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Joystiq

Time-traveling RTS Achron now playable, available for pre-order

by Mike Schramm on Jan 5th 2010 1:30AM

Indie developer Hazardous Software has announced that you can now preorder its still-in-development time-bending RTS, Achron, on its website. "Pre-order" in this case means something a little different than usual: By giving Hazardous $29.99 now, you'll get access to the game's current alpha version, which includes five single-player levels. According to the release calendar, you'll get access to the rest of the game later this year, with a multiplayer beta in February, a level editor around April and a full game release a year from now in January 2011.

We spoke with the developer's rep, who tells us that it's hoping to stick to the release calendar like glue -- he even says the dates there are slightly "conservative." Dear readers of this post in 2011: If time travel does exist in the future, could you maybe come back here to the past and tell us if this complicated little game is any good?

Source

Tags: achron, alpha, download, hazardous-software, levels, paradox, pre-order, release, rts, singleplayer, software, time-travel, version

Reader Comments (28)

Oh, and also, is the new Zelda better than Ocarina of Time? Thank you people of 2011.

Bahahaaha, man that's rich. You think there's gonna be a new Zelda game out in 2011. Oh man I can't stop laughing.

Considering they have just under two years to release it, have already shown art for it indicating they have a plot, know it will use the wii motionplus, and plan to announce further details at E3 2010, I'd say that yes, Christmas 2011 doesn't seem like an absurdly early release date for the next Zelda.

When they develop time travel, I'm becoming a TimeCop.

That's after I learn to roundhouse kick properly.

Just wanted to post a couple clarifications.

The above screenshot is about a year old. We still have a way to go yet on the graphics, but it's coming along (screenshots here): http://achrongame.com/downloads.html

Also, our ability to stick to our calendar counts on your support and involvement in the development of Achron! See here: http://achrongame.com/achron_faq.html#13 We will be releasing mod tools later this spring.

A publicly available demo will be available later this year as well when the graphics are closer to completion. So far we've gotten lots of positive feedback on the alpha.

Thanks!
-Chris Hazard
President/Founder
Hazardous Software Inc.

Is your name *really* Chris Hazard?

Thanks for updating the picture Mike!

Well, I'll take this opportunity to inform you that your game has the most ridiculously awesome concept I've seen in RTS, and consider those 30 dollars as good as yours. And thanks for stopping by in person and being a cool guy who doesn't afraid of anything.

Oh, and while you're here, is it possible you can get your game on Steam? A game like yours could do very well given the publicity and accessibility Steam offers. Of course, that's pretty damn obvious, so I imagine you already looked into it.

I got to admit, coming to this site and commenting on the article is damn impressive. I've never heard about this game before this post, but the intriguing game mechanics AND your actions are convincing me to buy this game.

Regarding other forms of digital distribution, see this entry in our FAQ: http://achrongame.com/achron_faq.html#10
-Chris

Yep. Here's proof (my academic page): http://www4.ncsu.edu/~cjhazard/
My first name would probably have been Cliff had my mom married a guy with a different last name; no joke.

Was your mom Bruce Willis?

Why? Was your mom dating Cliffy B's dad before she married Mr. Hazard Senior?

Man I remember this game, I have a hard enough time micro managing RTS in real time without the whole "time traveling" thing.

If you're slow at micromanagement, you can pause your progression through time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgDmhIQJBkQ

Or, you can camp out in the past and issue very strategic commands very slowly (since they cost a lot of chronoenergy). It's a game where strong strategic thinkers can actually do well against people who are strong at micro (and thus are forced to camp out near the present because of chronoenergy) but bad at strategy. Obviously, the best players will be good at both.

-Chris

Wow. I'm absolutely astounded by the complexity of this game, based on the demonstration video. I can see how it works, but I can't even begin to imagine the complex strategies possible with this time manipulation mechanic. A couple of Braid's puzzles made my head hurt, and this looks an order of magnitude more complex.

This may be the first game where I'll avoid pre-ordering specifically because I'm worried that I'm not smart enough to play it.

To give you an idea of the strategy depth, here is a list that our fans came up with before they even got their hands on the game:
http://chronofrag.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=36
Some of them even surprised us!
(Chronofrag is a completely independent Achron fansite)
-Chris

I will say though that many people have commented that Achron is easy to learn but hard to master, like Chess or Go. Time travel is one of those concepts that initially seems foreign, but once you get used to it, it can change the way you think.

We've actually had interest from the US Army in using our time manipulation technology to teach people causality and to learn optimal strategies against adversaries. See here for some of the basic ideas: http://achrongame.com/technology.html

I read: 'Use an army and then build it', and thought that sounded cool. Then I read:'Fighting alongside oneself', and my head asploded.

Greetings people of 2010.

Hivetyrant of 2011 here, just thought I'd drop by and let you know that when I'm not flying around in my flying car, I'm generally found playing this game, or duke nukem fo... I mean, tetris.... yeah, tetris

Anyways, you should invest your pre-order, these guys care about their game/business!

Mind=Blown

I don't think releasing alphas or betas is any good way to promote your game, but I guess if you get the preorder money for it it doesn't matter. Just seems a little rash for me I guess.

Sounds like witchcraft. I'll wait until the exorcist gets here first, then I'll investigate it more.

I really discovered some awesome Indie games lately and I think this one may be worth spending $30.
I like how original it looks. This marketing is… interesting ;)
Taking the risk to be disappointed and robbed $30?
I felt more than robbed by games supposed to be finished before.
Following a game in development is more than a privilege and worth $30 IMO.
Having been in games QA before, I also know that devs will always take a look at suggestions when they are well written, well explained and documented.

Damn.. I thought it was going to be more like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1UvQGENO14

As a huge RTS fan, someone who is always itching to see time travel done well in games, and a NC State graduate, I've been excited for this game for a while...

When I played it last year I was kind of disappointed though. Execution was much harder than explanation, and the game seemed REALLY slow-paced. I waited for an hour to play it and then was bored in less than 15 minutes.

Hope you guys put some *serious* time into the tutorial Chris, I think that's going to make or break this game. It's got to take people through each concept step-by-step without confusing one half the audience or boring the other half off.

The tutorial is vastly improved from last year (I assume you played it at SPARK, mentioning the hour wait), and the single-player levels with this release are far more engaging.

Thanks!
-Chris

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Breaking News

Time-traveling RTS Achron now playable, available for pre-order

Reader Comments (28)

Posted: Jan 5th 2010 1:46AM mrmobius said

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