Braid developer's newest game: Witness

[Rman]

http://kotaku.com/5631002/a-tantalizing-session-with-the-witness-the-next-game-from-the-creator-of-braid

Unattended, unlabeled, unmarked... the new game from the small team led by Braid creator Jonathon Blow was stealthily present at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend. The adventurous — and those who recognized Blow standing off in the shadows — got a delightful surprise.

All I knew of The Witness before spotting it in the same booth that housed Spy Party and Monaco was that it was being made by Blow and a handful of other game creators, that it involves an island — it's "an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island" — and has gorgeous lighting.

In other words, I knew just about nothing about The Witness. I didn't need to in order to want to play it. Blow and David Hellman's subtle, time-bending Braid was the kind of scrupulously-designed video game that earns its creators a player's long-term trust.

The version of The Witness at PAX is far from finished. The game will be complete a year from now, at earliest, Blow told me once I got done playing and found him so we could discuss. He cautioned me that I was seeing a lot of "programmer art." This was the game's first showing in public, its puzzles still far from complete and refined. It was being presented in a manner intentionally detached from any references that might hype the Braid connection and bias its players. Blow wanted to see, from afar, what people made of their first touch of this game.

Interesting way to promote a game.

Looks interesting.  Seems like a first person puzzler of sorts.

[iconoclast]

This is a good way to gauge unbiased reactions from players, but I can just picture Johnathan Blow peeking out from behind a pillar in a dark corner of the room anxiously staring at you as you play.

[TakingBackSunday]

[Howard Alan Treesong]

what a cock

[demi]

Fuck this guy and his shitty game

[BobFromPikeCreek]

GAMES ARE ARRRRRRRRRRRTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT

[Bebpo]

Braid was good
This is a nice idea

Jonathon Blow is...a good guy

[etiolate]

people don't understand the meaning of pretentious

news at 11

[pilonv1]

Spy Party is infinitely better than this shit.

[Great Rumbler]

The Room Tribute is infinitely better than this shit.

.

[Bildi]

Braid was good fun, so I'm looking forward to what this tosser does next.

[Stoney Mason]

Whether I like Jonathon Blow or Braid is sort of immaterial about what I find interesting about this story.


The funny part to me is that essentially nobody in the gaming media covered this game at all even at that pax show until it was discovered who was behind it. Shouldn't a game deserve coverage based on its own qualities rather than who made it or how much marketing it gets. Isn't that supposed to be the whole point behind indie games.