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trylks

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Messing with space-time

By trylks 9 Comments

Since Einstein we know space-time is relative and more complex than we thought, and since 3D is not a challenge any more it looks like developers are trying to get the most out of these 4 dimensions. 
 
Time ago Link would travel back and forth in time to solve puzzles in Ocarina of Time, and   Blinx would claim to be a game in 4D. But those were to some extent isolated cases. Now the whole franchise of Portal, defies the whole continuum idea of space to solve puzzles, while what is up and down is not clear if it does even exist in And yet it moves. At the same time, if I may say so, TimeShift had some time manipulation, but this has been much more laureated for  Braid, which requires handling time in quite unique ways for puzzle solution, and Singularity, which takes this to a faster paced full retail action game to some extent, as when compared with downloadable puzzle games.
 
This is a new trend and my impression is that developers are just scratching the surface, most probably we will see a Braid 2 game in not too long time, and probably I forgot about many games in this short blog post, so feel free to correct me or add any other relevant titles, feedback is always welcome.

9 Comments

9 Comments

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shirogane

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Edited By shirogane

Time Splitters Future Perfect had some kinda nice halfgameplay stuff. Especially that one part where like 8 of you show up in the room to defend the one of you who's activating some panel. You actually travel through time as each one of them if i remember correctly.
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Pinworm45

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Edited By Pinworm45
@Jeust said:
" Two words. Chrono Trigger.  ^^  "
As amazing as Chrono Trigger is, it doesn't really count. Time Manipulation isn't exactly a gameplay feature (unless you really count clicking on wormholes to go to different time periods gameplay features, but I don't)
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Danial79

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Edited By Danial79

I love the use of time-mechanics in games. Makes you think about what you're doing just that little bit more :)
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trylks

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Edited By trylks
@TethysOssian: I'm going to add prince of persia because you say it used sand for puzzle mechanics. AFAIK, it was just to be able to fail on a jump without a high penalty (as death or having to do all the way around again, so he would be able to rewind the time) and maybe part of bullet time, but that is not such a big difference and it is more common in games, there is a bunch of FPSs featuring bullet time, fable has a spell for that and probably many more games that I cannot remember have similar things.  Maybe I overused it at fable, but I feel like I've been using that in more games. Maybe secret of evermore would have something similar using alchemy? Not to speak about "entanglement" in puzzle quest, a very powerful spell too. I dunno, just adding pop for the 4D puzzles.
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TethysOssian

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Edited By TethysOssian

The Prince of Persia: Sands of Time series features time-manip with being able to rewind, slow enemies and puzzle mechanics, quickly spurt from enemy to enemy, and some actual time travel in Warrior Within.

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Jeust

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Edited By Jeust
@Trylks: Now that you mention it, i don't know. But the game was indeed thought with the dimension time in mind.    
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trylks

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Edited By trylks
@Jeust: does it have time manipulation? I'll have to ask my sister, she has finished it recently or something like that. Notice that time travel is part of the story in Secret of Evermore but not a gameplay feature, for what I can remember. BTW: SoE should be re-released for the DS.
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Jeust

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Edited By Jeust

Two words. Chrono Trigger.  ^^ 

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trylks

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Edited By trylks

Since Einstein we know space-time is relative and more complex than we thought, and since 3D is not a challenge any more it looks like developers are trying to get the most out of these 4 dimensions. 
 
Time ago Link would travel back and forth in time to solve puzzles in Ocarina of Time, and   Blinx would claim to be a game in 4D. But those were to some extent isolated cases. Now the whole franchise of Portal, defies the whole continuum idea of space to solve puzzles, while what is up and down is not clear if it does even exist in And yet it moves. At the same time, if I may say so, TimeShift had some time manipulation, but this has been much more laureated for  Braid, which requires handling time in quite unique ways for puzzle solution, and Singularity, which takes this to a faster paced full retail action game to some extent, as when compared with downloadable puzzle games.
 
This is a new trend and my impression is that developers are just scratching the surface, most probably we will see a Braid 2 game in not too long time, and probably I forgot about many games in this short blog post, so feel free to correct me or add any other relevant titles, feedback is always welcome.