Playing with Time in Games - Overview

Time was used in some innovative and interesting ways this past year. In this talk (slides to be posted soon) I took a look at new time game paradigms, asking: “How does this mechanic affect the player experience in novel ways?”

Summary:

The Max Payne series (or The Matrix) use mechanics like slowing time to support the feeling of acrobatic maneuvering and control. When does a “superhuman” ability like bullet time begin to detract from the game fiction? Being outside of time is a god-like experience – how can we use it in new ways (ie: not just allowing someone to shoot everyone full of bullets)?

Prince of Persia added the mechanic of rewinding time – which gives the player the opportunity to do things over, and do them right. With rewind, learning through trial and error can be less painful… and the feeling of reward is still there when you succeed. At what point does “do-over” potential become a license for weak or lazy game design? More philosophically: what is the interaction between a game with consequence and rewind abilities?

Viewtiful Joe uses powerups, move combos, speed and slo-mo to create a flexible combat environment. By choosing your abilities and creating “viewtiful” scenes in combat, you rack up points – and develop Joe’s character. This is a new direction for platform characters – but still relies on local control. Why aren’t we seeing more interaction between time and overall narrative? How can we expand to global changes where individual game events are tied into the fiction in interesting ways via time?