Do you think he'll shutter Thekla a month after release or will he last a year?
he will just borrow money again, it's not a problem
>>743358097honorary indian
>>743358097Why would he need to? Judging by the demo's performance (and quality), the full game will do really well.
>>743358850> will do really well.financially? nah
>>743359202Why not?
>>743359252look at the demo player numberlook at the general sentiment about the game
>>743359301>look at the demo player numberI already did. They are great for a puzzle game demo. 15th most played on the Next Fest, if I'm not mistaken.>look at the general sentiment about the gameIt's seems to have been well received. Many were complaining about the control responsiveness and performance, but these issues were already addressed on the beta branch.
If he remakes/remasters The Witness with a proper VR mode I'll buy it again.
>>743359456If he does witness numbers, IF.. he'll break even, maybe make an extra 50%. (at 40$, if he prices it 60$ its financial death)it cost him 30M to make this, his language, compiler etc.I think the market moved on. streamers want bite sized games with viral moments to sell themselves. young people lack attention spans. puzzles are for old gamers. There are hundreds of great indie games coming out every year now, less space for a heavy weight game like his. I'm not as optimistic about his prospects.
>>743359461is that even possiblethe whole gimmick is about a single viewpoint2 eyes are just not going to work
>>743359695>There are hundreds of great indie games coming out every year nowi agree with everythiing but this
I don't think he's expecting to recover the 30 million spent on this project
>>743359695I don't think that Order of the Sinking Star will make the 30 million back, at least not short term. But this really isn't a big deal since Blow doesn't work for some large corporation where they gave him all that money for development, expecting him to make it all back and then some. It's his own money that he was happy to spend, and he just needs to make enough to fund the studio for future projects. And to pay back Arc Games for whatever they did for him to help him publish. He signed a deal with them in 2025, so it can't be that much.
>>743359886Odor of the Stinking Shart is going bomb.
>>743359719The game already has a disabled, half-working VR mode and some people have found overly complicated ways of playing it in that mode.
>>743360093have a video?
>>743360134There's a video at the end of this guide https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2566709878
>>743360302putting a flatscreen for solving puzzles in 3d space is just copethis is what i'm talking about, the game is built around a single viewpoint, you can't translate it to stereo properly.
>hated by wokes>hated by chudsTruly, a dev for nobody.
>>743360510He is a dev for gamers, not politics obsessed retards.
>>743360539>that face you make when an uppity rapper completely shatters your worldview and destroys the art you created with a single sentence>"this shit stupid as hell mane...."
>>743358097TheklaThe KlaThe KLANTHE KU KLUX KLANI'm onto you jon
>>743360459He set it up like that because the game doesn't show the pointer in VR at all. If it did it would be playable.
>>743361529not for the mid-late game puzzlestoo many gimmicks
>>743360589>guy who has tangible disdain for the medium, constantly rags on games not made by him and by his own admission works in the sector mostly because he isn't sure what else he could be doing>dev for gamerssure man
>>743358097From the thumbnail it looked like some videogame character render. And when I blew up the image I was still not sure this man was real and not just an NPC from the new Hitman games.
>>743361591>guy who has tangible disdain for the mediumIs that why he makes video games for a living, spending up to a decade per game, and frequently plays video games on stream?>constantly rags on games not made by himHe does, though. There are things Blow dislikes about his past games. This is directly stated by him in the dev commentary of the Braid remaster. He only talks more about the faults of other games more because most games he plays aren't made by him.>and by his own admission works in the sector mostly because he isn't sure what else he could be doingI'm pretty sure that was a joke tweet. And in either case, I don't think Blow would be making Order of the Sinking Star if he didn't want to. He could have just retired after The Witness and kept the 30 million dollars.
>>743359695Dwag Puzzle games are ever greenpeople buy the all the timepeople still get the witness or other games they don't live by hype trains
>>743360510He's a dev for heigh IQ Individuals not for drama chuds and trannies
>>743361591>Artist is weird Yeah no shit nigga
>>743358097he can go on forever just subsisting on the tears of his haters and they are numerousthat and witness residuals
>>743359695Blue Prince's success completely blows your arguments out of the water.
