The beta phase is finally over (and it went very fast and efficient thanks to many people around here )

And now its time for the real thing!

You can check out the 'official' site at http://www.potato-factory.com/temporal -
You will find a direct download link, and a rapidshare mirror if you prefer that instead.

This version (1.00) includes everything - all episodes, all bonus content, and will keep records and replays in the final format, so those will be able to be shared with the rest of the community (outside the boundaries of this site ).

Feel free to share this game with anyone you like (and even with people you don't like too much).

Some random screenshots:
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{"name":"ss2.PNG","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/7\/9\/7957960ae00d4c0e12a59eb4c8c4e42d.png","w":1024,"h":768,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/7\/9\/7957960ae00d4c0e12a59eb4c8c4e42d"}
{"name":"ss3.PNG","src":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/b\/e\/bea2cd46ccdf166b633684931890ac07.png","w":1024,"h":768,"tn":"\/\/djungxnpq2nug.cloudfront.net\/image\/cache\/b\/e\/bea2cd46ccdf166b633684931890ac07"}

I want to thank everybody here again...
And also say that the Allegro library is kinda awesome and fun to work with.

Enjoy!

So this is finally it, the full release.

Thanks Renboy. Time to start playing it again. I'll look forward to uploading my records.

Excellent! Now how about that Linux version?

Looks great, I'll give it a go!

Would be nice to have the option to play in a window. Fullscreen mode kind of blocks everything else on screen, if you know what I mean.

I was reading the other thread and had just decided to try this game out when I saw you made a final release thread. Sweet.

EDIT:

Not sweet. Blue screen of death. Twice, as soon as I start the program. In Vista.

Neil:
Eep
I have no idea what is wrong... I never heard about anybody that it happened to...
I did hear two problems that happened with Vista and the game - one is that the replays directory has a problem being created (fixed that problem), and the other is that alt-tabbing out of the game will make vista show the regular desktop and not Aero.
But in both cases the game worked perfectly fine otherwise...

Do you even get to the loading screen?
If you don't even get there... then all I do before that is just some allegro inits and maybe a file/directory creation or two...

Sorry

It goes into fullscreen mode, then dies and goes into bluescreen.

I've had one problem playing it under wine: the loading screen comes up, gets to 100%, and some of the time the game continues past that point. Other times, it just stays black, and I have to kill the program.

Yeah? Well prepare to be stunned and amazed by my most awesome replay yet! (or, if you like solving puzzles like I do, don't watch the replay and instead just take its mere existence as evidence that getting zero paradoxes is possible; then try to work it out).

As I expected, I'm not even close to beating the time you got in your replay, but I did achieve my goal: no paradoxes.

... actually. I've decided not to attach the replay here. I'm going to post it on the Temporal forum. We might as well give the forums there a bit of life since we are talking about the game and all.

[edit].. there might be a bug in the a.cc forum. I deleted the attachment before posting, but it still seems to be there. When I try to edit the post, it says there is no attachment, but it is still there in the thread. Oh well.

Yeah, that's a known bug.

Doh... I'll actually need to pass much of the game to get to see your replays Karadoc...

sigh Oh well.
Here we go.

Yeah. I wondered if I was a bit premature (or over mature?) for posting that replay on the official forums. It'll probably be weeks before any non-beta players are up to that level of play. Maybe I should have posted something a little lighter to start with.

Excellent game! congratulations!!!

Original and amusing game-play. The graphics and music are also very well done. Gotta love the humor.
One of those games that just make me wonder "Wow, how did he come up with this?"

Yeah, that's why I said that I had cheated a bit. While you found an ingenious and clever solution for your zero paradoxes attempt, I just exploited that little issue.

I had thought of something like that too, but in the end I just started renaming other people's replays as Ep#_Replay9.dat to identify them... until I myself reached up to 9 replays, then I renamed then to 90, 91, etc.. I thought that doing that and keeping note of what user submited which replay was enough.

No problem.

