Achron
Encyclopedia
Achron is considered to be the first "meta-time strategy game" (Real-time strategy
with time travel), notable for being the first game with free-form multiplayer time travel
and its subtle handling of temporal paradox
es such as the grandfather paradox
. Achron was released on August 29, 2011.
. Players can simultaneously and independently play in the past
, present
, or future
. The player can only travel a certain distance into the past - after a while, the timeline becomes permanent.
For instance, if the player is attacked at an unexpected spot, they can travel to the past and move their army towards the spot where they now know the attack will occur. Or if the player waged a battle which ended in defeat, they can jump to the past and prevent the battle from ever happening. That said, the opponent may alter the course of events as well in order to counter any changes in history the player made. Chris Hazard states that "the gameplay tends to be a race to the past." Entire battles may take place in the speculative future as well, and players may take a look into the future to know what the results of their actions will be.
Additionally, apart from the player being able to view and command his forces in the past and the future, individual units may travel through time as well, with a process called "chronoporting". When it takes place, the player must be cautious to avoid "chronofragging" their units - that is, having units collide with previous or future instances of themselves (or other units) after traveling through time because they occupy the same physical space
at the same time. Thus the player must move their units to deliberately free spaces in the time zone they want to send them to in order to avoid this; otherwise, the weaker of the two units ends up destroyed, with the stronger surviving but receiving certain damage.
Chronoporting is useful as different instances of a unit may battle alongside themselves, resulting in a way of easily building large armies of time clones. However, if one of the instances of the unit that originally time-traveled no longer does so, all the instances after it will cease to exist.
The main, most notable resource of the game is chronoenergy. It exists as a limitation to players' interference with time. Issuing commands in the past costs chronoenergy, in order to prevent players from continually and endlessly countering the other's changes in the past and indiscriminately undoing all their mistakes. The deeper in the past modifications are and the more units being given the command, the more chronoenergy the orders will cost. Chronoenergy is regenerated as long as no commands are being made.
Chronoporting may lead to the grandfather paradox
. In order to solve this, the game's engine automatically switches between the two possible outcomes. For instance, if a tank travels to the past and destroys the factory that created it, the tank survives and the factory is destroyed with the passing of a time-wave, vice-versa with the passing of another, and so on until one outcome falls out of the boundaries of the timeline and the other becomes the absolute outcome.
for the player to guide themselves through space, the game's gameplay requires that there also be a timeline
for orientation through time. Attacks occurring in the past or in the future are displayed on the timeline, as well as what point in time opponents are currently viewing and managing.
Changes in history -that is, the past- do not instantly affect the present. Instead, alterations are propagated via "timewaves", in order to give players a chance to react to opponents' changes in the past before they become irrevocable and directly linked to the present.
and one is human): the Vecgir, who master teleportation
, the Grekim, who master time travel, and the humans, who master offense.
When asked about the deemed overwhelming complexity of the game, designer Chris Hazard replied:
Real-time strategy
Real-time strategy is a sub-genre of strategy video game which does not progress incrementally in turns. Brett Sperry is credited with coining the term to market Dune II....
with time travel), notable for being the first game with free-form multiplayer time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
and its subtle handling of temporal paradox
Temporal paradox
Temporal paradox is a theoretical paradoxical situation that happens because of time travel. A time traveler goes to the past, and does something that would prevent him from time travel in the first place...
es such as the grandfather paradox
Grandfather paradox
The grandfather paradox is a proposed paradox of time travel first described by the science fiction writer René Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent . The paradox is this: suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's...
. Achron was released on August 29, 2011.
Gameplay
The unique aspect of gameplay in Achron is the fact that the game proceeds not only in many instances of space, but also in many instances of timeTime
Time is a part of the measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify rates of change such as the motions of objects....
. Players can simultaneously and independently play in the past
Past
Most generally, the past is a term used to indicate the totality of events which occurred before a given point in time. The past is contrasted with and defined by the present and the future. The concept of the past is derived from the linear fashion in which human observers experience time, and is...
, present
Present
Present is a time that is neither past nor future.Present may also refer to:- Time and timing :* Present tense, the grammatical tense of a verb* Before Present, radiocarbon dates relative to AD 1950* Presenting, a medical term* Presenteeism...
, or future
Future
The future is the indefinite time period after the present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the nature of the reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently exists and will exist is temporary and will come...
. The player can only travel a certain distance into the past - after a while, the timeline becomes permanent.
