The Witness (2011 video game)
Encyclopedia
The Witness is an upcoming three-dimensional (3-D) puzzle video game by Jonathan Blow
, an independent developer and the creator of Braid
. The game was announced in August 2009 and is scheduled for release in 2012 for Microsoft Windows
and iOS
; though Blow had intended to create versions for the Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3
consoles, he later opted to forgo development on these, believing the consoles unable to perform what he needed the game to do. In interviews, Blow described the work as "an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island."
A playable demonstration version of the game was available to play at the Penny Arcade Expo
in September 2010, allowing the player to move about parts of the island and solve selected puzzles.
in Seattle, Washington, and was described in-depth by Stephen Totilo of Kotaku
, who also posted video footage of game play witnessed at the event. The preliminary version of the game allowed players to walk about the island from a first-person perspective
. Throughout the island are blue panels that players can interact with; those seen in the demonstration were primarily mazes, requiring players to draw a line from a starting point to a finish point. Other panels showed more complex mazes to be completed. Completing each panel unlocked other areas to explore or panels to complete. Christian Donlan of Eurogamer, playing a later build of the game, commented that later mazes become more obscure; one maze requires a player to etch the maze solution on a pane of glass, using background elements of the setting seen through the pane as walls of the maze, while another maze involved following an underground cable across the island. Ultimately, Donlan found one section of the island, once completed, appeared to unlock one of five locks on a larger structure on the island, believing this to be the endgame. Blow has stated that there is more to the game than these mazes, in response to concerns from players; to Blow, "the point is the magic that happens in the player's mind when he understands the subtle things that the mazes are saying - because the mazes aren't just puzzles, they are lines of communication that aggregate, become more complex and eventually say surprising things".
Throughout the island are stations with audio recordings that provide obfuscated background information for the player.
. After seeing the title become a success in 2008, Blow took time off from "serious development", and instead spent time to prototype new game concepts, spending a few months on each. The concept that proved to be the basis for The Witness was the one prototype that Blow considered to be "very ambitious and challenging", including the development of a 3D gameplay engine, and feared that he would "fall back to square one" before the success of Braid should it fail. Despite the challenges, Blow continued to go forward with The Witness, as it was also the most compelling of the prototypes he had crafted.
The game concept itself is based on an earlier title that Blow had envisioned but never completed. In this title, there was a side gameplay aspect that has a "magic moment", according to Blow, that would have made the title exciting. The Witnesss gameplay is based on distilling out this "magic moment" from the previous concept game, and wrapping it within its own game and story. Blow has compared this moment to a spoiler
for a movie, and thus has avoided disclosure of the mechanic. Part of the game's concept is a balance between puzzle-solving and perception, giving the player the freedom to explore The Witnesss world and creating a non-linear approach to gameplay. This is supported through the game's story, which will be told by audio logs the player can find by character that may have inhabited the island before but have long-departed; through these, Blow attempted to create a "feeling of loneliness in a beautiful space" for the player. Because these logs can be found in any order, Blow hopes that each player may have a difference perception of the story depending on how they have approached the game.
Due to the nebulous nature of the story in The Witness, Blow is designing the game to avoid simply "rewarding the player", enticing or forcing the player to proceed through fixed actions simply to gain some achievement, instead giving the player the option to explore and learn about the world he is creating. Blow has noted that while he had not yet decided on which consoles to develop for, he will take into consideration the nature of achievements
required by the console, opting to use none or to make the achievements secret to avoid introduction of elements that reward the player. Blow also states his concerns on other pop-up messages that could occur on the consoles or computer versions, as he considers The Witness a "subtle kind of game" with quiet ambient audio that these pop-ups detract from.
For The Witness, Jonathan Blow is working remotely with two additional full-time roles, one a 3D artist, and another as a technical programmer, since December 2009. The Witness also incorporates other artists and programmer's contributions in smaller roles, such as David Hellman, who had previously worked with Blow on Braids art design and is now working on conceptualizing the design of The Witness. Other contributors include Eric Urquhart, who has provided 3-D concept artwork for the game, and Ignacio Castaño, who has developed a rendering system for the game's illumination and visual effects. By diversifying work on the game, Blow has been able to focus more of his time on the core game design, allowing his team to implement his vision, in contrast to the development of Braid where he also had to program much of the game himself.