>>743362502>Blows your arguments
>>743360510loved by people who drinkloved by people who smoke
why does the game look and feel like a generic mobile game?
>>743365063
>>743365063it doesn't
>>743365173It's prettier than most games but to retards like yourself any stylized western game looks like a mobile game
>>743365314>>743365337
>>743359695The language and compiler are long-term investment, not just for this game. And the ROI on that is Blow's own personal satisfaction with life, not just the raw income. If you've never made anything of your own, you wouldn't understand.
>>743365063>frierenormie>mouthbreather normie takeas expected
>>743360510I like him, and yes I hate both wokes and chuds.
>>743365447Dude is pushing 60 there's no "long term investment" here when your games take a decade to make
>>743365430Yeah that's an advertisement, not the game.Do you literally have a mental handicap?
>>743365745Calm down, johnatan .
>>743365549Have you ever created anything at all in your entire life?
>>743365430You can do this to cover art of most western games
>>743365856Yes, actually I've made a programming language just like Jonathan Blow has I'm just not deluding myself and saying it's a "long term investment" because it's absolutely not
>>743365842I chose to make children not videogames. I'm just not too stupid to tell the difference between mobileslop and odor of the stinking sar, like you.
>>743365314>>743365337>>743365480Did we even watch the same trailers? This looks like mobile slop, without knowing beforehand that JBlow is behind this project I would expect it to be a mobile shit pile filled with microtransactions
>>743365940settle down, worthless breeding cattle
Speaking of that, who are your favorite game developers?Mine would be:Colantonio (Dishonored, Dark Messiah)Vavra (KCD 1 and 2)Thomas Mahler (*Ori* and No rest for the wicked)J Blow
>>743358097his company will be fine. he knows a lot of people in the tech and game industry that have money, so they can loan or help him out.>>743360510his audience is pragmatic intelligentsia.
>>743365979>Simplified western style is le bad>it should look like last of us DOS
>>743365917>es, actually I've made a programming language just like Jonathan BlowNo, you haven't.> I'm just not deluding myself and saying it's a "long term investment" because it's absolutely notIt obviously is for him. You don't even have an argument other than "uhhhh he's pushing 60" which has never been a valid argument on this topic ever. Since when has being 60 ever stopped a motivated man from looking to the future? Not every creator is Fatfuck RR Martin who just gives up once they've made it.
>>743366165way to put words in my mouth, I'm simply stating that watching the trailer it looks like a mobile game, it may be great but for an ostensible industry veteran the look of the game is not impressive.
>>743359456>They are great for a puzzle game demo.Anon, Order of the Sinking Star has been in development for 10 years. Its budget is probably over 50 million USD.It needs to do far better than "good for a puzzle game" to justify itself.For reference, the same money put into the S&P 500 during the same period would more than double.
>>743366412Give example of what it should look like?It has to be simplistic and it has to be colorful
Why does this guy command such a cult? He made 2 and a half games in 25 years. John Carmack made ten games in that time and each one was a technological breakthrough. Blow is a slug who has done nothing innovative.
>>743366619close to 30 i think also they'll make their money back start making profits in some times because a well made puzzle game is ever green unlike some hyped friend slop
>>743366368>No, you haven't.yes I have>It obviously is for him.he spent 10 years making a language which realisitically isn't going to increase his productivity by more than 10%that's not a win even for someone with more working years left than him
>>743365979Play the demo, its free. The game looks good in motion, and plays well. Its excellent in terms of visuals, audio and overal presentation and feel.If he developed in 2-3 yars, I'd call it a masterpiece. Developed over 10 years, I'd call it a finnancial dud.
>>743366751Even at 30 mill it probably needs to sell over 1.5 million or even 2 million copies to break even.And as I said, you don't want your 10 year investment breaking even. You want it to double or more. 10 years is a very long time.
>>743366795I've made a programming language too!!! javascript shorthand syntax with a bunch of very specific methods
>>743366684Thats not my fucking job what are you even implying? I simply made an observation. I don't know how the sausage is made behind the scenes, but I suppose I could answer with "something else" when asked your question.
