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Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time Offers New Gameplay Mechanic
Ars Technica has a great look at the latest installment in the Ratchet and Clank series, "A Crack in Time." Along with the great looking graphics and same great gameplay, A Crack in Time offers a brand new game mechanic: "time pads." Time pads allow you to make a copy of yourself and move through a series of action, then shift back to "real time" and interact with your past self. "It's a game mechanic that's hard to describe in words, and wrapping your head around it inside the game isn't much easier when it's first described with an example or two. You have to play with it and bend time to your will before you see just how ingenious the whole thing is. The puzzles begin simply and grow harder as the game moves on. The use of time is done very well and elevates what we've played of the game from another platforming experience to something truly special."
I think the indie game Braid was the first game to make this approach of time in games great. And if you develop the game good around that, it's great.
I loved Braid for the fact that even if I made a mistake, I would push the go back in time button instead of repeating quick-save/quick-load all the time when I fail. The levels could be made harder and more unforgiving too because you could always go back in time. And on its philosophy side it made me want to do the same thing for my past relationships, which is part of the story. Great game.
Actually I would like to see this in more games. Just go back in time instead of the quick-save/load bashing. It's a lot more fun too.
I'm pretty sure this has already been done. It's the entire point of the game Braid, and was probably done even before that.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
It's a game mechanic that's hard to describe in words, and wrapping your head around it inside the game isn't much easier when it's first described with an example or two.
Well, here's a handy tutorial then.
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
Does anyone remember Blinx: the timesweeper for XBox that was released at the beginning of the decade? If you're familiar with that game then this game mechanic seems not so new and maybe even a bit more limited (because of the pad requirement, if it is one). I hope it's well implemented because then it has the potential to make for some really awesome puzzles. I'm glad to see they're experimenting with higher dimensional puzzles again.
Sounds like the movie "Next".
In Chronotron, you create a time paradox and have to restart the level.
Just once I'd like someone to call me 'Sir' without adding 'You're making a scene.'
When I read the description, the first thing I thought was that it was the little Cursor*10 flash game. Very cleverly done, it kept me busy for a while.
http://www.nekogames.jp/mt/2008/01/cursor10.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_&_Ted's_Excellent_Video_Game_Adventure
If I have seen further it is by stealing the Intellectual Property of giants.
Cursor x 10 is a little different in that you don't get to choose when it resets, and cursors can't directly interact, but the basic concept has been used by plenty of games. Movies did it first anyway, such as Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, when he reminds himself to hide the keys or setup the bucket later and then the result occurs (although they did create a few paradoxes in that film).
We've been working on this gameplay mechanic for more than a year now with our UT3 mod Prometheus. Here's a link to one of the completed levels to check it out. It's nice to see that others also see this as a new gametype that has a lot of potential. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjU2IcJ1BM We've been making this mod for the latest MakeSomethingUnreal contest and have placed 1st for Phase 2 and 2nd for Phase 3, Phase 4 just closed a month ago and our fingers are crossed.
Uh guys, you mention Braid all the time and it's time-reversal schtick... What about Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time? It's not as prevalent in the game but it was released many years beforehand.
Just putting that out there.
Perl, n. A language spoken by Eskimos.
It's not exactly Interacting with yourself in the past, but its the first game I can recall that had this type of gameplay. It came out long before Chronotron, features the same puzzle elements as Chronotron, and was originally in Japanese.
Will this be as big a hit as Blinx: The Time Sweeper, which had pretty much the same mechanic in a high profile 3d platformer 7 years ago?
Let's not stir that bag of worms...