JUST IN TIME

Design Rationale

My goal was to create a tactical movement-based game. This game specifically rewards the player for planning their moves, but also incentivizes responsive maneuvering. The board and the cards allow the player to plan ahead, while the random dice rolls for each turn force the player to continue updating their plan. The player is always meant to feel as if they could have won if they planned better or used their resources more effectively. This is not meant to say the game is easy, but more that it feels like a fresh puzzle that can always be solved. The short game time always allows a player to replay and attempt again to solve the puzzle.

The time travel theme reinforces the idea that the player is on a timer. However, rather than the in-game time being based on real-world time passing, the time lowers in the game based on how close the time vortex is to falling apart. As the player picks up cards to progress towards the win condition of rebuilding their time machine, the player empties the game board thereby simultaneously accelerating towards the lose condition. This creates necessary push and pull where the player is racing against time for a satisfying ending to each game.