Epochal: Achron, Meta-Time Strategy

News Reader · Post by **News Reader** » March 27th, 2009, 16:00

Epochal: Achron, Meta-Time Strategy
Things you can't do in an RTS generally include: attacking your opponent in the past, undoing the future actions of your units, building things in the future and sending the back to a previous point in a game. These are all things you can do in Achron. The developers, who unveiled their idea at the [...]

Author: Jim Rossignol
Category: RockPaperShotgun Achron hazardous software
Publish Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2009 13:30:36 +0000

Things you can't do in an RTS generally include: attacking your opponent in the past, undoing the future actions of your units, building things in the future and sending the back to a previous point in a game. These are all things you can do in Achron. The developers, who unveiled their idea at the 2009 GDC Experimental Gameplay Sessions explain it thus: "Achron is the world's first meta-time strategy game, a real-time strategy game where players and units can jump to and play at different times simultaneously and independently." It's a game that takes the impossible notions of cross-time war that we see juggled so cleverly in time-travel science fiction, and turns them into a practical gaming model. This is seriously smart game design, and, potentially, it provides a model for "real-time" time travel in all kinds of games, not just strategy games. An explanatory trailer and press release await you below, and believe me, you are going to want to watch this.

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buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » March 27th, 2009, 16:40

Fuck a doodle do.

Now that's not only an original idea, but a fucking immense one as well.

I hope it turns out well.

Shada · Post by **Shada** » March 27th, 2009, 16:51

haha, that sure isn't confusing at all.

Post by **deject** » March 27th, 2009, 17:02

that's really cool, but I think my brain would melt if I played it.

Post by **HereComesPete** » March 27th, 2009, 23:35

I'm shit at normal rts, adding the element of undoing stupid mistakes is good, but I'll be dead from a future uber thing sent back by joose or grimmie or kv before I can even do that.

Sounds like too much head think for me.

Post by **Joose** » March 27th, 2009, 23:51

I think my brain just fell out my ears.

That must mean that I play this in the future.

God, I want to play this yesterday!

Kieron Gillen wrote:I just imagine the end of Bill and Ted 2 with this.

Awesome.

buzzmong · Post by **buzzmong** » March 27th, 2009, 23:56

I don't find it too confusing.

It also appeals to me as a people watcher, because I can almost guarantee some people will only focus on the past and the current present (before the update) with no focus on the future present, and visa versa.

Baliame · Post by **Baliame** » March 28th, 2009, 6:10

WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT WANT

Post by **FatherJack** » March 28th, 2009, 23:51

There's a third video on their site, which is quite interesting, too - shows you chronofragging yourself if you time jump to where a unit's already standing.

It also says it's possible for 'future' incarnations of troops to fight alongside their past ones, although he seemed to deliberately avoid doing this in the first vid.

He says something about 'the originals must return to the gate so they can be sent back in the future', something they presumably can't do if they've been destroyed in the past.

Presumably this means any 'future' (from their perspective) iterations of themselves then cease to exist, which would make for perplexing gameplay if it weren't for those time waves which take a while to propogate.

It's a nice trick which fixes most of the temporal paradoxes I thought of right away, kind of like how Marty only starts to fade away in Back to the Future rather than immediately wink out of existence.

Also the game's 'present' ticks along at a normal pace, but while it's unclear whether in the second vid he travels further forward in time than where the game's 'present' is, there's no example of troops being sent forward in time.

Fascinating stuff. Want.

shot2bits · Post by **shot2bits** » March 29th, 2009, 18:23

ive always been intruiged by the manipulation of time and the paradoxes that are a result of it. the multiplayer in this especially interests me. ill be keeping a close eye on this one

oh and DO WANT!!!!111oneone

Sol · Post by **Sol** » March 29th, 2009, 20:25

I think this could quite easily give me a nosebleed