This is fun little online game I found:
Chronotron
Those of you who know me know I love time travel. My first "real" comic was a time travel story and one of my most recent projects is a time travel story. So this intrigued me.
The basic premise is your time machine has broken down and you have to fix it using time travel. So on each level, you have to solve a puzzle that involves setting something up, going into your time machine, and coming out again. The past you sets up what you did before, and the present you uses the set up to get to the goal . . . or works on setting up more of the solution so a future you can get to the goal.
Lots of fun. I really enjoy playing it. It involved a lot of forward thinking, cause and effect, trial and error. It's easy enough to understand quickly, but it gets challenging as you go on. It could easily become confusing, but it doesn't. Instead, it's a challenge to figure out the steps you have to take in order to get to your goal.
Last night I played up to level 8 and then went to bed. While I was trying to fall asleep, I was also trying to figure out level 8 (which I did) and this morning I quickly played level 8 to see if my plan would work (which it did).
Of course, now the gears start spinning . . . what could a TimeFlyz game look like? I've been imagining that for a while, but now to think of the possibilities of actual time travel in the game where you work side by side with a past version of yourself. I can't design games, but it's fun to think about.
~ Ben
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
June 2, 2008
May 9, 2008
Comics Worth Reading -- Metal Men
For those not familiar with the Metal Men, here you can find the "secret origin" of the group.
The biggest reasons I picked it up in the first place were: 1. It was a limited series, 2. I like the Metal Men characters from some really old back issues I accidentally accumulated, and 3. It looked interesting.
This "re-invention" of the team was written by Duncan Rouleau (who I've never heard of), based on ideas by Grant Morrison (who I have heard of . . . and am leery of), it's a wonderful eight issue mess of time travel paradoxes and existential pop quantum physics (or something -- but what do you expect when it's based on ideas by Grant Morrison). And it's good.
This is real science fiction, here. It takes ideas from science and weaves them into a speculative story that's both sprawling an epic (spanning eons) and personal (following Dr. Magnus' personal trials as he creates the Metal Men and then must deal with the consequences).
The story itself jumps from the current action to flashback and back again constantly, and can be a bit confusing. But I'll say it again: I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed the characters, I enjoyed the bad chemical puns, I enjoyed the over the top bad guy, I enjoyed the audacious and old school tag ending, I enjoyed the clever ways the metal men used the powers of their elements.
I enjoyed it.
Now, if I could just find issue one so I could re-read the series.
~ Ben
January 21, 2008
Star Trek teaser online now!
Wow.
I saw this when I saw Cloverfield. One of the reasons I went to the midnight show of Cloverfield was to get a peek at this teaser. Of course, I was pumped to see the teaser, but the movie itself was pretty awesome.
Meanwhile, the teaser is now online. You can find it here:
http://www.paramount.com/startrek/
Wow.
Just, wow.
I'll admit, I'm a huge Trek fan and my Trek is original Trek. Yeah, I watched the first five seasons of Next Generation religiously. School scheduling got in the way of the final two seasons and most of Deep Space Nine. When Voyager came along, it was hard to catch since we didn't have UPN and it was a similar story with Enterprise. I liked most of the Trek shows, though, and followed them enough to know who was who and what was what (although I still don't understand the mythos behind the Enterprise stuff). And I've watched and own all the movies. (I don't own all the TV DVDs. Wouldn't mind it, but can't afford it.)
But Kirk, Spock, and Bones -- they define Trek for me.
This new movie is supposed to get into their backstory. It's supposed to tell their first adventure or something, but also uses a time travel element (and you know how I feel about time travel). Ultimately, it could either be really good or really bad. I can't imagine it will be in the middle anywhere.
This teaser, though? Pretty cool.
~ Ben
I saw this when I saw Cloverfield. One of the reasons I went to the midnight show of Cloverfield was to get a peek at this teaser. Of course, I was pumped to see the teaser, but the movie itself was pretty awesome.
Meanwhile, the teaser is now online. You can find it here:
http://www.paramount.com/startrek/
Wow.
Just, wow.
I'll admit, I'm a huge Trek fan and my Trek is original Trek. Yeah, I watched the first five seasons of Next Generation religiously. School scheduling got in the way of the final two seasons and most of Deep Space Nine. When Voyager came along, it was hard to catch since we didn't have UPN and it was a similar story with Enterprise. I liked most of the Trek shows, though, and followed them enough to know who was who and what was what (although I still don't understand the mythos behind the Enterprise stuff). And I've watched and own all the movies. (I don't own all the TV DVDs. Wouldn't mind it, but can't afford it.)
But Kirk, Spock, and Bones -- they define Trek for me.
This new movie is supposed to get into their backstory. It's supposed to tell their first adventure or something, but also uses a time travel element (and you know how I feel about time travel). Ultimately, it could either be really good or really bad. I can't imagine it will be in the middle anywhere.
This teaser, though? Pretty cool.
