On second thought, I guess the story of Braid had nothing to do with its success. And it probably also was no motivator for you (getting that story out there), considering that I think you said at some point something like it feeling tacked on and that’s why you want to avoid having a story in The Witness.

Oh well… While the stuff about the flaws would’ve sounded nice, at least the rest still stands.

So here is one.

@ Jonathan
I love what you say and do, even if I may not agree with all of it. I’m not a groupie, you merely remind me quite a bit of both a friend of many years as well as myself. And everybody can be flawed at times. Hell, I guess that’s part of what started your success in this industry.

And I also really love how The Witness turned out.
I’m not going to write a review but do want to mention a point that is maybe a bit out of the ordinary.
Which is that I have recently started a meetup group that’s all about critical thinking in general and thus about a combination of philosophy, art and science (at least to me, having a curiosity about the world means an interest in all of these things to some degree) and while I would’ve touched on probably all of the topics presented in The Witness during discussion sessions, the videos did remind me of some aspects, showed me some new perspectives/arguments and just generally more material that will be of great use.
Which is by the way why I disagree with James Burke’s assessment as at least I understood it – he seems to dismiss art, philosophy, etc. quite a bit in favor of science. But… even this is going to make a nice topic for discussion. Especially since other meetup groups in the region are about tech, spiritualism and drinking. It might turn out to be a bumpy ride and a futile attempt to find like-minded people but… at least the thought that I tried will be somewhat satisfying.
Which in a way reminds me about the mixed reception of The Witness. But after all… is it really wise to define the success of one’s works through how many people it reaches over it having a positive impact on just a few in the first place?

Wow. Thank you for the incredible vision and hard work. Ive been checking in here
since the beginning. I am so happy for everyone there. Wow. Unbelievable.

Thanks for responding, and on a Sunday, no less.

I did get it to work, but the solution involved the reticle jumping from one side of the windmill face to another when a blade clipped-through; it didn’t feel like the solution you may have intended.

To be fair to Thekla – I’ve purchased many games via Humble and developers rarely put patches on there, mostly just full installers.

Hell, most don’t even list the date of the installer, so you have to click on it and hope that the download prompt for it will have a version number.

And change history? Forget about it.
Which I find way more annoying than having to download the whole game. I’d like to know WHY I should bother downloading the game or even a patch.
What was even patched in the version of The Witness from the 29th?

Yes, right now you have to reinstall the whole game, sorry. However, we are going to try to keep it reasonable how often / how many patches we put up.

The installer will automatically uninstall the old version so you don’t have to worry about that.

The puzzle you are talking about is just like other puzzles: you can’t trace over where you have already been.

We have put up a version of the game on Steam that has some tweaks that may help with motion sickness. It is currently the beta “future” if you want to opt into that, but at the end of tonight we will make it the main version so it should download automatically.

We will continue to make more fixes in this area, but what we have done here should reduce or eliminate this kind of problem for many people.

Also, a simple fix is just to sit further back from the screen.

any idea about when/if there will be a DRM free version available for OS X?

Our experience with the game so far, following a playthrough, pausing when a puzzles comes up, solving it in mind and then continuing with the video. Aspects like freedom and exploration are limited this way but nonetheless it’s fun.

It’s a beautiful game. I appreciate the silence, the colours, the architecture, … I dislike video games typical limitations regarding a more natural movement (which might sound strange, considering the way we’re playing), like that you can’t climb over a fence or on a wall with structure.

Congratulations on the release.

**SPOILERS BELOW**

I’m doing the 3rd part of the windmill puzzle, and the transfer off of (or through) the second blade is completely infuriating; I have been able to do it ONCE before, but for some reason the game just won’t consistently let me transfer from the middle section of the second blade to the left orange rail on the tower’s face. As soon as the orange lines meet: the game starts to move the reticle onto the tower’s face, but then as the blade passes it kicks me back onto the blade.

I have tried solving the puzzle while viewing the tower from multiple angles, but have the same problem every time. I also have no trouble transferring off the first blade onto the same rail.

Update: I am about 1 hour in and everything works fine (including installation) with Vista 64bit. I hope that I will not be too hooked to this game. :)

One minor quibble is that because there’s a launcher, it requires a mouse/keyboard to actually get the game started, even if the entirety of the rest of the game can be run from a game pad. If you could make the launcher support a gamepad or give the option to bypass the launcher every time, that would make it so people didn’t have to get up off the couch to play the game (via Big Picture mode or Steam Link). :)

Thanks for the reply! Regarding the Xbox controller, this was user error. In case it helps other users, what was happening was this. I had a wireless Xbox 360 controller with the wired charging kit, which is a cord that connects your controller to your Xbox 360’s USB ports. I assumed that this also allowed the controller to communicate over the wired connection. What I didn’t realize is that, even when you’re plugged into a USB port on your Xbox 360, your controller is communicating wirelessly. The USB cord is only for power. So a wireless controller will always, only, communicate wirelessly. I got a wireless receiver for my PC and now everything works great. (For me, the game is way more natural to play this way, by the way.)

Regarding code signing, it sounds like you’re at exhaustion stage. As a fellow developer, I totally hear you. After you rest up a bit, it’s not really that much extra work or expense and it will make people a lot more confident in running the code. Just my two cents.

I played a couple more hours tonight and I have to say, this game is great. The puzzles are challenging but well calibrated, and it’s very satisfying when you solve them. Even at this early stage, it’s clear you’ve produced something awesome. Thank you, Jonathan!

In theory we support all xbox controllers, I would make sure it is plugged in before the game starts, though.
If it doesn’t work let me know and we can look into it.

About code signing, that is just not something we can deal with right now; we are already at the limit of what development complexity we can handle.

