go read it, its preatty intresting! is about… oh.. i dunno i haven’t read it yet, i’m just reporting… but every time he gives an interview, it;s always mind-expanding and stuff….
In response to the interview, I noticed that you’re not sure how to ask reviewers not to reveal spoilers. “I don’t know if we’re just going to ask really nicely that they don’t spoil these things…”
In Hyper (an Australian games magazine), they explained how they usually get some piece of paper in front of the game disk that says something like “Don’t spoil such and such for the readers or we’ll wave layers at you”. They find this incredibly insulting, as they are all gamers, and they have the sense of what not to spoil (most of the time). They also find it very annoying, because they have suddenly had the experience spoiled for them, ironically, by the very people warning them not to spoil anything. Once again, like the reviewers aren’t actually gamers themselves.
So, I guess if there’s something you think shouldn’t be spoiled (and it’s not obvious that it shouldn’t), maybe put it in an envelope, and ask them not to open it till they have seen all the spoilers themselves.
It’s a good interview, but I’ve been wondering about Super Meat Boy… I like the game, quite a lot really, but I worry about how much memorization is involved. Not that memorization completely negates fun (Ikaruga is one of my favourite games of all time), but the fun that arises from memorization… well, I feel we ought to be wary of it.
What’s so bothersome about Dragon Quest and Peggle? Well, a lot of things. But I would say one of the scarier things is the illusion they create. It’s an illusion of depth/strategy/mastery – Dragon Quest does it by showing you numbers that go up, and Peggle does it by flattering your skill when all you have (all you can have) is luck.
Memorization is another way of creating the illusion of mastery. You can complete a bunch of levels and get that feeling of improvement. And verily, you have improved *something*, something that SMB and Ikaruga embroider with beautiful visuals, brilliant setpieces, some very sticky frictions, and occasionally highly interesting puzzles. But memorization is dispassionate – it’s just buttons, rather than ideas. I’m not articulating this so well, but do you know what I mean?
in other news…. i just found out today that The Witness has a youtube account “ThisWitness” i guess “The Witness” was already taken… ha! help jon and his team out, you could watch the videos and rate up, or if you care to subscribe…..?
That’s not an official account — it’s made by someone who was interested in the game and wanted to make those trailers. So it’s cool that it’s there, but don’t expect official news to come via YouTube!
whoops! …sorry about that. the account was made around the same time this site was and it has a link directing you here. i put one and one together and i thought it was the “official” channel. i even asked “you” if that was the actual in-game music… i feel dumb *lol*. btw i just finished the interview. it was very good but i’m confussed… don’t get me wrong! you know games better that anyone else, i trust you know what you’re doing and what ever you do i side with you… but i don’t think actors have a place in a “real” games. marybe i’m closed minded or maybe i’m thinking out side the box (thinking out side the box is thinking in trhe box) …i can’t compare Braid like “what if braid had a voice actor for the narration thingies” b/c Braid is obviously different, but maybe is not an actor maybe is a computer voice, like “sam” from windows or something like that. but that’s still a voice, right? maybe you can use and actor “right”, maybe you are the guy that makes a revolution in making things coher (like braid was a game that had aspects of books) …but there is something else that makes me scared, in the interview you said things like “story” “story twist” “plot” it put me on edge, weren’t you the guy that said “games are not about stories, we don’t need to care about narratives only dynamical meaning, our charm as a medium is interactivity, we are not storytellers, if you wan’t to make stories you are in the wrong place” maybe that was Genova or Hecker or some of the other guys that i listen to… but i agree with this! hell, i don’t even like stories on movies. but i Braid is a great agreement of this, it’s not a story but it’s meaning, a meaning to everything in the game that makes all the parts work together and have a coherent meaning (and when things have a meaning, is good) b/c is not a logical plot or story but it joins all the different ideas and messages together. …like Portal has aspects of movies. Portal used an actor “right” for games, in my opinion. …again don’t get me wrong, i trust you and what ever you do i’ll side by you. what ever you do i’ll say “yeah! that makes sense. that’s the choice/path i have to take when i become a programmer” what ever lenguage games speak, very smart people can come and think of new things and to them, b/c there are lots of things that we just have not learned. i respect you a whole lot and hopefully by the time i start making games you have figuered out new things. good luck with the game. btw… you where that guy of “thinking outside the box is thinking in the box” right?
