Uncovering the Truth and Breaking Free in 'A Matter of Time'

In this episode of the Gaming Blender, Scott and Matthew discuss their gaming experiences and delve into the concept of creating a new video game. They explore the challenges of managing a gaming backlog and the fear of missing out on playing certain games. The main theme of the conversation revolves around the idea of an action-adventure game with a survival element, hardcore simulation mechanics, and permadeath. They discuss the potential for creating procedurally generated tombs and the need to keep the gameplay fresh and engaging. In this conversation, Scott and Matt continue their discussion on creating a time loop game. They explore the concept of permadeath and how it can be incorporated into the gameplay. They also discuss the idea of a hardcore simulation and how the player's character can mature throughout the game. They brainstorm potential plot elements and come up with the title 'A Matter of Time' for the game.

00:00
Introduction and Rambling

02:19
Managing the Gaming Backlog

07:37
Funny Gaming Moments

10:28
Creating an Action-Adventure Game with Survival and Hardcore Simulation

13:05
Making Traps Visually Obvious

15:20
Procedurally Generated Tombs

17:12
Permadeath and Hardcore Simulation

19:22
Character Development and Maturation

21:58
Uncovering the Plot and Breaking Free

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Keep blending!

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Hello everyone and welcome back to the gaming blender. I'm talking to you through a brand new moustache which, well, you won't be able to see it, but think of me as more like a, like a bandit from a from an old western, according to my wife, which apparently is not a good thing. Matthew is still sporting his wonderful beard Again, which you can't see, but just to visualise what we look like. Welcome back to the Gaming Blender, where we like to ramble on about absolute nonsense. I'm here, of course, with Matthew. Matthew, how are you?

Speaker 2: 0:36

What was that?

Speaker 1: 0:37

Rambling nonsense, I just said.

Speaker 2: 0:39

As a start. As a start, what was thatambling nonsense? I just said, focused on facial hair. Yeah, it's a start as a beginning, but how are you? I think everyone, I think everyone should do that. I think you should enter a room and you go hello, I am sporting a beard today what.

Speaker 1: 0:54

So everyone should acknowledge each other's facial hair before they. Yes, that can get quite awkward, though, because if you have, say, a lady who doesn't realize they have a little bit of like peach fuzz their face, it could be a bit awkward.

Speaker 2: 1:04

This is my partner Furry Montgomery, yeah exactly.

Speaker 1: 1:07

It could be a bit awkward I don't have hair and then they realise they're doing like uh, and then that could get quite sad, quite quickly.

Speaker 2: 1:15

Oh, but I'm sure they'll be dealing with it. I think this is more important for us.

Speaker 1: 1:18

Anyway, hello everyone, Hello everyone. This is a gaming podcast. This is a gaming podcast. It's not a podcast about facial hair. For those who are returning, welcome back For those who are new. What we like to do each week is take a randomised group of genres, mechanics and narratives and stuff like that, put them all together and form a brand new video game concept, all in about half an hour, which I think is actually quite a good.

Speaker 2: 1:47

I think it's all it is. I think this is what it is. Ubisoft, Naughty Dog, all the big ones just sit around a table and go glad we got half an hour, and that's how the Last of Us happened. And that's how Assassin's Creed happened Most likely.

Speaker 1: 1:58

I mean, I think the best things are planned on the back of a matchbox with a pencil in about half an hour.

Speaker 2: 2:07

I believe it was a great philosopher said the best things in life are free. Yes and it might have also been Sheryl Crow, but I'm not sure.

Speaker 1: 2:19

How has your gaming week been, Matthew?

Speaker 2: 2:24

It's been decent, been sort of trying to catch up with things and watch. There were a load of things. I don't know about you, but I find gaming Films. If I miss a film and a film doesn't come out, this is kind of the exception with Marvel Studios. It was back where I was like, oh fine, I've missed it, it doesn't matter, I don't care, it doesn't matter, I'll catch it on DVD. It's only a couple hours of my life.

