it special”.

+ i don’t like cel-shading … and only 3 pictures? :c

it looks very nice though, hopefully the rendering style is more realistic, trying to look like the real world than cartoonish or artistic…

and still anxiously waiting for gameplay details… thats what really matters to me