ZTime (Danger Noodles!) Portable Edition

ZTime (Danger Noodles!) Portable Edition http://imgfil.com/17rwkk

About This Game zTime (Danger Noodles!) is a game about seeing the future.Knowing the future, you can see the paths of yourself and enemies showing where they will be in the next few seconds, visualized in the third dimension beneath the floor. Where your path collides with the path of an enemy, the future danger is highlighted while you still have time to counteract.Classic top down style gameplay becomes a symphony of interweaving 3d paths where future events are highlighted, and players have time to change the outcomes before it's too late.zTime (Danger Noodles!) is in early access for Windows. Play it with Oculus Rift or HTC Vive if you have one. a09c17d780 Title: zTime (Danger Noodles!)Genre: Action, Adventure, Casual, Indie, Early AccessDeveloper:Hazardous SoftwarePublisher:Hazardous SoftwareRelease Date: 24 Oct, 2016 ZTime (Danger Noodles!) Portable Edition First impression was a bit confusing, but the core game is pretty brilliant and is great at bending your mind. Some UI and performance improvements would help the experience a lot, though it's still Early Access so hopefully future patches make it run a bit smoother (I'm on a 970 and it studders a bit at the moment)for 6 bucks it's definitely worth it. This game mechanic is SO CLEVER aaaaaaaaa. You should buy it just to try out the mechanic. I feel like it could be useful in other situations, possibly non-game ones.. TL;DR:It's a neat game from a neat developer in a large, untapped game space. And it's cheap. If you've got a VR set, definitely buy it. If you don't, maybe buy it anyway.Pros:-Novel concept-Mind-tickling-Large problem space, lots of mechanics for the developer to explore-CheapCons:-Simple-Currently (3\/17) doesn't encourage use of the time visualization component enough, which is the bit that should set this game apart-The VR version crashed on me once when switching audio devicesLong, for those with trouble sleeping:Way back in 2011 Achron exposed time as a navigable dimension. The analogy between time and spatial dimensions is stronger in Achron than in any game before and any game since. In Achron time is a freely navigable ~10 minute window that resolutely marches forward, as opposed to the zero-length window we're used to. While the game has (effectively) two spatial dimensions, time acts much like a third. In my utterly amatuer opinion two major wrinkles held Achron back - a sub-par implementation of RTS principles painstakingly perfected in other games, and immense complexity conveyed to the player in an unintuitive way.Imagine if, instead of seeing a typical two-dimensional RTS map, you could only see one column of pixels at a time. You could freely navigate the columns, but you could not see all of them at once. Imagine how much harder it would be to understand the playing field, especially as the game progressed and the field changed. It is similarly difficult to understand time in Achron. The player must select and view each time slice, a single scene does not convey the whole space.zTime takes the time dimension and visualizes it along a spatial axis (the z axis I presume, hey that's probably where the name comes from). You're on a two-dimensional obstacle course, and the paths of you and the obstacles are drawn over time along an axis orthogonal to the obstacle course. They appear as contiguous lines. By aiming your future-position line between the future-position lines of the obstacles, you can avoid them a few seconds in advance.Even when projected onto a two-dimensional screen, the player can take in vastly more information about time when conveyed visually. The VR experience is an ah-hah moment as well. Seeing that third dimension with stereoscopic depth cues dramatically increases the fidelity of the information. zTime conveys time as a first-class navigable dimension in a way that Achron never could, because zTime is a simpler game.Unfortunately, zTime eliminates the mutability of time. The player observes time as a navigable dimension (navigable by the eyes), but can only make changes in the current time slice. It's a little like Guitar Hero et al. in that way. The player can see the future, but must make changes in the present. The past is therefore irrelevant and not shown. The earth-shattering mind-bendy-ness of Achron is notably lacking in zTime.After playing zTime for maybe twenty minutes I had only one "hey that was pretty cool" moment, where I navigated the obstacle course using the spatial representation of time more effectively than I would have used everyday prediction of the movement of the obstacles. In many more cases, trying to utilize the time dimension resulted in my death, where navigating the same obstacles without the fancy lines would have been trivial. All of the obstacles (up to level 11, at least) move in short-period repeating patterns (or just follow you), so they are predictable. When there are many obstacles to keep track of, the time visualization becomes helpful but not necessary. It seems like obstacles with random movements would make the time visualization more rewarding. With unpredictable obstacles, the player would be forced to use the visualization of the future to navigate the maze safely.The developers made an interesting decision when deciding how to