These PAX East impressions as described by Rakush Sarkari are subjective. But it's a pretty good opinion anyways.
Super T.I.M.E Force
was already a chaotic, fun, and innovative game when it was being shown at PAX
East 2012. There was rarely a moment over the weekend that their booth was
empty; all those 'Best of Show' awards would suggest why.
Capybara Games should’ve been satisfied with the reaction
they had already gotten, but their pursuit of a better game meant otherwise. At
PAX East 2013, while co-hosting a booth with Double Fine Productions, players had more control over the game.
The initial build of the game saw a player take on the role
of heroes inspired by retro icons in the year, “198X.” Inspirations came from
past video games, television shows and even musicians.
“The game used to be about playing, dying, rewinding back to
the start and playing alongside all of your past lives,” said Nathan Vella,
co-founder of Capy.
When a player died, he would be taken back to the beginning
of the stage, but that character’s last run will be kept intact as a recording,
until the point of death. Preventing the recording from dying gives you a check
point.
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| Painting by Steve Courtney |
“From a player perspective, and from a purely design
perspective,” Vella says, “it was not something that we were happy with.”
In the latest build, the player can press the B button at
any point to rewind back to any part of the stage, and re-spawn with a
character of their own choosing. This, along with the addition of a 60-second
time limit, adds a unique wrinkle to an already chaotic game.
“There are a lot of times when you’re going to waste a whole
bunch of time and realize, ‘holy crap, I don’t have enough time to finish the
level,’” he says.
The player can now rewind back, using a mechanic called, “Time
Out,” to the very beginning and optimize their play-through accordingly. The
extra control over the rewinding mechanic also allows the player to pick a
specific hero for certain tasks.
Not every hero will be immediately available however, as it
will be up to the players to rescue the other playable characters to unlock
them. Just as players had to rescue Jef Leppard in the previous demo, Capybara
Games have introduced a new hero that needs saving; Lou Don Jim, the
laser-sword knight.
“Each one of the
characters is mostly like, trying to think of interesting combinations,” Vella
stated in terms of game-play.
“But the other part is, what would be hilarious?”
Lou Don Jim is lazy, unshaven and has bad hair. He also
wears a bath robe. Along with Zackasaurus, inspired by Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles, Jef Leppard and a host of other characters, it seems like Capybara
Games is on the right track with that goal.
Vella says there are still other T.I.M.E Warriors that have
yet to be revealed, along with different eras, through which those new
characters can be rescued.
The team is also currently working to ensure that the game
has value upon multiple playthroughs. The plan is to allow the player to go
back to previous levels to regain lives. This means that past sessions will be
recorded and left intact for the player to work with.
Despite the big changes made to the game, Super T.I.M.E Force is still about the
tones and the jokes in the game.
The demo level tasks the T.I.M.E Warriors with the task of
altering history so that plug-ins do not exist, allowing Colonel Repeatski to
watch a cat video sent to him on, “the internets.”
Don’t worry though, Vella says we will still play as, “time-travelling
badasses.”
The game is slated to be released sometime late in 2013, and
is being published by Microsoft for the XBox Live Arcade.
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