For instance, if the player is attacked at an unexpected spot, they can travel to the past and move their army towards the spot where they now know the attack will occur. Or if the player waged a battle which ended in defeat, they can jump to the past and prevent the battle from ever happening. That said, the opponent may alter the course of events as well in order to counter any changes in history the player made. Chris Hazard states that "the gameplay tends to be a race to the past." Entire battles may take place in the speculative future as well, and players may take a look into the future to know what the results of their actions will be.
Additionally, apart from the player being able to view and command his forces in the past and the future, individual units may travel through time as well, with a process called "chronoporting". When it takes place, the player must be cautious to avoid "chronofragging" their units - that is, having units collide with previous or future instances of themselves (or other units) after traveling through time because they occupy the same physical space
Space
Space is the boundless, three-dimensional extent in which objects and events occur and have relative position and direction. Physical space is often conceived in three linear dimensions, although modern physicists usually consider it, with time, to be part of a boundless four-dimensional continuum...
at the same time. Thus the player must move their units to deliberately free spaces in the time zone they want to send them to in order to avoid this; otherwise, the weaker of the two units ends up destroyed, with the stronger surviving but receiving certain damage.
Chronoporting is useful as different instances of a unit may battle alongside themselves, resulting in a way of easily building large armies of time clones. However, if one of the instances of the unit that originally time-traveled no longer does so, all the instances after it will cease to exist.
The main, most notable resource of the game is chronoenergy. It exists as a limitation to players' interference with time. Issuing commands in the past costs chronoenergy, in order to prevent players from continually and endlessly countering the other's changes in the past and indiscriminately undoing all their mistakes. The deeper in the past modifications are and the more units being given the command, the more chronoenergy the orders will cost. Chronoenergy is regenerated as long as no commands are being made.
Chronoporting may lead to the grandfather paradox
Grandfather paradox
The grandfather paradox is a proposed paradox of time travel first described by the science fiction writer René Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent . The paradox is this: suppose a man traveled back in time and killed his biological grandfather before the latter met the traveler's...
. In order to solve this, the game's engine automatically switches between the two possible outcomes. For instance, if a tank travels to the past and destroys the factory that created it, the tank survives and the factory is destroyed with the passing of a time-wave, vice-versa with the passing of another, and so on until one outcome falls out of the boundaries of the timeline and the other becomes the absolute outcome.
Story
Hundreds of years in the future, humans have begun colonizing other worlds, however they have been reliant on conventional propulsion systems that may take hundreds of years to reach their destination. This all changed when alien ruins were discovered in the Remnant system. Technology present in the ruins led to the development of instantaneous teleportation. Within a few decades, all colonies were linked by a network of gates, and new colonies could be constructed in significantly less time. However, humans never came across another intelligent race, until communications with a border colony suddenly stopped. Several other colonies followed, and an enormous alien fleet was found laying waste to one of the colonies. A huge fleet was called to the Remnant system to meet the invaders, however they were out-thought and out-maneuvered at every turn despite the invader's inferior firepower and as discipline broke down the data feed from the Remnant gate went dark. The player is trapped on the wrong side of the gate and as one of the survivors, they must piece together what happened and unravel the mysteries of the alien invasion and the Remnant system itself.Interface
Just as there is a mini-mapMini-map
A mini-map is a miniature map, often placed in a corner of the screen in computer games and video games to aid in reorientation. Mini-maps usually display traversable terrain, allies, enemies, and important locations or items.-Usage of GPS:...
for the player to guide themselves through space, the game's gameplay requires that there also be a timeline
Timeline
A timeline is a way of displaying a list of events in chronological order, sometimes described as a project artifact . It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labeled with dates alongside itself and events labeled on points where they would have happened.-Uses of timelines:Timelines...
for orientation through time. Attacks occurring in the past or in the future are displayed on the timeline, as well as what point in time opponents are currently viewing and managing.
Changes in history -that is, the past- do not instantly affect the present. Instead, alterations are propagated via "timewaves", in order to give players a chance to react to opponents' changes in the past before they become irrevocable and directly linked to the present.
Races
There are three different species (races) in Achron (two are alienExtraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
and one is human): the Vecgir, who master teleportation
Teleportation
Teleportation is the fictional or imagined process by which matter is instantaneously transferred from one place to another.Teleportation may also refer to:*Quantum teleportation, a method of transmitting quantum data...
, the Grekim, who master time travel, and the humans, who master offense.
Development
Achron was first announced on March 9, 2009, and a full release was planned for the first quarter of 2011. The release plan allowed pre-ordering customers to access alpha and beta versions of the game, as well as later-developed features such as level editing and ports to Mac OS and Linux. Multiplayer was added on February 15, 2010, and the first official tournament was held during March 2010. The game was released on August 29th, 2011.When asked about the deemed overwhelming complexity of the game, designer Chris Hazard replied: