well i have been watched an anime episode of MIB which have an interesting thought about time travel

they sez that time have parralele flow
and time still pass in the prensent while an agent where in the past so they can speak in real time an agent can see effect on both time in real time

it''s kinda like if you jump back at time -100 the event at time -100+20 have effect at 0+20

but since in video games and fiction in general time have always be distorted, we can find other way to distort it better
after all in crpg time flow only when the player trigger the correct character and that''s allow the player to make things which normally consumme time or cannot be do the same time
remember how many time the imminent danger of destruction wait for a player to level up and doing lot of quest through the entire world!
or in movie or anime time stop when the main character do something cool

not to mention science work about time (einstein relativity for ex in which time is not constant but elastic so elastic than some scientist came up with model with time of time! mention too helicoid type of time where event happen in a multiple of the timer or 2D time like in quantic world where an object can be in both place the same time)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
be good
be evil
but do it WELL
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

quote: Original post by robert4818
The time travel thought is not supposed to be very realistic. (sorry its more for enjoyment)

Why bother, then? Time travel without realistic guidelines and boundaries seems rather contrived.

quote:
Besides, there IS NO realistic time travel yet, merely different theories on how to work it.

Causal theory is, from what I remember (haven''t read anything on the subject in awhile) pretty much mathematically airtight.

quote:
Then there is the whole temporal anomaly thought...very confusing.

You''ve lost me. How is that confusing? It''s the same idea as the wormhole, only with an added dimension.

quote:
Then there are different ideas that are used in movies and fiction. One is the "master timeline" idea, where time travel is possible, but everything is already scripted...This idea offers no free will, and in such would not make a very good game...see the gargoyles cartoons for this idea.

I agree. Terrible gameplan.

quote:
I prefer to use something similar to the model used in the movie Frequency, or even Back to the Future. The main way to change things would be through Quests.

Uhm, that''s the problem. If one person does a quest, the others have to do a different one that''s been altered significantly (players aren''t stupid, substituting orcs for goblins won''t go over too well). And it''ll be circuituous. Can you design something that makes effectively infinite numbers of quests that don''t seem similar?

quote:
But yeah the idea is to use something similar to the ideas in Zelda and Chrono Trigger.

I don''t see how this has any application for an MMO. With a single player and single viewpoint, yes, it can be done. But with five hundred or more viewpoints, all screwing with time at once? C''mon. The only ways I could see it would be if all of it was computer-controlled, so variables aren''t off-the-wall.

Example: King Bob is the ruler in the past period. He gets killed. Barring calamities or coups (both contrived and likely to be the target of scorn for players who think about it), his descendants would be in power. Okay, if he dies and has no children, the lineage changes. Which is fine, for one person. But then you have another player who liked it better with Bob''s kids in charge, so he goes back in time and kills the player who killed King Bob before assassination takes place. Not only is the player destroyed in the present, the assassination never took place, and everything revents. And then someone liked it better with the assassination, and it can cycle continuously.

Remember the Principle of the User: you can''t predict the end user. There will ALWAYS be multitudes of actions that are legal by the game rules but weren''t predicted and do nothing. Save an immensely powerful decision-making process (unlikely to occur), the suspension of disbelief is shattered and the game loses cohesion.

The main thought with a Time travel MMO, which i''ve stated and someone else has also stated, is that the 3 (maybe 2) time lines in the game should be parallel. I''d imagine that instead of time travel technology or spells, its done more in the way of portals. The portals connect to a certain time period, but each time period moves forward at the same rate.

Example
Past July 3rd, 100Ad
Present July 3rd, 1000ad
Future July 3rd, 3000 ad

This is the starting point of each of the three timelines...however after a month of game time passes travel can occur between the following times

Past Aug 3rd, 100 ad
Present Aug 3rd, 1000ad
Future Aug 3rd, 3000Ad

There is no way to travel to JULY 3rd again, its passed. There is no way to go back to it. Time occurs at all three times, and there is no way to go past or beyond the date in the future.

Imagine 3 big rigs going down a highway. Between each of them is a bridge that lets you travel between each one.

The rigs represent the different eras that you can travel to. The highway represents the flow of time overall. You can travel between the rigs, but you always end up at the same spot on the freeway that the other two rigs are. If your in Denver there is no way to cross a board and end up on a rig in Kansas City. Just as there''s no way to jump between era''s and end up at a different reletive time.

well i some way, even if it''s about time travel time HAVE to pass

time travel should be a travel through era than a real time travel, we don''t choose the ''TIME'' but the era then we can''t reset that easily an action, they must have some restriction

well i will pass to practice afer my current project to see how it''s can be done (by a game simulation not a real game)

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
be good
be evil
but do it WELL
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

If there are going to be immutable, locked timelines, why bother with them at all? Just make them different continents or something with differing technological levels. Parallel timelines are rather lazy.

[edited by - Edward Ropple on August 30, 2003 2:38:23 PM]

Its not a matter of 3 seperate areas, Actions in one area DO affect the future, but you can''t go "I don''t like what bob did, i want to go back and change it back" then bob going back again.......

well i think i will try the multiple future, single past in my world setting

you will be a kind of 'shinto' spirit who gets into 'koa' (mask) to materialize themselves.
the koa can evolve into many shape (which correspond to class) and steal kami soul as magic/tech to plug in their body in order to use them.
the most older they, are the more plug they can get, some plug can be associated to make cross tech and when became old enough (at a master level) he release a seed while breeding, which is something like an egg which will become another koa or special koa depending on specific condition

all weapon and equipment must be made by raw material found in fighting kami and venturing through the world, but each koa class have only some melting skill they can't build all any secondary element until some level and need other shinto with some different class koa to build special item, not all material are easy to find an ofthen require element to do with some condition

whithout koa a shinto has restricted influance on the world and cannot carry much more than 4 koa the same time

since you are a spirit you have little freedom from fate and able to travel trough time gate in order to interact with ningen (npc), ningen can summon you to ask you quest to try knowing their future or changing their fate

you have also allegiance with god which give some adventage but will send tatarikami (erenyes or fury which are revenge spirit depend on) if you betray their belief (law good don't like some behaviour for ex), but if you are good for them you earn special title (the twelve more brightful player whith law god will receive special gold equipment with horse and special power, while their is no horse in this game, but have harder rule to follow if they accept it)

player have local kingdom than they can affect and play off line while online is an extension whith different gameplay (divide in cross local world, which is P2P, and sacred land which is the server game, whith stronger story, time travel, and npc ningen quest)

what do you think of this setting, i have just thought about it, and i have some other game to finish before, doh!!

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
be good
be evil
but do it WELL
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[edited by - Neoshaman on August 30, 2003 7:14:37 PM]