Eighteen thousand hours. A conversation with Jonathan Blow

I've spent eighteen thousand hours watching jblow clips and interviews, so I'm basically a genius now.

True crafters in the world like Jonathan Blow are a diamond. So many people are after fame and wealth these days.

I really appreciate that you gave Blow the space and time to speak.

I really liked this interview more than some of the older ones because I felt like you asked great questions without rambling on for quite as long. I think you still stack a lot of questions together in a way that makes Jon struggle to figure out which one to answer, but it sort of works out because you're both on the same wavelength and he gets the overarching idea you're presenting and tries to answer it as a whole. This is a really fun show to watch so far and I'm looking forward to seeing where you take it.

god what a refreshing voice....

what a deep thinker. this is one of the best interviews at blow articulating his awesome thoughts on game design and storytelling. much appreciated

Jonathan Blow's second appearance here gave us lots of food for thought - not the least of which was at 2:59:50 where he discussed the difference between a difficult puzzle and an interesting one, and why he prefers the latter. If you missed Jonathan's first round, you can find it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rck9tiLoo8U We'll see him again soon!

Just like the first conversation with Blow, you asked great questions and got great answers. Thank you for improving your craft. Looking forward to the next one. It's hard to distill questions down because as long as the questions were, I'd still want to hear more of the rest of the unanswered parts too. Thanks for uploading!

I have to say, your conversations are fantastic. You have great guests and you ask engaging questions. I'm really impressed.

I loved that you could just spend half an hour talking about one set of puzzles (and that you asked this specific question)

This dropped on my birthday. What a pleasant surprise!

I personally love Batman Arkham(s), mainly because I like the satisfying reaction time combat, but the Riddler trophies to me genuinely explore the mechanics of the game to the point of "completeness" and "orthogonality" the way that Jon Blow describes in older talks. I have 100%ed all three games multiple times, and most trophies do have a new idea, or a slight variation on another trophy, and by the end you feel like you have seen everything that can be done with the gadgets in the game. It isn't Witness quality, but Arkham Knight in particular is genuinely my favourite AAA game for completing 100%.

This is like the best Blow interview ever done!

Great conversation, glad to have Jonathan Blow back again sharing his views. I think the discussion on elites is somewhat sidetracked from the bigger issue that many game designers are including terrible elements into their games on purpose. This isn't due to a lack of skill or ability but that their goal isn't to make a work or art but rather a money making entertainment product. This seems to cause more problems in games than in other media, movies don't interrupt action scenes to show stats levelling up and books don't have loot boxes. These systems are being inserted to provide a semblance of progress at steady pace to keep the player hooked on the game but unfortunately have the effect by breaking up the gameplay and making the experience worse (assuming the game was fun in the first place). Keep making great games and don't worry too much about all the studios making stuff that will soon be forgotten.

Beautifully brilliant all the way through.

That was a great talk. Very deep thoughts from both. Thank you

I'm really grateful for this talk. It was incredibly interesting and inspiring.

whoaaa great one!

2:23:43 he said the word!! he said the thing!

Can't wait for round 3. Great channel, so many good interviews!