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Comment by sdkgames | Hacker News Reader

Jonathan Blow has been a huge influence on (independent) game developers. However, The Witness contains puzzles that are impossible for colorblind and hearing impaired people. I'm not sure I can classify this as "a thesis on learning/pedagogy, motivation/reward, truth seeking and self fulfilment."

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I don't understand what you mean. There are two sets of puzzles that are inaccessible so that means that all of it is invalid?

Also, are you confusing "thesis" with "masterclass"? I'm not saying that The Witness is the best at anything it does by any measure - I'm just saying that it's an examination of those themes in a way that most puzzle games aren't.

I'm colorblind. Which means my defects in color vision are a thing I deal with regularly. I'm entirely uninterested in the idea lack of colorblind accessibility could torpedo the themes of the game.

In this game - much like in life - a section was inaccessible to me but was not blocking overall progress. I still got to experience the whole.

FWIW: I went to that section of the game, figured out the gimmick, bailed, and was still excited to go play all the other sections. Figured I'd watch the spoilers on youtube if I cared.

Jon has talked about that, and IIRC his assessment is that any accessibility measure applied to those puzzles would trivialize them and make them meaningless, and if you're going to do that then you may as well just look up a walkthrough to bypass them. Which is what he recommends anyone in that situation do if they really want 100% completion.

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