Well, you got me stunned. Now I'm wondering (again) how'd yo do it. Now I'll have to try and figure out myself before watching your replay... you keep me going back to the game and keep playing it. I know a zero paradoxes solution can't be faster than the 1 paradox solution, but it must be a nice challenge to find out, so I'll give it a try.

@Stas B.

It's not hard to see how he thought of the game, the tricky thing is how he actually made it. I would say this game is a work of genius, and I'm still stuck on level... 12 or something, I think. Mostly because I've been working to clear every level with zero paradoxes on the first try.

It's hard for me to see how people come up with cool games, since I completely lack originality.
I USED to have it, but now it's gone.

This game sounds so freaking interesting. Damn you Vista and your blue screen of death!

I can run it fine, so it's not a Vista problem.

That blue screen issue is disturbing...

A friend of mine plays the game using vmware (but without sound..) - it's not related to any problem that he has, he just likes to play like that (maybe THAT's his real problem);
Anyway, if you have vmware by any chance, you might want to try it out... the virtual machine might shield vista from whatever horror happens when you run the game (though somehow I feel that it won't help much...).

Anyway,
Thanks for the cool comments, I did try to polish this game as much as I could - sometimes the fun is in the small details (and the devil).
Stas: you are the first one to say anything about the weird humor I'm glad you liked it (I'm guessing some will find it annoying).

I've been trying to post this game on this site (as a project), with little luck - I think it says 'queued' now, does that mean it will eventually be processed somehow and posted?

Yep. Don't expect it to happen overnight though.

I recently did a system restore, hopefully once I install service pack 1 it will fix the problem. Speaking of which, I need to do that this weekend.

Might be a little bit off-topic, but for the life of me, I can't figure out Episode 10 (In a Tight Spot)... Help?

Much if the satisfaction is from finding a solution yourself, but here is a poke in the RIGHT direction

Yes, all the instances that participate in the 'switch pressing' to open the doors can go from the left side to the right side... you only got two shots at opening each door though - and you need to squeeze 3 instances in there - so just give yourself enough time, and time your instances right.

Hope this helps...

I never had trouble with "giving myself enough time," interestingly. After some tweaking, I developed a pattern where I spawn my instances 2.5 seconds apart: 0:04, 0:06, 0:09…

I was mildly annoyed when doing episode 10 the first time after the beta testing, and I skipped the skylift dialog as soon as it started. Leaving me on the ground with a lift that was not coming back Not that that should ever happen in normal play, though.

Episode 10 is indeed a bit tricky, but some practice should do the trick.

I just finished playing the first eight levels, and it's a very fun game! Probably the best game in Allegro I've seen since Johann Pietz.

@Renboy:
If I'm getting it right, I need all three doors open at the same time, which means I need three instances in there, each one standing on a button. I can get one instance to push the boxes, two more to stand on two buttons, but the third instance (which stands on the third button) always gets stuck since there's no third box.
Call me stupid, but I'm lost.

Here's another small hint for episode 10: Jura gur obkrf ner bcravat gur qbbef gb gur ohggbaf, zber guna bar vafgnapr pna tb guebhtu ng n gvzr.

(edit) I decided to rot13 the hint so that I could encourage you to think about it again before reading it. As Renboy said, it is more rewarding to work it out on your own. Sometimes that may take days, but still more rewarding.

Yes, I can get all three instances inside, but the problem is getting the third one out. There's just not enough time to both press the button and get out of there before the door is closed, locking me forever.

Lbh fubhyq yrnir zber gvzr orgjrra gur gvzr lbh chfu gur svefg cbyloybpx guebhtu, naq gur gvzr lbh chfu gur frpbaq guebhtu.

Just wanted to know if it's my timing that's so bad, or if I'm just doing something entirely stupid and missing a simple, obvious solution.
I guess it's the timing, after all. I have a plan that's supposed to work, but I mess up every time and either the three doors don't get opened at the same time, or I'm getting stuck. I'll just keep trying.