~ Ben
January 10, 2008
Nano Review #3 -- Meet the Robinsons
Two words:
Awe. Some.
Seventeen more words:
What a great time travel story! This is what good time travel is about: choices and consequences!
And thirty-nine (two of which are contractions) more words:
Doesn't hurt that it has believable and likable characters and a tight plot. I've heard this compared to Pixar's movies and I would jump on that bandwagon. This story had heart, and followed through in all the right ways.
Finally, twenty-one more words:
I was relieved, however, to find that they did not steal TimeFlyz's thunder with the "time travel twist ending" they used.
~ Ben
November 13, 2007
Speaking of Time Travel -- new Star Trek movie news
POSSIBLE SPOILERS.
I've just read a news story that implies the new Star Trek movie will involve going back to some elements from many Trek fan's favorite episode, "City on the Edge of Forever".
Seems the Guardian donut guy is going to be the element used to travel through time, so old Spock can meet young Spock.
http://trekmovie.com/2007/11/12/more-rumored-star-trek-plot-details/
And Harlan Ellison, the guy who originally WROTE "City" is none too happy.
Not that he ever IS too happy.
I never did read the book that had his original script for "City". I've heard it's a completely different story than the one we ended up with.
I do like time travel. A lot. There's some really good Trek time travel. "City on the Edge of Forver". "Yesterday's Enterprise". Star Trek IV. Star Trek VII (Generations). Star Trek VIII (First Contact). But the whole time travel element of Enterprise lost me. I only watched about half the episodes, and that was a major plot element.
So I hope this goes well.
Oh, and on a side note, Journeyman, on NBC has become very interesting. The time travel is confusing (it's meant to be, it's part of the mystery), but consistent. And the consequences of bringing things back and forth in time has been cool to watch.
Back to Galileo.
~ Ben
I've just read a news story that implies the new Star Trek movie will involve going back to some elements from many Trek fan's favorite episode, "City on the Edge of Forever".
Seems the Guardian donut guy is going to be the element used to travel through time, so old Spock can meet young Spock.
http://trekmovie.com/2007/11/12/more-rumored-star-trek-plot-details/
And Harlan Ellison, the guy who originally WROTE "City" is none too happy.
Not that he ever IS too happy.
I never did read the book that had his original script for "City". I've heard it's a completely different story than the one we ended up with.
I do like time travel. A lot. There's some really good Trek time travel. "City on the Edge of Forver". "Yesterday's Enterprise". Star Trek IV. Star Trek VII (Generations). Star Trek VIII (First Contact). But the whole time travel element of Enterprise lost me. I only watched about half the episodes, and that was a major plot element.
So I hope this goes well.
Oh, and on a side note, Journeyman, on NBC has become very interesting. The time travel is confusing (it's meant to be, it's part of the mystery), but consistent. And the consequences of bringing things back and forth in time has been cool to watch.
Back to Galileo.
~ Ben
November 12, 2007
Galileo is a JERK!
So I'm going along, writing the latest TimeFlyz book, and everything's going according to plan for the most part.
Mind you, it's TOUGH. It's been a difficult story to do, so far, but some recent revelations about some historical things that fit into my plan made it suddenly start to click!
Then, BAM!
Galileo shows up and ruins everything.
He didn't follow the outline!
Instead, as Laurel and her time traveling fly companions show up to protect him from the evil time traveling spider, he says to them, "You aren't more time travelers, are you?"
I was thunderstruck!
How DARE he deviate from the course!
But then, suddenly, there's a whole new level to this story. (Not only had Galileo been visited by time travelers before . . . he KNEW about it! There's a story there. For another day, of course.)
Meanwhile, I'm rushing to keep up with Galileo and this monkey wrench he threw at me. Is it going to make things easier? Or harder?
Who knows?
And is he going to pull something like that again?
(Answer: yes. He just tricked Laurel's brother into revealed that the Copernican view of the universe was right.)
Meanwhile, I'm extremely excited to do this story.
Did you know that Mr. "Poster Boy for Seperation of Religion and Science" Galileo was ACTUALLY a devout man of faith?
And that he believed that the Bible was inerrant?
That's right! He believed the Bible was T R U E true!
(Kinda embarrassing, for those who find him to be an awesome man of secularism . . .)
He also believed that -- get this -- if science and the Bible didn't match, then either the SCIENCE was wrong or our interpretation of the Bible was wrong.
And yet, he's credited with the rift between faith and science!
Galileo actually was afraid that the Catholic Church was going to get left behind. As the rest of the world discovered the truth about the world, the Church was going to be stuck believing an outdated lie! And that's exactly what happened.
Of course, the Aristotle/Ptolemy view of things WAS wrong. And the Copernicus/Galileo view WAS right. And for a LONG time after Galileo made his claim that the earth did, indeed, revolve around the sun, the Church suppressed those teachings. Because the Bible said, "The earth cannot be moved."
That's not to say the Church was wrong to question him. Some of his theories were wrong, and he sometimes did not have the evidence needed to fully prove his points.