>>743366691He made really well made and interesting games also he's an interesting personality unlike most devs
>>743366795>he spent 10 years making a language which realisitically isn't going to increase his productivity by more than 10%I agree that his language is pointless, but it might actually increase his productivity by more. Morale is very important for humans after all.
>>743366875i can see it selling 3 million and more people like puzzle games and reception for this mostly good outside of some performance issues
>>743367048lol!
>>743367004>MoraleWhat does that even mean? You literally can't program because C++ makes you too sad? Sounds like a mental illness
>>743366980>It looks le bad>then tell me what looks good>Not my heckin job dude
>>743367072The witness sold a million copies in a year back then now market is much bigger
>>743367096People who live in front of the computer are usually mentally ill.
>>743365979It really doesn't. Maybe you can't tell the difference given in a handful of static screenshots, but you don't matter. The game looks great. It's full of color, there's a massive variety, and the art all complements the gameplay. Footage and even some of the demo has shown that 3D elements become increasingly relevant as the game progresses, with elevators to lower levels, large cliffs and other major vertical elements.
>>743367181lmao!
>>743367048I hope it will. I'm probably buying on release.But as I stated, I'm skeptical. This really shouldn't have been a 10 year project.
>>743367228It looks like you are going to have a blast, bro!
>>743367107because knowing how to analyze that stuff is a very difficult skill to obtain. It is easy to look at something and see that its not super impressive (visually), but it is very difficult to answer specifically why, and how you could improve it. You don't need to be a prestigious chef to tell that a hamburger that has a dog turd in it tastes like shit.>durr then what world class cooking techniques and recipes would YOU use instead?
>>743367286> This really shouldn't have been a 10 year project.Blow agrees
>>743367340You are not using your brain are you?
>>743366691>Why does this guy command such a cult?Better question is why does he command such a cult of obsessive haters?He's a smart guy, makes the games he wants and speaks his mind, and doesn't compromise. It's obvious why people would find that appealing.What's more odd is how many people are so insanely desperate to shit on literally anything any everything remotely related to Blow. It's the behavior of hivemind NPCs who have been programmed as attack dogs.
>>743366684>>743367340As an actual game artist I'll tell you:Game art looks like it was done by someone with no experience working with a top-down perspective. The detail density is all wrong, there isn't appropriate contrast between foreground / background, could really do with some ambient occlusion or sharpness to make edges pop because the art all bleeds into each other, the effects kinda suck in general, outline shader looks shoddy
>>743367634read>>743366684
>>743366684
>>743367743I can't give an example of what it should look like because it should look like it's own thingI think the best looking modern top-down 3D game is Starcraft 2 just in terms of functionality and clarity, I think anyone doing art from that perspective should look at that game even if your game does not look like Starcraft 2
>>743367340>It is easy to look at something and see that its not super impressive (visually)It's also easy to fuck that up, when you have no idea what you're actually doing.You also have to consider that most of the people who don't know much about art and can't tell that ootss is objectively higher quality than a random mobile game, actually LIKE the mobileslop graphics. So they like how BOTH games look. It's only a handful of contrarians who can't tell the difference and hate it.
>>743367980>Starcraft 2>>743367983
>>743368026>only the Michelin star chefs can tell if something tastes bad. Yes we know your spaghetti came with feces mixed into the sauce, but you are NOT allowed to make a value judgement on that because you first must be an expert in the relevant fields.
>>743358097why does he always look like he's one soulja boy away from crying
>>743368026so your basically saying that peoples' eyes are wrong?
>>743368380
>>743358097JBlow's output will only increase now that he's basically done with a new programming language, new engine, and a new game built with the former two.
>>743359461>with a proper VR modeVRetards were a mistake.