We haven’t tried it, I don’t know.
Steam offers refunds though, so you could try and if it doesn’t work request a refund.

I really appreciate it.

While Windows Vista are not officially supported, does it worth a try to run a Steam version on Vista 64bit?

A couple questions: I was hoping I’d be able to use my Xbox controller with my PC, but it doesn’t seem to react. On the Steam page it says “Partial Controller Suppport.” Does that mean that if I had purchased via Steam, my controller might work?

Will you be publishing updates for things like bug fixes?

Finally, I would like to provide a bit of feedback about the download and installation process. Neither the installer nor the exe itself is digitally signed. You did post an md5 hash, which I checked, but I still would feel a lot better about running the exe if it were signed (especially since I have to run it as administrator). I actually have a rule now that I only run signed software on my system. This is the first un-signed product I have installed since my last Windows reinstall. (Guess that shows how much I wanted to play.) But I would really appreciate it if in future updates you guys signed the code.

No, the language is too new and The Witness was started a long time ago! It’s written in C++.

Oh thanks! Thought Humble just sold steam-keys for the game, as they so often do nowadays.

Anyways: BOUGHT! Been looking foward to this ever since you announced it. :)

Mac support would be awesome, although you’d think they would have mentioned it by now. I know some early media coverage was promising Mac & PC support, but that was years ago.

It is on the Humble Store and on this web site.

What button was being selected by default on the launcher, medium?

http://steamcommunity.com/app/210970/discussions/3/458607518211420661/

Its not just me either, I have seen a lot of other posts with similar problems.

You just took me back when you mentioned DCC transfers! I completely forgot about those days of downloading through IRC. Brings back some terrible slow memories.

Oh, how interests change over the years. ;)

Alright, now they seem to have made it available. Based on the download speed, it seems like many people want to play the game. Or the Humble servers suck. But at least it’s loading now… :)

Thank you for the work that you do, the consideration and thought that you pour into your creations, and most of all just thank you for making anything at all.

I’m looking forward to beginning my experience with your creation.

I´m testing out games for my visitors on YouTube.
My viewers are mainly german lets Player and Gamer. They use our videos for there own lets-play projects on youtube.
We kindly request you to send us a key of “The Witness”

Thanks in advance.

Kind regards Sonky

Absolutely, left for work at 8am and it wasn’t on the store, hoping to download so it’s ready when I get home. Got to work to find its on there…..
Radio silence from here on in.
See you on the other side.

I’ve been anticipating this moment ever since I initially thought this moment would come in December 2012. Braid changed my view of art and video games and I think life in general in some subtle ways, and I’m looking forward to what I’m sure will be an even grander intellectual challenge than that game. I’m ecstatic they were able to roll it out so soon after midnight.

Thank you, Jonathan Blow, for all that you do, particularly for speaking out regarding the devaluation and misuse of art in our society and providing such stark counterexamples to the many games that don’t hold themselves to high standards. If you ever question whether the immense work you put in is worth it or whether it is futile to try to have a significant positive impact, please be assured that what you are doing has had an enormous impact on many gamers, their loved ones, and the industry as a whole.

I also just wanted to say that I have a tremendous amount of respect for you. The fact that you decided, after 7 years of hard work, to still give away some part of your profits to a good cause, I honestly don’t think I would have done that If I were in your shoes (feels kind of bad to admit that but it’s the truth).

Congratulations.

It’s 1:25 here in the East Cost, and there’s nothing here either.

I think you’ve had your doubts regarding your career choice due to your intelligence, but it is great that you’ve put so much of your time and effort into this industry: it wouldn’t be the same without you. At the very least — if money and fame do not convince you of the importance of your contributions — you’ve inspired a few people through your unusual but much-needed standards regarding game design (I, myself, have become a game designer because of your lectures).

Since you’ve already shaken the industry with Braid and your design philosophy, it’s amazing to see that you haven’t settled. I hope The Witness becomes an even larger milestone in gaming than your previous title, and I hope to see Jai under widespread usage whenever it’s out. I also hope to see further work later on!

Sorry for the fanboyism, but I am very excited about all of your contributions. Please try not to abandon this infant industry any time soon, because you’ve seen deeper into its possibility space than most of us. And thank you for that. I hope you and the team can rest soon. Good luck with the launch!

Hey MAZZTer – thanks!

Seriously though, congratulations to you and your team. I have been looking forward to this one since 2009. You’ve been a major influence on my understanding of game ethics and respecting players. I can’t wait to experience what you’ve got in store for us!

Wish I could take tomorrow off and just “Witness-out” but alas I have to work.

Thanks for all the efforts you guys put into this game. And thanks Johnathan for your thoughtful videos on your ideas for an improved programming language.

Cheers to you all!

By the way congratulation for the godd presales and also good reviews, hope it will give you even more freedom on your next project.

“I can’t seem to uncover this information, which I don’t think is one of the game’s puzzles.” – LOL, gotta laugh at that one! Who knows, maybe it is ;-D

Same here!

Been a stalker on this website for what seems like, actually is years… 9 more hours won’t hurt I guess. Congratulations on getting this out there.

Any word on what time for the PSN on the west coast?

I’m just some guy and I don’t know about NZ specifically but check the last few blog posts… due to a misunderstanding about how preorders on PSN work they were unable to offer preorders. I assume it will still be available for normal purchase tomorrow.

Yes, I believe in Europe the game should go on sale around 9am London time, or about there.
If it doesn’t, then that is some extra complication that I don’t know about.

Hello – I live in NZ but very keen to play this. Will this game be on the NZ PS4 store? I can’t seem to uncover this information, which I don’t think is one of the game’s puzzles.
Best regards,

Mark