Adventure Gamers - Forums

TimovieMan - 12 January 2015 06:58 AM

It was both the shortest and the weakest of the CPTs so far, but I understand that the game’s age is to blame for most of the quality issues? It’s especially jarring considering how great the previous CPT game was…

I first bought and played Time Dreamer around the time it was a new release at Big Fish (my date of purchase is May 2011)—and I remember thinking it was below average even then (compared to games I bought from Big Fish around the same time). I was very disappointed in it.

Note: I’m using the date of purchase on my Big Fish list as a reference, since I used to buy almost as soon as Big Fish released the games—within a month or two anyway.

Here are some games I bought in May 2011 that were far better:

Mystery Trackers: Raincliff
Snark Busters 2: All Revved Up
Dark Dimensions: City of Fog
Puppetshow: Lost Town
Agency of Anomalies: Mystic Hospital (weird name on that one)
Midnight Mysteries: Devil on the Mississippi

And that’s just in May 2011.
Here are some games I bought in April 2011, all of which are much better than Time Dreamer.

Spirits of Mystery: Amber Maiden
Fear for Sale: Mystery of McInroy Manor
Gravely Silent: House of Deadlock
The Fool

And one of my all-time favorites, Mystery Case Files: 13th Skull, was bought in December 2010.

So I don’t agree with the game’s “age” being to blame—not if we’re taking 2011 as the age.

Now it’s possible that Time Dreamer was an old game even in 2011—and Big Fish released it in order to keep up with their “new game every day” thing. In that case it could actually be from 2009, in which case in wouldn’t be worse than most casual adventure/HOG games that were released in 2009.

But I think Time Dreamer was more a case of an inexperienced development team creating a game.
Possibly it was a first effort, though I don’t know how to look up developer information—Big Fish doesn’t offer that information and I don’t know where else to look.

But by 2011, most of the hidden-object/adventure-type games being released by Big Fish had a better story (which hung together and made sense—didn’t feel like parts were skipped), more areas to explore, more puzzles, better puzzles, better hidden object searches, etc.—and generally more fun to play.

chrissie - 11 January 2015 07:43 PM

Did you ever find out why you as the protagonist was in a coma in the 1st place? I don’t think so as there seemed to be no record of it at the end but on the other hand you had changed the future so therefore you never got in a coma in the 1st place!

I’ve got more to say but I’m so tired as I’ve been working all day - I’ll come back!

I did wonder whether the clues for the coma are within the game - you view a newspaper article about comas right next to an article about pills - I had a thought that as the protagonist to start with you didn’t know you could time-travel with a clock in your room but Giovanni would? & maybe already knows what would happen or something along those lines & that the coma came about by re-awakening that ability & counteracted by pills or…. nope! there’s definitely not enough info! As for father’s hair - I could have got along with that better if it wasn’t so obviously a wig - it just seemed a little bit of a strange eyesore!

Thank you Becky for a great job (as always) on leading the playthrough!

This game released in July 2010, at least according to when the Big Fish and Gamezebo walkthroughs were written. The developer is Tiki’s Lab.

I enjoyed the consequences (most of them unintentional) from the time travel, and that you had to keep trying to reverse or change those results. I can’t think of another time travel casual game (other than Temporal Betrayal) where you continually have to do that. I also found that the game tickled my funny bone, which again is rather unusual in a casual game.

I looked at the opening diary entry, and Brown Jr. (the player character) writes: “I don’t know how I fell into the coma, how I came out of it, or where my father is.” The diary does also show the newspaper with the pills article, so as chrissie commented, that may be an indication.

It looks like the body of the article is written in English, but the type is so small I can’t decipher any of it.

Other ideas—Both members of the Brown family have been exposed to krawtite, so that might affect falling into a coma and/or coming out of one. And yet another idea—it’s hard to imagine that Giovanni was responsible for somehow putting Brown Jr. into a coma, but it is odd that he is immediately notified/finds out when Brown Jr. leaves the hospital.

I agree that it would be good to have more specifics about the coma. There’s also no indication as to how Brown Jr. arranges to go back or forward in time to reach the correct year—so that, for instance, he doesn’t go so far back in time that Gloomville doesn’t exist yet. Time travel beginner’s luck?

