The following is a reader-submitted review by Ted:
Time Kufc is the latest platform puzzle game from Edmund McMillen, whose previous works (Meatboy and Spewer) made us rethink the way we view 2D platformers. Meatboy focused on pixel-perfect wall jumping around obstacles. Spewer presented a character that propelled itself between platforms and over spikes by projectile vomiting. What does Time Kufc bring to the originality table? Multi-dimensional planes.
Time Kufc starts out simple enough. Jump with the [D] key to get to the gate. Then you are introduced to the plane. By pressing the [A] key you can switch planes and alter what is visible on the screen. Sometimes you can see the other planes while you are occupying the current one, but you can't see what overlaps between planes. This creates an interesting dynamic that involves a lot of guessing with your jumps, especially when he throws in movable blocks, which can be picked up by pressing the [S] key.
As with the rest of his games, McMillan includes a level editor with which you can easily access hundreds of user-generated levels ranging from not so interesting to awesome and easy to the most difficult thing you have ever attempted in your life. Seriously. The original Mega Man doesn't hold a candle to many of the hardest levels. Also implemented is the Newgrounds' medal system that keeps you coming back for more as well.
Analysis: The difficulty curve is moderate, and for a good part of the game you are interacting with only two planes at a time. Then the difficulty spikes suddenly, which may scare off some players. You will learn to quickly memorize and navigate five planes with trigger switches that flip the current plane (creating the mirror image), as well as switches that rotate all planes at once. And once you find yourself using movable blocks from one plane to break down walls in another, be prepared to spend a lot of time thinking about a single level.
Time Kufc makes up for the sudden difficulty spike by letting you skip two levels throughout the game by "sleeping". The story is minimal ("I'm the future you. If you want to live, get in the box."), but your future you keeps you entertained by talking to you from the sidelines as you are completing each challenge. The music gets annoying after a while, but you can turn that off in-game. Unfortunately, however, you cannot turn off the annoying voices during the cut-scenes.
While not the team's best work, it is definitely a fantastic Flash game that deserves to be given a chance. C'mon. Just get in the box.
Ed McMillen has earned a dual reputation for being both a creator of excellent games, and for being somewhat of a bad boy in the indie game world. Time Kufc does an excellent job of reinforcing both images, providing a solid platform based puzzler as well as some controversy as evidenced in our very own comments section below.
At its heart, Time Kufc is more puzzler than platformer with the primary challenges coming from figuring out how to navigate the increasingly complex rooms as opposed to actually doing it (don't get me wrong, your dexterity will be put to the test here and there, just perhaps not as much as your mental dexterity). This is easily Time's strongest point as McMillen And partner William Good did a remarkable job coming up with an innovative gameplay mechanic and then using that mechanic to explore a broad spectrum of creativity in level design. The actuation of the muli-plane concept is beautifully done creating an effect that is not unlike weaving together loose individual strands into a single, strong, braid. Preserving this effect wonderfully is a control scheme that is tight and responsive.
Unfortunately Time Kufc suffers from a heavy dose of feeling like it's been done before. There are so many aspects involved here that are familiar to other games that the deja vu is liable to be vertigo-inducing unless you are a newcomer to independent games. The floating head off to the right of the screen that continually spouts strange non-sequiturs is a fairly common convention seen in big name productions such as Metal Gear Solid 2 as well as obscure abstract indie titles such as Cactus's Mondo games or Falling Forever. It also brings to mind the darkly humorous voice in the Shift series. The similarities to Shift don't stop with the abstract voice, though, and continue on into certain aspects of presentation (ie. simplified dual-chromatic presentation), and gameplay (for instance the gravity changing switches).
But even where Time Kufc borrows off of other games to some degree, we find a happy conclusion to be made. These conventions aren't really conventions at all. From telling a story in a non-conventional fashion to challenging the boundaries and physics of the in-game world, Time Kufc stands as another game that explores both internally and externally the traditional standards of video games. If testing and breaking the norm is to become the norm, well, that's a good problem to have. In the meantime, Steve is getting impatient so I better get back to it.
