Overview
Seven Minutes is a freeware short-form indie game created for Cactus' Winter Competition. The game was notably produced with the freeware drag-and-drop software
Game Maker.
Story
In Seven Minutes, players take the role of an unknown cube who, in defiance of God's warning, seeks knowledge by touching the orb of knowledge. As punishment God will destroy the universe in Seven Minutes. With this simple premise, Seven Minutes asks the question: What would you do with your last seven minutes?
The game contains three potential endings although only one is the "correct" one that yields the game's credits. So will you stand by and die lying down or will you seek the ultimate truth? Is there even or an ultimate truth or is there nothing really out there?
Gameplay
Seven Minutes is a frame-by-frame, 2D, side-scrolling platformer with a seven minute time limit. Although there are two unique ways of playing Seven Minutes, the most obvious and traditional method is by progressing through the game's different frames by determining (through experimentation) the solution as to where to exit the current frame as well as determining a strategy to cope with each particular frame's properties.
The platforming challenges presented in each frame do two interesting things. First of all, they help to reinforce the game's themes by forcing a patient and cautious but still technically challenging style of play. Second, the frames require the player to overcome challenges that are generally believed to be negative qualities of the platforming genre. These include randomly disappearing platformers and hidden timing challenges as well as singular routes through levels. Directly or indirectly these design flaws lead the the player colliding with spikes and dying. Thus the gameplay is that of a hardcore platformer via the intensification of platforming design flaws.
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