Tech Blog

 

Arguably the most artistic game ever released on Xbox Live, Jonathan Blow's Braid, is finally on its way to the Playstation Network on November 12, 2009.  The game received widespread critical acclaim when it came out last year, and earning itself the distinction of being the highest rated Xbox Live game to date with a 93% average on Metacritic.  Fifteen months later and Braid still holds that prestigious title.

 

The development of the PS3 port is being handled by Vancouver-based Hothead Games, a young indie studio that also brought the game to the Mac platform back in May.  The XBLA and Windows versions of the game were produced by acclaimed independent developer Jonathan Blow under his Number None Inc. banner.  The PSN version of Braid will cost $14.99, the same price as its XBLA equivalent.

What makes Braid stand out is its unique blend of puzzles, its creative variations on time manipulation, and the distinctive, hand-painted artwork and presentation.  This is a game that tends to draw out varying reactions depending on deep the player wants to get into the game.  On a basic level, Braid is influenced and pays homage to Super Mario Bros., with similar characteristics such as side-scrolling platforming action, the pattern of enemies, and the "Princess is in another castle" line.  But under the surface Braid weaves a rich story about a hero named Tim who's searching for a princess using dialogue that is intentionally vague, opening up the possibility of different interpretations.  

 

 

The game starts you off in your house in the city where you control Tim through a series of worlds solving puzzles that will help you rescue the abducted princess. Each world contains unique time-manipulation properties, and every puzzle shows you something different about the world. Some of the time behaviours you'll encounter include rewinding, independent time streams, time that is tied to space, parallel realities, and time reversal. Each time ability can be used creatively to solve puzzles and to collect puzzle pieces which unravel the story and unlocks the final stage.

 

Last year at the Montreal International Game Summit I had the privileged opportunity to sit down and speak to Jonathan Blow  In the interview we explore whether games are moving more towards (or away) from a true artistic medium, a state-of-the-nation discussion on the indie game scene, and of course tons of Braid talk.  You can check out the interview on my Googe Video page.

 

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Here is the official feature list According to Hothead Games:

• Untraditional platforming. You can never die and never lose, but challenge is always present and focused on solving puzzles, rather than forcing you to play and replay tricky jumps.

• Puzzle-rich environment. Travel through a series of worlds, searching for puzzle pieces and solving puzzles by manipulating time: rewinding, creating parallel universes and setting up pockets of dilated time. The game play is always fresh and new and the puzzles inspire new ways of thinking.

• Aesthetic design. A painterly art style and lush, organic soundtrack complement the unique game play.

• Nonlinear story. A nonlinear fiction links the various worlds and provides real-world metaphors for your time manipulations; act out these themes at your own pace, exploring playful “what if” universes.

• Forgiving game play. The game doesn’t force you to solve puzzles in order to proceed. If you can’t figure something out, just play onward and return to that puzzle later.

Braid has been rated “E 10+” for Everyone 10 and older by the Entertainment Software Rating Board for all platforms.