The Witness snuck out at PAX
Jonathan Blow spent three years perfecting Braid, and one would think that his next game after the indie hit would get a bigger announcement when it was playable for the first time in public, rahter than just being stealthily available for play at PAX (Penny Arcade Expo) this past weekend next to Monaco and Spy Party. In the development blog, Jonathan Blow, revealed why he wanted to let people try his next game without any hype or preconceived notions. Something of an experiment it would seem.
"I had several reasons for wanting to show the game this way. Firstly: At a show full of companies trying to capture your attention and sell you things, I wanted to do something that is subtle, and a surprise - if you notice it, and decide to investigate, you find something unexpected.
Also, I wanted people to be able to play the game for as long as they want, not feeling pressured to stop playing because of a huge line of antsy people waiting behind them."
The Witness is being developed by Jonathan Blow and a few of his friends. It's not known when they will be done with it, but rest assured it won't be released until they are satisfied with it. Jonathan Blow finished off his blog post with the following message:
"I am very happy with how this playtest session went. I am glad I was able to bring a game directly to players, as a surprise.
The common wisdom among game designers is that the first time you put your game in the hands of players, it totally falls apart, and nothing works the way you expected. Thankfully, that didn't happen here. The game does work as expected, despite being kind of crazy and experimental, and people enjoy playing it.
All that's left now is just to do all the hard work required to finish the game!"