Episode 18: Game Designer Jonathan Blow Unpacks ‘The Witness’

Episode notes

On the Adam Ruins Everything podcast, Adam typically brings experts who appeared on the TV show to further expand on the arguments they make on the show. But during the off-season of the TV show, we thought we’d try something new. We are going to start bringing guests onto the show who may or may not have appeared on the show, but who are just as thoughtful and groundbreaking in their work.
 
Today’s guest is Jonathan Blow, the indie game developer who is best known as the creator of Braid and The Witness. In The Witness, which was released last year to rave reviews, a player walks around a picturesque island solving complex puzzles. The puzzles themselves are not only incredibly challenging and quite philosophical, but they’re almost a glimpse into the highly intelligent mind of Jonathan himself. Jonathan attended the University of California at Berkeley, and worked several jobs including Game Developer Magazine, before releasing Braid in 2008.On the podcast, Jonathan and Adam discuss The Witness at length… including, SPOILER ALERT, the solutions to puzzles and the game’s ending! (Don’t worry, spoilers will be clearly marked, so you have time to pause.) Within the game, they discuss architecture’s role in gaming, how the game raises questions about religion and the self, and much more. If you’re planning on playing the game, we encourage you to pause the episode before it gets spoilery and play the game yourself before finishing the episode.