visualize the player's future position - your future-position line assumes you will maintain your current acceleration indefinitely. This makes predicting where you will be in three seconds easy, but makes it difficult to make small changes to your trajectory in the x\/y\/time 3D space. When you press a key to make a minor modification, your future line shoots off in that direction, and you must release the key to see where you will end up without input. It becomes a guess-and-check game, and you only have a few seconds. Using the Vive controllers makes this a bit easier because it has a high-resolution trackpad for movement, instead of the measly four keys on your keyboard.Other minor gripes:-there should be an obvious visual cue in future-position lines to indicate that an object hit and bounced off of a wall. The change in direction from the bounce is easy to miss-viewport zoom is unbounded, which is amusing-on the Vive controllers, the trackpad is used to navigate menus, but the trigger is used to click. The more common convention is to use the trackpad to click if you're using the trackpad to navigateFinal thought:Personally, I think the developer missed an opportunity to pare down and polish Achron. Take that same time-bending engine, incorporate it into a simpler RTS built on a generic game engine, and you've got yourself a compelling modern game with all that mind-blasting goodness.. TL;DR:It's a neat game from a neat developer in a large, untapped game space. And it's cheap. If you've got a VR set, definitely buy it. If you don't, maybe buy it anyway.Pros:-Novel concept-Mind-tickling-Large problem space, lots of mechanics for the developer to explore-CheapCons:-Simple-Currently (3\/17) doesn't encourage use of the time visualization component enough, which is the bit that should set this game apart-The VR version crashed on me once when switching audio devicesLong, for those with trouble sleeping:Way back in 2011 Achron exposed time as a navigable dimension. The analogy between time and spatial dimensions is stronger in Achron than in any game before and any game since. In Achron time is a freely navigable ~10 minute window that resolutely marches forward, as opposed to the zero-length window we're used to. While the game has (effectively) two spatial dimensions, time acts much like a third. In my utterly amatuer opinion two major wrinkles held Achron back - a sub-par implementation of RTS principles painstakingly perfected in other games, and immense complexity conveyed to the player in an unintuitive way.Imagine if, instead of seeing a typical two-dimensional RTS map, you could only see one column of pixels at a time. You could freely navigate the columns, but you could not see all of them at once. Imagine how much harder it would be to understand the playing field, especially as the game progressed and the field changed. It is similarly difficult to understand time in Achron. The player must select and view each time slice, a single scene does not convey the whole space.zTime takes the time dimension and visualizes it along a spatial axis (the z axis I presume, hey that's probably where the name comes from). You're on a two-dimensional obstacle course, and the paths of you and the obstacles are drawn over time along an axis orthogonal to the obstacle course. They appear as contiguous lines. By aiming your future-position line between the future-position lines of the obstacles, you can avoid them a few seconds in advance.Even when projected onto a two-dimensional screen, the player can take in vastly more information about time when conveyed visually. The VR experience is an ah-hah moment as well. Seeing that third dimension with stereoscopic depth cues dramatically increases the fidelity of the information. zTime conveys time as a first-class navigable dimension in a way that Achron never could, because zTime is a simpler game.Unfortunately, zTime eliminates the mutability of time. The player observes time as a navigable dimension (navigable by the eyes), but can only make changes in the current time slice. It's a little like Guitar Hero et al. in that way. The player can see the future, but must make changes in the present. The past is therefore irrelevant and not shown. The earth-shattering mind-bendy-ness of Achron is notably lacking in zTime.After playing zTime for maybe twenty minutes I had only one "hey that was pretty cool" moment, where I navigated the obstacle course using the spatial representation of time more effectively than I would have used everyday prediction of the movement of the obstacles. In many more cases, trying to utilize the time dimension resulted in my death, where navigating the same obstacles without the fancy lines would have been trivial. All of the obstacles (up to level 11, at least) move in short-period repeating patterns (or just follow you), so they are predictable. When there are many obstacles to keep track of, the time visualization becomes helpful but not necessary. It seems like obstacles with random movements would make the time visualization more rewarding. With unpredictable obstacles, the player would be forced to use the visualization of the future to navigate the maze safely.The developers made an interesting decision when deciding how to visualize the player's future position - your future-position line assumes you will maintain