Kolzig

The Witness by Jonathan Blow

Recommended Posts

A lot of people have been asking about the price, so: The price of the game on both Steam and PSN will be $39.99 / €36.99 / £29.99.

http://m.neogaf.com/showthread.php?t=1172802

http://the-witness.net/news/2016/01/price-and-pre-orders/

Video

Games

I wonder if steam sale culture plays much of a factor, knowing that potentially you'll sell a high percentage of unit sales when the games is at 50% or 66% off, why not start high and ride the wave, have faith that the money will come in in the summer sale.

He's used game length as a justification for the price, easy answer to give if you know your game takes a long time to complete, I'm sure it's not the whole story. Firewatch needs to lower its walk speed

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

The price is pretty much what I (and many other people looking at the neogaf thread) expected. Of course it's a lot, but I don't see anything weird about it in the context of other video game prices.

 

The game seems to be huge (maybe not in purely geographical sense) and it was in development for 6-7 years or so.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

From everything I've read, it seems completely comparable to The Talks Principle at the same price

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I don't know how anyone expected the game to be $20. Because it's indie I guess?

It costs exactly what I thought it would.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

To aid in everyone's decision making I've compiled a list of things that you can buy with 40 dollars:

 

1 Mix Bucket Variety Feast from KFC

10 Big macs

4 movie tickets

Half of a skateboard at Canadian Costco

45 rolls of strawberry Mentos on Amazon.com

More than 6 reams of printer paper

120 cigarettes

1/7th of a small square of supreme/premium alfalfa cattle hay

Two 9.4 inch plastic human skeleton models

45 gallons of water at Walmart

(almost) 3 .net domain names from Hover (for one year)

0.73 ounces of black truffle

54 pounds of lead

 

Hope this helps

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

54 pounds of lead

 

Really?  Hmm, I could probably find some use for that.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

You can't but you could have one skateboard for the value of two Jonathan Blow's The Witness

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

In other words you and a friend could explore an abandoned island for the same price that you could get a tool enabling the exploration of the urban jungle through sick grinds, slides, and vert pipe stunts. Does that seem fair?

Personally I'm only willing to exchange 30 cigarettes and 11.25 gallons of water for an indie video game

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'd easily trade 1/7th of a small square of supreme/premium alfalfa for an indie video game, but I'm not sure I'm willing to give up two 9.4 inch plastic human skeleton models.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Having learned that I can buy two 9.4 inch plastic human skeleton models instead of The Witness, I'm not sure I can ever again justify buying a videogаme.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I'm not going to lie, I was a bit taken aback from how much the game will cost. Regardless of whether that was the right thing to do, I'm still going to buy it at asking price.

 

I can see people getting into a tizzy about it. It is a lot for an indie game, even of this huge a scope and development cycle. Most people don't see the 6-7 years of development, and instead just see the end product and ask whether it's worth the asking price. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I too was a bit surprised to see the price at $40. I was sure it would be $30. I'll still be buying it day one as $10 isn't a very big deal to me and I've been anticipating this game for years.

I think n1nja made a great point: the development cycle of this game was obviously drawn out. Blow is very fussy about his games, which is fine I suppose, but I'd imagine a majority of people don't care that he chose to extend development by a year or whatever to build his own engine. I'm interested to see what kind of response this gets from the casual crowd.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Pillars of Eternity was similarly priced at release.

Yeah, the price of The Witness is what I expected. I'm hyped for it!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

God, I can't wait for this game to drop.

I've been stoked ever since its announcement and been following it ever since.

 

 

In other words you and a friend could explore an abandoned island for the same price that you could get a tool enabling the exploration of the urban jungle through sick grinds, slides, and vert pipe stunts. Does that seem fair?

Personally I'm only willing to exchange 30 cigarettes and 11.25 gallons of water for an indie video game

 

As much as I want to play this game, I may take you up on this deal. Actually, make the 30 to 40 cigs and do 12 gallons instead of 11.25 and you have a deal. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

This is a really dumb question, but what do you do in this game?  You color in a shape, but only some parts of it?  Based on...I don't know what?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Pillars of Eternity was similarly priced at release.

 

A lot of not-outrageously-mainstream games also cost as much or more, e.g. a lot of strategy games. I don't even see this game as "indie", whatever this term means exactly. I actually wonder if people would feel differently about the price if there were guns in the game.

 

This is a really dumb question, but what do you do in this game?  You color in a shape, but only some parts of it?  Based on...I don't know what?

 

My understanding is that you interact with the puzzles through drawing on panels and the exact rules change throughout the island. The puzzles are often really about the environment itself and you only use the panel to input your answer.

 

I remember reading that while Myst was definitely a huge inspiration for this game, it was also an anti-inspiration in the way puzzles worked there. There was a lot of obscure machines with weird nobs and buttons and you had to figure out how they work through trial and error. In The Witness, the actual things you interact with are very simple and consistent and the puzzles are more about gradually deepening understanding of concepts behind the particular areas of the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I just hope the long development time is worth it. I could never really tell if Blow had too big of a head, but I'm willing to trust him. I respect a lot of the ideas he has around prototyping and development, enough so that I like to think he was genuinely doing valuable work these past years. $40 makes sense to me in light of that opinion, and also in light of the way I digest games now (that is to say, pretty slowly). I've gotten far more than $40 worth of enjoyment from The Talos Principle, and equally as much from Braid.

I'm a bit interested in why he would make his own engine for this game, whether that's more of his style, or more of a necessity based on some aspect of gameplay/art. I have trouble imagining anything more than the former.

TL;DR I hope it lives up to the hype.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

There's a really good interview with Jonathon Blow by Austin Walker on Giant Bomb, if anybody wants to hear his thoughts on the game.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"Who is the Witness?"

 

Can I get a Witness?

 

 

I am skeptical that you could get 4 movie tickets for one The Witness, but I understand the sentiment.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now