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The Witness - Release Date Trailer, coming 26th January 2016

SRTtoZ

SRTtoZ

Member
dLMN8R said:
That's because the content isn't there right now.

But if the content was there, then all Blow would need to do is link someone to the store.

A few clicks later, the customer has the game, and it's ready to play.



Look, I work for Microsoft so obviously my viewpoint here is biased. I'm just stating the fact that if Blow's problem is trying to figure out how to package a game in such a way that a non-gamer can easily purchase it and play it without installing Steam, that's exactly the reason why the Store exists.
Click to expand...

The idea of the Windows Store and the actual Windows Store are 2 different things. I'm still waiting for an HBO Go app...

I'll probably be waiting a long time.
 
R

Rush_Khan

Member
Does this game have a review embargo? If so, when will it end?

So excited for this. Braid is one of the best games I've ever played. Hope this game is as good.
 
R

Remembrance

Member
More_Badass said:
While making that thread, I finally saw that first gameplay trailer. It does a much better job at showing what the game is about than the release date trailer, and what the panels are actually used for

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7h7AleSCF4
Click to expand...

I don't think I saw this one before.

The top of the mountain just kept changing. Looks like it was a square-shaped temple for a long time, then some kind of pointed white building, and now a structure formed from arches in the final game.
 
D

Dinjooh

Member
Playing through Braid again atm in anticipation of this game. And I popped a bottle of champagne because, what the heck - it's saturday.

DjWuquE.jpg


I call it
Bubbles & Braid

Now i'm pondering whether it's going to be Wine & The Witness or Whiskey & The Witness come tuesday.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
I wonder what took an extra five years to implement.
 
D

Deleted member 30609

Unconfirmed Member
More_Badass said:
Probably not really a single one thing, but just more of everything. The whole game grew
Click to expand...

yeah, poorly worded on my part. Like, if 2012 was being talked about as a real, feasible release date by someone like Blow, and the game is only now being released in 2016, you would assume the game's scope expanded in some notable way (versus, say, a single change or idea that blew the schedule out),
 
R

Remembrance

Member
Rez said:
yeah, poorly worded on my part. Like, if 2012 was being talked about as a real, feasible release date by someone like Blow, and the game is only now being released in 2016, you would assume the game's scope expanded in some notable way (versus, say, a single change or idea that blew the schedule out),
Click to expand...

He explained it in this interview: http://www.polygon.com/features/201...-jonathan-blow-interview-ps4-playstation-4-pc

It's not that he expanded the game scope. It's that he would have had to reduce the game scope he had in mind in order to release it back then.
 
V

Vexidus

Member
Ninja Sharingan said:
Is sony not pushing this game any more? I thought it was a big game for them?
Click to expand...

The game's been featured on the PS blog a bunch lately. Actually I just checked and their latest podcast talks about The Witness as well, nice! I'll have a listen to that!

But yeah, other than that, the game hasn't seemed to be getting much fanfare from Sony, which I suppose is unusual since they unveiled it on their stage. Then again, it hasn't been shown by Song themselves since 2013 either, so who knows.
 
M

More_Badass

Member
Vexidus said:
This is an older interview but it's about The Witness and it's super interesting:

Brainy Gamer Podcast Interview With Jonathan Blow
Click to expand...
Listened to this podcast episode and man, as if I couldn't get more intrigued. His design philosophy makes this game so so exciting
"I had this idea, and it was a grand idea, it was very complicated, and it had to be 3D.... And not only was it going to be hard to program, but just design-wise, it's very ambitious"
Click to expand...
"So you go to a location like a
desert ruin
, and you wander into this area. You get in through the front door by solving some puzzles, and you get into a basement, then you get into the sub-basement, and then you get deeper and deeper. Eventually you get to the end, where you can trigger something significant. And as you work your way through that area, there will be some audio logs, some...obvious in place and some that you may have to look harder for."
Click to expand...
"When you look at the puzzles in The Witness, they are, in many ways, sort of the answers to 'What If' questions, but also like 'Look what happens when':

-
look what happens when perspective is used in a certain way because that's just what happens in 3D space
-
look what happens when light travels in a straight line and then reflects off surfaces and creates glare
-
look what happens if you have this mathematical abstraction where there are these very simple symbols that behave in a certain way and you combine them in the same domain and they interact with each other

So this goes to the title of the game. There's something about your role as the player, as being an observer of these things."
Click to expand...
"The thing I want to preserve [from adventure games] is something I feel is being lost a lot in modern games, and that is having puzzles that are actually puzzles. What I mean by that is that a legitimate puzzle is something that you might never figure out unless you do a good job. Because if you're guaranteed to figure it out, then it's...more like an exercise, I guess.

There just aren't many games made that are legitimate puzzle games anymore...and I feel like there's a vast richness that we sort of used to have, that is no longer being tapped. This idea that you run an Infocom adventure and if you looked at the manual, maybe you have a little bit of guidance on how to talk to it, but the majority of the gameplay experience was you're like Robinson Crusoe on this island and you have to make the best of it and figure it out. It's not going to tutorialize you all the way through."
Click to expand...
 
M

More_Badass

Member
So I read online that the budget for this is around $5 million

Did some math. At $40, the game needs to sell 125,000 copies to make back its budget

Braid sold 55,000 in its first week.

Given that 1) it's releasing on more platforms at launch, 2) has way more hype and anticipation due to Braid's success, and 3) is leaning towards having a very very postive critical reception given the early impressions, are we expecting The Witness to sell better than Braid in its first week?