Could you please not have the name of this game displayed on the main page? Kids use this site too, and the suggestion of an obscenity is extremely inappropriate.
It was alright, but it is basically just portal in 2d while also copying shift... I fail to see anything new in this game.
What would you have us do, Cornbread Muffin?
Would replacing letters with asterisks (Time F***) be any less suggestive?
What is next they do not like the games involving any sort of violence even mild?
This game is not rated for kids, maybe they should only look at the kid rated games.
If they are that paranoid they should preview and approve everything for their kids and turn them into mindless zombies.
The site is not all for kids there are many games on it there are kid friendly. This is a game review site not a happy bunny kids games site.
Jayisgames should cater to whoever they want to. If they want to cater to children, or conservative adults, then it is not at all okay. If they are catering to more liberal, adults (and adults only), then it is okay. Jay, help us out, if you see this comment. Are you trying to cater to children on this site?
Since the letters in the title can be in any order (according to the author), why make it so close to an offensive spelling? Time Ukfc, Time Cukf, Time Kfcu, and more are all up for grabs.
one word: Amazing!
This is by far, one of the best platformers I have ever played. I love the concept of it as well as the story and art.
If you don't want your children seeing swear words don't let them use the internet unsupervised.
And if your kid was able to figure out that Time Fcuk suggests a swear word, then he probably is already familiar with the swear word in question.
Uhh, who cares about that nonsense? Drop it, folks.
Onward! I was playing this sweet, sweet game, but I ran into a problem. I came to what I believed to be the last level, but then, out of curiosity, clicked those little Z's in the loop on the right of the screen. Well, those turned out to be the two levels I "slept" through. No problem. I solved one, still couldn't get to the other. But now I can't get back to that level I was on before. That "last one". The levels don't seem to be in order. And I wouldn't even know where the first level began, seeing as how they are arranged in a continuous loop. What the..? Any idea on how to get back to it?
Even if I never get back to it, thumbs up from me. Two of 'em, in fact.
I hope the new spelling is satisfactory to everyone.
They cannot complain now *thumbs up*
Dang it! I got to the last level, messed around a bit until i figured it out, then messed it all up.
DO NOT
RESTART THE LEVEL UNLESS YOU WANT THE BAD ENDING!
I made that mistake myself.
Instead,
hit the spikes to kill yourself and thus restart. If you want to keep trying for the good ending anyways.
Interesting game though.
...Actually, this name does not suggest a swear word. In fact, YOU are the one suggesting the swearword. This name is a random jumble of letters, and your brain is reading them as.....I wont say it. Anyway, the new spelling should fix it.
Am I the only one who was consistently reminded of Cactus's games while playing this one?
That was a pretty good game, but GEEZ that guy's feet are slippery! I lost track of how many times I went sliding off a tiny platform into some spikes because the little dude sliding or rolling off with his ninja moves.
Also, I think it's interesting how the original spelling of the title has sparked this discussion about the offensiveness of the word, when in fact the entire point of the title is that it ISN'T a word, merely our perception of those letters.
But since that actual word is immediately what most people (or at least English-speakers) see, I completely understand changing the letter order for the sake of JIG :)
This is, without a doubt, one of the most clever flash games I have ever played. Great implementation. Fun, though cliche, "time paradox" premise. Solid puzzles.
I love this game so hard! One of the better flash games out there, with a great atmosphere and story and basic idea, well-executed.
Unfortunately, the community-created levels are awful. I didn't find any I could rate above a 3 for difficulty and the same goes for enjoyment.
P.S.
Chillax if you get the bad ending. You don't have to start over, and you can press skip.
Is it just me?
The game is looping and flickering the cut scenes continueously and regular intervals, I can't play the game
Help please
However, how many kufcing levels are there in the regular loop?
I'll have to admit that the trailer for this game was better than the game itself.
This game wasn't very difficult at all. Most of the levels were straightforward, and there was about two to three levels that was more complicated. Needless to say, I didn't feel that the final level was even remotely close to the most difficult level of the set.
