Tomorrow and Yesterday
Platform: Javascript/HTML5
In conclusion, Firecaster's Tomorrow and Yesterday combines its simple and elegant presentation with clever and challenging timing puzzles, making it a great time at home or on the go. Wait. Sorry. Games that quantum leap me back and forth through time, like Chronotron or Cursor*10 always leave me a little muddled. But as your playing back and through this HTML5 simple idea puzzle game, your clock may get a little wound up, but you'll be having too much fun to notice. Using the [arrow] keys to move, guide the circle to the triangle exit in each level. Keys can be collected to unlock doors, and resting the circle upon an "X" can activate and deactivate walls. However, one circle can't pass all these tests by itself... or can it?
See, many of the levels contain a black box which, when entered, sends the circle back in time to the start of the level, allowing you to perform actions alongside your past self. You can only make one time clone, and interfering with its past actions will cause it to freeze up. However, you can take items into the past without worry of paradox. Also, hitting [S] will skip into the future five seconds as the circle rests in its current position. This can be quite useful if you need a past self to stay in place for a bit. Once you start getting the hang of it though, then the game'll be dropping multiple time boxes on you, and the fun really starts. The developers actually seem to be apologizing for one level late in the game. I believe them! But while Tomorrow and Yesterday is tough, it plays fair. The minimal aesthetics may be off-putting to some, but it's definitely a plus to have all extraneous distractions removed while navigating the three dimensions of length, width, and time. In conclusion, Firecaster's Tomorrow and Yesterday combines its simple and elegant presentation with clever and challenging timing puzzles, making it a great time at home or on the go... Whoa... Deja vu!
I have not time(heh) right now, but I love this time of game. Will definitely check it out.
stuck in a level with 3 key, 6locks, 2 switch and 1 time machine...
Doesn't seem to be able to play the game (tried IE, Firefox and Chrome). Seems like there's some Javascript errors on the page.
It'd be nice if I could leave the time machine in the direction I want, not the direction YOU boot me out in.
You can choose the way that you come out of the time machine:
You exit from the direction that you entered it
@bearharry:
See my comment about the time machines.
Do you mean the level where...
there are three chambers on the right side, lined up vertically and there are four locks in a row at the bottom? The trick to that is to...
be 'mean' and not let your double have any keys. >:D
But you can be kind and hold the door open. Be quick and use up all the keys before the double gets to them.
If it's the one with...
the narrow corridor above (with two switches and two keys) and two wide areas below (with one key behind a barrier),
then that's the one I'm stuck on too, lol. xD
The one you're stuck on - try to:
Get to the bottom side of the time machine
I got to the one he apologizes about. I can see the solution, but executing it is too much of a pain to bother with. I see why he apologized.In general, a puzzle game should be more about figuring out what the solution is that actually managing to execute it, so puzzles with such a high demand on the execution end up being frustrating more than anything else. Esp. since they have a high likely hood of the player making a mistake somewhere in them, and a high cost of attempting to do it again.
Overall, the game is really good. It takes the "redo time alongside your past copies to solve puzzles" gig and adds some nice twists to it. Having on;y one copy per time portal simplifies a lot of the things that normally happen, while expanding the puzzle possibilities. Constraining things to a grid served the puzzles well, and really helped them be more about puzzling than gimicky platforming, as many puzzles of this type end up being. The ability to sleep for 5 seconds is also a welcome addition, letting you cut out a lot of the tedium of "wait around till the right time" that occurs. The lenience of their paradox mechanic (past copy freezes, rather than the universe imploding, coupled with frequently being able to jump back through the time portal to try again) was welcome.
It really could use a visible time elapsed metric to help coordinate your various versions. This is a common mechanic that was sorely lacking here.
...I still can't play this game in all 3 browsers I'm trying after many days of repeated refreshing.
Is the author going to investigate the issue and fix it?
This game really dose mess with your head. After playing a few levels, I spent the rest of the morning pausing to wait for my past self to catch up.
I agreed that the game really needs a clock or some visual way to mark the passage of time.
The thing about the time machine is that
You get booted out in the same direction as you entered in the first place. This is part of the puzzle.
Writing a walkthrough for this would be a little difficult, though, because there are no level numbers and no level select. Dev plz!
Nonetheless, this game is a genius puzzler.
I'm embarrassed to confess that I can't get past the third level the one that explains, "You can take things back in time with you." Any tips?
What it needs:
1. A level select screen
2. A "time elapsed" bar (so we don't have to guesstimate when to move)
3. A pause button (so we can take a moment to look at the board without having to factor that into our replays)
If they add these features, this game will be perfect. As is, it's still great, but there are a few clunky drawbacks that add frustration without adding challenge.
@Lucie: Pick up the key and go back in time. Now there are two keys in play - the one you have with you and the one on the ground. Use both of them to open the two locks.
The only catch is you need to pick up the key before your past self gets it. So the first time through, wait around for a few seconds before you start moving.
I'm stuck on "Sometimes all you need is a good hiding place." The guy who turns on the bottom time machine needs to hide in the corner by the exit, or he'll run into someone when he heads for the time machine. But I can't just leave him there, because I need both doubles to hold down the switches.
Okay. I'm confused. I'm on the level where it says something about "if you don't activate the switch the first time, your clone will never activate the switch. So...
[spoiler]How can I activate the switch AND take the key back with me the first time, so I can unlock both doors? Am I making this harder than I need to, or misinterpreting things, or missing something obvious? All three are entirely possible. :)
The basic idea is that
you need to have two keys at the same time, but you have to use one on the first run (to press the button). What this translates to is that you need three separate runs.
Subsequent runs after the second seem to overwrite the second one, though you get to keep anything you carried through the time machine.
Complete solution for that level:
The first time, wait a bit and then get the key and go press the button for a while, then use the time machine.
On the second run, grab the key before the past you gets it, and use the time machine again.
On the third and final run, you should have the key from the second one - use it to go down, then wait for the past you to press the button.
Have you had any luck with the "Sometimes all you need is a good hiding place." level? I'm having trouble with that one too. I know that
you have to go down first, not right
but beyond that, I'm stuck.
Update