Braid-creator Jonathan Blow on making the 'biggest puzzle game ever'

For ten years, Jonathan Blow, the creator of the influential puzzle-platformer Braid, has been working with a small team on what he believes to be the biggest puzzle game ever made. Titled The Order of the Sinking Star, the game is set to release on Thursday and is estimated to contain approximately 1,500 puzzles that could take around 500 hours to complete.

Blow emphasizes that his decision to create such a complex game is not driven by practicality or business sense, but rather by his desire to let the design dominate the process and create something unique. The game's mechanics are a fusion of four pre-existing free puzzle games, combined in innovative ways to generate new brainteasers.

Blow's approach to game design, which focuses on creating unique experiences, has set him apart in an industry that sometimes prioritizes novelty over substance. Despite his reservations about artificial intelligence, Blow acknowledges its potential but expresses concern about the future of programming skills among developers. He believes that relying too heavily on AI could lead to a shortage of programmers capable of creating high-quality games.