IGDA San Francisco Jonathan Blow 2016

Details about the San Francisco IGDA can be found here www.meetup.com/IGDA-San-Franci...
The following fireside chat between Jonathan Blow ( / jonathan_blow ) and chapter chair, Alex Wilmer ( / alwilmer ) was recorded at Dolby Labs on February 3rd 2016.
Jonathan Blow is one of the Bay Area's most inspiring independent game developers. The critically acclaimed Braid, established his position among the best in the industry. His success has led him to create The Witness. A highly ambitious 3D exploration-puzzle game released on January 26th 2016 that has already received unanimous critical acclaim.

[@cogigo]

Great interview. I really enjoyed The Witness. Played through it multiple times. Such a tremendous piece of art. I´m so glad it exists.

[@Xonatron]

I always learn or reaffirm how I want to be and make games from Jonathan Blow.

[@user-tt4dy1ti5v]

01:04 What was run up like to the launch of The Witness? 02:32 How are you handling game support post-launch? 05:05 How did The Witness' launch (in 2016) compare to Braid's launch (in 2008)? 08:25 You haven't addressed the polarizing reactions to The Witness the same way as with Braid. 16:10 Does it become difficult to notice key gameplay elements (e.g. surprises) when developing the game for so many years? 18:35 Have you done any traditional marketing (e.g. buying ads) to achieve success for The Witness? 21:30 Do you attribute your celebrity to the success of the The Witness? 25:00 Taylor Clark, "The Most Dangerous Gamer", _The_ _Atlantic_ , May 2012 issue. 26:45 With the success of the The Witness, no one can now say that Braid was a fluke. 27:20 Have you thought much about your status as a success game developer? 30:43 How do you pick the platforms to ship on? 33:28 Are you concerned about piracy of The Witness? 39:10 What was the motivation to publish the blog article about The Witness' sales information? 42:06 Due to collaboration, how much did you have to abandon elements in The Witness? 47:55 (Do you need some more water?) 48:28 Have you thought about future projects yet? 50:12 How do you feel about the game industry these days? 56:35 How do you think indie game funding (like IndieFund) will develop in the future? Audience Q&A 59:40 Do you think The Witness truly needed seven years of development? 1:00:05 Joel Spolsky, "Good Software Takes Ten Years. Get Used To It", Article, July 2001. 1:00:18 (2008) _Spore_ , AAA game by Maxis 1:01:20 (2011) _Rage_ , AAA game by id Software 1:01:28 (2011) _Duke_ _Nukem_ _Forever_ , AAA game by 3D Realms 1:03:40 (2011) "Jiro Dreams of Sushi" documentary film 1:05:05 What's your least favorite game genre, and what game mechanic would you add to make that genre better? 1:08:25 How far into The Witness' development did the transition from growing to refining the game occur? 1:11:45 What motivates the lore/story behind Braid and The Witness? 1:14:40 Have you seen anyone completing a puzzle in an unexpected way in The Witness? 1:17:05 (2008) _Spelunky_ , indie game by Derek Yu

[@festa1999]

love you

[@gd7681]

He was totally willing to take more questions. Wish it went on longer.

[@9kaeve]

To the person who asked the last question: the streamer Day9 managed to solve the polyomino puzzles in the town hub area before he came across the tutorial in the colour marsh.

[@ax23w4]

Loved the interview. Didn't like The Witness so much because I was looking for more story and because I'm too stupid for this kind of puzzles. I was stuck on a puzzle close the end for FEW DAYS and I've looked up the solutions to the rest of the game on KZbin. But I'm still a big fan of Blow and now I'm excited for his next game! The story driven one. I'm really curious to see the story he came up with.

[@ChesterAsucka]

Don't hold your breath. Blow did a whole lecture on why he believes stories aren't necessarily what video games do best (not that they should never do it but books do it better and we should be focusing on what games do better than any other medium which is interactivity). It's called "Fundamental Conflicts in Contemporary Game Design." Check it out on youtube, it has a lot of incite. Jonathan has stated that he may not be making stories in games anymore.

[@wasdwasd5234]

Great Interview

[@stacymitchell1890]

53:45

[@unodeinsta3540]

Naik si vienes por Alex :v

[@linkVIII]

gotta go fast

[@y0rema]

Tip for the interviewer: get out of the habit of starting every sentence with "umm".