Yes there is! (AFAIK). It’s at the end of a long, winding path near one of the coasts.

Where did you buy the game, so far I am still looking.

Awesome stuff. Sounds like you’re on the right track! I love thinking about things in a deeply critical way like that. Like does the camera intentionally create desperation in Shadow of the Colossus!

I think every artist and scholar has a different definition of art. I’ve been working on my own.
Art: Any creation made with intention.
I don’t think this is what OP is talking about. Intention could be “I want this piece to make people cry,” or “I want this piece to make a statement on art,” etc.

Quality: The measure of an artist’s fulfillment of their intention.
Bad acting in a movie can distract a person from the greater intention of the piece, therefor the artist’s intention isn’t fulfilled. Not to say that an artist can’t make decisions defying things that are “good.” Picasso is a perfect example of this; his later art isn’t pleasing to the eye, but this is explicit and it fulfills his intention. Shadow of the Colossus’ camera isn’t “good,” but it creates a feeling of helplessness, arguably fulfilling intention. This brings me to my next topic.

Interpretative Material: Any material in a piece with artist-intended meaning.
Aka: symbolism, metaphor, allegory. The “bad camera” in Shadow of the Colossus falls in this category (arguably). If a movie uses ideal camera angles just because it’s expected, the camera angles aren’t interpretative. While they may support interpretative material, there is no greater meaning (metaphor) to the cinematography. Jonathan Blow talked about interpretation in a talk a while back (2008, I think), and how non-interpretative materials may distract the player from the artist’s intended interpretation.

Artistic Merit: The measure of Interpretative Material in a piece.
This is closer to what OP defines as art, I believe. This is the density, or concentration, of interpretative material in a piece. Great poetry tends to have high artistic merit. Often the rhythm, rhyme scheme, dictation and even syntax are choices not made lightly and are interpretative.

So, by my definition, Braid is not only art but has plenty of artistic merit. In fact, I would say it has the most artistic merit of any game I’ve ever played.
Allow me to introduce myself. I’m currently studying music and computer science at university, and studying/practicing game design independently. This is the subject of an essay I will be writing, and the definitions are sure to be reworked by the time of publication.

+_____×

*uses puss in boots eyes*
*uses puppy dog eyes*
*uses Betty Davis eyes*

Haha. I also looked back at the posting dates from previous updates. It seems that most of them occurred late in the week (Wed-Fri), so I’ll be sure to check back then.

The fact that I look here for updates so often is weird; this is a game that I do not want to know anything more about…. except mentions of it being “finished.” :)

That first book link made me think of this song:

http://youtu.be/098fSLbkw1Y

OOH! Good question I wish I knew that as well!

I’ve read this five or so times. It gets more mature each time. It’s almost like poetry really. Google translate has some talent.

If you think of it from the perspective of TIME itself, we’ve already all played The Witness. Are playing it right now in fact. Also, not… playing it, never having EVER played it. Not really.

All comforting and equally terrifying concepts to consider whilst waiting for the game in this: (THAT WAY —–>) direction of time.

Furthermore, what if game development ran in reverse? Where the sooner you discover a project the more complete it is and the more time you have to get through it before it shrinks into non-existence?

… I think it may be time to commit to a release date yes. This game is making me unstable. I think I shall have to commit myself to a reverse-release-date at a psychiatric institution if the game takes much longer.

In all sincerity though, there is and only ever will be one – true – release date and I’ve a feeling it’ll be revealed here shortly.

In the words of Tank from The Matrix: “IT’S A VERY EXCITING TIME!”

This: ^ ^ ^ ^ ^

Life is art. Existence is art. Art is infinite.

Anyone who would argue that videogames don’t qualify I will always fail to understand

If I remember correctly it will be purely download only at first. Although I wouldn’t rule out the possibility of it appearing in a physical-disc collection down the road after perhaps a year or so, depending on the (basically guaranteed success) – sort of like what they did with JOURNEY for the Playstation Network.

But all current knowledge points to digital only and I would bet that this is the way it will stay at first, likely even indefinitely.

GO THEKLA!

G
O

T
H
E
K
L
A
!

:)

Either that or I have been posting here for 5 years and have run out of things to talk about!

GO THEKLA! GO THEKLA!

If you define art as “something beautiful, skilfully created” then Braid absolutely qualifies.

If you think Braid isn’t art, I love to hear what is.

You can use games or non-games as examples.

It’s Silverbraid:
http://pcmappeur.free.fr/silverbraid/

More mods here:
http://steamcommunity.com//sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=375563595

Actually Trevor, in the third photo you can see the dog is turned around with his head peaking out from behind the pillar. Although, I myself didn’t notice that he looks the same in the first two, so props for that.

Video games emotionally move me and change my life. Calling them art or not does what exactly? Have fun with your semantic quandary.

I’m pretty sure they’re more worried about having enough money to finish the game, in which case they don’t even know themselves.

No. :)

I’m still super hyped about this game too though!!

On a side note, where can I find that wonderful puzzle art?

As and if you try to write a narrative that shifts as an allegory of the order the player solved the puzzles, and which he left unsolved, I submit the two following works for the purposes of idea-sparking:

Atlas of Remote Islands: Fifty Islands I Have Not Visited and Never Will, by Judith Schalansky
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atlas-Remote-Islands-Fifty-Visited/dp/1846143489/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1369670637&sr=1-1&keywords=schalansky+atlas

The Islanders, by Christopher Priest
http://www.amazon.com/The-Islanders-Christopher-Priest/dp/1781169462

For anyone curious, this is what I got from Google Translate:

“Develop a game to spend so long, how much the cost of the flowers? Think it is worth it? ? And they do not know of publicity, I see waste.”

Igen, tudok:) Koszi!

Generally it’s mentioned that rolling chairs cause damage to hardwood floor while, em, rolling. IMHO, good rolls iliminate the problem.

It almost looks like you’re inside The Witness with puzzle panels around you to solve :D

True my bad

:)

Release date predictions?

I don’t believe that is the case. I know pc version comes out at the same time as ps4. I thought mac did as well. The exclusivity deal just applies to consoles. So no xbox or Nintendo yet.

yea its still coming out however the ps4 version will be coming out first so you will have to wait a little bit.

What is wrong with rolling chairs on a hardwood floor?

Your statement begs the question: is the map on the wall if I don’t look at the pic? ;)

Can’t say it hasn’t been discussed!

This reminds me of days in architecture studio. – Cleaning and reorganizing feels so liberating after a sustained period of focus. Old ideas can get brushed aside with the clutter, leaving behind a renewed sense of clarity and drive.

Good luck with the final stretch. The Witness is my most anticipated experience this year!