So if you want to cut the game’s length so that the core experience can be played in less than nine hours, you should probably leave the other puzzles in optionally, but with a purpose to them, not just the puzzles themselves. Like the stars in Braid: The pleasure of solving the puzzles was a nice experience in and of itself, but what really drove most players to seek the stars was the “alternate ending” to the game. Even if it’s just a small statue or some bits of text that can be sought for finishing substantial amounts of puzzles additional to the core experience.

I’m pretty sure you’ve already thought about this, and, like you said above, you;ll probably not cut away entirely bits of the game that are already there. Still, it would be tragic if you did.

…But but but I have a job… And I have to go to school… And I have a child to take care of… And I have a wife… And Paper work to do… And life… and…

I will give The Witness all the time on the world because it’s very important to me, but being lengthy cuz its “Fun” …If you make a game with that mentality it will turn out as something atrocious! It’s much simpler to be honest of what’s there and the time you need to communicate it that just putting filler. If the communications happend to be something like 3 hours just for one puzzle then that’s honest and the time it needs for that to happen and then thats ok because is not jusg filler for “Fun” but rather it has a real meaning and purpose for being long! In whioch case it’s ok because its nesesary…

Mr. Blow, you are a genious sir.

all kidding aside… i’ve never heard anybody complain about a game being too long.

Yeah, I wasn’t trying to speak for Jonathan. I just wanted to provide an answer and some sort of help or info.

Jonathan was not going to answer anyway so I just wanted to help Adam and let him knew what I know. I just wanted to help.

I am also very sure he *hasn’t* worked out some sort of release schedule. Why? well…

While this may be true, Justin – and it likely is – you don’t speak for Mr. Blow. For all you know, he in fact *has* worked out some sort of release schedule. Though unlikely, keep in mind that Blow has proven himself to be unpredictable, which is part of what makes him such an intriguing and exciting developer to watch and read about.

Dear Adam,

I don’t want to be a dick, Mr. Adam. I have asked this many times and the response has always been “When it’s done.” So I would like to answer you and say that the”more-or-less” of availability for us, end users will be “When it’s done” unless Jonathan himself says other ways; but last time I asked (couple of days back) the answer was “When It’s done” and that has been the answer for two years now… :c

Thanks for your time and interest in the game,
justin

Is there any prognosis concerning the time of completion on The Witness? It seems that your work is in advanced stage and it would be great to know at least the “more-or-less” when the game will be available for us, end users:) Can you at least tell us, for example, no-sooner-than-no-later-than will it be published? Pleaaaase… I hope you get my meaning:)

Best wishes for the whole team,
Adam

If you read the article you’ll note the hour was used for the newest media available at the time, CDs:

“The layers of the composition are phased so that their relationships to each other are constantly changing in a way similar to his previous Discreet Music piece. The album was also one of the first to take advantage of the (then new) extended running time of the compact disc format, containing only one 60-min track”

The composition is built in such a way that it could be turned into a non-repeating sequence of themes which has no definitive end point (or time limit):

“Eno further explains his views in this area, particularly on the applications and use of the sequencer … “When I make loops on a sequencer, I always try to play them all the way through, so I play the whole part, then I listen to it, and quite often I find a long section that I like. Loop that, cut it up so that the loop doesn’t recur regularly. The idea of always editing in straight vertical cuts is the most single annoying thing about most of that music. Because a whole part of my feeling has been to make music that is ‘unlocked’. And all that stuff like Thursday Afternoon, is very deliberately that: music where the elements float separately from one another” “

Thank you very much for discussing your experiences with me and my classmates after the Indie Game movie last night.

I really appreciated your advice on the risks/rewards associated with indie game development, and how taking risks during one’s younger years can be a good time to develop a game idea of your own.

Thank you again and enjoy the rest of the conference!

I can’t help but wonder… What if Old Man Murray made a video game… and then reviewd it… ?

Get ZiGGURAT here: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/id498448797?mt=8

What if the island is man made and is all and experiment to send you to do something no human ever has…

Or may it is about think about the world in a way where you wonder the whys of everything and the designer did all this intentionaly to open your mind to new ways of thinking…

and he charged 60$ for it…

“Never pay more than 20$ dollars for a video game ”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlfyxWaeGCE

Or something.

Or maybe the designer begins to go mad and become less comprehensible. Then to solve the puzzles you will begin to go a bit insane yourself? Only to find out… that you ARE the designer.

Or something.

Slowly beautifulness. Excellent for intellectual activities

No idea.

I like the idea we’re learning about the designer, especially if it plays with our assumptions. Maybe the designer had a handicap like Django Reinhardt. Maybe halfway through building his puzzles he suffered a tragedy and it changed his style. Who knows? Exciting!

I don’t think he needed 1 hour…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT2VlffrSMg&feature=g-all-blg&context=G289b5c2FAAAAAAAAHAA

Hi Johnathan,
I ‘ve been following this blog for– has it been a year now?–and have never felt the need to comment up until this post.

