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Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky's upcoming documentary Indie Game: The Movie will be making its debut at the well-regarded World Documentary Competition at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. More »
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The Witness, the next game from Braid creator Jonathan Blow, is coming out on PC, and it's coming out on iOS. It's not coming out on Xbox 360 or PS3. Why is that? More »
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In today's spiteful edition of Speak Up on Kotaku, commenter Dracosummoner wonders if you have to love the game's creators in order to love the game. More »
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Jonathan Blow is a video game developer whose critics call pretentious and grouchy. More »
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The last time I'd been to the island, it didn't make sense to me. More »
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Indie Game: The Movie is an upcoming documentary focusing on the trials, tribulations and processes behind some of the luminaries of the independent gaming scene, including Phil Fish (Fez) and Jonathan Blow (Braid). More »
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In 2008, Dan Pinchbeck of the University of Portsmouth created an interactive "ghost story" titled Dear Esther using Valve's Source Engine, and its associated Half Life 2 art assets. The game achieved enormous critical success, and established a devoted cult following. Now the title is set to receive a substantial makeover with the help of Indie Fund, and is due to enjoy a commercial release later this year. Indie Fund is an alternative funding option for independent game developers, founded by a roster of indie vets that includes Jonathan Blow and Kellee Santiago. More »
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Some gamers who loved Jonathan Blow's Braid were perplexed when early footage of his team's next game, The Witness, debuted on Kotaku last month. To those alarmed or confused, Blow offers some encouraging words. More »
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Unattended, unlabeled, unmarked... the new game from the small team led by Braid creator Jonathon Blow was stealthily present at the Penny Arcade Expo this weekend. The adventurous — and those who recognized Blow standing off in the shadows — got a delightful surprise. More »
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After charming the pants off of players on Xbox Live Arcade and the PC, Jonathan Blow's Braid is finally heading for the PlayStation Network later this month. More »
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Independent developer Number None's follow up to Braid, the time-shifting puzzle adventure game, will be The Witness, an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island. Hold onto that knowledge, for it will be a long wait before you get The Witness. More »
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Those Germans know a thing or two about upcoming game releases, because no sooner do the USK display a listing for a PSN version of Braid than we get official confirmation of the game's PS3 debut. More »
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The official Braid news blog offers some helpful hints about developer Number None's follow-up to the time-bending puzzle-platformer. Just don't expect that particular game any time soon. More »
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Braid co-creator Jonathan Blow argues that the pursuit of innovation is a prerequisite for making a great game. More »
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PC gamers looking forward to Indie hit Braid are gonna have to look forward a couple more weeks. Jonathan Blow is delaying his game til April 10 to work out some bugs. More »
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Hothead Games is teaming up with other independent game developers to bring award winning titles to new platforms, starting with Twisted Pixel's The Maw and Jonathan Blow's Braid. More »
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A day after Stardock started accepting preorders for Jonathan Blow's Braid for the PC at $19.95, the independent developer has announced a five dollar price drop in the interest of reaching a wider audience. More »
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Braid - the indie darling of 2008 - did good business on the Xbox 360, a platform not exactly renowned for its indie darlings. So how will it fare next month when released on PC? More »
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That's one nugget in a four-page interview Jonathan Blow gave to Gamasutra. But he's not sure if he'll end up finishing it: More »
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You like Braid? We like Braid. Loads of people like Braid, in fact, as it's doing all kinds of excellent things to the Xbox Live Arcade sales charts at the moment. Yet creator Jonathan Blow isn't busting out the high-fives and popped corks just yet: he said earlier in the week the game still had some selling to do to get him out of the red. Seemed an odd thing to say at the time, but now we know why: Braid's told the Wall Street Journal that he sunk an estimated $180,000 of his own money - over a three year period - into the project, which if true makes it surely not just one of the most expensive indie projects of all time, but one of the ballsiest. Time Out of Mind [WSJ, via GameSetWatch] More »
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Despite the budget busting price of 1200 Microsoft Points, Braid seems to be selling at a "surprisingly good" rate, according to the game's official blog. As of today, sales estimate are just shy of 30,000 copies sold to Xbox Live Arcade's more affluent user, a figure the Braid blog writes "seems to be in the right neighborhood." More »
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The first time I fired up Braid on my laptop, I was immediately struck by the lovely and lush environments — 'It's like stepping into a children's book!' — that gelled together in a visually pleasing way. Puffy clouds and suns hovered over pale mountains, forests made up of brilliant yellows — whatever it's other merits or lack thereof, I loved the visual look of the game. David Hellman, who created the art for Braid, goes through the process of creating the visual look of Braid, from "programmer art glory" to finished product: More »
