Jonathan Blow: How and Why

August 17th 2007:
The lecture is about how to minimize risk and maximize quality as an indie developer, while creating art instead of products; also, it goes pretty deeply into [Jon Blow's] views about what we could/should be doing as game designers.

[@FlyleapStudios]

5:36 to skip introduction

[@MrSiloterio]

+Flyleap Studios thanks a lot good samaritan..

[@Malouco]

Yeah, good summarizing

[@azizas9366]

thanks

[@69420]

ILY

[@frostyfingers9282]

you're good people

[@QrayzHD]

I honestly believe that if you are currently working on your own game and listen to this man you will suddenly become inspired and you think differently as a visual artist and it really improves your ideas, he's a genius.

[@abwuds7208]

Hey Man, so did you make any games? Just found this video and I wonder what could be the results on someone, 10 years after. Take care!

[@0ia]

+1, curious if you’ve done things 10 years later :)

[@publicalias8172]

Bump!

[@sebastianwardana1527]

dude, its like i havent even listend the whole time i watched these talks, he developes his games for soooo long!!!

[@Mindseas]

Unfortunate the sound level is so low, but at least it's still watchable. Thank you for uploading this!

[@Raytenecks]

I'm just finding these videos now... He is an amazing speaker and extremely inspiring. Thanks for uploading!

[@deqdweoifjiow]

The painter game is genius, this HAVE TO BE MADE.

[@muzboz]

So inspiring, really great food for thought about figuring out what your goals are as a games artist. Excellent. I find Jonathan Blow's ideas really interesting.

[@samhblackmore]

That was an hour well spent. This guy has an amazing mind

thanks for sharing this! even after all those years, it is still valid :-)

[@MarkOates2]

I really resonate with all the things he was saying about how a good game teaches you about the way the world works... as in... if we alter the parameters slightly and make *that* into a game, we can explore and understand - being taught by a game - how those things alter the assumptions we make about the world we live in. Portal is a fantastic example of this. It opens the possibilities, and you get to play around inside it.

[@rubbermuck]

@InterstellarTortoise It's great to hear at least one person appreciates these, that's what I did it for.

[@rubbermuck]

@MsBickle76 Yeah, I'm quite a fan of his, which is why i went through the trouble of creating the videos with just slides and audio (there was no video available, so i had to concoct it with some software trickery). Unfortunately, youtube has taken away my ability to upload videos longer than 15 minutes, the reason for which I'm not quite sure, but it happened around the time i tried to upload this "Bonus Round" on the gametrailers website where he and Chris Hecker and Notch were on.

[@NateChurman]

Do you still have the gamespot interview with Notch and Jonathan Blow? I've been searching for that for ages but had no success

[@gomgom200]

Great lecture... thanks for sharing it

[@gd7681]

Thanks for posting this.

[@rubbermuck]

@aladrink no problem. I just made a playlist of 8 jon blow videos on my channel

[@rubbermuck]

@5:45 is when jon starts talking

[@Raytenecks]

The Marriage by Ron Humble was the game he recommended downloading, even if you downloaded no other.

[@MissVelvetElle]

Thank you!!!

[@dscheme4427]

the rewind in braid is stone-cold genius, and I still haven't got my head around how that was done...

[@tomcheng3903]

There's a video on youtube where he talks about the implementation with regards to implementing consistent physics for multiple monitor framerates I think, it's really instructive (there may also be a talk containing it floating around, can't remember) The take-away is he just stores every frame + compresses it smartly, which is amazing given the tiny RAM of the xbox 360 (512mb)

[@MsBickle76]

@rubbermuck I would like to thank you as well! you have a ton of his talks, please keep on posting whatever you can get your hands on know he has another talk+slides coming: the-witness net/news/?p=889&cpage=1#comment-3414 and again thank you for sharing this with everyone!

[@MikeSW]

Hm, trying to find the talk where he mentions Science Fiction and what he considers to be "real" scifi. I thought it was the talk with the 4D game at first, but skimmed through and didn't find anything. Anyone recall what I'm referring to?

[@kegansimpson2893]

For Recreational Use Only speculative fiction

[@gd7681]

Did you ever find this?

[@aboorsa]

the first book that jonathan suggests is A Theory of Fun for Game Design by Raph Koster but what is the second book?

[@dscheme4427]

A Theory of Fun for Game Design II by Raph Koster

[@dscheme4427]

A Theory of Fun for Game Design III by Raph Koster

[@dscheme4427]

Also, check out A Theory of Fun for Game Design for Dummies by Raph Koster

[@ETCLundberg]

Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames by Ian Bogost

[@nonefvnfvnjnjnjevjenjvonej3384]

ya so he is a genius basically. i didnt realize it as i only saw his rants

[@dscheme4427]

I like Jonathon. He's very passionate and outspoken, an exceptional talent. I don't always agree with everything he says, but I find myself agreeing with a lot of what he says. But dissing the Matrix, come on dude! As badly written, no less!

[@dimarichmain]

Wait, what? 36:04: Braid was gameplay-complete in late 1995??? 2005 maybe?

[@SETHthegodofchaos]

that painter game might interested if he trains a neural net for each of the characters to assess the image :D

[@zetetick395]

13:20 Uh huh Mr B - we noticed

[@yan2292008]

thanks for sharing "rubbermuck"

[@CtrlaLtdesign]

omg 37:40 wreath of barbs

[@meinerHeld]

Oh man Jon, you're such a thorough thinker--kind of like I used to be. I find this talk too much nitpicky, because mentally I fly faster/freer now, but you are, no doubt, awesome.

[@Flacksh0t]

photoshop the design and enviroment and program those files where it needs to be

[@huzerD3]

i want to be indie

[@dwroberts]

I really like his talk but I can't stand his critique of the Matrix: the Oracle can't tell the future. It's explained that she understands (and can predict) human actions, which isn't quite the same as telling the future

1:09:14 Darth Vader entered the room.

[@godskygaming3379]

A true visioner an Elon Musk of game industry.

[@darkopeninger1915]

Nice comparison

[@sabatheus]

Jonathan Blow is the James Cameron of gaming. You may not like his personality, but he's a genius and you can't deny the results of his line of thinking. I'm going to make a prediction now--his next game is going to blow the doors off of what the top indie games have ever made. 10s-of-millions? Why not.

Sabatheus And you were right! :-)

[@zetetick395]

Why do these speaking events always thank _themselves_ at the start??

[@Seryosin]

I can't believe I never were interested in what Jonathan has to say. Srsly, what's was wrong with me? =_=

[@Seryosin]

I cannot believe I was never interested in what Jonathan has to say. Seriously, what is wrong with me? =_= Oh and Grammar*.