TIGSource: J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!

J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!

ARelativelyHotGirl — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 15:13:00 +0000

Another IGS (the Independent Games Summit of the GDC) video has been posted. This one features Jonathon Blow explaining prototyping for Braid.

The really cool part, is that we get to see Braid in action and hints on how the game actually plays. Impressive stuff!

Note: There’s also a higher res MP4 version.

(Source: Gamasutra)

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Radnom

Tue, 04 Sep 2007 02:18:37 +0000

Thanks, Blow - very informative.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Joseph

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:58:51 +0000

Very informative lecture and also inspirational… I WANT TO MAKE A GAME!!!

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Pragma

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:50:05 +0000

In case anyone is wondering, the music at 39:29 is “Wreath of Barbs” by “Wumpscut”.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Derek

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:44:50 +0000

Sorry, Jon! It should show up now. I also noticed a bunch of other older comments that have been rotting in our spam filter.

I’ve since released them, and I’ll be more diligent about checking our spam trap in the future! :)

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by pkt-zer0

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 16:28:41 +0000

Hmm, Braid looks much more impressive in motion than mere screenshots would suggest.

Awesome vids, at any rate.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Jonathan Blow

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:11:23 +0000

Yeah, I just noticed that it was flagged for moderation (due to having a link). Hopefully it will get approved!

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by haowan

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:58:23 +0000

You post may be getting caught in the spam filter if it contains many links.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Jonathan Blow

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 12:07:10 +0000

Testing… I am trying to post a comment but it’s not working?

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Jonathan Blow

Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:57:22 +0000

Hi guys… a week or two ago I gave a talk at an indie conference in Australia, that included a bunch of this prototyping stuff, but also cut out some of it, and then added a second half to the lecture, about the motivations behind why we create indie games.

I’ve been told the video is posted here but I haven’t had time to watch it yet (I’m on a low-bandwidth connection in a random coffee shop on the way back from Burning Man):

http://www.sumea.com.au/snews.asp?news=3505

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by skaldicpoet9

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 12:48:34 +0000

I really liked the concept for that Galstaff game…too bad he stopped working on it. I wasn’t quite sure how the time mechanics in Braid would be implemented but from the looks of this video it is even better then I could have hoped, awesome! I am with Isador21…having an alternate you is going to rock! I can’t wait to see what the gameplay feels like when all is said and done. I love being able to see stuff like this because it just makes me feel great about learning how to program these days, I can’t wait to explore what types of gameplay can be offered in the games that I will make someday :)

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by ithamore

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:24:03 +0000

Nice presentation. I wish he would release more of his prototypes, but at least some of them are available at the prototype page on his website: http://number-none.com/blow/prototypes/index.html

Raspberry is interesting. I like games that are influenced by music. Since Eight Dots is a descendant of Raspberry but received little more than a mention, I’d like to know more about it.

What he said about doing many prototypes and putting them away to come back to later reminded me of what some of my English professors said: write every day; always put your ideas into writing; save everything you write, so you can come back to it later and discover something useful you didn’t know how to expand upon before or a new direction on an old idea.

So, even if your not prototyping, record your game ideas. Write them down, draws some quick sketches, make some rough designs, and/or etc. Get it out of your mind, so you can move on to the next part or to come back to it later after you’ve run out of ideas and need some inspiration.

I have three games floating around that I really should start to record: one influenced by music, one based on dimensions, and another involving reality. I had a new idea a few nights ago, I didn’t write it down, and although I have a vague recollection of having it, I’m not exactly sure which game it was for or if it was for a new game.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Xander

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 09:06:01 +0000

I’d been wondering about the time manipulation elements, and I hadn’t really been impressed from what I’d understood, but the way that I see it now the way that time can be manipulated differs depending on the world you inhabit. I loved the part where walking forwards and backwards sent time going either one way or the other. If the game is filled with that style of play rather than an entire game based around a couple of uses then I’m really looking forwards to this.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Lim-Dul

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:45:40 +0000

The lecture was very interesting. I’d like to say something about Braid though: It’s nice that Jonathan came up with all these time-modifying abilities himself but in fact there are quite a few games that use similar systems - even flash games… (I don’t remember the names.) Of course none of them combined all the different mechanisms the way Braid does but I’m just pointing out that similar things have been done before. Another things is that I don’t like platform puzzles - I’ll try the game out for sure but it probably won’t be my cup of tea…

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by cactus

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 07:08:27 +0000

This was the best lecture I’ve ever seen. I learned a lot from it, and my respect for the guy just rocketed through the roof. Watched the whole thing wishing there was more when it was over.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Xagarath

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 05:10:08 +0000

Oh, wait, it is. Excellence.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Xagarath

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 05:06:54 +0000

Raspberry needs to be released in some form.

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Al

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 01:50:51 +0000

Isador21: Yes - in real life! :O

Very nice talk, although the buffering on the video was a little irritating…

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Koach

Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:57:10 +0000

This makes me so wish to be able to code… Anyway, great video! Braid looks like it will be really nice, allthough it still feels a bit sluggish from the looks. I really like the idea though!

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Isador21

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 22:01:02 +0000

HOLY! So you can have like an alternate yourself do stuff for you?

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by !CE-9

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 19:09:21 +0000

very useful, very topical. and hey, it’s even Braid related. is it Xmas or what?=)

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by Zaphos

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:14:52 +0000

Awesome! I do so wish that google video would allow for a bit higher quality, though. He starts talking about all this interesting behavior in oracle billiards, and all I can make out is this blurry mess of compression artifacts …

"J. Blow on Prototyping f. Braid Gameplay Footage!" by fish

Sat, 01 Sep 2007 16:07:10 +0000

i was there! one of the better talks, IMO.