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When the pricing was announced (both times) for Xbox Live Arcade puzzle-platformer Braid, the vocally frugal gamer crowd bemoaned the higher than average cost. Too bad, really, as it's one of the best XBLA titles I've ever played. Still, there are folks who can't get past the 1200 MS Points pricing — that makes it one of the more expensive downloadable games, but still cheaper than Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness. More »
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When we posted the news on pricing for the Jonathan Blow's Braid for Xbox Live Arcade last week, Microsoft was quick to respond to the post, telling us that the price listing on the Japanese site was incorrect, and that pricing was still being determined. Well now the official price has been revealed over at the Gamerscore Blog, and Braid will indeed cost 1200 Microsoft Points - $15 - when it is released this Wednesday. I don't know why they'd go to all the trouble to deny the pricing, only to confirm it as correct a week later. More »
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Some of us here at Kotaku Tower are a little divided on Braid: I had a discussion with another editor who declared that the story ruined it for him, since it "reads like a prepubecent boy wrote it." Ouch! As I referenced in a recent essay, I enjoyed Braid a lot, though I felt the story was trying a little hard in spots (which I suspect is why the aforementioned critic wasn't a fan). But despite my sometimes strident opinions on Jonathan Blow, the game's creator, and my apparent propensity for managing to irk the man with practically every post I make about Braid, I liked the setup of the game and was always looking forward to discovering what new mechanics a level would bring. Chris Dahlen has a different take on the Braid game mechanics: maybe they make you think too hard? Kinda like calculus: More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=384491&view=rss&microfeed=true I have a sort of love-hate relationship with Jonathan Blow. I still think he can come off like a pretentious jerk, but after some epistolary exchanges, I think we're maybe seeing a little more eye to eye on several key issues. But I adore his game Braid. I'm even willing to put up with the fact that it doesn't play nicely with my Mac: it's really a pleasure to play, and I'm looking forward to having it on my 360 so I can look at it on something bigger than my laptop. The guys at 1UP did an interview with developers Blow and David Hellman on the subject of Braid; we posted the gameplay montage a few weeks back. Now you have another chance to hear Blow talking about why Braid is pretty awesome. And I will — for once — gleefully concur on a lot of it. More »
]]> http://kotaku.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=368337&view=rss&microfeed=true Developer Jonathan Blow may be an annoyingly pretentious loudmouth, but this video for his upcoming Xbox Live Arcade game Braid shows that he at least has some idea about making an intriguing game. The game revolves around manipulating time, with time behaving differently on different levels. It looks like a rather interesting mechanic, and the obvious homage to a certain famous plumber gives it a silly sort of charm. As long as playing the game doesn't involve me having to actually listen to Blow talking I think I might be sold. More »
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Oh, Jonathan Blow. You're so painfully pretentious it would almost be cute if you didn't go zinging so far over the line almost every time you open your mouth publicly. The maker of the forthcoming XBLA title Braid is back with another discussion of his views on the industry, this one really launching off on a new - wait, no, it's the same old, same old. I'm really curious to see the end product of his game, but I could do without the pretentious attitude that reminds me of hipster indie music people. It was fine the first few go rounds, but someone needs a new schtick, pronto: More »
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Jonathan Blow pops up occasionally on the news radar, either in relation to his game Braid or in regards to his view on the nature of games today (frequently both in combination). He's ever so helpfully provided a zip file including the full audio of his Montreal International Games Summit presentation (given a couple of days ago) entitled "Design Reboot" and all his slides from the lecture. The presentation clocks in at one hour, a not insignificant time investment - Blow complains in his blog that "a number of news sites have written stories about it and people have started commenting on what they feel is the validity or the invalidity of the arguments," but the comments are only taking into account 2% of the whole speech. I'd venture a guess it's because that 2% is the stuff we've heard before, and the most likely to spur discussion (and calling modern MMO design 'unethical' will usually do that). Rock, Paper, Shotgun sums up one of the hot points of the lecture thusly: More »
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Via GameSetWatch comes an musing on Space Giraffe, Yak Minter's psychedelic shooter that people seem to either love or hate. The author is Jonathan Blow, the guy behind Braid, and he says you either get Space Giraffe (and love it), or you don't (and hate it, giving it 2/10 when you write your review). More »
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Stephen Totilo posted an interesting interview with game designer Jonathan Blow, who created Braid - a not-yet released game that plays with time mechanics in an attempt to create a "a mind-expanding experience" for the player. I don't agree with some rather large swaths of what he has to say about modern game design (saying that "Skinnerian reward scheduling in general ... is unethical and games should not do it" seems to be taking things to a rather far extreme), but his thoughts on games today, why the title of The Escapist really irks him, why the 'games are art' question is stupid, and a host of other matters is worth reading - or at least skimming if you don't have time for the whole thing. More »
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Jonathan Blow is this tall, elf-ninja who wanders around GDC with people following him with rapt expressions on their faces. What's the reason for this? "He saves people's code", my tablemate whispered to me at dinner last night, a rapt expression on his face. More »
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