Come with me, in our dreams we’ll dance,
A two-step to tamper time.
A foxtrot, once done, will still the sun,
In it’s journey across the sky.
Oh when the sun descends, we’ll see all our friends,
And we can laugh, and love, and lie.
Oh let the sun descend so we can be together again,
And then time can pass us by.
A quick waltz step, while a unique concept,
Just slows things to a grind.
A mamba will, maybe your dreams fulfill,
If you seek the power to rewind.
Oh when the sun descends, we’ll see all our friends,
And we can laugh, and love, and lie.
Oh let the sun descend so we can be together again,
And then time can pass us by.
But the tango’s grace, to make time race,
Is likely the greatest of them all.
Because all people do, end up hastening to,
See the sun make its final fall.
See as the sun descends, our long lost friends,
Aren’t so lost, by and by.
Now that we’re at the end, I think I’d rather spend,
Time with those whom time passed by.
great interview, as always i will be droping a link…
several things you said about The Witness, sound a lot like what the game Looming was trying to do. the whole thing of… well a lot of things, is a good game, you can passe it in less than an hour, if any of you want to get an idea of the conceps jon talks about, here is the link:
I totally agree with thevarticle in the link!
I’m in total agreement.
Social Gaming = No Good.
Jon just gave a new interview at gamasutra. here is the link:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/6224/catching_up_with_jonathan_blow.php
go read it, its preatty intresting! is about… oh.. i dunno i haven’t read it yet, i’m just reporting… but every time he gives an interview, it;s always mind-expanding and stuff….
In response to the interview, I noticed that you’re not sure how to ask reviewers not to reveal spoilers. “I don’t know if we’re just going to ask really nicely that they don’t spoil these things…”
In Hyper (an Australian games magazine), they explained how they usually get some piece of paper in front of the game disk that says something like “Don’t spoil such and such for the readers or we’ll wave layers at you”. They find this incredibly insulting, as they are all gamers, and they have the sense of what not to spoil (most of the time). They also find it very annoying, because they have suddenly had the experience spoiled for them, ironically, by the very people warning them not to spoil anything. Once again, like the reviewers aren’t actually gamers themselves.
So, I guess if there’s something you think shouldn’t be spoiled (and it’s not obvious that it shouldn’t), maybe put it in an envelope, and ask them not to open it till they have seen all the spoilers themselves.
It’s a good interview, but I’ve been wondering about Super Meat Boy… I like the game, quite a lot really, but I worry about how much memorization is involved. Not that memorization completely negates fun (Ikaruga is one of my favourite games of all time), but the fun that arises from memorization… well, I feel we ought to be wary of it.
What’s so bothersome about Dragon Quest and Peggle? Well, a lot of things. But I would say one of the scarier things is the illusion they create. It’s an illusion of depth/strategy/mastery – Dragon Quest does it by showing you numbers that go up, and Peggle does it by flattering your skill when all you have (all you can have) is luck.
Memorization is another way of creating the illusion of mastery. You can complete a bunch of levels and get that feeling of improvement. And verily, you have improved *something*, something that SMB and Ikaruga embroider with beautiful visuals, brilliant setpieces, some very sticky frictions, and occasionally highly interesting puzzles. But memorization is dispassionate – it’s just buttons, rather than ideas. I’m not articulating this so well, but do you know what I mean?
in other news…. i just found out today that The Witness has a youtube account “ThisWitness” i guess “The Witness” was already taken… ha! help jon and his team out, you could watch the videos and rate up, or if you care to subscribe…..?
http://www.youtube.com/user/ThisWitness
the videos have some lovelyy music.
