Roman Empire
Member
It was a game I liked. Nothing much to add. I played, finished, and moved on to new things.
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Jonathan Blow: Braid Anniversary Edition sold like dog shit
- Thread starter BennyBlanco
- Start date
Sentenza
Member
I loved the game, I don't hate Jonathan Blow (despise agree that he often comes off as someone who sniffs his own farts and praise the aroma) and I even bought this update/remake on sale, so I contributed in part.
That said, I have no idea what gave him the delusion this had any chance to be a commercial success. It was basically condemned to be a niche seller from the start.
Also, maybe the studio wouldn't be at risk if they didn't took ten years between every freaking release.
That said, I have no idea what gave him the delusion this had any chance to be a commercial success. It was basically condemned to be a niche seller from the start.
Also, maybe the studio wouldn't be at risk if they didn't took ten years between every freaking release.
SkylineRKR
Member
I beat this game many years ago, when it was relatively new, and I didn't like it nor is there much reason to replay it.
Also, when it came out it was sort of unique and the landscape wasn't cluttered with indies yet. There is so much to choose from now.
Also, when it came out it was sort of unique and the landscape wasn't cluttered with indies yet. There is so much to choose from now.
BouncyFrag
Member
I’ll grab it on sale on switch
MacReady13
Member
OK so, he got depressed when something he made wasn't praised like he wanted. Fine, but doesn't make him a prick. And "only" making 3 games means he can't criticise?
mariosbrother
Member
Well, one purchase isn't going to turn the tide, but I'll be picking it up to give it a try.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
I agree with you. Sucks for the other employees, but the dude can be a jerk at times.
I agree that it might not hold up to todays indie standards and yes the music thing can be annoying, but calling it meaningless is a bit of a stretch - It tries to tell something simple but profound and I think it succeeds imo
Giallo Corsa
Member
Pegasus Actual
Member
Mostly W takes though.
Braid is totally worth $5, probably even today. It’s nothing mind blowing, but as I remember was entertaining enough with a cool ending.
He should make The Witness 2. I would pay $30, maybe even $40 for that. Now there’s a game that was mind blowing more than a few times. Absolutely incredible when you “get” how to look at the world. Like being able to read the code in The Matrix.
He should make The Witness 2. I would pay $30, maybe even $40 for that. Now there’s a game that was mind blowing more than a few times. Absolutely incredible when you “get” how to look at the world. Like being able to read the code in The Matrix.
semiconscious
Member
jonathan blow: 'it's like my moment came & went, or something...'
TerribleAtThisGame
Member
I wonder how that bitter underground artist shtick is working out for this bozo these days.
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sloppyjoe_gamer
Gold Member
Serious Q....why does everyone not like this dude? Ive never played this and considered getting this but i dont want to support a shitbag if he did something awful....
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
He’s just a bit of an eccentric. Personally I like the guy. No big scandals afaik.
calistan
Member
He's too clever, and he knows it? He talks a lot but doesn't make many games?
I avoided Braid when it first came out because I disliked the pretentious rubbish about what it all means, and the godawful reviewers wanking themselves into a frenzy over something that just looked like a standard platform game with crappy artwork to me.
Then I played The Witness, and holy shit, that is absolutely extraordinary. I played Braid since then, and it isn't on the same level, but heck. Make some more games, J Blow.
Deerock71
Member
May as well be JOHNSON BLOW.
Pegasus Actual
Member
He's kind of like if Elon Musk was a brokie who just made indie games.
I for one think he's fantastic.
Umbral
Member
I made it to the bottom of the first page. It’s gonna be an ocean of this, so I had to stop. Ignorance with a Keyboard: The Thread.
I’m out. This thread reads like it is from X.
Blow has every right to be an asshole.
Original post says he didn’t expect it to sell like a new game. Did you read it? I don’t like being rude, but please tell me you’re not responsible for anything important.
The man is anything but what you claim.
It was not 8-bit. If you mean side-scrolling, ok. The art is far from it. It was painted.
Blow and his team are doing much more than just making games.
Enjoy your slop. Let others enjoy better things. I can cash app you some money to buy some commas.
I’m out. This thread reads like it is from X.
Blow was writing an essay a couple of days ago on Twitter (what you call X) about companies having too many employees and not performing.
He deleted his take since then, but some of the answers are still there:
I think it is very fair to say that he is a lot of things that other people wrote in here.
Soodanim
Gold Member
This is such a thin veil that you're better off skipping "Blow" and going straight for "I".
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Cyberpunkd
Member
This. It’s a remake of niche indie game that has been out for almost 15 years. How did he think it will go?
Toots
Gold Member
Careful with the insinuation, the man is a stone cold killer :
from wikipedia
"Blow began kung fu training when he began working on Braid, doing 15 hours a week towards the end of development.[112] Through the training he learned meditation practices that helped him with game development, noting "I don't know if I would have finished Braid if I wasn't doing kung fu."[113] He practiced tai chi during early development of The Witness.[94] Blow is an avid dancer, and went out dancing several nights a week during the development of The Witness.[1][110] He discovered that dancing helps him generate ideas, and during the 1990s took a notebook to clubs to write down programming ideas that would come to him on the dance floor."
What a total douche wagon
There a french comic group that did a sketch long ago, some kind of tv show with fake contestants. One of the contestant jokingly presented himself as a lover of philosophy, poetry and full contact karate. Blow unironically does that irl.
Umbral
is that really the hill you want to die on ?
Kenneth Haight
Gold Member
I didn’t buy it
Moonshots are great, but making games is more than enough on its own. And the act of finishing and releasing projects helps you improve more than just sitting in a room working on a transformative idea until you run out of money. Can help quite a bit with the running out of money part, too.
mcjmetroid
Member
Braid seems to be like a very good indie game when indies games were not at a very high standard and also 2D games were not as common.