Speaker 2: 2:48

But then when I miss a game and I really want to play said game and it's in my backlog, it then just becomes a looming character of doom of your back just goes I'm 60 hours worth that. People say you have to play, I'm 60 hours of your life. When are you going to play me? And this is part of the reason I can never get through Red Dead Redemption, but I've got so much on my backlog. But the main thing, I'm excited, I want to watch, I want to play. I think it's Paradise Drive, which is the one, the sort of roguelike car driving game I want to play. That I want to give well, I want to give the golden the Lost City, because I want to get the perfect ending with that, because I've got all the endings but I won. Apparently, the last ending is completely bananas. So I want to see that. But yeah, the backlog is scaring me because I've still got Baldur's Gate 3, which I played an hour on. I was like, oh, that's quite fun, and left it and haven't gone back.

Speaker 1: 3:36

Yeah, I have the same issue and I end up. What happens is I dip my toe in the water and I go yes, I shall get this game, I'll play a couple of hours of it, and then what happens is I'll jump back into. It used to be Skyrim, but I've managed to break clean from Skyrim somehow. Now it currently it's Helldivers 2 and Baldur's Gate 3, are the two things I get. So, for example, I really want to play Jedi Survivor because I played For an order, loved it and thought, yes, I want to continue the story because I really enjoyed it, and I just I can't do it. I I look at it and I go. I just don't have the time I can't.

Speaker 2: 4:18

It's meant to be a much better game as well yeah it's meant to be better and also, you've given it long enough. They had real performance problems on launch and it sorted itself out since then. Yeah, so it was. It would be a perfect time to play. I still haven't finished jedi um, the fallen order. I still haven't finished fallen order, you know, um, because I got stuck on the. Well, I got stuck on the final boss and I was too proud to turn down the difficulty. We've spoken about this before. It was too proud and just went. No, I was in. It was in the final final boss or as in oh, not the final final boss.

Speaker 2: 4:46

Sorry, I'm pretty aware. I think I know who the final final boss is, but the one that is presented as the final boss.

Speaker 1: 4:51

I won't ruin it, of course, for anyone who hasn't played in it, but the final, final boss, when it happens, it's bone chilling. It was one of those few moments in gaming when I was genuinely scared and went oh no, no, run, run, run, run, no, no, no, no, no, no. I wasn't that guy that stood and fought, I was that guy that ran.

Speaker 2: 5:25

But yeah, there's very few moments in gaming that have given me that sort of visceral reaction. I think I well. I've played Lethal Company 2, lethal Company with you.

Speaker 1: 5:32

Yes.

Speaker 2: 5:32

And I've never seen like I'm a scaredy cat, but I don't think I've ever seen someone build themselves up into such a scared thing as you on that game, because you would stand outside the door and go no, not going in.

Speaker 1: 5:46

It's just. You just know because it gets. If anyone hasn't played it, it's a very pixelated game where you play. I would highly recommend it. Oh yeah, I really would. It's very funny. It is a horror game, but you play as pixelated character or characters. If you're playing as a co-op, you have your own ship. You go to these different planets and you salvage essentially junk. You take it back and you get paid for it and you have to fulfill a certain quota or well. I won't tell you what happens, but when you go to these planets, there's just you go into these darkened rooms without a torch, unless you buy one, and there's always some horrible thing waiting in the dark to come and eat you and you have no ability to defend yourself.

Speaker 2: 6:33

Well, I think the best thing it's sort of ace in the hole which makes it so good is it has its own built-in chat, which I know lots of games do. But that chat is what's the word when it depends where someone is? There's a word for it. There's a posh word that would make you seem smart Proximity.

Speaker 1: 6:49

Proximity yes.

Speaker 2: 6:51

A proximity-based chat and because of that, if Scott was standing to my right I'd hear him. If he went into the building, I would no longer hear him, because he was inside now. So I'd have to run to catch up, which adds this great sense of tension, because if someone does die, then their audio just cuts off. Yeah, so there were many times where you'd be said mad, mad, mad, mad there was one particular instance I remember where listeners I was walking behind matthew.

