11Dec2009
If there is an environment more conducive to game development than StPetersburg, Russia, in the dead of winter, then I don't know where it isWith temperatures regularly well below freezing, roads and sidewalks slicked over in a sheen of solid ice, and just a couple of hours of sunlight each day, there is nowhere better to be than inside a nice warm, brightly lit roomNow, don't get me wrong, StPetersburg is a beautiful place in every sense of the wordWe are not over selling Warhammer GoldWhen you successfully get Warhammer Online Gold from us, you are at the same time extremely powered in War Online Gold, so buying War Online Gold means you are playing as a higher level gamer class as wellBeautiful architecture, beautiful parks and canals, and, of course, beautiful women, but when your spit freezes before it hits the sidewalk, there is no time and even less desire to stand and admire the sceneryYour only thought is to get inside and thaw your feetAnd where could it possibly be warmer and brighter than an office packed with overclocked PCs and monitors?
It is in such an environment that the guys and gals of Saber Interactive spend most of their waking hours working on TimeShift, our upcoming time-bending shooter for the Xbox 360 and PCWe are in full crunch mode nowWe are polishing the artificial intelligence and animations, integrating full-motion videos, testing our multiplayer and single-player modes, and, of course, fixing the bugs that tend to creep into the code during developmentWe are fortunate that we have plenty of time to polish the gameAs any seasoned developer will tell you, good games become great games in the last few months of developmentIf we stay the course, we will have a truly great game on our hands
In this first segment of the TimeShift diaries, I am going to share with you a little bit about the design origins of TimeShift and why we at Saber and Atari are so excited about the game
When we came up with the design of TimeShift, our only design constraint was the genreWe knew that we wanted to create a first-person shooter, but we also knew that we wanted it to be different from the slew of shooters currently in the pipelineMany Warhammer Gold makers, clan leaders etc who understand the fun of Warhammer Online Gold the most always buy War Online Gold from us spending time grinding for levels or equipments is really opposite to the spirit of Warhammer Gold playing, and to buy War Online Gold somehow helps the game economyIt is tough to compete and differentiate in a market with so many brand names, no matter how brilliant the implementationWe thought about things that could really set TimeShift apart from the pack of AAA shooters: Story? Nah, everyone can claim to have a unique storyWeapon and opponent design? They are important, but not in themselves enough to create a really different and innovative gameplay experienceSo, what then? We needed to take it further, to do something that really changed the gameplay in some fundamental wayAnd then it came to us: Let's play with the idea of time manipulation and combine it with classic first-person shooting combatIf implemented the right way, we could really have something different on our handsInterested in Warhammer Gold, visit War Online Gold and know more about Warhammer Online Gold, and other items.Now, when we say "time manipulation," we are not talking about Max Payne-style slow-mo that looks cool but has little gameplay applicabilityWe are talking about giving the player the ability to slow, stop, and reverse time while he continues to move around the gameworld in real-time