Other Games – The Witness https://the-witness.net/news Explore an abandoned island. Fri, 24 Jul 2020 08:05:12 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.9 Congratulations to the grant recipients! https://the-witness.net/news/2018/06/congratulations-to-the-grant-recipients/ https://the-witness.net/news/2018/06/congratulations-to-the-grant-recipients/#comments Wed, 27 Jun 2018 15:19:49 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=3510 Continue reading

]]> We are pleased to announce that the grant recipients have been selected!

Congratulations to the following creators:

Anastasia Kuznetsova - Raison
AWK - Harmon:i:c
Dario Zubović - QBCO
29Games - RocketPuzzle
Asriele Aestas - Our Sky
Cyathea Tree Team - Out of Bounds Exception
David Rhee - Sticky Blocks
Nico Saraintaris - Trash Diamonds
Weird Sisters Interactive - It's a Zoo.
Ruby - SokoBunny
Skalmantas Šimėnas - Magnecopter
Andrius Mitkus - Rimtis (working title)
Jose Hernandez - Efficient Necromancy

We are excited to see how these games progress and we're looking forward to sharing updates.

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2018/06/congratulations-to-the-grant-recipients/feed/ 3 If you like first-person puzzle games… https://the-witness.net/news/2013/02/if-you-like-first-person-puzzle-games/ https://the-witness.net/news/2013/02/if-you-like-first-person-puzzle-games/#comments Sat, 02 Feb 2013 03:45:11 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=2062 Continue reading

]]> ... you may wish to see Antichamber, which has just been released on Steam.

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

The game's web site.
The Steam page.

The game is primarily the work of one designer, Alexander Bruce, who has been working on it for six years. Players seem to be really into the game, and it's been the top-selling game on Steam for two days so far.

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2013/02/if-you-like-first-person-puzzle-games/feed/ 25 Dear Esther is out. https://the-witness.net/news/2012/02/dear-esther-is-out/ https://the-witness.net/news/2012/02/dear-esther-is-out/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:47:07 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=1485 Continue reading

]]> [This message is crossposted from the Indie Fund blog.]

Our gift to you, on this very special Valentine's Day, is the worldwide release of the long-awaited game Dear Esther.

If you haven't heard of Dear Esther, watch this:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

(Or hey, watch the trailer even if you are quite familiar with the game; the trailer is beautiful and worthy of multiple viewings.)

We expect public reception of this game to run wide: some will love it, and others will be very concerned about whether this thing can be called a game and what that means. So far, this has certainly been the case in pre-release reviews.

Game Informer scored the game an 8/10, saying: "You should consider checking out Dear Esther the same way you’d appraise a film. If you’re interested in absorbing an intellectual story and gorgeous visuals without having to exert a drop of effort, take a chance on this curious experiment."

VideoGamer.com scored the game a 9: "Discovery is such an important part of Dear Esther, especially when everything is so phenomenally pretty."

Meanwhile, Destructoid gave the game a lowly 4.5/10: "It’s as if it wants to be a part of this wonderful medium of ours without asking itself why, which is exactly why you should seek it out and learn from its failures as a game enthusiast, critic, or developer."

We like that there's such a big difference of opinion because it means the game is breaking new ground. It's playing in territory that is not safe; there is no established understanding there.

Dear Esther is a game that no publisher would have funded. Dan, Rob, Jessica and the other associates of thechineseroom have done an excellent job putting together a beautiful game. We are happy to be backing it; we hope you enjoy playing it.

If you'd like more information about Dear Esther, here's an interview with Dan, and here's a link the game's page on Steam.

Update: Dear Esther has been wildly successful, selling 16,000 copies in under 24 hours. As an investment, it reached profitability in 5.5 hours. More details are available at a new post on the Indie Fund blog.

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2012/02/dear-esther-is-out/feed/ 41 The trailer for Dear Esther is out now. https://the-witness.net/news/2012/01/the-trailer-for-dear-esther-is-out-now/ https://the-witness.net/news/2012/01/the-trailer-for-dear-esther-is-out-now/#comments Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:39:18 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=1466 Continue reading

]]> If you're interested in arty games that push the boundaries of what games are doing, you may be interested in Dear Esther, which will be released on Valentine's Day of this year (much sooner than The Witness will be!)

The trailer has just been released:

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

See more about Dear Esther at the official site.