your current acceleration indefinitely. This makes predicting where you will be in three seconds easy, but makes it difficult to make small changes to your trajectory in the x\/y\/time 3D space. When you press a key to make a minor modification, your future line shoots off in that direction, and you must release the key to see where you will end up without input. It becomes a guess-and-check game, and you only have a few seconds. Using the Vive controllers makes this a bit easier because it has a high-resolution trackpad for movement, instead of the measly four keys on your keyboard.Other minor gripes:-there should be an obvious visual cue in future-position lines to indicate that an object hit and bounced off of a wall. The change in direction from the bounce is easy to miss-viewport zoom is unbounded, which is amusing-on the Vive controllers, the trackpad is used to navigate menus, but the trigger is used to click. The more common convention is to use the trackpad to click if you're using the trackpad to navigateFinal thought:Personally, I think the developer missed an opportunity to pare down and polish Achron. Take that same time-bending engine, incorporate it into a simpler RTS built on a generic game engine, and you've got yourself a compelling modern game with all that mind-blasting goodness.. THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE FIRST RELEASE(EARLY ACCESS) OF THE GAME:ZTime is a cute little arcade game with a very simple concept. Go around a level avoiding enemies and navigating rooms while searching for the exit. If you get hit you lose a life. If you get to 0 lives, you lose. You can pick up extra lives. But what makes it unique is that you can see your future your paths and the enemies future paths. Where they intersect is a red area.This changes the entire game. You no longer have to guess and react to enemies, but are able to plan ahead and play around enemy patterns. This also gives you a much better indiction if your moving in the right direction. Your player has a bit of momentum so you cannot just turn around and speed away from oncoming enemies quickly, you have to use your future knowledge to plan ahead.The game has numerous little bugs, which is to be expected for an early access game, but its a fun game to play for ten minute at a time if you have a little time to kill and want a new take on an old arcade concept.I did not play this game in VR so have no comments about it.. This game mechanic is SO CLEVER aaaaaaaaa. You should buy it just to try out the mechanic. I feel like it could be useful in other situations, possibly non-game ones.. THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE FIRST RELEASE(EARLY ACCESS) OF THE GAME:ZTime is a cute little arcade game with a very simple concept. Go around a level avoiding enemies and navigating rooms while searching for the exit. If you get hit you lose a life. If you get to 0 lives, you lose. You can pick up extra lives. But what makes it unique is that you can see your future your paths and the enemies future paths. Where they intersect is a red area.This changes the entire game. You no longer have to guess and react to enemies, but are able to plan ahead and play around enemy patterns. This also gives you a much better indiction if your moving in the right direction. Your player has a bit of momentum so you cannot just turn around and speed away from oncoming enemies quickly, you have to use your future knowledge to plan ahead.The game has numerous little bugs, which is to be expected for an early access game, but its a fun game to play for ten minute at a time if you have a little time to kill and want a new take on an old arcade concept.I did not play this game in VR so have no comments about it.. First impression was a bit confusing, but the core game is pretty brilliant and is great at bending your mind. Some UI and performance improvements would help the experience a lot, though it's still Early Access so hopefully future patches make it run a bit smoother (I'm on a 970 and it studders a bit at the moment)for 6 bucks it's definitely worth it. This game mechanic is SO CLEVER aaaaaaaaa. You should buy it just to try out the mechanic. I feel like it could be useful in other situations, possibly non-game ones.. THIS IS A REVIEW FOR THE FIRST RELEASE(EARLY ACCESS) OF THE GAME:ZTime is a cute little arcade game with a very simple concept. Go around a level avoiding enemies and navigating rooms while searching for the exit. If you get hit you lose a life. If you get to 0 lives, you lose. You can pick up extra lives. But what makes it unique is that you can see your future your paths and the enemies future paths. Where they intersect is a red area.This changes the entire game. You no longer have to guess and react to enemies, but are able to plan ahead and play around enemy patterns. This also gives you a much better indiction if your moving in the right direction. Your player has a bit of momentum so you cannot just turn around and speed away from oncoming enemies quickly, you have to use your future knowledge to plan ahead.The game has numerous little bugs, which is to be expected for an early access game, but its a fun game to play for ten minute at a time if you have a little time to kill and want a new take on an old arcade concept.I did not play this game in VR so have no comments about it.