The game was quietly revealed to the public by Blow at the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo with the help of independent developers Chris Hecker
and Andy Schatz, who were sharing booth space for demonstrations of their own games, SpyParty and Monaco; the two provided a table for demonstrating The Witness without any signs or other markings. Blow wanted to keep the demonstration subtle and a surprise and to see players' reactions without the pressure of other players waiting in line to also try the game. Blow himself was present at the Expo but kept his distance from the demonstration table. The fact that The Witness was playable at the Expo was only fully revealed after the Expo by both Blow and Stephen Totilo of Kotaku
, who saw and played the game but did not mention its presence until later. Players who tried the game at PAX or saw footage of it from the Kotaku article afterwards became concerned that The Witness would simply be a series of mazes to solve. Blow reiterated that there is more to the game than mazes, and that he encountered similar problems when trying to promote Braid, in that seeing videos of portions of the game does not serve to demonstrate "what happens in the player's mind during the puzzle-solving process".
Jonathan Blow
Jonathan Blow is an independent video game developer. His game Braid won the "Game Design" award at the Independent Games Festival in 2006. He is currently developing The Witness, to be released in 2012....
, an independent developer and the creator of Braid
Braid (video game)
Braid is a platform and puzzle video game developed by independent software developer Jonathan Blow. The game was released on August 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. A Microsoft Windows version was released on April 10, 2009. Hothead Games ported and released the game to Mac OS...
. The game was announced in August 2009 and is scheduled for release in 2012 for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and iOS
IOS
iOS is an operating system for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Apple TV.IOS may also refer to:-Companies and organisations:* Illinois Ornithological Society, American state-based bird club...
; though Blow had intended to create versions for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
consoles, he later opted to forgo development on these, believing the consoles unable to perform what he needed the game to do. In interviews, Blow described the work as "an exploration-puzzle game on an uninhabited island."
A playable demonstration version of the game was available to play at the Penny Arcade Expo
Penny Arcade Expo
The Penny Arcade Expo is a semi-annual gamer festival held in Seattle and Boston. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop...
in September 2010, allowing the player to move about parts of the island and solve selected puzzles.
Gameplay
Gameplay for The Witness was first revealed at the 2010 Penny Arcade ExpoPenny Arcade Expo
The Penny Arcade Expo is a semi-annual gamer festival held in Seattle and Boston. PAX was created by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik, the authors of the Penny Arcade webcomic, because they wanted to attend a show that gave equal attention to console gamers, computer gamers, and tabletop...
in Seattle, Washington, and was described in-depth by Stephen Totilo of Kotaku
Kotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
, who also posted video footage of game play witnessed at the event. The preliminary version of the game allowed players to walk about the island from a first-person perspective
First person (video games)
In video games, first person refers to a graphical perspective rendered from the viewpoint of the player character. In many cases, this may be the viewpoint from the cockpit of a vehicle. Many different genres have made use of first-person perspectives, ranging from adventure games to flight...
. Throughout the island are blue panels that players can interact with; those seen in the demonstration were primarily mazes, requiring players to draw a line from a starting point to a finish point. Other panels showed more complex mazes to be completed. Completing each panel unlocked other areas to explore or panels to complete. Christian Donlan of Eurogamer, playing a later build of the game, commented that later mazes become more obscure; one maze requires a player to etch the maze solution on a pane of glass, using background elements of the setting seen through the pane as walls of the maze, while another maze involved following an underground cable across the island. Ultimately, Donlan found one section of the island, once completed, appeared to unlock one of five locks on a larger structure on the island, believing this to be the endgame. Blow has stated that there is more to the game than these mazes, in response to concerns from players; to Blow, "the point is the magic that happens in the player's mind when he understands the subtle things that the mazes are saying - because the mazes aren't just puzzles, they are lines of communication that aggregate, become more complex and eventually say surprising things".
Throughout the island are stations with audio recordings that provide obfuscated background information for the player.
Development
The Witness was envisioned after Jonathan Blow released BraidBraid (video game)
Braid is a platform and puzzle video game developed by independent software developer Jonathan Blow. The game was released on August 6, 2008 for the Xbox 360's Xbox Live Arcade service. A Microsoft Windows version was released on April 10, 2009. Hothead Games ported and released the game to Mac OS...