Ok.
Here is the full solution...
If at any point you see that you understand or think that you know what you need to do... just stop reading

Hfr gur svefg vafgnapr gb chfu bayl n fvatyr oybpx vagb gur pbairlbe oryg, gura jnvg hagvy gung obk ernpurq gur raq, naq chfu gur frpbaq oybpx.

Tb onpx va gvzr orsber lbh rira chfurq gur svefg oybpx, naq gura, nf gur obk cnffrf guebhtu gur ornzf, cnff gur qbbef (yrsg gb evtug) hagvy lbh ernpu gur ynfg fjvgpu, naq jnvg ba vg - jnvg hagvy gur frpbaq obk bcraf gur ynfg qbbe (vg fgnlf bcra) naq tb bhg.

Tb onpx va gvzr whfg nsgre lbhe svefg gvzr geniry, sbyybj lbhe byqre vafgnapr gb gur qbbef - urer vf gur gevpxl cneg - jura n qbbe bcraf, OBGU vafgnaprf fubhyq tb guebhtu - vgf abg gung uneq vs lbh whfg xrrc chfuvat evtug.
Cnff gjb qbbef naq fgnaq ba gur zvqqyr fjvgpu - jnvg hagvy gur frpbaq obk bcraf gur qbbe gb gur evtug, naq gura rkvg gur punzoref.

Tb onpx va gvzr ntnva, guvf gvzr nsgre lbhe frpbaq gvzr geniry. Qba'g gel fdhrrmvat va gur punzoref juvyr gur svefg obk vf bcravat gur qbbef, lbh pna jnvg sbe gur frpbaq obk - bapr gung bcraf gur qbbe, dhvpxyl trg vafvqr, naq cerff gur fjvgpu nf ybat nf lbh pna - gura nf vg bcraf gur erfg bs gur qbbef, tb evtug hagvy lbh rkvg nf jryy (abgvpr, lbh jvyy unir gb fdhrrmr 3 vafgnaprf va bar fznyy ebbz ng fbzr cbvag).

Tb onpx va gvzr bar ynfg gvzr, guvf gvzr nsgre lbhe guveq gvzr geniry. Tb evtug gb gur qbbef ba gur evtug, naq jnvg hagvy nyy bgure vafgnaprf ner va cynpr naq bcra gubfr qbbef - jva!

Finally found a way to pass Time Constraint with zero paradoxes!!. Just wanted to let you know that.

I was expecting my solution to be similar to Karadoc ~~'s solution but when I watched Karadoc ~~'s replay, I saw that it is actually very different.

This weekend I replayed the game and I got some nice results, but the idea to Time Constraint didn't want to show up... until today.

I think I figured out a way to pass 10 (tight) with only 2 time travels (and of course, 0 paradoxes)... though a small part of it is extremely hard to perform...

And something completely different -
I'm gathering a list of requests for future versions of the game, you can check it out in the game's forums, and post if you have any more ideas.

I found a pretty easy way to pass Episode 10 with three time travels. But now that you mention it... yeah, it might be possible to do it with only two time travels.

[EDIT:] Or not. When I'd read your post, I thought that it might be possible to take down one of the polyboxes and use it to push one of the switches, but after a quick glimpse, it seems that you can't do that, so now I'm thinking that it's not possible to do it with only two time travels. Is it?.

With 3 travels it is pretty easy yes.
But I just checked, and it's possible with only two as well...
I'll try to make it...

EDIT:

Made it!
An interesting trick!
Replay attached.

Should I watch it?...

Man, I'll give it a try first. But I have to say that I have no idea how you did it... you need three instances to push the switches at the same time and another one to exit the room...

I can give you a poke in the right direction -

Gurer vf ab arrq gb bcra nyy 3 qbbef ng gur fnzr gvzr.

