Timers in games.

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iggy64
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17 Oct 2012, 1:50 am

This is what put me off pikmin a while back - because you only had a limited time to see the whole world, and each day was timed as well! It took away from my enjoyment since I never got all the parts, and it stopped my seven year old self from accessing portions of the content!

Smaller scale timers are just as bad, if not worse. From a nice, balanced enjoyable game they stick a 1 minute timer in, and say hey, you gotta do this really quick now. Ha. It makes me get all stressed, so I mess it up. I will forgive ratchet and clank games, or other similar games for this, because their timer sections aren't generally too frustrating.

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Declension
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17 Oct 2012, 3:12 am

iggy64 wrote:

Smaller scale timers are just as bad, if not worse. From a nice, balanced enjoyable game they stick a 1 minute timer in, and say hey, you gotta do this really quick now.

I disagree with this. When I think of "small-scale timers", I think of Super Mario Galaxy 2, and for me the timed challenges are the highlight of that game. I think this is because of four factors:

1. You only do timed challenges on an area that you have previously explored, so you already know the layout, and also you don't feel that you are missing anything by rushing through the area.

2. The challenges aren't very long, so if you fail then it isn't a big hassle to try again.

3. The music makes you feel excited instead of stressed out. (Yes, there is a difference!)

4. You add time to the timer by collecting clocks. This helps you feel "in control" of the situation, and adds cool moments where you grab a clock just in time.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKXXB-s_h7w[/youtube]

morslilleole
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17 Oct 2012, 2:15 pm

eelektrik wrote:

I maintain that every developer that puts a timed mission in a game, deserves a kick in the balls every time someone fails that timed mission. You make the timing of it too hard? Well, I hope you weren't needing your testicles.

When I developed a game for school I remember it was fun to make the level harder and harder. I remember we severely decreased the difficulty level before testing and the people we tested it on still said it was too hard.

But yeah, in general I dislike them. Especially when it takes a long time to reset.

equestriatola
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22 Oct 2012, 10:46 am

After the PS era was ushered, I think the timer in platformers died out.

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PastFixations
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22 Oct 2012, 1:25 pm

Some timers are probably necessary in a sense of adding intensity to a situation like a collapsing building.

Oh and FYI... The Simpsons: Hit and Run gets a lot more tedious and annoying when it comes to the last mission on the last level... Car is hardly controllable, can't crash into walls or cars as you drop the nuclear waste at the back of the car which you have to take from the Nuclear Power Plant to Springfield Elementary School (the long way which means not taking the incredibly easy way because that way is stopped), also you have to distance yourself from a car and there is a very short time limit. (Minus the time it takes it distance yourself from the pursuing vehicle, it's still a royal pain at times.)

Sure I completed The Simpsons: Hit and Run and did pretty much everything (minus buying all costumes) but it feels like... it could have gone a lot better and less annoying.

When I say short amount of time, I mean like this...
If you know where the "Secret Car" is in Level 1, get in that car.
Now head over to the Nuclear Power Plant Car Park area and try going from there to the Springfield Elementary School in like 2 minutes without hitting any walls or cars extremely fast.
(I've extended the time a little as there is a shortcut that opens up but it still makes the initial drive hard because the "easier" way is blocked off.)
It's hard enough trying to drive that without a time limit.

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22 Oct 2012, 8:23 pm

PastFixations wrote:

Oh god! Do NOT get me started on the last 3 missions of the game! So much RAGE!! !

ComradeKael
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22 Oct 2012, 9:09 pm

I have mixed feelings about timers. Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda Game and it had a 'timer' (Though with the right song it was so slow that you could get a dungeon done within the time limit). Games like Harvest Moon have time limits too in the form of days, but I love those games too. Now, there have been games when timers just infuriate me. With Brave Fencer Musashi (An old PS1 game) there is a part where you have a time limit to fix valves inside a steam reactor... or it blows up and game over. That was brutal.

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23 Oct 2012, 7:27 am

Include me in the 'I hate timers' club. I never understood why almost all NES games back in the day had flippin' time limits. Why? It's also rather ironic the two modern games that immediately came to mind are Simpsons: Hit and Run and Dead Rising 2 two games practically ruined single handedly by time limits!

On a side note, I hate anything else that's from real life like cell phones, licenses, etc. I play games to get AWAY from that stuff not to have to make it to the other side of the game world by 7am.

