Achron, the meta-time strategy game.

[Paul Debrion]

http://achrongame.com/

Meta-time strategy, when real-time strategy just isn't enough!  :V

Achron is an upcoming strategy game with free-form multiplayer time travel. Gameplay proceeds not only on multiple instances of space, but also multiple instances of time. The game is currently in alpha and is available for pre-order.

In addition to being able to play in the present, players have a limited ability to view and issue commands in the past and future. Events in the past can be changed by issuing command in the past, and the outcome of those changes will eventually be seen in the present. Their ability to change the past and future is limited by a resource called "chronoenergy" which regenerates as long as they stay in the present. Past events are also frozen after a certain amount of time has passed, and past changes take time to propagate throught he time line during which they may be countered or undone before reaching the present.

Individual units can also travel through time via "chronoporting". It's possible to "chronoport" units into the past so that they can fight alongside themselves so long as the player is prepared to deal with manage the paradoxes that result. For example the instance of that unit that will have travelled back in time must eventually be chronoported back in order to maintain changes done by the instance of that unit that already travelled back in time. Also, the player must prevent the unit from physically colliding with past or future instances of itself time travelling into the same physical space or the unit will be destroyed, or "chronofragged".

There's a series of gameplay videos demonstrating some of these gameplay mechanics:

Time Travel Explained:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kvp8FE3BiQM

Multiplayer Time Travel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O6PuVyZGrYE

Chronoporting:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4L3J_bfjLU

Grandfather Paradox:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTVsXbWQXp0

Using the Future:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f21y2Qkj41g

Pause:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgDmhIQJBkQ

Hierarchy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OT_rXF5t72s

[lumber_of_the_beast]

I've been looking forward to this. I hope it's done soon~

[Helion]

Interesting, but mind-bending. This is going to be very inaccessible.

[Doomsday]

Woah. That looks like it could be a pretty damn awesome concept. We'll see if the end product works well

[Paul Debrion]

Apparently they made updated versions of the first two videos so I swapped the links.


Also, a couple gameplay videos from some 2v2 matches in the alpha:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFosIWA0IQs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_1DLWRF0MQ

It's kind of funny how time travel affects how you coordinate with others.

[Garlyle]

i can't straight think anymore

[Stuffman]

Fuck. I had this exact idea for an RTS game a while ago, but I never imagined they could pull it off with modern technology. I am seriously amazed. How does this not obliterate your CPU?

[Helion]

How does this not obliterate your CPU?

It's not as pretty as most modern games. Also, I don't think it will be about bringing many units into play, it seems very focused on micro-management.

[Paul Debrion]

Fuck. I had this exact idea for an RTS game a while ago, but I never imagined they could pull it off with modern technology. I am seriously amazed. How does this not obliterate your CPU?

I've been rather curious about this as well.

There will be modding tools for Achron and there has been talk of other developers licensing the Resequence engine for other games after Achron is released, so there's a good chance we'll see more of how it works in the near future.