The Witness in pictures on PS4

Aure04
Thursday, February 21, 2013 | 12:21 PM
23 comments

Images PS4

The independent scene was also present at the announcement of the PS4. Jonathan Blow, creator of Braid, came to show The Witness. This is a puzzle game that will be played in open-world on an island, and it should be available for download on the next Sony console. Here are some pictures.

Screenshots

nostradamus

Commented on 2013-02-21 12:43:23

god, those puzzles sound as dumb now as they were in prototype from the witness dev blog and haven't evolved since then.

In reply to

KORNdog

Commented on 2013-02-21 12:47:14

it looks so cool, but the puzzles look like some shitty student flash game wrapped in nice visuals. also hoping it isn't as pretentious as braid.

In reply to

Megido

Commented on 2013-02-21 12:54:21

Looks nice, but yeah, all the freaking puzzles looked the same and by extention kinda lame. Throw some of that myst shit in there with those graphics and you've got me :P

In reply to

nostradamus

Commented on 2013-02-21 12:56:46 In reply to Megido

Posted by Megido

Looks nice, but yeah, all the freaking puzzles looked the same and by extention kinda lame.

it's been like that since day 1 a couple years ago, with the excuse... yhea, it's justa pre-production now guyz.

This game reeked as "stupid concept that needed to be done b/c i have to make something to top Braid" since inception, not a game that came from an actual cool concept he devised.

In reply to

digi_matrix

Commented on 2013-02-21 13:02:20

The most interesting thing shown in the conference, I want to see more.

What's more important is that Sony is accommodating for indie games that aren't platform-exclusive unlike Microsoft, so this sends a clear message to indie devs who have been burned by XBLA and hopped on the PC-Steam train.

In reply to

pythxvii

Commented on 2013-02-21 13:16:54

You guys need to stop being so narrow about the puzzles. Literally. There's more to it than the line stuff, and how that stuff works is NOT the same every time. I'm not saying it'll be amazingly deep, but remember, Braid didn't have many mechanics, but it managed to flip those mechanics around and use them in a lot of different ways. I wouldn't expect anything else from this.

In reply to

nostradamus

Commented on 2013-02-21 13:19:47 In reply to digi_matrix

Posted by digi_matrix

What's more important is that Sony is accommodating for indie games that aren't platform-exclusive unlike Microsoft, so this sends a clear message to indie devs who have been burned by XBLA and hopped on the PC-Steam train.

what? is there a single "indie game" that sony shows on conference that isn't internal, bought and never let to be published elsewhere?

All XBLA Indie games are just a publishing slot in on XBLA, they are on Steam a couple of months later: Trials: Evo, Trenched, ITSP, Mark of the Ninja. Say the same for any, or almost any PS3 DD game?

No.

And you make it sound dumb, there was only 1 "indie looking" game on the conference, this and no other. it wasn't even a Indie segment.

In reply to

Seth

Commented on 2013-02-21 13:21:05

After Braid this looks a bit meh tbh. I'm all for puzzle games, but as other people mentioned above, Witness looks more like a prototype made from random student.

In reply to

nostradamus

Commented on 2013-02-21 13:21:59 In reply to pythxvii

Posted by pythxvii

Braid didn't have many mechanics, but it managed to flip those mechanics around and use them in a lot of different ways. I wouldn't expect anything else from this.

Braid had an ingenious concept of platforming & rewind the time. only then he said I have a "Game Mechanic" where a whole game can be built around it.
The levels, art, ethereal look and auto-biography story came later.

The game looks and concept is like this since day one, you can confirm from here: http://the-witness.net/news/ going from new to old posts.

Just wishing to make a Myst game, doesn't make it so.

In reply to

digi_matrix

Commented on 2013-02-21 13:41:30 In reply to nostradamus

Posted by nostradamus

Before, no indie games on PS3 got onto other platforms except for Closure on Steam. This time, they're doing the timed exclusive from console to PC like Microsoft did on XBLA. So they're on par now.

Many indie developers hate XBLA now, after being burned out on the lack of games advertising, place on the marketplace, and most of them migrating their next games to PC-only/Steam. Sony has typically been nicer to indie devs in advertising and financial support. So when Blow talks good of the PS4, a dude who's been burned by Microsoft, and is THE spokesperson for the indie game movement, lots of indie devs will be paying attention to the PS4.

i.e. Microsoft needs to step up their game on supporting indie devs all the way to advertising on marketplace, and not just for development costs.

In reply to

[quote=nostradamus]what? is there a single "indie game" that sony shows on conference that isn't internal, bought and never let to be published elsewhere?

All XBLA Indie games are just a publishing slot in on XBLA, they are on Steam a couple of months later: Trials: Evo, Trenched, ITSP, Mark of the Ninja. Say the same for any, or almost any PS3 DD game?

No.