Here he mentions that he can choose the time he goes to somehow:

TimovieMan - 12 January 2015 06:58 AM

Speaking of Dr. Emmett Brown, your dad in this game is Dr. E. Brown. Could it be a Back to the Future reference?
Because I think I spotted another one (but I clicked away too soon, and didn’t get a good look as a result): the magazine you use for that beaten-to-death puzzle (where you slide a paper under the door and use a thin object to push out the key on the other side of the door) read “Sports Almanac”. I suspect a Back to the Future 2 reference...

I hadn’t realized that before—I’m sure you’re right and these are Back to the Future references. Good get! There was also a Lord of the Rings reference.

I wonder if the fact that Brown Jr succeeds in destroying INFAM’s krawtite operations in Gloomville is the reason it is being mined off-planet in E.P.I.C. Wishmaster.

rtrooney - 12 January 2015 03:54 PM

Tiki Labs also did Wishmaster, which I guarantee is a far better game.

Going by the list on their website at http://tikislab.com/ it does appear that Time Dreamer was their first attempt at an adventure/HOG game. Their previous game, Travel League, seems to be a 100% HOG. Wishmaster came several games later.

I’ve installed E.P.I.C. Wishmaster from Big Fish in both XP (a few days ago) and Vista (2 seconds ago), and there was no problem with either downloading or activating. I don’t know if there will be a problem in the future, but there doesn’t seem to be one at this moment (as long as you’ve already bought it).

furgotten - 12 January 2015 05:18 PM

I wonder if the fact that Brown Jr succeeds in destroying INFAM’s krawtite operations in Gloomville is the reason it is being mined off-planet in E.P.I.C. Wishmaster.

I had forgotten that it’s krawtite that they are mining in E.P.I.C. Wishmaster. Clearly time for me to play it again.

crabapple - 12 January 2015 06:47 PM

I’ve installed E.P.I.C. Wishmaster from Big Fish in both XP (a few days ago) and Vista (2 seconds ago), and there was no problem with either downloading or activating. I don’t know if there will be a problem in the future, but there doesn’t seem to be one at this moment (as long as you’ve already bought it).

I’m glad to hear that! I have it installed already and plan never to delete it. Of course, sooner or later my current computer will fail me (as have all past computers—from a fried motherboard to frequent unfixable crashes) and then I’m hoping I’ll still be able to reinstall it on a new computer.

rtrooney - 12 January 2015 07:20 PM

There are also some troubling sequences. If by going back to 1931 to ensure that Infam doesn’t exist, does he also alter the possibility that he, himself exists?

As for the Krawtite mine in Wishmaster, it would seem that the value of the mineral would have to have been discovered in a whole different way. (Of course we don’t really know how it was discovered in Time Dreamer.) For that bit of information we apparently have to play the prequel.

It’s always a possibility, when traveling in time, that the protagonist can accidentally prevent his own birth.

I don’t think that’s a problem here. Spoilers follow for the prequel, Time Dreamer: Temporal Betrayal.

There’s no indication that his father working for INFAM has anything to do with Brown Jr.‘s birth. Dr. Eric Brown, as a young man, is at an isolated, top secret site where they are already mining krawtite and attempting to keep the mineral secret from the public—this is before INFAM discovers that a vein of krawtite is right under the town of Gloomville.  In fact, it’s extremely strange that Dr. Brown ends up working at INFAM, as he does get some indication in the prequel of how corrupt INFAM is.

[spoiler]If krawtite is a link between E.P.I.C. Wishmaster and the Time Dreamer universe, it’s probable that it wasn’t first discovered on earth.[/spoiler]

Thanks to everyone who played Time Dreamer along with us, those who read this thread, and a special thanks to those who posted their thoughts.

The thread can be unstickied now, though anyone who wants to continue to post about this game is very welcome.

And if there’s someone who is inspired to play the prequel, Time Dreamer: Temporal Betrayal, I have an impression that Brown Jr.‘s first name is mentioned at some point during that game. Maybe near the end. I didn’t write the name down, though. So it’s possible I simply imagined it. But if anyone happens across the name, post it here. I’m curious.

If the name had been “Emmett” I’m pretty sure I would have remembered it.

“Brown Jr.” is a name that Giovanni calls the protagonist in a rather satirical tone. I think that if Eric Brown’s son was also named Eric, I would have remembered that from Temporal Betrayal, as it would have been logical/easy.