The Puzzle Master's Long Journey

Jonathan Blow, a well-known game designer, has been working on a new puzzle game called Order of the Sinking Star for nearly a decade. This game is a follow-up to his previous project, The Witness, which took over six years to complete. Initially, Blow thought this new game would be a quick project, maybe taking a year or two. But as often happens, the game grew much bigger than he expected. Order of the Sinking Star is packed with around 1, 400 puzzles. Players who want to solve every puzzle could spend between 400 and 500 hours playing the game. Blow admits that he should have known the game would be big. The puzzles are based on simple ideas, like moving blocks or using mirrors to teleport. But when players combine these ideas, the game becomes much more complex. The game starts with four different puzzle worlds. Players explore these worlds one at a time. But after a while, these worlds start to connect. This is where the game gets really interesting, as players have to use what they've learned in earlier parts to solve new puzzles. Blow says this is where the game really shines, offering a huge number of possibilities. Despite the game's size, Blow says the team has made sure everything fits together well. The game has a story, and the puzzles make sense within that story. After about 60 to 100 hours of play, players will reach the first ending. But there are still more secrets to find after that. Blow admits that spending nine years on one game is a luxury. Many independent developers can't afford to spend that much time on a single project. But thanks to the success of The Witness, Blow and his team have had the freedom to take their time. They wanted to explore all the possibilities in the game, rather than rushing to finish it. Blow also says that he has learned to value playtesting more. In the past, he wasn't a big fan of playtesting because he thought it could make games too generic. But with a game as big as Order of the Sinking Star, he realized it was important to get feedback from others. The game is so complex that it doesn't all fit in his head at once. Some might think that spending so much time on one game is a sign of perfectionism. But Blow says he's not as much of a perfectionist as he used to be. He just wants to make something really good. And after nearly a decade of work, he's ready to share it with the world.