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Comment by jmcgough | Hacker News Reader

Keita Takahashi is such an odd guy. Really creative and approaches games from a very different perspective than a lot of other creators, but Katamari Damacy was such a flash in the pan for him. His later endeavors have been equally if not more bizarre, without fun gameplay mechanics to back them up.

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There's lots of similar examples in other creative fields - artists who have one piece of work that does tremendously well, but everything else they make is only noticed by their more dedicated fans.

My interpretation is that it's because they make the art for them, not for the audience. In a sense they got lucky that one piece of their work found itself at the right confluence of factors to blow up like it did, because that's not something you can really control or guarantee, unless you play it extremely safe (which is why all the big game/movie studios produce sequel after sequel, or old rockstars will just keep performing their classics).

There's an interview with Jon Blow I heard recently that stuck with me, where he says that he could probably have made lots of money making Braid 2 or The Witness 2, but that it just wasn't interesting to him.

Willingly leaving money on the table, now that's the mark of an artist.

> he could probably have made lots of money making Braid 2 or The Witness 2

If you're wanting more of The Witness you can find it in childrens puzzles books and the backs of cereal boxes. See also The Looker: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1985690/The_Looker/

This is a fun parody but just in case you’re being earnest - that’s completely missing the point. Similar to saying “if you want more of $RPG just open a spreadsheet and slowly make arbitrary numbers go up”.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Progress_Quest

the enemies it came up with were hilarious. my fav being the porn elemental

You snark, sir, but can I also find artistry and meaning equal to The Witness on the back of a cereal box?

I'm not sure Jonathan Blow, visionary video game developer and appearer in many documentaries on the video game industry, would appreciate my answer. But in my view: yes. Especially Rice Krispies.

If you're actually looking for more of The Witness, there's

- Taiji, which is a very The Witness-inspired 2D exploration/puzzle game https://store.steampowered.com/app/1141580/Taiji/

- Fidel Rescue Dungeon (which I only just learned of and haven't yet played), which is The Witness puzzles, but dressed up as a roguelike https://store.steampowered.com/app/573170/Fidel_Dungeon_Resc...

_Really_? I'm not one to defend Jonathan Blow The Personality (TM), but the game masterfully weaves the puzzle aspects into the adventuring aspects of the game, and encourages you to expand your perspective throughout. The sort of experience I had playing that game made me wish more games were like that (Fez being another notable example).

I was a QA tester on Noby Noby boy at Namco. It was really more of a toy compared to Katamari but it still retained much of Keita's signature weirdness and style. It was also the first game he made with network functionality. NNB is still relaxing to play around with every once in a while. It's a shame it was only released on the PS3, as it would be a good candidate for mobile devices.

This is the case for some of the most amazing and out there developers

but sometimes, you get someone who really gets into a small niche in gaming where their other interests are far flung elsewhere, like the ever lovely MOTHER series by Shigasato Itoi

It bet it is fun to design!

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