Look at what it has to compete with now though?
I never thought it was all that great back then either but the music was fantastic.
Look at what it has to compete with now though?
I never thought it was all that great back then either but the music was fantastic.
crackajack
Member
I can't stand the way he expresses himself, while some of his thoughts sound neat and just right, and dude made Braid and Witness, two kinda important games for their respective times and genre. So I hope his company and next project gets the funding it needs.
Also spawned The Looker which is basically Witness but without the pretentious tone, or at least self aware and making fun of it.
Also spawned The Looker which is basically Witness but without the pretentious tone, or at least self aware and making fun of it.
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rm082e
Member
Setting aside your insult, yes, I did read it. The statements he made are wildly contradictory:
The above makes logical sense.
This part does not. He's saying he didn't expect it to sell like a new game, but he still bet the survival of the company on it. That's either serious cognitive dissonance, or it's completely reckless.
From what I've seen in previous interviews going back many years, he's got a nice house up in the hills of the Bay Area. If he had enough money to buy that house and slowly plod along on a few games over all these years, it sure seems like he is in a financial position where his studio can go bust and he's not going to lose his house. I guess I'm assuming he cares about the livelihood of the people who work for him, which may be a mistake.
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Gojiira
Member
He expects it to have hype and sales like that of a new game LMAO…Blow if you weren’t such a well known asshole maybe it would have done better…Or maybe dont bank your companies future on a remaster of a game that didnt need one? God theres so many dumb ignorant morons making games these days its unreal. Him and Cliffy B should hook up…
_Ex_
Gold Member
Like whining about their shitty game sales?
Big Baller
Al Pachinko, Konami President
Famipan
Member
I played and enjoyed it for the first time two years ago on Steam Big Picture on TV. The low resolution art on my 48” OLED made me think they should remaster and release it for modern consoles including PlayStation and Nintendo consoles. which to my surprise I!found info about a remaster ”being in the works”. But it took them a long time to release. Would have been perfect during PS4-era.
Hearing a commentary about how they made various parts of the game might be interesting… but for now I’m ok since I finished the original release just recently.
Hearing a commentary about how they made various parts of the game might be interesting… but for now I’m ok since I finished the original release just recently.
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calistan
Member
Just bought the game to play on Steam Deck, because it's cheap as dog shit now, and it's a really good update. Seems like there's a lot of extra content, with the commentaries and things to read. If the commentary talks about a particular scene while you're playing, you can have it play that scene picture-in-picture, or blow it up to full screen with the right trigger.
You can flip between normal and updated graphics by clicking the right stick, and there's very little difference on the Steam Deck screen. Maybe it would be more obvious on a higher resolution display.
Most of the commentaries I've heard so far are J Blow talking while somebody in the background says 'okay, right'. It could do with a note explaining who is talking. Pretty interesting, though, even if you may have heard some of these points in Braid lectures before.
You can flip between normal and updated graphics by clicking the right stick, and there's very little difference on the Steam Deck screen. Maybe it would be more obvious on a higher resolution display.
Most of the commentaries I've heard so far are J Blow talking while somebody in the background says 'okay, right'. It could do with a note explaining who is talking. Pretty interesting, though, even if you may have heard some of these points in Braid lectures before.
ProtoByte
Weeb Underling
Of course.
The thing is though, people cannot then reasonably expect transformative ideas to pop up very often if at all after a certain point in the medium's maturity, if they're not willing to facilitate that.
elbourreau
Member
Would you enlight me please ? Trying to cure cancer ? Stoping world hunger ? Please. (I really don't know what they are doing except games...)
Jai the programming language
Maddux4164
Banned
Bought the game as it launched on Xbox 360. Was very average at its time
Didn’t need a “remaster”. Useless junk trash the dev felt he could cash in on
MAKE SOMETHING NEW. ITS NOT 2008!
These days, far higher quality games are made for cell phones and are $2.
This isn’t 15+ years ago bud
Didn’t need a “remaster”. Useless junk trash the dev felt he could cash in on
MAKE SOMETHING NEW. ITS NOT 2008!
These days, far higher quality games are made for cell phones and are $2.
This isn’t 15+ years ago bud
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ShadowNate
Member
They're also posting the full (?) commentary interviews on Youtube as podcast episodes, and it's clearer who's speaking at a time (because they're mentioned on the title):
I'm not sure if this is ongoing or if it has concluded.
I lost all respect for him after that. He has wasted fucking years trying to make a new programming language. Then on top of that creating a new engine with said programming language. I can't think of a worse waste of time and money. Dude made himself irrelevant because he thought he could do better than C++.
For anyone interested, Blow went into excruciating detail about exactly what he thinks the shortcomings of existing solutions are in his A Programming Language For Games series of streams. That's a lot of material, but the motivating gripes come in the initial videos:
Also, there are way harsher critics of C++ than Jon Blow
I think it fits perfectly in the category of what people want and don't want, anyone who failed to acknowledge what people actually want is wasting his time in this industry, it doesn't matter who he is.
I'm sorry but even art schools can't answer this question properly, that's why it's a pvp competitive market, schools have no business here.
I'm sorry but even art schools can't answer this question properly, that's why it's a pvp competitive market, schools have no business here.
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ultrazilla
Gold Member
Going back to the well a bit too many times and he just now realizes it dried up years ago?
I was never a fan of the game. Played it and thought "meh". Never understood the hype/love for the game.
Move on and do other games Blow. You've pimped the bones of "Braid" to dust.
I was never a fan of the game. Played it and thought "meh". Never understood the hype/love for the game.
Move on and do other games Blow. You've pimped the bones of "Braid" to dust.