Yup, that's when the 'tight' becomes an understatement

EDIT:

Not so related, I released a new version of the game (1.01) that includes the ability to run the game in windowed mode. (someone around here wanted it as well).
Neil Black: you might want to try it as well, maybe when not acquiring the entire screen, and not messing with the background/foreground abilities of vista, it will run more stable...

Cool. I'm excited about windowed-mode play; changing resolutions often kills my other program dimensions, so this will be a good improvement!

Success! I can has play now!

Seems so simple now. I'll try it tomorrow for sure.

I am sticked at ep 10, but I will try me best before reading some spoilers.

I already passed Episode 10 with two time travels. It was really easy with the tip you posted, Renboy.

Now, what about Episode 12?. You can skip one time travel if you don't rescue the Milp, there's no trick there. The trick would be to pass the Episode and rescue the Milp using only one time travel. I think that it might be possible, but I haven't been able to pull it off yet. If it works, it will be one of the hardest replays to pull off.

I'm looking forward to checking out these new replays and trying the challenges you guys are talking about, but unfortunately my main computer broke a couple of days ago. (Some kind of hardware problem has made the computer somewhat unreliable for months. I'm not sure what the problem is. The most recent blue-screen crash has corrupted the Windows registry. So Windows won't start anymore. I'm not sure if it is worth trying to get it working again; it will probably just break again in a week or so.)

Maybe when I have the time I'll prepare some kind of boot CD or something so that I can copy my Temporal files onto my laptop. The issue is, I'm somewhat addicted to gaming. I usually try not to put games on my laptop, because otherwise I just end up playing games all day at work.

Very nice game! Addicting too!

kenmasters1976:
That sounds very hard indeed... I'll try to look into that tomorrow.

Karadoc:
Sorry to hear about your computer... and now with the windowed version of the game, its more dangerous then ever
Hope you get your things sorted out soon - the record uploading site comes along nicely...

I managed to do X with two time travels. It's kind of funny. While playing through all the levels again for the official release I've been coming up with improved strategies for almost every episode. I remember thinking about episode X and deciding that I couldn't really improve on it. But once I heard here that it can be done with just two time travels it suddenly seemed easy.

I also managed to rescue the milp on XII with just 1 time travel. (replay attached). It was my first attempt at that, so the timing is pretty rough, but it worked. I spent much longer trying to get my 1-travel "Momentum" strategy to work. ... which reminds me, there was something else I wanted to try on that level.

(edit)
Just as I suspected... I did Momentum with 1 time travel again, but in a much easier way.

OK people,
The records site is starting to take form...
But before I link it officially, it would be cool if you could try and upload your records so I can see if the basic framework that exists now is working right.

Notice, you will need version 1.02 for the records to work; I have attached the EXE of that version.
Please backup your original levels.dat before you run the new version, just in case

The main link to the temporary records site is http://www.potato-factory.com/temporal/main.php
There are several other pages, but you'll be able to find your way around via links.

Thanks!!

I managed to rescue the Milp in Episode 12, too, with one time travel. It turned out to be much easier than I originally thought. My original idea involved some serious "precognition abilities" that were hard to pull off, but then I realized that it could be done much more easily.

Replay attached, but seriously, don't watch it if you want to find out a way to do it yourself. Part of the replay value of the game is finding new strategies for every level, so these replays can spoil that.

The part in the replay that involves the second metallic box was part of my original idea and not necessary for the simpler solution, but I decided to keep that.

Oh, and I'll upload my records.

Ah! Thank god for beta testing

The 1.02 version I sent is bad (it doesn't ruin the levels.dat though) - records that people upload overwrite other people's records;
I'll upload a 1.03 version in a moment (and clean up the database again..).

EDIT:

You can get 1.03 from the attachment now.

Seems that when uploading records, the comment field eats the ' character. Not that it is something to worry about.

Also, you will clean up the database when posting the official link, right?.

There is no need to clean up the database again (unless I find a bug) -
If you want to change anything (nickname, comment, email, whatever) just re-upload your records, and all will be overwritten.

