Games Also Need to Be Interesting, Not Just Innovative, Says Braid Creator

Jonathan Blow is currently one of the most famous independent game developers out there, being responsible for the hit game Braid, which explored time manipulation, had a deep and intricate story intertwined with philosophical elements and, of course, was great to play.

Now, after he became world known and Braid hit the Xbox 360, PC and Mac, the creator talks with TheIndepentGamer about what new developers should do in order to have success. He touches an interesting subject, namely that everyone is trying to innovate, which he too militated for, but ends up forgetting to make the games interesting, and thus losing a lot of potential gamers.

“It’s not really about innovation so much as exploring interestingness. There is this idea of chasing innovation in game design that I used to be a big proponent of, but that I now suspect is a little bit misdirected. I think gameplay innovation can result in things that are interesting, but at the same time it doesn’t automatically result in something that is deep—often it’s a gimmick. I am interested in deepness and richness of game design. You can get that with deliberate innovation or without; I think the issues are orthogonal.”

But if developers aim to look at a game from a different angle and use their own experience, things might be alright in the end, says Blow. “At the same time, I think if a designer is working on something he really cares about, and is really exploring some ideas in his own style, bringing his own particular insight to the table, then he will automatically come up with something different than most other games; furthermore, this will be a deeper, more-compelling kind of innovation. That’s what I meant earlier about the deliberate chasing of innovation being a somewhat misguided pursuit. Yes, you can make neat stuff that way, but the innovation will come to you for free if you do things a different way, and you are likely to end up with a different result.”

Blow does make a compelling argument, which will definitely serve as a valuable lesson for budding independent developers who want to make a living and try to bring new things to the industry.