Braid
A puzzle platformer built around manipulating time.
Where Braid comes up2 episodes and tests
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit, with the designer of Islanders and Thronefall testHow to find amazing game ideas
Gcreator of Game Maker's Toolkit, making his first game testThe stuff no one tells you about game development (Developing 7)Braid grew from a single borrowed mechanic, the rewind in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and became a full puzzle platformer built around time manipulation. Its non-linear structure also lets stuck players skip a puzzle and return later. The sources give no sales or player figures. The lesson: build a whole game from one mechanic you love, and let players move past puzzles that stop them.
- 1Pick a mechanicRewind from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time
- 2Isolate itPull it out of its original game
- 3Ask about a whole gameWhat would a game built around it be?
- 4BraidA puzzle platformer about manipulating time
From Mark Brown on finding game ideas
What was said about Braid
Braid grew from one borrowed mechanic: rewind in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Braid began by isolating the rewind from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and asking what a whole game built around it would look like.
Mark Brown offers this as a way to find game ideas, alongside Shovel Knight, which grew from the down thrust in Zelda 2. He found Mind Over Magnet the same way, from the magnetic glove in Zelda: Oracle of Seasons.
Braid lets players skip stuck puzzles and come back later. Braid has an open structure where players can skip levels, play out of order and return later. Mark Brown prefers this to linear puzzle games like Portal and Inside.
His reasoning is that one hard puzzle should not become a wall that stops progress. Stephen's Sausage Roll and Baba Is You work the same way, and he built a hub with doors between puzzles for Mind Over Magnet. Quote: "I'm not keen on giving the player a big brick wall just because they got stumped on one of the puzzles."
How to find amazing game ideas
It began from the rewind mechanic in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.
Braid grew from one borrowed mechanic: rewind in Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. Braid began by isolating the rewind from Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and asking what a whole game built around it would look like.
Mark Brown offers this as a way to find game ideas, alongside Shovel Knight, which grew from the down thrust in Zelda 2. He found Mind Over Magnet the same way, from the magnetic glove in Zelda: Oracle of Seasons.
The stuff no one tells you about game development (Developing 7)
Cited as an example of a non-linear puzzle game that lets players skip a stuck puzzle and return later, a structure Mark prefers.
Braid lets players skip stuck puzzles and come back later. Braid has an open structure where players can skip levels, play out of order and return later. Mark Brown prefers this to linear puzzle games like Portal and Inside.
His reasoning is that one hard puzzle should not become a wall that stops progress. Stephen's Sausage Roll and Baba Is You work the same way, and he built a hub with doors between puzzles for Mind Over Magnet. Quote: "I'm not keen on giving the player a big brick wall just because they got stumped on one of the puzzles."
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