David Hellman

Gary Hodges of Joystick Division called me over the weekend with some questions. This week he’s publishing the results in three installments. I was very impressed and flattered by the amount of research he’d apparently done.

Part 1 is here, and concerns my upbringing.

Part 2 is here, and concerns Braid.

Part 3 is here, and is of grave concern to all.

Russian gaming magazine Strana Igr continues to publish The Art of Braid in Russian. With permission from the editors, here are the first three installments.

Part I (PDF format, in Russian)

Part II (PDF format, Russian)

Part III (Russian PDF)

Today’s 1UP FM podcast is an extended conversation between Nick Suttner and Shawn Elliott of 1UP, Rod Humble of The Sims and The Marriage, and Jonathan Blow and me of Braid. It’s quite long and I haven’t listened to the whole thing yet, but what I did review seemed pretty good!

The conversation covers Braid’s story (and various efforts to make sense of it), then broadens to consider how games in general convey meaning. (If you’re not familiar with Rod’s independent projects, I suggest you check them out, especially The Marriage.)

Download the MP3 (59 MB, 2 hours long)

You can also subscribe to 1UP FM via iTunes.

UPDATE: An outline with time signatures has been written by Ben Zeigler at his blog, Double Buffered. It’s a nice reference. At the end, Ben falls asleep.

This has been up for a little while, but it was just brought to my attention last night when I met Matt Keil, Wade Beckett and Adam Sessler. Happy birthday to Adam!

Heather Chaplin’s story about Braid ran on NPR today. You can read the article here and also listen to the audio segment. (I didn’t see a way to embed the audio here … if someone knows how, please tell me.)

Heather says, “Braid feels like a game that a grown-up can play, and that a grown-up perhaps ought to play.”

It’s been gratifying to hear Braid talked about in the media since its release, but Robert Segal’s utterance of its title was for some reason way more exciting to me than anything else.

UPDATE: An NPR listener wrote in with praise for the segment.

Yahtzee Croshaw has taken on Braid in his inimitable way.

Ryan Davis over at Giant Bomb has recorded a rousing video review of Braid. Over many repeat viewings, I really enjoyed this guy’s delivery.

Here’s the video, although actually I suggest viewing it at full size at Giant Bomb.

The Art of Braid has been picked up by Russian gaming magazine Strana Igr … in Russian. Here’s a pdf of the first installment, offered with permission.

Thanks to Chentsov Ilya!

In a sequel of sorts to our previous appearance, Jon and I payed a visit to the 1UP office to chat about Braid on the day of its release. This segment is not just an interview, but a fuller discussion of the game, with various insights and reflections from Matt, Jay and Nick. The guys did a really good job showing what the game is like, which is not so easy. I enjoyed hearing them describe their individual play experiences.

Be prepared: there is a spoiler warning about three-quarters through. If you have not completed the game, I strongly urge you to stop watching at that point. What follows is a really interesting discussion of the end of the game, but it will rob you of its impact forever if you have not already earned it for yourself.

The video is embedded here, but I recommend you view it at full size at 1UP.com.

Gamasutra has published the first collection of the Art of Braid columns. This one combines parts 2, 3 and 4 with a new introduction.