Speaker 1: 7:17

Matthew walked down a set of stairs and went oh, what's this on the floor? And it turned out to be a mine and he exploded. I then ran away laughing my head off. He can still so when you die you can still hear the other person's audio, but they can't hear you. So all matt could hear was me running my character away, cackling my head off because he matt just basically blown up it.

Speaker 2: 7:44

It's remarkable. To that extent I understand now. I never used to quite understand what horror comedies were, but I understood obviously Short and the Dead. You understand that kind of horror comedy, but you know the sort of black comedies where it's so ridiculous people laugh. But I understand that now because there is that middle ground of horror where you're just like I can't do anything else but laugh at this. This is just mental, I've just got to be laughing at that. And then you do come across a bit psychopathic Psychopathic, psycho, psycho, psycho, psycho, psycho.

Speaker 1: 8:13

You're right, you're short-circuiting it.

Speaker 2: 8:16

No, I think, hang on, I'm short-circuiting it.

Speaker 1: 8:20

Anyway, we shall crack on, because we've done our usual eight or nine minutes of rambling. Everyone, welcome to the Gaming Blender. What we're going to do now, as I mentioned earlier, is we're going to take a randomized genre, pair it with a couple of randomized mechanics. Matthew is going to lead in fleshing out a game from these items and then, uh, once we're sort of once, we're relatively happy with it, we're going to try and shoehorn in a narrative which either makes it or breaks it.

Speaker 2: 8:49

We've, we've found um, generally, the two most used words we have on this podcast are shoehorn and crowbar yeah, we do, don't we shoehorn and crowbar. I mean I've. Do you own a shoehorn? I don't own a shoehorn, no, no I don't actually either.

Speaker 1: 9:06

I don't either. It's not. It's not something I've ever required it's just wish fulfillment.

Speaker 2: 9:10

We're just going to start saying things that we want. It's just I. And then we're going to go and try a new graphics card them into the yeah, yeah, would you like?

Speaker 1: 9:19

before I start, I was asked would you like everything at once or would you like a drip feed? I'm'm going to go for a drip feed. Oh okay, you have A constant. Such with Constant, please. That's a very British joke.

Speaker 2: 9:32

If you're not from the UK. I know it's very British If you're not listening to this in Britain. That's from a TV series called Countdown.

Speaker 1: 9:37

Yeah, type in Countdown into YouTube and you'll um, so you have something very generic, like we did last. You have action adventure oh yes, generica very, very generica um a la naughty dog games, for example yeah, so um uncharted, last of us tomb raider, things uh, in terms your, I've done something a bit different this week. I've given you three mechanics, three Because what you received could fit quite well into quite a few well-established games. So I added a third to give it its own flavour. So what you have is you have a survival game.

Speaker 2: 10:24

Survival, okay, okay you have hardcore simulation oh, we had hardcore simulation a couple of weeks ago we did.

Speaker 1: 10:32

I've left it in. I've left it in because I've added. I've added permadeath, ooh, okay.

Speaker 2: 10:44

So what we've essentially got, we have, we have a, we have a survival game, aka say no Man's Sky or something like that, with a hardcore simulation which could be House Flipper and with the Permadeath of XCOM.

Speaker 1: 11:00

Yes.

Speaker 2: 11:02

Ooh dear. Yes, and that has to be an action adventure. And the point of action adventures is they're usually quite throw care to the wind because we're making this look as cool as possible with hermida. Yes, right, okay what are your? Why do I always get the rubbish ones? You get a week where it's like oh, can you please Hang on a minute? What do you mean? Hang on, I'm not going to hang on.

Speaker 1: 11:32

Open world. Physics-based crafting is not easy, my friend.

Speaker 2: 11:37

That was an open goal and you merely tapped it in and you hit the post as well. Nonsense, Hit the post Right how?

Speaker 1: 11:44

rude.

