Gears of Time
"Gears of Time" is a project I managed in December, 2008, during one of SupinfoGame's famous "intensive weeks" (five people, one graphic engine, pre-defined theme and constraints, five days to make an entire game with all the documentation - GD, LD, behaviours, etc).
This time, we were to make a
multiplayer game that was
replayable, in a
steampunk environment. After a few meetings we decided to use Flash / Actionscript 3.0, along with classic steampunk ingredients such as Big Ben, gears, umbrellae, etc., to meet with the teachers' expectations.
Title screen
The game would be about two characters on a race to reach Big Ben's core, a huge and magical clock. One would want to go there to get control of it, the other would want to destroy it. The pinnacle of the game is the second level that takes place on gears the player can rotate; of course, if one gear rotates, since all the gears are connected, the whole level configuration changes. There is no solo mode: the game is for two players only.
Level 1 - The streets
Level 2 - The gears of time
Level 3 - The core
Along with the project management and some game design, I took care of the level graphics and player interface. One of our intentions was to recreate pixelated graphics to make the game look like a 16 bit production.
Lastly, during the week, we were given an optional task: the production of several posters for the promotion of the school.
Gears of Time poster
If you want to give the prototype a try, you can play it
here. Since the game was developed in five days in the middle of the development of Knockin'Dead, we never had the time to fully debug it, so if you get stuck, you can
skip the current level by pressing the space bar. Here's a list of known bugs:
- Some collisions in the first level don't work properly. Sometimes you can enter the buildings' walls.
- Some steamclouds supposed to give player bonuses don't do anything.
- The second level's "jaws" traps are not functional and have no effect.
- The third level's trap-doors can create a problem with respawning.
- The third level's hands don't collide with player.
