Chronotron

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Chronotron
Chronotron-game-main-menu.png
The main menu for Chronotron
Developer(s) Scarybug Games [1]
Publisher(s) Scarybug Games [1] [2]
Designer(s) Joe Rheaume [1]
Artist(s) Bogdan Ene [1]
Composer(s) Helge Krabye [2]
Platform(s) Adobe Flash [3]
ReleaseMay 2008 [4]
Genre(s) Puzzle, platformer
Mode(s) Single-player

Chronotron is a Flash video game developed by Scarybug Games. [5] Chronotron launched on the Kongregate website in May 2008. [6] It was selected as one of the ten games for PAX 10 2008 out of more than eighty entries. [1] Reviewers have considered the game innovative. [7] The protagonist is a robot named Chronotron who travels back in time to cooperate with himself. [3] The main character must fetch an item before moving to the next room. [1] Solving the puzzles requires sending the main character back in time to coordinate with previous selves. [1] The gameplay requires thinking ahead. [3] Chronotron records the control input, not the protagonist's position. [8] As a result, actions by later selves can interfere with earlier selves. [8] A number of web sites have licensed Chronotron, including Kongregate and MTV's AddictingGames. [8] It was featured on the front page of Kongregate. [4] The game appears on over 2,000 web sites [4] and has been played more than seven million times. [4] The developer splits advertising revenue evenly with Kongregate and made more than $1,000 in 2008. [6] The developer had made nearly $15,000 in profits from the game in 2008. [4]

Contents

Development

Chronotron was developed by Madison, Wisconsin-based [3] Scarybug Games, which consists of a single person: Joe Rheaume. [3] [5] Rheaume was the sole developer of Chronotron. [8] Development for Chronotron took seven months. [1] Chronotron's sponsorship support was handled through FlashGameLicense.com. [1] Interest in sponsoring Chronotron allowed Scarybug Games to hire Romanian artist Bogdan Ene to replace the graphics. [1] [4] Royalty free music was purchased for the game. [5] The music's author is Helge Krabye. [2] Sound effects came from the Freesound Project. [2]

Chronotron's time travel elements was inspired by advertising for the Xbox game Blinx: The Time Sweeper [1] and an article on Braid . [1] [8] Rheaume claims to not have played Blinx. [1] Chronotron was released before the release of Braid. [9] Rheaume claims to have "thought of the idea of recording input and going back looping on yourself." [8] Rheaume wanted there to be no limit on how many times you could travel back in time. [8] The game contains references to time travel stories including Back to the Future , Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure , and Doctor Who . [1] The puzzle platformer elements were inspired by The Lost Vikings . [1] Rheaume notes the similarity between cooperating with your self to the cooperation between the three Vikings in The Lost Vikings. [8] Puzzle pacing, with later puzzles building on what is learned earlier, was inspired by Portal . [1] Portal also inspired the use of humorous signs in game as hints. [1]

Rheaume is a Flash developer for his day job. [3] Chronotron was built as a hobby. [3] As a hobby, Rheaume can develop ideas which don't fit the ideas, time constraints, and budgets of his regular job's client projects. [3] Chronotron was developed because Rheaume thought it would be fun to play. [1] Rheaume developed it further because he "thought it really had legs." [8] Interest from other people kept Rheaume going. [8]

The name of the game and the protagonist comes from "chrono" for "time" and "tron" as a generic term for "robot." [3]

Reception

Screenshot of the game Chronotron scfeenshot.jpg
Screenshot of the game

The game was selected as one of the ten games for the prestigious PAX 10 in 2008. [3]

Joe Rheaume was an invited guest to show Chronotron to the Penny Arcade Expo in 2008 as part of the PAX 10. [1] Chronotron was selected as one of ten games from over eighty submitted. [1] Chronotron is the only browser-based Flash game in the PAX 10 2008. [3]

Chronotron has been described as "a very deep, complex game involving time travel and past selves." [5] Game designer Greg Costikyan described Chronotron as "a simple, satisfying, and enjoyable exploration of the effects of one novel mechanic on a well-established form." [10] A review on Jay Is Games described Chronotron as "a platform puzzler with a really innovative (and addictive) twist." [7] The same review said of the "rewind mechanic", "the concept is refined—and executed almost to perfection." [7] A reviewer on Rock, Paper, Shotgun said "Certainly I feel worn out after wrapping my head around a few levels, but also satisfied and pleased — you really should go play this." [9] Kotaku called it "a hell of a fun flash game." [11] Gawker.com rated Chronotron "Pretty pretty good" and said "If you loved Portal, you'll like this enough for two lunch breaks." [12] Jamie Fristrom of Torpex Games, a fellow honoree at the PAX 10, said, "Chronotron is actually my favorite of the PAX 10." [13] A GameCyte author "wholeheartedly recommend[ed] Chronotron to any and all puzzle fans." [14] Hecklerspray described Chronotron as "incredible" and "so impressively playable that it'll probably kill your productivity for the day stone dead." [15]

The developer believes the "biggest" and "fairest criticism" are problems with synchronizing robots' actions between time loops. [5]

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References

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  2. 1 2 3 4 Chronotron credits screen. "Play Chronotron, a free online game on Kongregate". Kongregate. May 6, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 The PAX 10: Chronotron (embedded Flash video) (Television production). G4 Media, Inc. August 29, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2008. (Excerpted from the television program X-Play.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Alesia, Tom (October 26, 2008). "Madison man has hit with Internet game". Wisconsin State Journal . Madison, Wisconsin: Capital Newspapers. pp. A1. Archived from the original on October 27, 2008. Archived from here on October 26, 2008.
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  6. 1 2 Lawton, Christopher (October 2, 2008). "Notes From the Underground: Indie Videogames Come of Age". The Wall Street Journal . Dow Jones & Company, Inc. Archived from the original on October 5, 2008. Retrieved October 2, 2008.
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  10. ↑ Costikyan, Greg; costik (July 18, 2008). "Chronotron: Platform Puzzler with Time Travel". Play This Thing!. Manifesto Games, Inc. Archived from the original on August 28, 2008. Retrieved August 29, 2008.
  11. ↑ Good, Owen (June 28, 2008). "Back to the Present with Chronotron". Kotaku . Gawker Media. Archived from the original on August 26, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  12. ↑ Douglas, Nick (May 12, 2008). "Lunchtime Flash Game: Chronotron". Gawker.com . Gawker Media. Archived from the original on July 24, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  13. ↑ Fristrom, Jamie (September 1, 2008). "Notes on PAX and the PAX 10". GameDevBlog. Jamie Fristrom. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  14. ↑ Hollister, Sean (May 8, 2008). "Chronotron's Time-Traveling Puzzles are Made Of Win". GameCyte. GameCyte / Panteon Labs, LLC. Archived from the original on September 7, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
  15. ↑ Heritage, Stuart (May 16, 2008). "SLACKERJACK - Chronotron". Hecklerspray. Archived from the original on September 26, 2008. Retrieved September 8, 2008.
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