It's just that I was wondering if my records are a bit too much for the fresh upload page and instead I should wait before posting them in the official one. But, oh well.

Interesting point...
Maybe I'll clean it one last time before linking it officially

I uploaded an updated version of my records (for testing purposes only, of course), and now I'm getting an error. Don't know if it was my upload what caused it, though.

P.D. Or you were doing some changes, it seems, since the error is gone but the database was "cleaned".

Yup

I have officially changed the main site (use the normal http://www.potato-factory.com/temporal from now on).

Database was cleaned. Now all is well.

OK. Luckily I didn't update my records after you clenaed the database. I'll wait before uploading them this time.

Or I may upload a simpler set of records in the meantime. Like playing the levels the intended way.

I updated my game version to 1.03 and played the game (repeated several levels) and I still can't upload the levels.dat (it says it is invalid).

Anyway, this is one of the best games that has been ever done with Allegro. The music and artwork are amazing. I love the end-of-level music (I even ripped it out of the .dat so I can listen to it. Hope you don't mind).

Very very good work.

I was thinking the same thing. At the moment my intentions are to wait until there are a couple of "everything" records up there before uploading mine.

I'm fine giving you my email address but slightly uncomfortable with it being publicly displayed. I would change the form text to describe that

Thanks Vanneto!
I have no problems with your ripping the music, as long as its for personal use (the music does not belong to me anyway, apart from usage in temporal, so I couldn't give you permission to use it in anything even if I wanted to).
I see you managed to upload your records eventually (you probably had problems since I was in the middle of messing with the site).

CGamesPlay: the email is purely optional, and is indeed displayed publicly if you do decide to write it down...
How do you think I should change the form's text?

Will there be a place to upload the best time replays? Or do you prefer that their methods aren't necessarily shared?;)

I don't know. Probably instead of "optional" I'd say "include your email if you want it displayed with your records".

I figured it was for some sort of notification system

Anatol334: (are you Kong Driver?) - For the time being, the place to upload replays is the potato-factory forums. And you can share anything you wish to share

CGamesPlay: Good idea. I'll be working on changing the main site somewhat... it will probably look more like it looked originally, but with a link to the records site; and I'll definitely add more data and such.

EDIT:

Just updated the main site... Me and CSS don't go along so well, I really hope this looks the same on non firefox/explorer browsers.

The website is looking much better. (I'm using Firefox, btw). Maybe you could have buttons for the download and forum links? I think that'd look better than just text links. And yes, I'm Kong Driver.8-)

Good idea

This Game is a Master Piece of 2D games. I really wouldnt belive that this was made by one single guy. Was it I must really say this is amazing, I am glad it was made :-)

Thanks!!

While I created the game (coding/graphics/content), I had several friends that helped in the music department (a very cool composer dude, and a band), voice overs and most importantly beta testing - which I never realized how important it would be (and I'm not talking about finding bugs, but adding and changing the game to make it more fun).

I hope you enjoy it!
(and I also hope it will be featured on this site at some point...)

This is simply amazing! I have to agree in that this game is a master piece!

Not only it looks pretty and professional, it also is fun and addicting. Even more, dialogs and humor keeps me reading every line the game drops and laugh.

This is the kind of games I'd love to play in my NDS or PSP. Nice job! Congrats and thanks for sharing it!

I'm honored that you compared the game to NDS/PSP games
and that someone actually likes the dialogs

I would actually love to get this game reviewed... so far I tracked down a couple of reviews, in Portuguese and in Polish (google translate did an.. interesting job at translating them, but I sorta got the jist of these).

Renboy,

Although the humor may not translate perfectly into every culture out there, would you find it beneficial to have a few different language ports? Your game doesn't seem to be text-driven, so the instructions displayed on the screen could easily be set to German, Japanese, Portuguese, Polish, etc. That would expand your audience (although you may not know when someone is praising your game, or cursing your game, when they reply in Kanji or Swahili or some other dialect...).

I am in for the French part !