Jonathan Blow's Next Game Is...

Work with a small team on a puzzle-exploration game that is philosophical, and quiet, and is being made for reasons other than crass profit motive. Run by the designer/programmer of the critically-acclaimed game Braid, the team is fully-funded and pay is high.

The majority of the portfolio should consist of things absent from the following list: Girls With Big Tits; Barbarians Wielding Axes, Covered in Blood; Aliens; Space Ships; Gangsters Getting Shot in the Face; Orcs; Giant Robots; and, of course, Postapocalyptic Wastelands.

PS3?
 
HELL YEAH!

Braid made me angry and happy all at the same time...

Yep. I can already tell that this game will be just as much up its own ass as Braid was.

I really like Braid, and even it's philosophical underpinnings...but wow, both of those job descriptions are pretentious as hell.

Man I was my name was Johnathan Blow :(.  Anyways this looks promising.

Can't wait.

"Should have experience watching paint dry."
 
lol I kid, I kid.  I loved Braid and am excited for this.

i lol'd at the portfolio

God, he sounds like a fucking dick.

" Yep. I can already tell that this game will be just as much up its own ass as Braid was. "

I thoroughly enjoyed Braid but good grief, those posts (though obviously sarcastic) aren't going to do much to dispel notions more than a few people had of their dev team coming across as pretentious and self-absorbed.

" "Should have experience watching paint dry."  lol I kid, I kid.  I loved Braid and am excited for this. "

I'm excited for this, but I hate Blow's whole "games are art, not games" idea.

i want someone to draw a picture of  barbarian girls with big tits weilding axes covered in blood fighting off armies of aliens coming down from space ships with big robots, orcs, and gangsters with guns. all set to a post apocalyptic background.

ROFL  @ the job descriptions!
 
I love how they eliminated pretty much every concept artist in the game industry by telling them what they are NOT looking for instead of what they actually want.
 
Can't wait to hear more about this game though, they have set the bar pretty high up there for themselves.
 
EDIT: Also, @notsonic: Yes! Someone should totally draw a "barbarian girls with big tits weilding axes covered in blood fighting off armies of aliens coming down from space ships with big robots, orcs, and gangsters with guns. all set to a post apocalyptic background" and send ONLY that to them as an application. CORNER OFFICE ANYONE???

Too bad, everything in that portfolio sounded pretty great.

So they're making Myst?

" @ZeroCast said:

" Anyone notice something wrong with that image? "

You mean Braid man being the wrong colour "

I'm trying very hard to contain my rage.  The more this man speaks, the less I like him.  Lucky for him his game is fun despite all of the pretense. 

Ahahaha, even Jonathan Blow's job listings are pretentious as all hell.

Souns interesting, hope they succeed and I get to experience something as wonderful as Braid again. As for the whole prententious thing.. Does it really matter? As long as the game is awesome I couldn't really care less.

No need to be a dick about it, sheesh.

Late 2011?  Wow that's a long time away...

I think I'd be more inclined to play Braid and this new game if Blow didn't seem to have his head so far up his ass.

Hey there's no need to make fun of artists who can draw girls with big tits and apocalyptic wastelands. They're artists too. They need to get off their high horse.

Good for him.  I think the games industry can use some pretentiousness.  I'm tired of overly market-focused characters running around appealing to a teenage male demographic.  And so is Mr. Blow, obviously.   And even if some people don't like him or what he does, the market maturing to include people who think that way is a good thing for everyone. 
 
Loved Braid, will get this one day one.  

Looking forward to whatever this game turns out to be.  Lol at the second quote, he's obviously having fun.
 
Also, I don't feel I can call someone pretentious if they are able to deliver on the higher standards to which they are aiming and aspiring; only if they fail in that, in which case they aren't who they claim to be and so are by definition pretentious.  With anyone who talks as Blow does I can understand him alienating people, since he's thinking about things in a  different way to many others - but as long as he continues to live up to his pretensions then I can't devalue what he says.

" I'm excited for this, but I hate Blow's whole "games are art, not games" idea. "

Where is the pretension?  His name is Jonathan Blow for christ's sake -- he's only being true to his namesake.  He's just firing off a few volleys at entrenched video-game cliches, which I don't mind -- it means that he has to bring it that much harder.  I admire his cockiness, he seems willing to alienate himself from the developer community for the sake of his next project.  It may not be necessary, and it may even be suicidal, but it could prove interesting, too -- Braid was awesome, and he seemed pretty drunk on his own ego up until the release of that game.  Look at it this way: if the quality of his games is inversely proportional to his congeniality during the development process, then we're in for something truly spectacular this time around.

Should be interesting

Jonathan Blow seems like a douche.

I am very interested in this.

" So they're making Myst? "

Man that guys a dick

Braid is amazing and all, but those job descriptions make me want to punch Blow in the fucking face.

I was going to make a post about how far up his own rear end that Blow guy is but perhaps I'm just not qualified to talk about these art games. I do happen to like postapocalyptic wastelands, after all.

" Where is the pretension?  His name is Jonathan Blow for christ's sake -- he's only being true to his namesake.  He's just firing off a few volleys at entrenched video-game cliches, which I don't mind -- it means that he has to bring it that much harder.  I admire his cockiness, he seems willing to alienate himself from the developer community for the sake of his next project.  It may not be necessary, and it may even be suicidal, but it could prove interesting, too -- Braid was awesome, and he seemed pretty drunk on his own ego up until the release of that game.  Look at it this way: if the quality of his games is inversely proportional to his congeniality during the development process, then we're in for something truly spectacular this time around. "

He just ruled out everything I want to see in a game.  Everything.

Jonathan Blow is perhaps the most pretentious, stuck-up designer in the industry. I was going to buy Braid until I heard him interviewed on 1up Yours. Every time the lead artist on the game started to mention how they had wanted to do something different, Blow was like "no, that was really an artistic thing we were going for."  All the while he had to weigh in on why every popular game (like Bioshock) failed to offer a compelling narrative on par with his work. 
 
I'm not saying Braid was bad, just that I cannot give that douche my money. Maybe I'm misjudging him, but every time he opens his mouth I cringe.

Awesome news. Really looking forward to it!

I wonder how it will turn out

Woah, Braid backlash! I should have seen it coming. The video game industry is like a bar in a southern backwater; you don't come 'round spouting fancy talk and expect to leave without a shiner.

Jesus, even this guys job postings are pretentious as hell.  Pass.

The more this guy opens his mouth the less I like his games.