>>743358097Kek I thought that was griga for second
>>743366795>>No, you haven't.>yes I haveNo, you haven't. You've taken a compilers class or something and cobbled together some basic shit, probably with the help of an LLM. Yeah I wrote a compiler for class too, back in 1999 and never used it again.>he spent 10 years making a language which realisitically isn't going to increase his productivity by more than 10%If 1,000 people use BlowLang and they all see a 10% productivity, was it worth it then?>that's not a win even for someone with more working years left than himThat's way too early to tell. It's clear that Blow not only cares about games but also cares about the craft, and he seems like the type to care about advancing the craft as a whole. So not only would he value people using his language, but influencing other game devs as well. Maybe the language will flop and never matter, maybe it won't. But it's obviously about a legacy more than just some X% of his own personal productivity rate of shoveling out slop the way so many other people seem to think.And obviously the guy who posted about morale is also correct. Blow openly hated programming in C++.
Blow it out your ass.
>>743367048>puzzle game>3 million or more
hmmmm
>>743359695The language and compiler are their own things. You can't just add infrastructural spending like to a single project and pretend that it has to be paid off in a single instance.
>>743362502Blue Prince didn't cost $30 million dollars and 10 years to make, retard. Plus, there were gaming journos that the devs was friends with who pushed the game to become an indie hit when it came out. Jon Blow doesn't have those types of connections in 2026 even though he did in 2009 and 2016.I do not get why jon's fans are so delusional.
>>743367527Maybe people just dont like him or his games
>>743358097Here's the thing: He was supposed to make a VR game and the sokoban game was only for streams. Then the VR game didn't happen and he had to try and make the sokoban thing into a real game to save the situation.
>>743380429The "30 million" number is fake accounting brainrot though. That's not "we spent 30 million on sokoban assets", it's him paying programmers to build an engine/compiler/language/company for a decade while fucking around in SF-tier burn rate. Still probably a terrible business decision, but it's not comparable to some Unity indie budget.Blue Prince is also a terrible comparison because that game had an immediately marketable gimmick. "Roguelite mansion puzzle mystery with secrets" sells itself to journos and streamers. Blow's pitch is "Sokoban but actually it becomes insane 40 hours in, also watch this 2 hour talk about data-oriented programming." Nobody normal is clicking that.
>>743365173>>743365979Looks great. What was the point you were trying to make?
>>743382398JBlow did not spend $30 million to make this game.
>>743382398That doesn't make it any better. He spent $30 million dollars and 10 years on a game that could be made for a 1/100th the cost and maybe 1 year at most. It's bad enough he's making an entirely new engine for a sokoban game but it could be justifiable if done at a reasonable scope and cost. To make an entire programming language just for this is beyond retarded.>>743385945He literally said himself that he spent ~$3 million per year for 9 years at the time to make this game. It's been a year since then and he actually managed to promote this game at the game awards (which cost $1 million dollars per ad unless you are friends with Geoff) so I choose to believe him just because it kinda highlights how bad Jon's business sense is and how he basically was carried by Microsoft promoting Braid rather than anything innately good about his skill or games.
>>743387035>He literally said himself that he spent ~$3 million per year for 9 years at the time to make this game.Braid and The Witness did not make that much money. He must be severely in debt.
>>743387146I think the witness did actually make a lot of money (somewhere around $20 million dollars in lifetime sales) and OG Braid made ~~$4 million, which isn't bad. Did find this funny tidbit though (inb4 Reddit. The original link is a dead indie site that only hosted a podcast of the interview so this is all I have to show for what he said):https://www.reddit.com/r/Games/comments/208qzk/jonathan_blow_spent_all_the_money_he_made_from/If that's true, that explains why he's spending so much money on this game: he thinks it will be another Witness situation where he can use the proceeds from the previous game to fund the current one despite the gaming market not being ANYTHING like it was in 2016. He's literally driving straight off of a cliff into bankruptcy and he doesn't even know it.
>>743387598>He's literally driving straight off of a cliff into bankruptcy and he doesn't even know it.I'm pretty sure he understand the financial risks involved. And there is good reason to believe that OotSS will succeed.
>>743387598>He's literally driving straight off of a cliff into bankruptcyThat's why jews invented LLCs
>>743387953No there is not. Very few people want to play Sokoban, let alone 1000 levels of it. At least with the Witness, he made the game look very nice and he did truly try something different and Braid was cheap. People barely even played the demo despite the game being shilled in the Game Awards and the general sentiment about the game isn't positive outside Blowjob's cult of sycophants.. This is shaping up to be a massive disaster for Jon.
