Evil Avatar Radio: A Conversation With Jonathan Blow

[Psykoboy2]

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Episode 118
A Conversation With Jonathan Blow (http://www.evilavatarradio.com/?p=164)

It happens every so often for us. We’ll get a developer (http://www.evilavatarradio.com/?p=133) (and on the rarest occasions, a PR person (http://www.evilavatarradio.com/?p=137)) who doesn’t hide from us. They have something to say and they can say it without feeling like their hands are tied. The creator of Braid (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=59931), Jonathan Blow (http://number-none.com/blow/), has no reason to hide during this episode of Evil Avatar Radio (http://www.evilavatarradio.com/audio/EAR.Episode118.mp3). In fact, with how well the game is doing (http://braid-game.com/news/?p=303), he has every reason to be pretty proud of what he’s done. Not to mention that the game itself is pretty awesome. And well…it’s also pretty.

We spend about an hour talking to Jonathan who tells us quite a bit about himself and how Braid came to be. Everything from pricing to inspiration to conception and rejection of the game, it’s almost everything you ever wanted to know - all without spoilers.

After our chat with Jonathan we then move our focus once again to this year’s PAX (http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=28) and talk with Moe Fwacky, the Cross Country Super Trip (http://supertriphq.com/) organizer. We catch up with him since we spoke with him last year and find out what it’s like and what it takes to travel across the country to the gamers mecca that is the Penny Arcade Expo (http://www.pennyarcadeexpo.com/).

As a show note, you can expect another episode of Evil Avatar Radio to come out by the end of the week.

[Credendo]

Is there any way we can get a spoiler FILLED interview? I'm with you that I really want to hear what Jonathan was thinking about with the story

[Psykoboy2]

That could be possible, actually. We'll see what we can do.

[Gerbs]

We spend about an hour talking to Jonathan who tells us quite a bit about himself and how Braid came to be. Everything from pricing to inspiration to conception and rejection of the game, it’s almost everything you ever wanted to know - all without spoilers.

Thank you! I still haven't been able to pick up Braid and from what I hear it's a great experience. My 360 is broken and I am borrowing one from a friend and I am loathe to DL any Live! games to what I know for sure is a temporary 360. Although aren't ALL 360's temporary?

[Spigot]

I hate you guys. I was listening to this podcast last night while sitting in a dark hospital room and I couldn't stop wishing I was home so that I could play.

I'm about 13 or so pieces away from being able to go for the ending level but man, I am hating hearing everyone rant about how great it is. I don't want to look at a walkthrough or anything but it's getting mighty hard.

[Gerbs]

OK so I listened to the podcast today at work and I was so pumped to play Braid I downloaded on my borrowed 360. Potential future DRM issues be damned I didn't want to have to avoid spoilers forever. I haven't gotten far yet but so far the game is genius. My goal is to beat it without cheating on the internet.

[Spigot]

I was banging my head against a wall this morning when I played but this evening saw me unlocking all but 3 puzzle pieces. Something clicked in my brain and I don't know what. I need a break though, but I'm so happy to have finally made it to some of the puzzle pieces that were driving me batty for the better part of a week and I did it all by myself :)

It has been a LONG time since I felt that kind of sense of accomplishment in a game. I love it.