I felt the style of the game did not add to the immersion that the game seems to promise with its effects. It definitely does not deliver what the Newgrounds description of the "game" offers.
I also agree with Crab that the community levels are indeed awful. With the game mechanics, it seems like there should be some creative ways to create levels, but at the moment it hasn't been accomplished yet.
Hmm...
Okay, I challenge one of you psychics out there to explain how STASIS isn't impossible in some way?
From here, it looks like justification for the Sleep feature, since that's the only way you're ever getting past it... For the record, I hate worthless hints. Worse than no hints at all, really.
Hey guys. I'm the one who wrote the first review and would like to say that I'm happy it got published. =)
In the second review, however, he stated that [space] was your only option to jump. [D] is the secondary one, as stated in both my review and in the game's instructions.
nonononononononononono,
not newgrounds,
for some reason it never works,
just a white screen. :(
on Stasis:
boxes activate gravity switches too.
You put the box in the gap to the switch, switch layers so it is trapped in midair, then go to the left, switch back, and you can win.
I am having trouble with in-n-out
This is quite a fun and challenging little game!
It's taken quite a few goes and A LOT of dying to figure out some levels but you kinda get the hang of it.
I love the comments of 'Future You' but they do get kinda repetitive...
Oh, also I just wanted to note, that you can actually mute the music AND the voices by pressing the mute button a second time. :)
power of posting, nevermind
Does this really constitute "controversy" in the indie gaming world? We must be pretty tame for being so cutting edge and avant-garde. Sure, we'll toy with conventions and push the boundaries, but the biggest statement we can make is mixing the letters of a four-letter curse word?
The most offensive thing about this game to me is how it plays fast and loose with grammar, spelling and punctuation. It's terribly lazy to spend such an obvious amount of time on an otherwise splendid game and neglect to spend any real time reading over your script.
I think more reviewers need to take this into account when reviewing a game (I'm not saying that the review is poor, just that this happens a lot). Game developers need to know that leaving grammatical errors in the game is very much like leaving glitches in the game; it's only natural that some will occur, but the more you have, the more obvious it is that you didn't do your developer's homework!
Keep.One.Step.Ahead: Regarding the game's poor English, the impression that I got was that it was intentional. The developers are doing the same to the rules of English as they are with the rules of time. I also found it contributed nicely to the atmosphere of insanity and paranoia. Especially so during
the story after the good ending.
I might be wrong here, but that's the way I saw it.
Thanks, Mystify; that one was just forcing me to think in ways that obscured the critical observation that
Gravity reverses for all objects at once, not just whatever triggers the switch.
Now somebody needs to tell me about TOAST. Now I REALLY can't see any actions whatsoever that take even one step towards finishing.
Seriously, you can run around, flip back and forth between two versions of the level, neither of which allow you to do absolutely anything useful whatsoever, or you can shift and die. Come on. At least offer a bad hint instead of the stupid paranoid ranting about divinity...
[Edit: Fixed spoiler tags. Use all lowercase, not "<Spoiler>". One of these days I'll make a validation script that auto-fixes those mistakes. Sorry about the inconvenience in the meantime. -Jay]
Okay, to compound my inexplicable loss of spoiler tags, I DID find the key to TOAST. I'm not even going to post it, for fear of more missing spoiler tags, unless someone asks.
Now its LOADED. There's just no way. None at all...
Okay, my final apology.
I got LOADED (the level, not the condition, although after this game I'm pretty sure I could stand to be in that condition right about now).
That level was extraordinarily picayune for such an open-ended puzzle game (you don't usually have to follow a pixel-for-pixel specific path through a level to complete it, but that one was pretty darned close. Even after I knew what to do, it took way, WAY too many tries).
But BAAL? Come on. That's just depraved. You can keep the rest of the game, Mr. Developer; that kind of player abuse is not for me, thanks.
I'm totally stuck on in-n-out.
Any hints?
Gobsmacked,
Are you sure you did Loaded in the simplest fashion? The way I look at it, I don't see any pixel perfect timing or twitch reflexes necessary to do it. Literally, you jump, phase, jump, phase, use block to open paths, put it back in the middle, and then get the keys and finish the level.
As it turns out, regarding in-n-out
There are two ways to complete in-n-out. The first time I finished it the exit was on the upper left hand corner and not through the conventional means. The second time I finished it, it was on the lower left hand corner, and the solution was more conventional (i.e. use the vertical flip an odd number of times). I suppose both are possible.
I love JIG. I have to say though on the swearing debate that surely now it's even more misleading (and confusing!), because the link still takes you through to the fcuk version.
French Connection did a series of t-shirts in the UK (French Connection UK - get it?) with FCUK emblazoned on them for all to see. I just don't think people are that bothered - except Cornbread Muffins maybe.
I'm with Keep.One.Step.Ahead on the grammar issue. I did find it annoying that there were several errors during the opening scene and this immediately put me off. Rather snobbish of me I admit, and unfair too because the game is both interesting and innovative.
Actually, I'm going to respectfully disagree with Keep.One.Step.Ahead and blubley to a degree.
Yes, I think good editing and grammar are important but are also not above being manipulated for creative license. One thing that interests me is that as time progresses we seem more willing to strike out in new and interesting grammatical avenues to explore language and how the way we use that language can evoke different attitudes and feelings. That's to say, one can hardly imagine a novelist of the 19th century intentionally using poor grammar other than perhaps in an attempt to emulate a particularly distinctive dialect. Compare that with works like House of Leaves, or Flowers for Algernon, or any of countless literary works that alter the use of language in new and interesting ways.
Given that game creation is, at least in my opinion, one of the freest forms of artistic expression, I should think it is also natural that we would see language being bent in even more ways, distorting it for effect like never before. Case in point (outside of this game here), go play Cactus' Mondo Medicals or Mondo Agency (I'm glad Lavos mentioned Cactus early in the thread). In all honosty, the first time I played one of those games, I thought the developer HAD to have not even a passing understanding of English. Turns out Cactus can communicate fine in English, he just chose to intentionally make the language nigh unintelligible. The effect is really amazing and helps contribute to what is sometimes a very disturbing set of games.
Anyway, that's my two cents and change on the topic. There are times when you can tell a typo is just a typo, but I'm more than fine when a typo is something more.
Although the name's been changed, I do want to make a quick comment regarding the spelling controversy:
Most parents I know are pretty responsible. If they don't want their kids seeing swear words, they block any sites that have swear words. End of story. That means that JiG loses any players whose parents might be as creative as I am and put in "FCUK, FCUR, FUTK, etc."
JiG also loses any players who are parents who think, "Don't put curse words where kids can see them. I don't like your site and will go play Orisinal.com instead."
AND JiG risks being nailed by idiots who think the internet is a babysitter and who say, "If JiG doesn't want kids on the website, why link to kid-friendly games at all? So they're responsible for showing my kids something I don't want them to see."
Not to put too fine a point on it, there was a Gundam Wing yaoi fanfic website out there that no longer exists because some parent thought that the warnings ("Warning, this website has adult content and male x male sexual situations in the fiction") weren't enough, since the show the fics were about were "cartoons" (and nevermind that the Japanese have about as many pornographic cartoons as Americans do regular porn) and were *obviously* directed at children (nevermind that the majority of American viewers of Gundam Wing were adults) and the website was pulled by the host for violating the TOS.
No, it's not JiG's fault that people are like that, but JiG has to be responsible in order to protect itself from people who don't think it's proper for such language to be on the main page of a game website. AND JiG *does* have a lot of younger visitors. There's nothing wrong with taking precautions. If I don't want my nephews to see foul language, I don't allow them access to those websites, and in the long run, JiG is hurt by the lack of visitors, even if it's just a small lack.