Speaker 2: 11:46

Hit the imaginary post. So if it's an action adventure, you're going to be traversing quite a lot. It's good we haven't got open world Hardcore simulation. What is the most exciting hardcore simulation? I mean flight simulator is quite cool.

Speaker 1: 12:04

I mean, flight simulator is quite cool.

Speaker 2: 12:07

I was thinking flight simulator. I was thinking what happens if you make yourself some sort of Indiana Jones type that goes from tomb to tomb but like literally has to manually? You really double down on the realism of getting there in terms of you actually have to fly the plane and land the plane properly, and it's very vehicle based and it's very, very was incredibly realistic. I'm just trying to get this into action adventure.

Speaker 1: 12:34

I mean no, no, no, no, no, no. You're right, you could just make the hardest action adventure that's ever been made. Yeah, we're really yeah, ever been made. Yeah, we're really. Yeah. Oh god, in in that you make it in the. You know it is permadeath. How many people are actually going to finish this game?

Speaker 2: 12:50

god, I had forgotten about the permadeath. Yeah, I've forgotten about the permadeath. I was just casually cracking on sending our character to die.

Speaker 1: 12:59

I didn't realize old stevie the explorer wouldn't come back so let's say, let's say, you take the example of Indiana Jones, but in this case you're Stevie the Explorer.

Speaker 2: 13:07

Indiana Jones and the last life at the moment.

Speaker 1: 13:10

Exactly, and then so you actually are Indiana Jones. You can't make a mistake, you can't miss the trap.

Speaker 2: 13:20

Oh God, all the traps.

Speaker 1: 13:22

You can't lose to the big nazi guy in front of the plane and hope the propeller cuts him up in like in raiders. You know you have to win.

Speaker 2: 13:30

If you re-watch the indiana jones films, they're very rollercoastery. This is completely.

Speaker 1: 13:35

They are quite literally in temple of doom.

Speaker 2: 13:37

There is actually a rollercoaster there's pretty much a rollercoaster in that yeah imagine doing that and just be going right. Have you done the brake yet? Have you done the accelerator yet have you done the clutch? Yeah, yeah, I think I think, so you've got to remember that okay, okay, okay, let's rewind this rewind, we'll have a vehicle focus to a certain extent yeah but what you've got to do is you've got to find these tombs.

Speaker 2: 13:59

It does sound like we're kind of liking the idea of going down a sort of Indiana Jones-esque tomb hunting thing, but then it's going to be much more practical instead of unearthing the tomb, it's going to be covered. It's going to be difficult to find. It's not just going to be like a magical temple and stuff like that. So you're going to have to dig, you're going to have to pull rocks out of the way, you're going to have to be down the traps slightly and make them slightly more obvious and maybe give your character a few ways to avoid traps, a few skills that you could learn to make it feel more fair. Otherwise, the point of these traps is that they're hard to spot. So I feel like you need I don't know if you can think of anything what would stop traps. I can. The bit I'm thinking of majority is throwing sand out in front of you to get, or throwing distractions to try and set things off yeah, I mean, I'm just thinking.

Speaker 1: 14:53

I mean part of it could be that you, you make, you make the traps visually obvious to an extent that, let's say, let's say you don't make the trap itself obvious, but you make the effector obvious. I E. So you don't make the stone, you don't make the stone, you step on, obvious, but you show there's the boulder, okay, there's the. I see, I see the boulder to look out for it, right. So you're like, okay, there's a trap here somewhere, where is it? So you, what you do is you make it obvious that there are traps. You say, right. So here's the next question. Here are the slits in the wall where the spears come out but how do you make it not boring?

Speaker 2: 15:43

because if, if you play it and die, you have to restart, but you're going to get to the stage where you've seen 90% of the traps and you're just replaying it the whole thing. This is true. How do you keep this fresh, unless you have a randomised tomb?

Speaker 1: 15:57

Maybe the tombs are procedurally generated.