I wouldn’t be surprised if you were already a fan, his approach to music (and art) have some parallels to much of what you’ve preached in all of your interviews/panels.

The album which immediately comes to mind is “Thursday Afternoon” (consisting of a single song). I highly recommend reading the wikipedia article on the album http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thursday_Afternoon and giving it a spin–it’s available on Spotify.

Please seriously consider him or at least reach out with the concept. He’s always struck me as an individual open to almost anything provided it is interesting.

B

When you mention that 9 hours, that’s not you playing it, right, but your playtester? From what I’ve heard the core of the game is discovering the rules and solutions to the puzzle panels and how they relate to larger contexts in the game, so I assume you as the designer could probably breeze through it. Or does the endgame break into a different type of gameplay?

Hmmm, that’s interesting. Any thoughts as to the cause of the discrepancy?

I remember JB saying that they hope to get the game to release on much weaker platforms than your PC is. I would assume yours will run the final game just fine.

Brilliant work.
Carry on!
Greets from Poland
Mateusz

So, yeah, I know, it’s “done when it’s done,” but I’m just going to pencil it in for next Spring… I’ll skip the iPad 3 and I’ll buy the iPad 4 just to play this game!!

Can’t wait to play this, next year, if the world is still here.

Which is part of why I’ve become increasingly dependent on independent projects as of late. Dear Esther, for instance, was a fantastic example of a game being as long as it needs to be. It, realistically, lasted 90 minutes as an experience, but the overall emotional impact has proven to be something far greater.

If each puzzle can be unique in some way, and the Witness stretches to a 20, 30, even 40-hour experience, then I don’t think length is something to worry about. If, conversely, you feel parts are too challenging or stale, then perhaps they have no place. Either way, the world these days is sorely lacking in games which engage the human imagination, allow us to freely explore, and do something the medium has altogether never seen.

The Witness is an easy day-one purchase, at least for me, and unquestionably many others who feel the same.

So you pretty much where doing noting but coding, avoid being social or seeing anyone, avoided being interupted and being very productive… I get that but… How long this did period last? A whole day, a whole week, more than that? I’m curios what you call a working period.

What is the longest you have isolated yourself to get something done? I mean complete isolation.

Also, I like the sound of “rebuilt into something more epic.” That’s a good sound.

Thanks justin that sounds cool but how did you come to know that much about the game?

It’s a combination of being inspired and having the discipline and motivation to sit down and do a lot of work, day after day, not go out and do social stuff or anything else that eats time, etc. Part of what made it maximally productive is that I was following up on the ideas as quickly as I humanly could; I think clearing them out in this way provides space for new ideas to come in, and for those old ideas to evolve into better versions of themselves while you are still “in the zone”.

I think the average puzzle solving time will be substantially less than 5 minutes; most of the areas are designed with flow in mind. However, I haven’t measured this, so I could be totally wrong. We will see!

Good eye! I didn’t noticed the faded corners. I wonder if that is part of the end game, a change in prospective and the fish-eye lens…

I also wonder what a “productive period” is and how long does it last. How long was this productive period? How long did you work on this for and why was it the most productive? If you care to share.

Pranshul Chandhok: Just like Braid The Witness has a story. What we know so far is that you are the solver and witness and you are in the island guided by the designer. while in the island, You solve puzzle made by the designer (we don’t know who he is), witness natural phenomena and try to solve the mystery of 1. why you are there. 2. who you really are. 3. people that have been there in the past. 4. cultures and archtectures of past. 5. find a way to wonder and question the unioverse in a serious way.

that is all we know so far. but story varies by part of island you are on. mix with the designers personal experience like: he was ugly and bold and he change the way he thinks about looks. this part is about uneven features or something so the designer had uneven facial features and stuff like that.

Is about putting things together in oportunistic wyas. get it Pranshul Chandhok?

Maybe go for a similar method with the stars in Briad i.e. if the player wants the game to be harder, it can be.

In film making we have a saying ‘films aren’t finished, they escape’. maybe it’s true with games as well?

I would love to playtest it , maybe, it might damage the experience of when the final product is released.

Great that’s best choice I see taking them off the main path but not removing them completely so they don’t hinder the pace. Can you please tell if there is any subtle storyline element in “The Witness” like “Braid”? or there is some mystery element in the game that encourages player to solve these puzzles… what’s the motivation? or is it shear joy/fun of solving these puzzles.

And 440 puzzles… *drools*

(:p)

Looking forward to it!

Part of the reason is pacing. The Witness is not about difficulty, it’s about the interesting ideas that come up as the subjects of the puzzles. If someone spends half an our figuring out one puzzle one time, that is probably fine; if it happens 4 times in a row, that kills that pacing of idea flow.

I actually like difficulty in games, and I am sad that most modern game designs are about faking difficulty; the challenge here is just how to structure the difficulty so that it doesn’t mess up the game in other ways.