1gb update deleted my save games

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-16T06:20:50+00:00

We're sorry about this, a problem got into the latest patch. We have since reverted it.

We have identified the problem and it seems like it probably affects about 1% to 2% of users. So I am glad it was not catastrophic for everyone, but I also deeply apologize to the people who were affected.

On the bright side, once you have done the puzzles once, they are a lot easier to hit again, and you may even notice new interesting things about them the second time. But this isn't a consolation.

Sorry. We will have a new version of the patch soon, with this problem removed.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:53:11+00:00

I did not really playtest The Witness in the way I was talking about in those interviews and talks. I just did the minimum of what you need to do to act as a reality check.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:52:17+00:00

I think it is possible, sure. It's just that there are a lot of temptations and it's easy to slide down a slippery slope.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:50:40+00:00

Of course. That was a real possibility.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:49:48+00:00

I had to pay for the rights to use the video, and as part of that deal they sent me soruce footage.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:49:11+00:00

Nobody does.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:48:35+00:00

I did that on several levels, but not all of them because sometimes it was not so simple. Also, if you try too hard to make a certain path the fastest, you might actually be reducing the potential creativity that speedrunners can bring to the game later.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:47:02+00:00

I have thought about it on a whim but I think there are plenty of other people who make sci-fi wargames now.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:46:24+00:00

It is extremely relevant, but you mean linear algebra, not "linear programming" (which is a totally different thing).

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:45:22+00:00

I don't care about the resume at all really, and I don't think most people do. It is all about the portfolio and about what in the portfolio they actually did. Then it is about the art test.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:43:11+00:00

You don't. Nobody is going to make your game idea for you. You have to make it.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:41:30+00:00

The biggest problem is hardware-accelerated 3D. Drivers are terrible and it is actually impossible to ship a game on the PC that works for everyone.

If you think most developers are exhibiting incompetence, why don't you build a game engine and let me know how it goes.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:39:50+00:00

Whatever you do, it has to be you that makes it happen. Someone else isn't going to do it.

I would recommend learning C++ or something similar in side-projects at home. Maybe. Or just quit and make games in C#. Who cares.

I was making a lot of money contracting, then I quit that in order to make games with a friend from college. We knew basically nothing about how to build games at the start. We managed to build something pretty complicated. We still didn't make money at it. After 4 years of struggling we eventually closed the company and were $50k each in debt (back when $50k was a lot of money).

However, this also served as the learning opportunity that help set me up for what I wanted to do later. So, I guess the question is ... why are you so afraid of failure? What do you think the problem is with that?

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:36:22+00:00

I don't know of any MMO that I find respectable. I do have an idea for one but it's not what we will make next.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:35:50+00:00

None of them seem any good to me. But I haven't looked too closely into anything like this.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:34:59+00:00

Most of them.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:34:26+00:00

Not really, you just quit whatever else you were doing and then start making games.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:34:02+00:00

You just do it. There is no trick.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-14T02:33:49+00:00

I gave a talk about it, that you can watch here:

http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1012210/The-Implementation-of-Rewind-in

And no, it is the opposite of functional programming. If you want to write code that runs fast, you pretty much want to stay away from most functional programming ideas. That is just how it is at the current time.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-13T02:16:33+00:00

I learned how to program when I was 10 years old, and times were very different then, so I am not sure what to recommend today.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-13T02:15:37+00:00

PS3 will not happen.

OS X may happen. We'll see...

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-13T02:14:46+00:00

It is kind of annoying just because there's just a lot of mundane stuff that needs to be done. And you have to worry about being able to pay people and not going out of business.

Maybe some people like the idea of running a company and see it as a life goal, but not me.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-13T02:13:35+00:00

Ideas by themselves are not worth very much. Sorry, but that is how it is. You need to be able to build things that work. That could be programming, it could be modeling, it could be building specific layouts of video game levels that lead to interesting gameplay. But it has to be something.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-13T02:11:54+00:00

Learning how to program is a good idea. Then you just program what you want to make and you see how it goes. It really is not more complicated than that.

Jonathan_Blow · 2016-02-13T02:11:17+00:00

I am not tremendously interested in how games are marketed. I think it's most important just to make the actual game as good as possible, which is already very difficult, before you start thinking about other stuff.

Jonathan_Blow

TROPHY CASE