4 ms·

Thank you for the rundown on Jonathan Blow. I've worked in game development for over a decade and am familiar with his games and accomplishments, but maybe it'l

Thank you for the rundown on Jonathan Blow. I've worked in game development for over a decade and am familiar with his games and accomplishments, but maybe it'll be useful to someone else. If you want to direct a question to the author of the post you might want to reach out to them directly as I'm not their proxy.

benreesman 4y ago
Yeah I want to emphasize that my reply is kind of to all the peanut gallery stuff on this thread, not trying to single you out. If you work in games then you know that John Blow is by many measures the most demonstrably successful game developer without a big studio behind him, others might not. Talking about this stuff on the Internet is a sloppy, haphazard business: deep insight rarely fits in a tweet. I don’t mind that the blog author is not only saying ridiculous things but naming-and shaming earnest, serious pros into the bargain. I mind that so many people on this site, which I do care about, are lining up behind that bullshit.
- bob29 4y ago
  >many measures the most demonstrably successful game developer without a big studio ex gamer here (player only, no idea about the game making industry), never heard of him or any games. Is he really the most successful? From the outside i would have guessed hte most successful indy game dev, based on how much they're talked about, would be something like: dwarf fortress, minecraft, flappy birds, wordle...
  - koshergweilo 4y ago
    He's really only a recognizable figure in the puzzle game space. Both of his games are highly esteemed, with The Witness in particular praised as "the dark souls of puzzle games." All this said, puzzle games are harder to design than to develop and IMHO his past success only qualifies him as a great designer rather than the general computing guru he proclaims himself to be.

4 ms·

Thank you for the rundown on Jonathan Blow. I've worked in game development for over a decade and am familiar with his games and accomplishments, but maybe it'l

by drakonka 4y ago

benreesman 4y ago
Yeah I want to emphasize that my reply is kind of to all the peanut gallery stuff on this thread, not trying to single you out. If you work in games then you know that John Blow is by many measures the most demonstrably successful game developer without a big studio behind him, others might not. Talking about this stuff on the Internet is a sloppy, haphazard business: deep insight rarely fits in a tweet. I don’t mind that the blog author is not only saying ridiculous things but naming-and shaming earnest, serious pros into the bargain. I mind that so many people on this site, which I do care about, are lining up behind that bullshit.
- bob29 4y ago
  >many measures the most demonstrably successful game developer without a big studio ex gamer here (player only, no idea about the game making industry), never heard of him or any games. Is he really the most successful? From the outside i would have guessed hte most successful indy game dev, based on how much they're talked about, would be something like: dwarf fortress, minecraft, flappy birds, wordle...
  - koshergweilo 4y ago
    He's really only a recognizable figure in the puzzle game space. Both of his games are highly esteemed, with The Witness in particular praised as "the dark souls of puzzle games." All this said, puzzle games are harder to design than to develop and IMHO his past success only qualifies him as a great designer rather than the general computing guru he proclaims himself to be.