Braid, Anniversary Edition Podcast

Casey and Jon continue their discussion of the origins of Braid: its final mechanics, the ending, structural pattern breaks, and the "biggest mistake" in the game!

Why are there puzzle pieces in the game? Where did the idea of the slow-down ring come from? How did Paula Abdul inspire the game?

Braid, Anniversary Edition has launched! You can pick it up on Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or play it via Netflix on mobile devices—maybe the one you're using now!

Host: Jonathan Blow

Guest: Casey Muratori

Producer: Jason Brisson

Editor: Will Torbett

Intro Song: "Downstream" by Shira Kammen (based on "O son do ar" by Bieito Romero and "Borrela d'Aragon" by Eric Montbel)

This week's guest interviewer is Marc ten Bosch, an independent developer known for Miegakure, a 4D puzzle-platforming game. Jon and Marc have presented together at IndieCade and NYU Game Center and are working together on Thekla's next puzzle game. Here, the two discuss the puzzle design philosophy of Braid: minimalism, pattern breaks, literary influences, and more. Next: the ramifications of the game's rewind mechanic—both as a way to correct difficulty in execution but also providing advanced puzzle-solving techniques.

Braid, Anniversary Edition is out now! Buy it on platforms of your choice: Steam, PlayStation 4 and 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series, iOS (for Netflix subscribers), Android (for Netflix subscribers).

Host: Jonathan Blow

Guest: Marc ten Bosch

Producer: Jason Brisson

Editor: Will Torbett

Intro Song: "Downstream" by Shira Kammen (based on "O son do ar" by Bieito Romero and "Borrela d'Aragon" by Eric Montbel)

Jon and Casey continue their discussion about the early design of Braid: specifically how Jon arrived at the design identity of Braid, and how developer design perspectives affect the player experience.

Braid, Anniversary Edition has launched! You can pick it up on Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Xbox, or play it via Netflix on mobile devices—maybe the one you're using now!

Host: Jonathan Blow

Guest: Casey Muratori

Producer: Jason Brisson

Editor: Will Torbett

Intro Song: "Downstream" by Shira Kammen (based on "O son do ar" by Bieito Romero and "Borrela d'Aragon" by Eric Montbel)

Braid's lead visual artist David Hellman is interviewed by Frank Cifaldi of the Video Game History Foundation about getting started on Braid: David's background and artistic process. We start by discussing David's webcomic "A Lesson Is Learned But the Damage Is Irreversible," which inspired Braid in more ways than one.

Braid, Anniversary Edition releases on May 14, 2024. Pre-order it now on Steam, or stay tuned to play it via Netflix on mobile devices—maybe the one you're using now!

Host: Frank Cifaldi

Guest: David Hellman

Producer: Jason Brisson

Editor: Will Torbett

Intro Song: "Downstream" by Shira Kammen (based on "O son do ar" by Bieito Romero and "Borrela d'Aragon" by Eric Montbel)

Casey and Jon continue their conversation about the early days of designing and programming Braid. We talk about scrapped gameplay ideas, technical challenges, and artistic inspirations, including the 1986 text adventure game "Trinity."

Host: Jonathan Blow

Guest: Casey Muratori

Producer: Jason Brisson

Editor: Will Torbett

Intro Song: "Downstream" by Shira Kammen (based on "O son do ar" by Bieito Romero and "Borrela d'Aragon" by Eric Montbel)

Hello and welcome to the inaugural episode of the Braid, Anniversary Edition Podcast! Braid, Anniversary Edition is an updated version of the classic game Braid that came out way back in 2008. The update has improved graphics and sound, new puzzles and developer commentary. Over 15 hours of commentary survived the editing and selection process to make it into the game, but this came from over 60 hours of initially recorded audio. Thus, this podcast.

Our first interviewer is Casey Muratori, who some of you may know as the author of the Substack Computer, Enhance!, where he teaches programming. He's also the creator of the widely-appreciated YouTube series Handmade Hero. One lesser known fact is that Casey helped inspire Braid originally, and we'll be discussing his contributions throughout this podcast.

Host: Jonathan Blow

Guest: Casey Muratori

Producer: Jason Brisson

Editor: Will Torbett

Intro Song: "Downstream" by Shira Kammen (based on "O son do ar" by Bieito Romero and "Borrela d'Aragon" by Eric Montbel)