Welcome to the Time Crystal - Demo v2

Object:
The object of this game is a really simple concept to grasp. All you need to do is get out.

To do this, you need to navigate your way through the rooms, finding 'clues' to the two digit code that will let you out. To navigate, simply click on one of the doors, and you will be taken through to the next room, to go backwards, click on the 'Back' link in the bottom left of the window. Clicking on any object, will give you a closer look, and a possible hint to its meaning. When you want to give the code a try, pop it in the box in the bottom right of the window, and try it. If you are correct, you will be let out, and get your time that it took you to do it. If you get it wrong, you can either leave, or go back and try again, but your previous attempt's time clock is still running...


Requirements:
The game has been designed for Internet Explorer v6 and above. Although it has also been tested and should work as well in FireFox v3 and above (see known issues below). Others may work, I just haven't tested them. You may need to let pop ups work, although this shouldn't stop the game running... famous last words.


Known Issues:
FireFox won't open a window as expected from the java scripts used, nor will it display any scene transitions correctly, and although this doesn't show the game off to its best, it is still completely playable.


Hints:
Remember that Google is your friend. You may find a clue that you know nothing about, but a quick search should yield a result for you, you just need to know what to search for.

There are only 3 objects to find in this demo... (Thought I ought to tell you this, as you could conceivably spend hours wandering through endless looping rooms if you haven't got the answer).


About the room sets:



The sets for this game are loosely based on the 1997 movie called the Cube Directed by Vincenzo Natali, that spawned a subsequent sequel (Cube 2: Hypercube - 2002) and a later prequel (Cube Zero - 2004). It remains firmly in the cult genre.


About the Game:
The game code has been written to see if a passable game could be made in PHP, without using a database or a lot of unnecessary files, nor does it store any 'cookies' on your PC. The game itself comprises of just 8 files, all less than 4.3Kb in size. It pulls a lot of design elements from CSS, and some functionality and special effects using Java. Some information is passed between pages (rooms) by the URL, others are session based, but nothing is stored about you or your PC here.

The original concept was to use this as a learning resource, with clues distributed throughout the game area. The idea being after the game, the player has actually learned something about the topic. This was to be mainly aimed at kids....

Oh... and whilst areas of the game may be 'dark' there's no blood, guts and guns! (and I make no apologies for this).


What's new?
Version 1, was a very basic concept, and was barely above a text adventure of old...
Version 2, has had the code completely re-written from the previous version, to add session variable functionality. Some transition effects remain, as do the room graphics (as I have lost the original POV code for them...backups .. anyone?!?!). The 3 puzzles in this demo are all new.


What's to do?
There are always things I'd like to do...
At the moment, I want to iron out a few niggles I have with this code. I want to make more use of session varaiables, and remove the ones passing between pages hanging off the back of the URL (I don't like the look ... hence the game opens in a seperate window without address bar). Another thing I'd like to do is create a back-end creator page, so all the puzzles etc.. can be added using a web page.

I'm also toying with the idea of producing this as an Ajax type app.... but to be honest, the variables are only growing as I add functionality, so I may end up having to use a database if I want this to get any better (which kind of goes against what I was trying to achieve in the first place...).

I'm also looking into adding some more interaction into the puzzles, so that maybe they have to be solved, to earn credits... 'x' number of credits buys your way out.

As a demo though it does it's job.


I hope you enjoy trying this demo version.


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