. After seeing the title become a success in 2008, Blow took time off from "serious development", and instead spent time to prototype new game concepts, spending a few months on each. The concept that proved to be the basis for The Witness was the one prototype that Blow considered to be "very ambitious and challenging", including the development of a 3D gameplay engine, and feared that he would "fall back to square one" before the success of Braid should it fail. Despite the challenges, Blow continued to go forward with The Witness, as it was also the most compelling of the prototypes he had crafted.
The game concept itself is based on an earlier title that Blow had envisioned but never completed. In this title, there was a side gameplay aspect that has a "magic moment", according to Blow, that would have made the title exciting. The Witnesss gameplay is based on distilling out this "magic moment" from the previous concept game, and wrapping it within its own game and story. Blow has compared this moment to a spoiler
Spoiler
Spoiler may refer to:* Spoiler , a device to reduce lift in aeronautics* Spoiler , a device to modify air flow in order to increase fuel efficiency or improve handling in automobiles...
for a movie, and thus has avoided disclosure of the mechanic. Part of the game's concept is a balance between puzzle-solving and perception, giving the player the freedom to explore The Witnesss world and creating a non-linear approach to gameplay. This is supported through the game's story, which will be told by audio logs the player can find by character that may have inhabited the island before but have long-departed; through these, Blow attempted to create a "feeling of loneliness in a beautiful space" for the player. Because these logs can be found in any order, Blow hopes that each player may have a difference perception of the story depending on how they have approached the game.
Due to the nebulous nature of the story in The Witness, Blow is designing the game to avoid simply "rewarding the player", enticing or forcing the player to proceed through fixed actions simply to gain some achievement, instead giving the player the option to explore and learn about the world he is creating. Blow has noted that while he had not yet decided on which consoles to develop for, he will take into consideration the nature of achievements
Achievement (video gaming)
In video gaming parlance, an achievement, also sometimes known as a trophy or challenge, is a meta-goal defined outside of a game's parameters...
required by the console, opting to use none or to make the achievements secret to avoid introduction of elements that reward the player. Blow also states his concerns on other pop-up messages that could occur on the consoles or computer versions, as he considers The Witness a "subtle kind of game" with quiet ambient audio that these pop-ups detract from.
For The Witness, Jonathan Blow is working remotely with two additional full-time roles, one a 3D artist, and another as a technical programmer, since December 2009. The Witness also incorporates other artists and programmer's contributions in smaller roles, such as David Hellman, who had previously worked with Blow on Braids art design and is now working on conceptualizing the design of The Witness. Other contributors include Eric Urquhart, who has provided 3-D concept artwork for the game, and Ignacio Castaño, who has developed a rendering system for the game's illumination and visual effects. By diversifying work on the game, Blow has been able to focus more of his time on the core game design, allowing his team to implement his vision, in contrast to the development of Braid where he also had to program much of the game himself.
The game was quietly revealed to the public by Blow at the 2010 Penny Arcade Expo with the help of independent developers Chris Hecker
Chris Hecker
-Biography:Hecker was a student at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, studying the fine arts towards work as an illustrator. An article in Byte Magazine sold him on programming and he dropped out of school to begin work on graphics and games....
and Andy Schatz, who were sharing booth space for demonstrations of their own games, SpyParty and Monaco; the two provided a table for demonstrating The Witness without any signs or other markings. Blow wanted to keep the demonstration subtle and a surprise and to see players' reactions without the pressure of other players waiting in line to also try the game. Blow himself was present at the Expo but kept his distance from the demonstration table. The fact that The Witness was playable at the Expo was only fully revealed after the Expo by both Blow and Stephen Totilo of Kotaku
Kotaku
Kotaku is a video games-focused blog. It is part of Gawker Media's "Gawker" network of sites, which also includes Gizmodo, Deadspin, Lifehacker, io9 and Jezebel. Named to CNET News' Blog 100, Kotaku is consistently listed in the top 40 of Technorati's Top 100...
, who saw and played the game but did not mention its presence until later. Players who tried the game at PAX or saw footage of it from the Kotaku article afterwards became concerned that The Witness would simply be a series of mazes to solve. Blow reiterated that there is more to the game than mazes, and that he encountered similar problems when trying to promote Braid, in that seeing videos of portions of the game does not serve to demonstrate "what happens in the player's mind during the puzzle-solving process".