Hacker News Reader

Comment by nailer | Hacker News Reader

For those wondering, Jonathan Blow is the author of the critically acclaimed time travel platform game 'Braid'. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Blow

View on HN

And for all those wondering, YES you should go buy & play Braid if you haven't already. It's an astounding game. A 2D platformer-style game that deals with in-game undo, time travel, time distortion, and multiple realities. It's mind bending, fun, and beautiful. Watch the trailer for it here if you haven't seen it before: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqtSKkyJgFM

Braid is a masterpiece, just go get it now and play it WITHOUT WALKTHROUGHS (they'll just spoil the game for you).

I'm not sure the Witness can live up to Braid, but we'll see.

I think a lot of times people tend to over-exaggerate when using terms like 'masterpiece', but in this case it's warranted. The puzzles and gameplay are brilliant, and then when you discover what the story is actually about it really blows you away.

I don't mean to invoke any sort of death of the author, the story isn't about anything except what you bring to it kind of vagueness...but part of the genius of Braid is that it's intentionally unclear what the story is about.

The famous quote in the epilogue makes you think of an important historical event, but plausibly that's metaphorical and the game is about something more personal, existential. Maybe the game isn't about anything but making you reflect. Maybe it's an expression of particular events in Blow's life. Maybe all of the above.

There was an interview with Jonathan Blow several years ago in Game Informer, close to when Braid came out. Blow said he'll never explain publicly what the game meant to him so people could have their own explanations not be overshadowed by his authorial intent.

He also said he responded to people who emailed him their interpretation. At the time of the interview only one person correctly guessed Blow's own interpretation.

I can't even imagine what the real answer could be.

I agree, I've played through it twice now and don't think there's anything concrete. Even the "real" ending is just confusing. Still, it's one of the best games I've ever played, for the puzzles alone.

There is actually an official walkthrough[1] that just says... don't use walkthroughs ;)

I remember when I was originally playing the game right after it came out, and I was stumped by a puzzle and then found the "official" walkthrough and it inspired me to try my best at the game to get through it. And it really made the game way more rewarding, enjoyable, and memorable.

[1] http://braid-game.com/walkthrough/walkthrough.html

Braid is on the short list of games I've played where I could spend an hour bashing on a puzzle unsuccessfully, then sleep on it, then come back the next day and do it first try. That happened at least twice as I recall. I generally find that impressive.

(The game that did that to me most often was Catherine. At least five or six times. And given that I never got very good at the puzzle version (in the arcade game in the bar), probably still at least a couple more still lurking in there if I picked it up again.)

Without the walkthroughs though, many people most likely wouldn't have gotten the real ending.

That look at 0:50 perfectly describes how I felt playing Braid.

Great to see OS X-compatible game recommendations on HN. Personally I find it quite challenging to find interesting games for OS X.

From what I can see, it's not available for OS X at all. According to Wikipedia[1], it is currently available for PC and PS4 and will be released for iOS "at a later date"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Witness_(2016_video_game)

He's talking about Braid.

Steam has a growing and vastly improving group of games. However indie games tend to be your best bet. I have a 100+ steam games for mac and around 80 for linux. It's getting better!

I got it in a Humble Indie Bundle a while back.

I tried my best to enjoy it (Fez too) but I can't seem to get past the fact that they are platformers, which I have discovered I just flat-out do not like.

It's worth noting that Blow used all the money earned from Braid to develop The Witness (as a result of long development time, though)

http://www.engadget.com/2015/02/06/the-witness-money/

It's probably more correct to say that all the money used to develop The Witness comes from the money earned from Braid.

It's hard not to admire Blow. Not only does he make amazing games, but he actually powers through and finishes them. That's a talent on its own. I mean put aside his engineering and design skill-sets, actually finishing should be part of what one would have to 'learn'. At least for me.

After Braid, Blow (rightly or wrongly) took an immense amount of criticism for his views and opinions. Even more admirable is that he shrug all that off to come thru' with another game (unlike Phil Fish who took all his criticism rather badly).

Fish also stole much of his stuff, so you can't expect him to steal twice as he has eyes on him this time. http://www.ign.com/boards/threads/evidence-that-phil-fish-st...

I actually paid for Fez, apart from its little gimmick and art work, it wasn't really much. Never finished it even, and I finished Assassins Creed 1 ;-)

Blow just seems genuinely good at writing games/software and creating puzzles, but even better at finishing.

I feel like I could pop into that forum, ask "what is code, exactly?" and get 25 different, incorrect answers.

Yes, IGN message boards are hardly a place to cite as evidence of anything.

Your assertion that he "stole" Fez is really not supported by the purported evidence you linked. And you totally missed the point of Fez if you think it only has the 2.5D and artwork going for it.

I as a consumer missed the point of the game by not being enticing enough for me to finish it so I could get it, apart from its special 3D and artwork, yes.

I am not saying he Stole Fez, I am saying he seems to have mistreated people who worked on it with him. In the end, Blow is a force of nature, Fish was lucky to have someone code the engine for him, period. Look through the videos on Jai, there is some good stuff there that's not related to games in general.

"Fish also stole most of his stuff" was a direct quote from your comment, so yeah you kind of did say he stole it.

Since when is it possible to steal ideas?

Edit: Sure, it's perfectly valid to extend the meaning of "steal" to include "be inspired by" or "copy", but that does nothing but devalue its original meaning.

One of my favourite talks from a developer was his talk on "Deep Work,"[0] where he talks about how he manages to keep working on projects that take a very long time to complete. He has some pretty good advice with regards to managing one's own psychology and avoiding burnout while being productive.

[0] https://vimeo.com/94259578

Thanks, haven't seen that one.

Cal Newport just released a book on "Deep Work" that talks about that subject. I haven't finished it yet, but so far the book is really interesting.

http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Work-Focused-Success-Distracted/d...

Watching the talk but the crowd noise is exhausting to the ears. Would be nice if someone could filter it somehow and reupload.

Yeah, agreed, he's quite the talent. I was more than a little pissed off when Indie Game: The Movie made a special effort to make him look like some kind of nutball for the audience to laugh at. I can't stress how terrible that documentary was. It played up hateful stereotypes of "pathetic geeks" and other things best found on sitcoms like The Big Bang Theory.

Blow was treated very unfairly, imo. He's actually interesting to listen to and something of a deep and critical thinker. Clearly he's someone who understands that games can be a transcendent experience like any art.

I just hope he's working on a VR game soon. I suspect the Vive is going to change everything in a couple months. I'd love to VR in the kinds of worlds he builds.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com