But he sought the truth. And he tried to get the Church to do the same. And part of that truth, for him, was the Holy Writ. Awesome.
And I get to play the part of Paul Harvey and tell my readers "the rest of the story".
~ Ben
PS -- Turns out, he really was a jerk. if he had just been a little less pompous, he might not have made enemies in the Catholic Church and his theories just might have been more accepted earlier on. And he tended, in his writings, to do things to humiliate, on a personal level, his detractors.
Mind you, it's TOUGH. It's been a difficult story to do, so far, but some recent revelations about some historical things that fit into my plan made it suddenly start to click!
Then, BAM!
Galileo shows up and ruins everything.
He didn't follow the outline!
Instead, as Laurel and her time traveling fly companions show up to protect him from the evil time traveling spider, he says to them, "You aren't more time travelers, are you?"
I was thunderstruck!
How DARE he deviate from the course!
But then, suddenly, there's a whole new level to this story. (Not only had Galileo been visited by time travelers before . . . he KNEW about it! There's a story there. For another day, of course.)
Meanwhile, I'm rushing to keep up with Galileo and this monkey wrench he threw at me. Is it going to make things easier? Or harder?
Who knows?
And is he going to pull something like that again?
(Answer: yes. He just tricked Laurel's brother into revealed that the Copernican view of the universe was right.)
Meanwhile, I'm extremely excited to do this story.
Did you know that Mr. "Poster Boy for Seperation of Religion and Science" Galileo was ACTUALLY a devout man of faith?
And that he believed that the Bible was inerrant?
That's right! He believed the Bible was T R U E true!
(Kinda embarrassing, for those who find him to be an awesome man of secularism . . .)
He also believed that -- get this -- if science and the Bible didn't match, then either the SCIENCE was wrong or our interpretation of the Bible was wrong.
And yet, he's credited with the rift between faith and science!
Galileo actually was afraid that the Catholic Church was going to get left behind. As the rest of the world discovered the truth about the world, the Church was going to be stuck believing an outdated lie! And that's exactly what happened.
Of course, the Aristotle/Ptolemy view of things WAS wrong. And the Copernicus/Galileo view WAS right. And for a LONG time after Galileo made his claim that the earth did, indeed, revolve around the sun, the Church suppressed those teachings. Because the Bible said, "The earth cannot be moved."
That's not to say the Church was wrong to question him. Some of his theories were wrong, and he sometimes did not have the evidence needed to fully prove his points.
But he sought the truth. And he tried to get the Church to do the same. And part of that truth, for him, was the Holy Writ. Awesome.
And I get to play the part of Paul Harvey and tell my readers "the rest of the story".
~ Ben
PS -- Turns out, he really was a jerk. if he had just been a little less pompous, he might not have made enemies in the Catholic Church and his theories just might have been more accepted earlier on. And he tended, in his writings, to do things to humiliate, on a personal level, his detractors.
November 9, 2007
I LOVE TIME TRAVEL . . .
I love Back to the Future 1 -3.
Voyagers.
Star Trek IV.
Indeed, ALL those Star Trek eps w/ Time Travel.
Heroes.
The Time Machine.
Escape from Planet of the Apes.
Millennium Actress
Superman I.
Time After Time.
Time Bandits. And 12 Monkeys.
Peabody's Improbable History.
Just read a nice little manga called Time Guardians. It wasn't technically time travel, but it came close, especially at the end.
Even bad time travel can be good.
And I love that the first REAL comic I had published was a time travel comic: TIMEPIECE. (Someday I may get to do the sequel I wanted to do -- TIMEPIECE: Redux.) (A revised TIMEPIECE is also going to be my first audio drama. I got to revise it to keep the core message and a narrative through line, instead of just pontificating on religiosity.)
And I'm sitting here writing TimeFlyz for Zondervan and thinking to myself . . . I get paid to write time travel stories.
I love time travel.
I don't know if anyone else will like reading it as much as I like writing it. But for now, I'm having fun.
~ Ben
Voyagers.
Star Trek IV.
Indeed, ALL those Star Trek eps w/ Time Travel.
Heroes.
The Time Machine.
Escape from Planet of the Apes.
Millennium Actress
Superman I.
Time After Time.
Time Bandits. And 12 Monkeys.
Peabody's Improbable History.
Just read a nice little manga called Time Guardians. It wasn't technically time travel, but it came close, especially at the end.
Even bad time travel can be good.
And I love that the first REAL comic I had published was a time travel comic: TIMEPIECE. (Someday I may get to do the sequel I wanted to do -- TIMEPIECE: Redux.) (A revised TIMEPIECE is also going to be my first audio drama. I got to revise it to keep the core message and a narrative through line, instead of just pontificating on religiosity.)
And I'm sitting here writing TimeFlyz for Zondervan and thinking to myself . . . I get paid to write time travel stories.
I love time travel.
I don't know if anyone else will like reading it as much as I like writing it. But for now, I'm having fun.
~ Ben
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