Penny Arcade - Comic - Potential Thingness

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Penny Arcade - Comic - Potential Thingness

Videogaming-related online strip by Mike Krahulik and Jerry Holkins. Includes news and commentary.

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Trygyl

As a kid, my brother and I used a ring of small stones (usually no more than the size of a child's hand) to denote where we buried things, essentially treasure spots with less red paint. Maybe a similar thing to here?

Mister Kojak

That art is FANTASTIC.

FriendFive

I am dumb; I don't get it. Someone, please 'splain.

Aegeri

They are playing "The Witness", which is a very devious puzzle game that gives you clues entirely through visual aids or references.

identeregare

SUDDEN ART SHIFT

Tofystedeth

Aegeri wrote: »

They are playing "The Witness", which is a very devious puzzle game that gives you clues entirely through visual aids or references.

Possibly also a "Forest for the trees" joke since the last panel is a giant shining thing on a hill they seem to be ignoring.

YoungFrey

For reference, this is The Witness.

Aegeri

Also the art in this comic is amazingly good. Really love this one.

Enlong

YoungFrey wrote: »

For reference, this is The Witness.

Is that just Myst isle?

Aegeri

Enlong wrote: »

YoungFrey wrote: »

For reference, this is The Witness.

Is that just Myst isle?

No, it's more like a series of mazes. On an Island.

YoungFrey

Enlong wrote: »

YoungFrey wrote: »

For reference, this is The Witness.

Is that just Myst isle?

Not literally, no. And I'll admit here I never played Myst (read two of the books). From what I know of Myst, The Witness isn't really like it. Sure you roam an abandoned island solving puzzles and it's kind of hard to do that and not reference Myst, but in the Witness they are all maze puzzles (solved in myriad ways). I think it has more in common with The Talos Principle than Myst, but The Witness does have an open world Talos Principle didn't really have.

sandalwood

This made me so happy, haha

Raiden333

I'm about 250 puzzles into The Witness and I cannot possibly gush enough about how much I love it.

davec727

Literally created a forum account just so I could say how ridiculously amazing this art is. I've read 'em all, and I've never just stopped and stared at a regular old three-panel like this before. Striking.

Oh, also, I will be getting The Witness now.

forty

The art in this comic is mimicking the art in The Witness, which is why it looks so good.

fightinfilipino

Aegeri wrote: »

They are playing "The Witness", which is a very devious puzzle game that gives you clues entirely through visual aids or references.

this also pretty much applies to most RPGs and adventure games too. i can't count how many times i've investigated weird rocks in a Zelda game because they could mark a secret entrance or treasure or something.

spoiler warning: 75% of the time it's just rocks.

darleysam

forty wrote: »

The art in this comic is mimicking the art in The Witness, which is why it looks so good.

I mean, the artist here is also somewhat responsible. I could try mimicking the art of The Witness and it probably wouldn't entice such praise.

Bobart Robsky

The game is beautiful and all about perspective. Here is an example, a shot of the shore then flipped.

Edit: Young Frey informed me that my images were a little big for the forum, as per the rules I've made a handy-dandy link to replace them: http://imgur.com/a/gtHGy

forty

darleysam wrote: »

forty wrote: »

The art in this comic is mimicking the art in The Witness, which is why it looks so good.

I mean, the artist here is also somewhat responsible. I could try mimicking the art of The Witness and it probably wouldn't entice such praise.

I wasn't disparaging Mike so much as saying, "The Witness is pretty."

Edit: That said, if you or I tried mimicking the art, it would end up in failed mimicry. Maybe I should have more precisely stated it as: The art in this comic is successfully mimicking the art in The Witness, which is why it looks so good.

Dhalphir

I am personally going to wait for the Witness to have proper Oculus Rift/Vive support, so that I can actually visit the island instead of merely peer through the window. This game was freaking made for virtual reality.

darleysam

forty wrote: »

darleysam wrote: »

forty wrote: »

The art in this comic is mimicking the art in The Witness, which is why it looks so good.

I mean, the artist here is also somewhat responsible. I could try mimicking the art of The Witness and it probably wouldn't entice such praise.

I wasn't disparaging Mike so much as saying, "The Witness is pretty."

Edit: That said, if you or I tried mimicking the art, it would end up in failed mimicry. Maybe I should have more precisely stated it as: The art in this comic is successfully mimicking the art in The Witness, which is why it looks so good.

Sorry, yeah I couldn't tell what approach you were taking with that. Apologies!

Dhalphir wrote: »

I am personally going to wait for the Witness to have proper Oculus Rift/Vive support, so that I can actually visit the island instead of merely peer through the window. This game was freaking made for virtual reality.

The speed at which I'm going, I'm probably pretty safe in still having most of the game to play when mine, and VR support, arrives.

WordLust

The Witness is really great. I've been pouring the hours into it every night I go home since it came out. I think the strip might be more difficult to appreciate if you haven't actually played The Witness yet, since there isn't really anything quite like it. Like, sure, there are adventure games and RPGs where there are rocks arranged in little patterns as a way of hinting that maybe there is a secret there, and maybe that causes you to see "hints" where there aren't any. That is SORT of what The Witness is like, but it's much much different.

It would be more like... imagine playing a game and you see a formation of rocks. It looks like it might be interesting or might mean something, but EVERYTHING looks like it might mean something. But you can't actually interact with the rocks in any way. But there are these little computers you can draw lines on. Maybe the rocks are trying to tell you how you are supposed to draw the line..??? Or maybe they're telling you how to NOT draw the line...??? Maybe the rocks ARE the line??? But only if you draw another line first and then look at from the second floor window of that house back there...??? WHAT DO THE ROCKS MEAN?!?!? *three hours later* Oh, they didn't mean anything. They're just rocks arranged in a pretty way.

GrassHopper

I'll have what @WordLust is having

WordLust

GrassHopper wrote: »

I'll have what @WordLust is having

Have some The Witness!

Kherus

I've noticed that the pure quality of the art is hitting Disney-Like standards lately, (not to be disparaging, but to praise that each panel looks like a screenshot from a Disney movie complete with colour schemes ripped from Fantasia or something complete with shadow and expression) To add to that the fact that their comedy hasn't fallen short in all this time leads me to ask: when will we see a penny arcade animated feature? Like cyanide and happiness but, you know, with good looking drawings. I see this as a natural evolution of penny arcade when they decide to slow down. Once or twice a year they release an animated movie or short film in their dotage, reaping in even more merchandising like spaceball's Yoghurt predicted and getting ridiculously wealthy as is their due. Just don't sell out to Disney like Lucas did guys, Star Wars may have gotten better but it put a price on George's soul. (Although I guess if you had to put a price on souls, several billion ain't too shabby)