It doesn't bother me personally, but I'm an adult. If the language doesn't bother you, well and good, but again, you are adults. Adults who are responsible for children have different considerations. I think it was a kindness that JiG changed the name. They were within their rights to keep it, but I'm glad they didn't.
I don't condemn them for having the original spelling they did. I just think they took a wiser course. It was considerate toward people with children. That's all.
Oh man. I'm seeing hints of a skillfully woven epic of a story - once I saw a thing with some numbers, I think maybe it was telling me to look at those level numbers in order - but I'm just too lazy to try to piece this monstrosity together, and I can hardly finish even the easiest of levels in any case.
I'm stuck the the level 'Ursa Minor". That block thingie is in my way and there doesn't seem to be any instructions. Like what the Kufc do have to I do?
Dylan:
Just hold the right arrow key and you'll understand ;)
Can anyone help with HANDSHAKES? I seem to be Kufced no matter what I do...
I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the levels in the main story appear to be randomly chosen from a set of main levels. I erased a save game to start anew and find levels I did not remember playing. Hm.
I wish, however that there was more to the good ending than the
weird fusing thing and different end text. The similarities of the two endings after you shove your past self into the box make it rather ambiguous as to the relative neutrality or lack thereof of each ending.
I couldn't help but compare this game to "Shift Meets Eversion". This is a game where you play as a rat in a maze in a sad gray world where you can't even be sure of your own sanity. It feels like it re-uses Aldous Huxley's metaphor for the range of human experiences, using a box instead of a bottle, to justify the uses of multiple planes, gravity and rotation directions, for sort of four-dimensional block-and-lock&key puzzles.
Remember, as fascinating as everyone's own world of experience and perceptions is (and, thanks to interpretive media, each other), it's still important to interact with the real world at large. Now that I've finished this game, I feel like leaving my room and going outside; it's a beautiful day right now.
Jayce,
I wasn't referring to timing so much as how easy it is to make one misstep and phase at the wrong time and die, fall down while carrying a block before you're finished with it, or get trapped at the top, always forcing a restart. Seems like I had to slow down to one move per second or slower to avoid all of those. But thanks for trying to help.
Although the rest of the game was pretty easy (great similarities to shift) I can't figure out the good ending. Any help?
@wildflower12:
Get onto the ceiling (may require phasing), then phase so the spikes are greyed out (phase back to original plane), walk across to other side (leaving a one tile margin between the wall and you), phase until you see one of those squares that follow you when you shift and have a 'plus' pattern in them in the beginning, then jump up to switch the level horizontally, then phase to original plane, run to other side, move movable block to the side, stand on top of 'plus' block, then shift until you return to the original plane once more. Then, switch the level horizontally again and jump in the gap and run to Stephen/you.
This game was a lot of fun. I tend to give up on a game if it's harder than the gameplay is worth, but I thought this was a nice balance.
My only complaint is that I wish you could map your own controls. At least half of my deaths were due to me hitting "phase" instead of "grab." I can't blame the developer for that, but it was annoying nonetheless.
And for what it's worth on the grammar debate, I don't think the writing errors were intentional. No one mixes up "then" and "than" as an artistic device. And if they did, it didn't work, as it just made me feel the developers got sloppy with details.
Looking back on JIG's track record, they do post some pretty wonderful games geared towards children. But games like Karoshi, Monster Basement, Hotel 626, Reincarnation: A Demon's Day Out, or Alan Probe: Amateur Surgeon (to name a few that I obsessive compulsively pulled from their archives) are obviously not for children. They contain graphic violence often inflicted by the protagonist, suicide, and pretty gruesome or disturbing images. None of them were commented on by people concerned about young internet goers.
I'm interested in the disconnect shown when a conversation of the acceptability of cuss words is undertaken in earnest when not a week ago Alice Is Dead was featured on the main page and
you spend a majority of the time you're playing that game in a room with a corpse of a character who happened to be in a Disney movie.
Ultimately, I was simply surprised to see that someone was under the impression that this was a safety scissor website. I realize the issue was that it was posted on the main page, but an unsupervised kid could easily play Seppukuties and end up a lot worse for wear.
