Congrats to you and to your whole team on shipping such a brilliant gem. I can't believe I waited with such persistent interest for something for seven years that then somehow managed to be exactly what I was hoping for and simultaneously exceed every expectation I had. You absolutely nailed it in my book, so bravo to all of you.
You are #1 on my "people for whom I would buy a coffee to pick their brain for ten minutes" list, so I have a million questions, but I've tried to pare it down. I'm sure you'll have lots of questions here, so thanks in advance for any of these you choose to answer.
1) What's your recommended reading/input? Twitter accounts, blogs, books, publications, conferences anything. Any and all topics, but especially game news/criticism/discussion. I'm not a game developer but everything about game ideation, development and the history and future of the craft fascinates me, let alone playing and enjoying the games themselves.
2) How do you think single-player experiences will evolve from here? What will define the most interesting single-player games of the next few years? Will introspective, non-action-focused games ever transcend "walking simulators" and "puzzle games?"
3) In both Braid and The Witness, how important to you were the narratives/themes relative to the gameplay? My understanding was that the gameplay elements came first in both cases - did those elements inspire the themes you chose, or did you establish the themes independently and then look for connections with the gameplay?
4) Seven years... did you ever come close to declaring an "indefinite hiatus," or just throwing the whole thing in the dumpster? Did you have any kind of backup plan or another game idea you were developing?
5) Both Braid and The Witness are "slow" games, but you clearly appreciate speed as a gameplay element - both games feature measured speed runs in some aspect (I now strongly associate In the Hall of the Mountain King with stress; thanks for that) and you tweeted your personal start-to-finish speed run of The Witness prior to release. Will speed, and failure for lack of it, feature more heavily in your future games?
6) With which part of The Witness are you the happiest? The most disappointed? It could be anything, be it inside the game (some theme, puzzle, area, visuals, etc.) or out (the team, development process, etc.)
Silly bonus question: What player "sticking point" in The Witness has surprised you the most, and why is it "help me the ramp moved and im trapped in the sawmill"?
reindeer_frigate190 karma
Congrats to you and to your whole team on shipping such a brilliant gem. I can't believe I waited with such persistent interest for something for seven years that then somehow managed to be exactly what I was hoping for and simultaneously exceed every expectation I had. You absolutely nailed it in my book, so bravo to all of you.
You are #1 on my "people for whom I would buy a coffee to pick their brain for ten minutes" list, so I have a million questions, but I've tried to pare it down. I'm sure you'll have lots of questions here, so thanks in advance for any of these you choose to answer.
1) What's your recommended reading/input? Twitter accounts, blogs, books, publications, conferences anything. Any and all topics, but especially game news/criticism/discussion. I'm not a game developer but everything about game ideation, development and the history and future of the craft fascinates me, let alone playing and enjoying the games themselves.
2) How do you think single-player experiences will evolve from here? What will define the most interesting single-player games of the next few years? Will introspective, non-action-focused games ever transcend "walking simulators" and "puzzle games?"
3) In both Braid and The Witness, how important to you were the narratives/themes relative to the gameplay? My understanding was that the gameplay elements came first in both cases - did those elements inspire the themes you chose, or did you establish the themes independently and then look for connections with the gameplay?
4) Seven years... did you ever come close to declaring an "indefinite hiatus," or just throwing the whole thing in the dumpster? Did you have any kind of backup plan or another game idea you were developing?
5) Both Braid and The Witness are "slow" games, but you clearly appreciate speed as a gameplay element - both games feature measured speed runs in some aspect (I now strongly associate In the Hall of the Mountain King with stress; thanks for that) and you tweeted your personal start-to-finish speed run of The Witness prior to release. Will speed, and failure for lack of it, feature more heavily in your future games?
6) With which part of The Witness are you the happiest? The most disappointed? It could be anything, be it inside the game (some theme, puzzle, area, visuals, etc.) or out (the team, development process, etc.)
Silly bonus question: What player "sticking point" in The Witness has surprised you the most, and why is it "help me the ramp moved and im trapped in the sawmill"?
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