Braid (including cross-platform discussion)

There was an excellent discussion about Braid on this week's GFW Radio podcast (Games For Windows for those not already subscribed to it). There was some talk about "art games", or conceptual games, along with some other examples that are free to play. Getting into the story, they talked a lot about the idea of ambiguity and what counts as a valid vs invalid interpretation of events. It was interesting to note that Jon Blow's favourite movie is Mulholland Drive, though not really surprising.

Hate to go OT, but are arty games really such a new thing on the PC? It seems to me like they've been doing it for a while. Passage and The Marriage aren't as much fun as Braid, but they're definitely arty. Pathologic, though I've never played it, also probably fits into the idea of 'arty' (check here for an excellent deconstruction of it on Rock Paper Shotgun). The IGF usually has a bunch, too.
 
Hate to go OT, but are arty games really such a new thing on the PC? It seems to me like they've been doing it for a while. Passage and The Marriage aren't as much fun as Braid, but they're definitely arty. Pathologic, though I've never played it, also probably fits into the idea of 'arty' (check here for an excellent deconstruction of it on Rock Paper Shotgun). The IGF usually has a bunch, too.
Heh not sure if you've listened but they actually did discuss The Marriage on the show. BTW I didn't imply (nor did the show) that the concept is new - it's certainly not.

What Braid has done however is take a concept which hasn't sold - ever, IIRC - and turned it into a money maker. It's also combined excellent gameplay elements with the concept of a philosphical/"concept" design on top of the game to make the package appealing. Checking out The Marriage after the show and I can see how there have been efforts to push this "genre" in the past, but the actual act of gameplay has been somewhat secondary to the message.
 
Nice to see Braid making good money. According to Johnathon Blow:

Jonathan Blow Says:

August 16th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Yes, at this point I have made back all the money that I spent to create Braid. (It took a little more in the way of sales than people usually think, because there was a testing and localization advance from Microsoft that had to be paid back before I would get any money at all, and also, when replacing money that came from a savings account you have to think about the taxes that you’re hit with when putting the money back into that account).

Now I am making back the “opportunity cost” money (the money that I would have made if I had worked a job for 3.5 years instead of making Braid). The good news is that Braid is selling well enough that I will probably make all of this back eventually.


It's sold well since he's posted so he should be quite happy at this point!
 
I'm sure it'll still be awesome in late 2009/2010. Let us know :)

Awww... :LOL: PixelJunk games come out faster than that. The game concept has already been finalized. I wouldn't be surprised if it's sooner.

He's on his own. The faster he works, the better the reward :)
 
Awww... :LOL: PixelJunk games come out faster than that. The game concept has already been finalized. I wouldn't be surprised if it's sooner.

He's on his own. The faster he works, the better the reward :)

He will most likely have someone else port it , he should work on braid 2 and a new game. he already has the engine and assets for braid 1. he should work on some new levels and then release it. Thats most likely the best way to maximize h is money
 
He will most likely have someone else port it , he should work on braid 2
He's not doing a sequel. All the assets and design are done. The only thing to do for a PSN game is write the engine, a 2D platformer for which he wouldn't have to push the machine at all. If it were me, I'd work on the port (PC and PS3) ASAP myself and get all the profits while the game is still 'hot'. Creating a sequel will only sell to the existing Braid fanbase, not grow it to the PS3/commuity/PC community. Creating a whole new game is a whole lot more work!
 
He already commented on exlusiveity on the 360 for a set period of time he can't go into. So i doubt he can strike while the iron is hot.
 
Awww... :LOL: PixelJunk games come out faster than that. The game concept has already been finalized. I wouldn't be surprised if it's sooner.

He's on his own. The faster he works, the better the reward :)

He has a contract with MS. Thus late 2009/2010 as he stated earlier.
 
Ah, I thought late 2009/2010 was longer than needed. :) He won't be able to reap his reward as quickly as he likes then. 2010 might be a better time (for me !) if Sony cramps all its releases into the holiday season again next year.
 
Finally played this game, yeah I'm late to the party :) Totally loved the demo, bought the game right away. Damn clever game, my hats off to the devs. If they don't make profit on this game then the financial model of XBLive is clearly flawed, because this game is a real gem.


patsu said:
Yes, he will make some more when the game makes it to PSN

It's gonna be only $199 for a 360 soon, why wait?
 

Why wait for it to get ported to PSN to play it, just get a dirt cheap $199 core and play it now. Knowing the kind of stuff you like I think you'd be like a kid in a candy store with XBLive, probably take you a year just to go through it's content.
 
Finally played this game, yeah I'm late to the party :) Totally loved the demo, bought the game right away. Damn clever game, my hats off to the devs. If they don't make profit on this game then the financial model of XBLive is clearly flawed, because this game is a real gem.




It's gonna be only $199 for a 360 soon, why wait?

Read the last page. He's already profitable :) and it's still selling strong since he posted that. It's a fantastic game/experience.
 
From looking at the screen shots I hate the art and the main char. they look like some crap my brothers kids could draw. I mean what char. wears shorts and a tie also I go to neogaf.com and there are treads there that say braid is like super mario bros for grown ups, give me a break, this game will never be super mario or come anywhere close to the popularity of mario in a million years. ppl need to just let it go, Im sure the game is good but its no Mario.
 
From looking at the screen shots I hate the art and the main char. they look like some crap my brothers kids could draw. I mean what char. wears shorts and a tie also I go to neogaf.com and there are treads there that say braid is like super mario bros for grown ups, give me a break, this game will never be super mario or come anywhere close to the popularity of mario in a million years. ppl need to just let it go, Im sure the game is good but its no Mario.

Best post I've read in some time. This is all sorts of amazing. Trust me when I say, Braid isn't for you.
 
Why wait for it to get ported to PSN to play it, just get a dirt cheap $199 core and play it now. Knowing the kind of stuff you like I think you'd be like a kid in a candy store with XBLive, probably take you a year just to go through it's content.

There are other games that interest me more at the moment, and I already have a backlog. The game will come to PS3 eventually (or may be PC).

Having 2 game consoles in my office would also send the wrong message to fellow workers. It is way too cluttered as it is.

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