Mostly I'm just sorry I couldn't help myself and just had to post my two cents.
I need help on the level called 'Quick Flips'
Does anyone know how to complete in-n-out?
This game is amazing. I don't like puzzle games, I find them frustrating and not worth it almost always. But I played this through to the end, and it was amazing the whole way. The music and robot-voice were really immersive somehow, and the gameplay and story were both really compelling.
How do you do the toast level?
Hint for In 'n Out and gameplay in general. You can push blocks without picking them up.
i'm stuck in "The Harvest" level...any hint?
Any tips on how to do the level Ruiner
Some people feel offended by the name of this game but not of "killing chainsaw massacre" I wonder what their children will be like.
Awesome game. does anyone knows how many levels are on it? I've been playing for a whil and I wonder when the final stage is coming.
There is a bug in the game that started a few levels before Time Decay, but I can see it 'working' on the Time Decay level. The blocks are not flashing. At the start of the level, sometimes one flashes, sometimes neither of them.
please help i cant beat "reverb"
ANYONE HELP ME!! I need to know how to complete "THE HEART"
PLZ :(
I can't beat sleepless
Beat it, but now I can't beat Plush! Someone please make a walkthrough!
To Cornbread Muffin: The whole point of this game (and the title) is that we are too concentrated on what something appears to be and not what it actually is. For instance I could say the phrase ab itch, what do you see you see an obscene comment hidden in-between the lines and not for what it actually is. Most people think that the actual statement ab itch is the simple form, however we have become so corrupted by mainstream society and the thought that everyone has something to hide that we refuse to see things for what they are. That is simply his own made up word in this instance, not a referance to language that has been deemed inappropriate because some kids long ago used the words as codewords for feelings they had about people they disliked (which in reality is the spawn of all so called "cursewords"). The whole purpose of the game is to challenge your perspective of reality and to capture gamers/websurfers attention, he used a made up word that our minds put together to make an inappropriate word.
When I first saw it, I read it as time cafe.. I guess I have a really innocent mind!
Finally figured out plush! so bovious when you think about it :p
Does anyone know how many levels there are until the end? Perhaps in name order so we know how far along we are?
In response to the people who feel that JiG has crossed a line by posting the same letters that exist in the ominously kid-unfriendly f-bomb, your argument is quite frankly similar to asking someone to keep the word "carp" from their website because it contains the same letters as
crap
. (Don't fret, it's hidden from prying eyes.) Quite simply, a carp is a fish and has no relation to its profane counterpart. Could not the same be said for this game's many titles, as the actual word is never said, merely imagined in the mind of someone who has already been exposed to the word. Put simply, my rebuttal is that banning anagrams of a word, no matter how profane the word is, should not need to be banned from young eyes if their parents are doing their jobs correctly.
Anybody ever heard of the company "FCUK" who brandishes their logo on T-shirts and other articles of clothing, *because of* the shock value that their name generates? When walking down the street, looking up to see "FCUK London" makes many people do a double-take, which then imprints the company's name (or at least a vague curiosity) on the subconscious of viewers.
I'm sure the company's taken its share of flak for such "outrageous" and "risque" branding, but let's face it: it works, and it's not /really/ hurting anybody. It's perversion within our subconscious mind that associates "FCUK" or "FKUC" or whatever else with the mother-of-all-profanities that's being discussed here. Is it a play on words? Certainly. Is it wrong? Eh, I don't really believe so.
It seems that people need to learn that this is the INTERNET. Last I checked, we aren't nannies, and this isn't PBS or Disney.
It's like the whole violence on television situation, except it's the internet, which, guess what overly sensitive people, you have even less control over.
TL;DR: Grow a sense of humor, toughen that hide of yours, and know the proper precautions if you're really concerned about your child instead of blaming someone else.
Seriously its says Kufc and its CLOSE to an obsenity but it isnt and seriously its just another word.
P.S How do i do plush?
Kinda creepy...
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