And you make it sound dumb, there was only 1 "indie looking" game on the conference, this and no other. it wasn't even a Indie segment.[/quote]
Before, no indie games on PS3 got onto other platforms except for Closure on Steam. This time, they're doing the timed exclusive from console to PC like Microsoft did on XBLA. So they're on par now.

Many indie developers hate XBLA now, after being burned out on the lack of games advertising, place on the marketplace, and most of them migrating their next games to PC-only/Steam. Sony has typically been nicer to indie devs in advertising and financial support. So when Blow talks good of the PS4, a dude who's been burned by Microsoft, and is THE spokesperson for the indie game movement, lots of indie devs will be paying attention to the PS4.

i.e. Microsoft needs to step up their game on supporting indie devs all the way to advertising on marketplace, and not just for development costs.

nostradamus

Commented on 2013-02-21 14:58:11 In reply to digi_matrix

Posted by digi_matrix

Sony has typically been nicer to indie devs in advertising and financial support. So when Blow talks good of the PS4, a dude who's been burned by Microsoft, and is THE spokesperson for the indie game movement, lots of indie devs will be paying attention to the PS4.

John "pretentious" Blows isn't the spokerman of jackshit to any indie dev. if anything, Mojangh is and i dislike him even more now that he runs a power hungry business.

Talk to Behemoth, talk to any indie dev that sold a fuckton on XBLA and they will be in high heavens. Indie dev = self centric mouthpiece most of the time, it means jack shit.

You are just grasping at straws and making general assumptions based on single cases.

In reply to

GeRaLTo

Commented on 2013-02-21 16:55:56

Looks weird for sure but Braid was and still is my favorite game this gen ( even tho it looks simple ) so I have high hopes for this.

In reply to

Xiong_Warriorzz

Commented on 2013-02-21 18:11:55

Glad their still supporting indie development. Hopefully with the development cycle being more like pc, it wont be so hard for indie devs to make content for the ps4.

In reply to

Megido

Commented on 2013-02-21 18:18:21

It's too bad they gave this so much attention and then barely mentioned self publishing on PS4. That's way more interesting imo :P

In reply to

Archaos

Commented on 2013-02-21 18:41:19 In reply to pythxvii

Posted by pythxvii

QFT!

I fell asleep about 10 minutes into the presentation (mostly because it was late here..) so I missed this. Really looking forward it.

In reply to

Zarsky

Commented on 2013-02-21 20:59:14

This and Watch Dogs were my personal highlights of the show. Really like the art style.

In reply to

roger

Commented on 2013-02-23 17:15:29

Looks beautiful. But why not on PS3 ?

In reply to

KORNdog

Commented on 2013-02-23 17:23:21 In reply to roger

Posted by roger

Looks beautiful. But why not on PS3 ?

He said it won't run on current gen hardware?

In reply to

Megido

Commented on 2013-02-23 18:53:08

There's an article on it the escapist where it looks more like he was bought by sony imo. he doesn't say it outright, but i imagine there is no way he'd limit the game to only PS4 if he didn't have a reason to do so.

In reply to

KORNdog

Commented on 2013-02-23 18:57:41 In reply to Megido

Posted by Megido

He had an interview with eurogamer saying sony never paid him anything, and i don't see why someone as vocal as him would lie. They where interested, Bridges where burned with MS, so he agree'd to go PS4. Said he signed the contract but it was more a formality then anything, he was going with sony anyway because he liked the sony guys he was working with. The contract isn't even for full exclusivity apparently, just next gen consoles. He plans to release an IOS version alongside the PS4 version.

EDIT: here it is ... http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-02-22-the-w...

In reply to

Megido

Commented on 2013-02-23 19:04:11

He can say whatever he wants, i just have a hard time he'd say no to being on one of the major platforms for no other reason than being more well acquainted with some people at Sony. Either he's a complete fucking moron, or he's holding something back. I mean, his name is big enough that he should be able to get that game on any platform without much hassle. It doesn't make any sense to me.

And yeah, he's vocal but i don't think he's dumb enough to say anything that'd tarnish his reputation as indie-god. Being bought by Sony certainly sounds like something that might put a dent in such a reputation. Not that i'm saying that's what happened.

In reply to

KORNdog

Commented on 2013-02-23 19:10:00

If sony had paid him, i doubt he'd be able to release PC and ios version alongside it. But who knows...frankly, who cares...lol

In reply to

GriftGFX

Commented on 2013-02-23 19:12:13

I can't play this. I might enjoy it the wrong way and hurt Jonathan Blow's feelings.

Posted by KORNdog

If sony had paid him, i doubt he'd be able to release PC and ios version alongside it. But who knows...frankly, who cares...lol

Ya never know. Microsoft published Alan Wake: American Nightmare and also allowed Remedy to immediately self publish it on Steam. It depends on the details of their arrangement. We'll never know. Not that it matters anyway.

PS. Explosions are shit.

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The Witness in pictures on PS4

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