PastFixations
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23 Oct 2012, 3:57 pm

Aspiegaming wrote:

PastFixations wrote:

Oh god! Do NOT get me started on the last 3 missions of the game! So much RAGE!! !

Thought you were stuck on Lisa's Level?

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23 Oct 2012, 6:34 pm

MrStewart wrote:

Hate them. I don't perform well under time limits. That is a problem that goes back all the way to elementary school and those goddamned mad minute math speed tests. I actually do worse and act more slowly when I know there is a time constraint because all I can think about is the seconds ticking by and pressure to act quickly.

As a recent example, the new Walking Dead downloadable games are unplayable for me because of the time limit on certain dialogue choices. I barely get a chance to read the options before the game says TIMES UP.

I HATED those math tests. I had one called mad minute or something, and I would get so frustrated because I knew all the answers, but couldn't put them down quick enough and I would get bad marks on them :/
For the most part, I'm not a huge timer fan, but don't mind them in certain situations. Like, if it feels like you're cheating if you don't have a timer, then a timer is needed. But still not a fan of them.

ianorlin
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23 Oct 2012, 9:01 pm

I am the same way I hate time limits they slow me down.

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23 Oct 2012, 9:22 pm

PastFixations wrote:

Aspiegaming wrote:

PastFixations wrote:

Oh god! Do NOT get me started on the last 3 missions of the game! So much RAGE!! !

Thought you were stuck on Lisa's Level?

During my first run through the game, I did skip missions then went back to redo the ones I missed. Homer and Bart's level 100% complete and then I'm stuck on Lisa's level the mission where you must collect the stupid fish.

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PastFixations
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24 Oct 2012, 5:59 am

Aspiegaming wrote:

PastFixations wrote:

Aspiegaming wrote:

PastFixations wrote:

Oh god! Do NOT get me started on the last 3 missions of the game! So much RAGE!! !

Thought you were stuck on Lisa's Level?

Is it finding where the fish are? Is it that the Hit and Run meter is going too high?
I'm sorta guessing that it might be the last one on the bridge?

If so... perhaps you could use video guidance to see how to do this mission. Just a suggestion, I'm not suggesting that you don't know how or anything like that but I'm just providing a video of the mission...
Good thing is if I recall correctly... you could park your car closer to the first fish on the first time when you speak to the Sea Captain, thus enabling a bit more time for the end jump.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZnKCOCmWTQ[/youtube]

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Aspiegaming
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24 Oct 2012, 10:11 am

PastFixations wrote:

Aspiegaming wrote:

PastFixations wrote:

Aspiegaming wrote:

PastFixations wrote:

Oh god! Do NOT get me started on the last 3 missions of the game! So much RAGE!! !

Thought you were stuck on Lisa's Level?

Nice that you provided a video but here's the thing. I've seen every video of that mission. I can't drive as good as the people in the videos. I can't recreate the way they drive. I play so much Simpson's Road Rage that I'm not 100% used to the steering and every car I use isn't fast enough. There are way more pedestrians and cars when I play than what is shown in that video. When I reach the lighthouse is where things go wrong for me. It gets worse when I try to cut corners to avoid traffic. I'm playing the xbox version by the way. That mission needs 30 more seconds on the clock if I'm going to beat it. Hell I can't even beat Mission Mode on Road Rage either. The timers are way way shorter than provided in Hit & Run and the last mission has a terrible camera angle I can't drive worth sh**.

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24 Oct 2012, 5:06 pm

Declension wrote:

MrStewart wrote:

the new Walking Dead downloadable games are unplayable for me because of the time limit on certain dialogue choices. I barely get a chance to read the options before the game says TIMES UP

I think you really need to have a different mindset when playing a game like The Walking Dead. The whole point of that game is to force you to make gut decisions under pressure.

By putting the decisions on a timer, the game does something that I don't think any other game has ever done before: it can actually make you surprise yourself with your decisions. For example, you might go into the game with a preconceived idea that you will not kill anyone except in self-defense. But when push comes to shove, and you're caught up in the moment, and you're absolutely furious with a character, maybe you really will kill them. That's why the game feels so "real".

Perhaps I should clarify. I cannot manage to read all of the options before the time limit is finished in several cases, let alone select one. I read slowly and my reaction speed is glacial. The game expects NT reaction and reading speed. When I played episode 1, I either ran out of time before I had read the half the options, or just mashed the buttons in order to hit something before time expired.

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