This will be the second Indie Fund game to release. Just a few days ago we announced that Q.U.B.E., the first funded game, is already a financial success. It appears obvious that Dear Esther will be as well.

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2012/01/the-trailer-for-dear-esther-is-out-now/feed/ 51 New game: Q.U.B.E. will be released on December 16th. https://the-witness.net/news/2011/11/new-game-q-u-b-e-will-be-released-on-december-16th/ https://the-witness.net/news/2011/11/new-game-q-u-b-e-will-be-released-on-december-16th/#comments Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:52:51 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=1348 Continue reading

]]> In addition to working on The Witness, I am a partner in the Indie Fund, a group of successful indies who finance imaginative indie games under developer-friendly terms. Our fund has been around for almost 2 years now, and I am happy to announce that our first funded game is about to be released. It's a first-person puzzle game called Q.U.B.E., made by some guys in England called Toxic Games. They are just out of school, this is their first game, and they managed to make it without a programmer!

Click here to view the video on YouTube.

 

Q.U.B.E. will be available on Steam.

(Web site for the game)

(Indie Fund announcement page)

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2011/11/new-game-q-u-b-e-will-be-released-on-december-16th/feed/ 18 Designing to Reveal the Nature of the Universe https://the-witness.net/news/2011/11/designing-to-reveal-the-nature-of-the-universe/ https://the-witness.net/news/2011/11/designing-to-reveal-the-nature-of-the-universe/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 05:58:09 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=1338 Continue reading

]]> This talk was presented by Jonathan Blow and Marc ten Bosch at Indiecade on October 7, 2011.


Any system of interactivity can of course be explored: If X happens, what are the consequences? What are all the ways in which pattern Y expresses itself, and to what do those expressions lead? By inspecting the structure of a system in this way, we can find the core ideas of the system, and see how those ideas illustrate fundamental truths of our universe. We present a game design aesthetic that values looking for systems that express these truths in the cleanest possible way. We explain how this is different from more-traditional combinatoric design techniques; we show examples from our games and describe a method for applying the aesthetic in general.

Here's a link to the Indiecade page, on which there's also a presentation by Richard LeMarchand, and more to come.

Thanks very much to Ida C. Benedetto for recording the talk!

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2011/11/designing-to-reveal-the-nature-of-the-universe/feed/ 71 Braid playthrough with director’s commentary https://the-witness.net/news/2011/04/braid-playthrough-with-directors-commentary/ https://the-witness.net/news/2011/04/braid-playthrough-with-directors-commentary/#comments Mon, 04 Apr 2011 04:53:52 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=833 Continue reading

]]> At GameCity in Nottingham, UK in September 2010, I played through select portions of Braid and gave commentary. I had been under the impression the session was officially recorded, and I’ve been waiting for an official video to hit the internet, but at this point I am not sure this was done. Fortunately someone in the audience had a handheld camera, and has posted the footage to YouTube. This is by far the most I’ve said about Braid in one place…

See the video here.

Thanks to blog commenter justin for pointing this out!

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2011/04/braid-playthrough-with-directors-commentary/feed/ 32 A game to watch for: Miegakure https://the-witness.net/news/2010/07/a-game-to-watch-for-miegakure/ https://the-witness.net/news/2010/07/a-game-to-watch-for-miegakure/#comments Sat, 17 Jul 2010 09:20:20 +0000 https://the-witness.net/news/?p=414 Continue reading

]]>
Miegakure, by Marc ten Bosch, is a puzzle game where you travel through four-dimensional space (and manipulate objects in that space). I was privileged to play an early version in 2009; just this week I got to play the most recent version, and it is coming along tremendously. It is my Game of the Year, though it is unlikely to be released this year. I find it easy to think of Miegakure as one of the great puzzle games of all time.

If I can be said to have an agenda in game design, it has something to do with mind-expansion.  Because of that, I very much appreciate it when other designers make games with that kind of intention.  Games that are truly mind-expanding are very rare and very difficult to make, but this is one of them.

Keep an eye out for this game, and when it comes out, play it.  Since it will be a while before release, so there's no demo available.


Here's an introduction to the game.

Here's an interview Marc did with Gamasutra with further details.

To keep up with news on the game, you can subscribe to Marc's blog.

]]> https://the-witness.net/news/2010/07/a-game-to-watch-for-miegakure/feed/ 7