That’s not an official account — it’s made by someone who was interested in the game and wanted to make those trailers. So it’s cool that it’s there, but don’t expect official news to come via YouTube!
whoops! …sorry about that. the account was made around the same time this site was and it has a link directing you here. i put one and one together and i thought it was the “official” channel. i even asked “you” if that was the actual in-game music… i feel dumb *lol*. btw i just finished the interview. it was very good but i’m confussed… don’t get me wrong! you know games better that anyone else, i trust you know what you’re doing and what ever you do i side with you… but i don’t think actors have a place in a “real” games. marybe i’m closed minded or maybe i’m thinking out side the box (thinking out side the box is thinking in trhe box) …i can’t compare Braid like “what if braid had a voice actor for the narration thingies” b/c Braid is obviously different, but maybe is not an actor maybe is a computer voice, like “sam” from windows or something like that. but that’s still a voice, right? maybe you can use and actor “right”, maybe you are the guy that makes a revolution in making things coher (like braid was a game that had aspects of books) …but there is something else that makes me scared, in the interview you said things like “story” “story twist” “plot” it put me on edge, weren’t you the guy that said “games are not about stories, we don’t need to care about narratives only dynamical meaning, our charm as a medium is interactivity, we are not storytellers, if you wan’t to make stories you are in the wrong place” maybe that was Genova or Hecker or some of the other guys that i listen to… but i agree with this! hell, i don’t even like stories on movies. but i Braid is a great agreement of this, it’s not a story but it’s meaning, a meaning to everything in the game that makes all the parts work together and have a coherent meaning (and when things have a meaning, is good) b/c is not a logical plot or story but it joins all the different ideas and messages together. …like Portal has aspects of movies. Portal used an actor “right” for games, in my opinion. …again don’t get me wrong, i trust you and what ever you do i’ll side by you. what ever you do i’ll say “yeah! that makes sense. that’s the choice/path i have to take when i become a programmer” what ever lenguage games speak, very smart people can come and think of new things and to them, b/c there are lots of things that we just have not learned. i respect you a whole lot and hopefully by the time i start making games you have figuered out new things. good luck with the game. btw… you where that guy of “thinking outside the box is thinking in the box” right?
Crononomicon
Come with me, in our dreams we’ll dance,
A two-step to tamper time.
A foxtrot, once done, will still the sun,
In it’s journey across the sky.
Oh when the sun descends, we’ll see all our friends,
And we can laugh, and love, and lie.
Oh let the sun descend so we can be together again,
And then time can pass us by.
A quick waltz step, while a unique concept,
Just slows things to a grind.
A mamba will, maybe your dreams fulfill,
If you seek the power to rewind.
Oh when the sun descends, we’ll see all our friends,
And we can laugh, and love, and lie.
Oh let the sun descend so we can be together again,
And then time can pass us by.
But the tango’s grace, to make time race,
Is likely the greatest of them all.
Because all people do, end up hastening to,
See the sun make its final fall.
See as the sun descends, our long lost friends,
Aren’t so lost, by and by.
Now that we’re at the end, I think I’d rather spend,
Time with those whom time passed by.
great interview, as always i will be droping a link…
several things you said about The Witness, sound a lot like what the game Looming was trying to do. the whole thing of… well a lot of things, is a good game, you can passe it in less than an hour, if any of you want to get an idea of the conceps jon talks about, here is the link:
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/541333
i liked it…. it gave me a good vive.
m’i being anoying with these links? if i am just say so and i’ll stop… but it’s just so interesting!
here is a link to a new interview posted yesterday at eurogamer:
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-12-14-jonathan-blow-in-his-own-words-interview
“Jonathan Blow in his own words; The Braid creator in his most revealing interview yet.”
-Eurogamer.com *uhh, controversial*
plataform announcement? …probably not, but its an opinion: http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=281445