Comments on: Update!

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 12:39:04 +0000

I love it when ideas fall together and connect almost seemingly of themselves. It is always another sweet moment along the way. To me there seems to be poetry of being, that we just have to discover within the purpose we wish to create, just waiting to be uncovered.

By: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:03:17 +0000

In reply to Stuart. Spy Party is cool! I hope the beta is released soon so people can play it.

By: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:02:55 +0000

In reply to Paul Grzymkowski. I think you can definitely "force it" to make connections between things, but whenever I do this they end up being kind of contrived and less-interesting. It is much better to let them organically happen as they do. Sometimes this just requires calendar time -- at one point you have no idea, but you come back to it two months later, and suddenly what to do is obvious.

By: Paul Grzymkowski

Paul Grzymkowski — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 02:26:18 +0000

Jonathan,

Great to hear things coming along so well. And it is also refreshing to hear that I am not alone in my (often seemingly endless) revision cycles. There’s little that can compare to those “a ha” moments when seemingly disparate pieces can get bridged together in satisfying ways. However that then causes you to revisit / revise other parts yet again, but now to create similar connections. Do you often find yourself stumbling upon these, or have you found a way to deliberately grind until you establish connections?

-Paul

By: Jackson

Jackson — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 12:40:49 +0000

Great to here things are coming along nicely, not just in the way of progress but also refinement, too many games now days run on deadlines and release dates that really shouldn’t be there.

Also great to see that no one on this blog seems to ask when the game is coming out, very intelligent people in my opinion, people who demand games be released ASAP usually get a bad end product upon release due to Bugs from not enough play testing and areas that just seem “unfinished” (Halo 2 for example)

Take as long as you need Jonathan, me and all your fans will be waiting as long as you deem necessary.

By: Anton

Anton — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 10:37:31 +0000

I cannot wait to see this attention to detail put into action. Surely this is how development is supposed to be…

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 06:13:47 +0000

Hey John, what are your thoughts on Chris Hecker’s Spy Party? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you give comment to it.

By: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:01:06 +0000

In reply to justin. The architects do not work for us! They will be off doing their own things after this project is over.

By: justin

justin — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:43:41 +0000

No pictures? Great! Thanks for not spoling the beggining of the game!
I can’t wait to see the mag , if I can get it I’ll scan and post.
I hope the game just keeps getting better both graphically and gameplay wise.
I really whish you can work really hard on this jonathan and that you can make this all that this can be and to fulfill as much of its infinite potential as you can.
I want to whish Jonathan and his team (Thekla/NumberNone) the best of luck and may all your hard work be a rewarding in your life.
Also… will you be keeping the achitecs and whole team after The Witness is done or what will you guys do? Will you keep the achitecs?

By: Sami Habib

Sami Habib — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 11:41:12 +0000

It’s just cool to follow the development of The Witness, as a wannabe game developer I think it’s nice to see the kind of steps gone through to create such a game.

Sounds like everything’s going smoothly. I’m really looking forward to play this when it’s finished!

By: Devon Braithwaite

Devon Braithwaite — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 10:40:52 +0000

Hi Johnathan. I am at the beginning of my career working for a games company that specialises in mobile and social games. I am not happy. There are few companies in my country, not much technical expertise and even less design expertise. My situation is not ideal but it is all I can do here right now, short of just finding a part time job to make ends meet and self-learning and creating something in my spare time. The internet has been my only real learning resource and it is a mixed bag to say the least. My point is I would like to thank you for making videos of lectures you have given (like Designing to Reveal the Nature of the Universe) available online. They are much appreciated. I have little experience and do not know much, but yours is the direction I feel motivated to head in. I’m curious as to what your day to day is like working on The Witness. Am I right in assuming that you design using a lot of prototyping? When you design, how is your time divided between things like documentation, prototyping, staring-out-the-window thinking and any other processes you use? Does the studio use any kind of strict methodology for the project? Do you set milestones for yourself? Have you ever considered offering some kind of internship position?

By: Jake Brownson

Jake Brownson — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 04:36:24 +0000

Thanks for the update, it’s great to be able to follow your progress as a game developer and as a game player I’m really excited to try it!

By: Celeste Masinter

Celeste Masinter — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 04:33:07 +0000

I’ve been following this blog for a few months now. I’m very excited about this project and can’t wait to learn more. I really appreciate this insight into your puzzle design process. I like how you are open to allowing puzzles to evolve along their own unique paths, and how you are then dedicated to refining and simplifying them, making them more elegant. These are truths I strive to embrace in my own artistic work.

By: Andrew Coggeshall

Andrew Coggeshall — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:46:28 +0000

In reply to Jonathan Blow. It sounds like Sketchup is good for that type of rapid prototyping. It's interesting to know that's what the architects are using, I guess some of these CAD programs can be overkill if you are designing. Anyway thanks for the answer I'm excited to see the screenshots when they're ready.

By: Jonathan Blow

Jonathan Blow — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:36:08 +0000

They work with paper sketches often during the initial idea phase, then use SketchUp to model stuff and give it to us. We import it into Maya, make structural modifications, and clean up the geometry (SketchUp’s exported geometry is often pretty terrible). Sometimes we just use the imported model as a guide and rebuild the geometry completely.

By: Andrew Coggeshall

Andrew Coggeshall — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 03:06:55 +0000

I’m curious what your workflow is with the architects in terms of software. Are you developing buildings in a CAD program like VectorWorks or Revit and then bringing them into something like Max or Maya to detail them? I only ask because it is a workflow I have used and am curious about how others approach it. Also these kind of details are just interesting to me.

Thanks a lot.