In comparison to other indie sequels that released on PC/PC4, SOMA sold 92,000 copies in 10 days and Transistor sold 600,000 copies in eight months
 
H

hesido

Member
More_Badass said:
Listened to this podcast episode and man, as if I couldn't get more intrigued. His design philosophy makes this game so so exciting
Click to expand...

I may be too dumb for this game. :( I want to buy and support Blow though, but only after a price reduction, because of my limited budget for games.
 
B

Belgian Dude

Member
J

JonnyKong

Member
Interesting set of trophies. I wonder what all those
lasers are going to open, or create, or activate?
once they've been activated.
 
S

Servbot24

Banned
Belgian Dude said:
Not only there is an overarching mystery but quickly after the beginning the panels
stop being the puzzles themselves and turn into the input panel for the solutions.
As posted on the other thread, the puzzles quickly become environmental:
http://the-witness.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/screenshot08.png
Click to expand...

Yeah the first thing I thought of is that there are probably puzzles that you have to complete in certain shapes within the grid on the island in order to activate broader puzzles. Gonna get crazy!
 
S

Servbot24

Banned
olitheoblong said:
Serious question are all the puzzles the line puzzles ive seen in trailers so far or is there more variety to it?
Click to expand...

I'm guessing they'll all be based on lines but will have tons of variations. Just like portals are the main gimmick of Portal, but they're used in a lot of different ways.
 
I

InaudibleWhispa

Member
olitheoblong said:
Serious question are all the puzzles the line puzzles ive seen in trailers so far or is there more variety to it?
Click to expand...

A lot of the puzzles seem to be environment based, so you'll have to look around and observe your surroundings to figure it out. Think of the line-puzzles as simply a way of inputting the solution and not the actual puzzle itself (aside from early on it seems).
 
W

wouwie

Member
Only a few more days and the wait is finally over. I'm curious how the game will be reviewed. We will find out tomorrow.
 
R

Remembrance

Member
The Steam store description has updated again:
You wake up, alone, on a strange island full of puzzles that will challenge and surprise you.

You don't remember who you are, and you don't remember how you got here, but there's one thing you can do: explore the island in hope of discovering clues, regaining your memory, and somehow finding your way home.

The Witness is a single-player game in an open world with dozens of locations to explore and over 500 puzzles. This game respects you as an intelligent player and it treats your time as precious. There's no filler; each of those puzzles brings its own new idea into the mix. So, this is a game full of ideas.
Click to expand...

I don't think the amnesia hook was ever mentioned before, was it? Still, it's a tried and tested sales pitch for first-person puzzle games.

Also, just noticed that the Steam game hub background shows a very intriguing scene: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/210970/page_bg_generated_v6b.jpg?t=1453604311 (it's
the top of the mountain, where all the lasers converge
)
 
R

robotrock

Banned
Remembrance said:
The Steam store description has updated again:


I don't think the amnesia hook was ever mentioned before, was it? Still, it's a tried and tested sales pitch for first-person puzzle games.

Also, just noticed that the Steam game hub background shows a very intriguing scene: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/210970/page_bg_generated_v6b.jpg?t=1453604311 (it's
the top of the mountain, where all the lasers converge
)
Click to expand...

Amnesia has been mentioned before. I recall hearing it in this one
Vexidus said:
This is an older interview but it's about The Witness and it's super interesting:

Brainy Gamer Podcast Interview With Jonathan Blow
Click to expand...
 
C

Catvoca

Banned
Remembrance said:
The Steam store description has updated again:


I don't think the amnesia hook was ever mentioned before, was it? Still, it's a tried and tested sales pitch for first-person puzzle games.

Also, just noticed that the Steam game hub background shows a very intriguing scene: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/210970/page_bg_generated_v6b.jpg?t=1453604311 (it's
the top of the mountain, where all the lasers converge
)
Click to expand...

Blow seems like the last designer I'd expect to start a plot with a character with amnesia. I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that I'll be used in an interesting way, rather then the hacky, overdone amnesia that a lot of games and fiction have used.
 
V

viveks86

Member
Catvoca said:
Blow seems like the last designer I'd expect to start a plot with a character with amnesia. I guess I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume that I'll be used in an interesting way, rather then the hacky, overdone amnesia that a lot of games and fiction have used.
Click to expand...

For starters, you won't be chased by assassins. I think
 
G

GhaleonEB

Member
Remembrance said:
The Steam store description has updated again:

I don't think the amnesia hook was ever mentioned before, was it? Still, it's a tried and tested sales pitch for first-person puzzle games.

Also, just noticed that the Steam game hub background shows a very intriguing scene: http://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/210970/page_bg_generated_v6b.jpg?t=1453604311 (it's
the top of the mountain, where all the lasers converge
)
Click to expand...

Interesting description. Funny timing also, as just last night I watched this 2012 Gamespot interview with Jonathan Blow, in which he talks about the importance of not having filler for the sake of it, and of respecting both the player's time and intelligence. And it's right there in the game description.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1Fg76c4Zfg
 
M

MetalGearOnlineK

Member
I can't believe it's only a few days away, I've been excited for this game for almost 3 years now. I am happy with the price point, and this will definitely be a day one purchase for me!
 
R

Ryo Hazuki

Member
I kinda want to stop coming in these threads as I'm already super sold and excited for the game. I can't help it though, kinda like jumping in to build the hype! Avoiding any possible spoilers and speculation and going in blind as possible for sure.
 
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