Creating the The Witness, Braid developer Jonathan Blow's upcoming open-world puzzle game set to make its debut on PlayStation 4, presents challenges that the developer must overcome if it hopes to buck the recent linear trend in games, Blow wrote on the PlayStation Blog.
Because The Witness takes place in an open-world environment, players aren't escorted through the game, as in other puzzle games.
"It's interesting to try and design a puzzle game this way," Blow wrote. "Puzzle games are usually linear, because the designers want to make sure you have solved a puzzle before going on to a more difficult one. But in The Witness we have a broader idea about what makes puzzles interesting, and this lets us be versatile in designing the flow of gameplay. We build systems of puzzles with flexibility to allow for player freedom, so you can follow the natural flow of your own curiosity."
Check out the video above to see Blow discuss the game, the benefits of being a small developer and why profit isn't the "number one priority" for the developer.