Speaker 2: 16:01

Okay, procedurally generated tombs, procedurally generated tombs, procedurally generated tombs, and if you die, you obviously don't get to get to the treasure. Yes, and you don't get to put the treasure in a museum. Do you have a progression system? Does your character keep upgrading and then when you die you lose all that progression?

Speaker 1: 16:33

This is interesting, so how, how?

Speaker 2: 16:33

because I hate it. I hate it when it's um, when you lose everything. It just feels like it feels like you've wasted your time.

Speaker 1: 16:36

maybe we make it so that you can, so that you can. Maybe we make it so that what you can do is there's no, it's not like. I have an idea, go on.

Speaker 2: 16:53

So let's build it into this Indiana Jones, like you know, the sort of fantasy element of Indiana Jones.

Speaker 1: 17:02

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:02

You are locked in to this repeating. It sounds like I'm going to be repeating last week with my talk of cycles, but I'm not talking about cycles. But you are cursed to relive this tomb thing because you got to the end right at the start.

Speaker 1: 17:18

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:18

So let's say, you pick it up right at the end and you kind of got melded, melded, melded Is that a word? Is that a word? Pick it up right at the end and you kind of got melded, melded, melded is that? What does that work? Yeah, melded, melded, okay with with the treasure or whatever it was, and that catches you in a time loop and you reset as you die. And every time you die and you just want and you relive the same tomb, but because the tomb keeps changing and keeps changing itself, you never know, like you can't complete it. So only when you can complete it can you find out why you've been linked to this, um, this artifact, and what the point of all of it is. So maybe that's how you build the permadeath in. You're still playing the same character. But when you die you go back, you restart the day, very, um, very, uh, live, die, repeat, uh, edge of tomorrow, very, edge of tomorrow I like that, could you?

Speaker 1: 18:08

and maybe maybe when you, maybe when you die, let's say, let's say in the tomb, you can pick up pieces of equipment, like if we're going down the indiana drones route, like a whip and a fedora and you know we're not fedora, but you know I mean a fedora maybe maybe you pick up equipment that helps you as you go through. If you then die, that equipment then drops like a rucksack where you were last and you can go and get it, or you could be like that's miles away. I'm just going to.

Speaker 2: 18:40

Yeah, I didn't have that much maybe what you do as well. If it's procedurally generated, you have the tombs moving around but they move in sections. I'm just going to you know. And then, yeah, I didn't have that much important, yeah, and then it gets, Because maybe what you do as well, because if it's procedurally generated, you have the tombs moving around but, they move in sections, they move in chunks. So you wouldn't actually know, oh, you wouldn't actually know where your stuff had gone.

Speaker 2: 19:02

if it's procedurally generated, this is true. So you'd be in a situation where you go, ha, ha I know where I dropped all my stuff, but now everything's changed, I'll go. Yeah, you didn't think this through, did you?

Speaker 1: 19:13

no, no, not at all, but it could be. It's still. We had to say you've got to remember that there are, there are so many gamers out there who just love to almost like hate them. Do you know what I mean? Like, almost like hate themselves and just want to like. They're almost like the sadomasochists of gaming. They just, they just love to pit themselves against the hardest possible things and just keep doing it until they, until they do it.

Speaker 2: 19:38

So one thing I've realized we've lost track of. If we are excavating the tomb and we're saying that you're always doing the same tomb, you lose that kind of hardcore simulation element because in theory that tomb is uncovered. And you don't want to be uncovering that tomb every time because that will be dull. That bit will always be the same. So where do you get the hardcore simulation in here?

Speaker 1: 20:03

I mean, could you get it from?

Speaker 2: 20:10

survival. I think survival works with permadeath. I think we can lock those two together.

Speaker 1: 20:13

I think we've kind of done, didn't we say we're doing it when you're traversing from? Oh no, no, because you're saying you were locked in one tomb yes, that's the thing yeah, might as well scrap that bit, then. Or do we scrap one of the mechanics because it's not working?

Speaker 2: 20:28

we can't scrap the mechanics. That's the point of the game. This is true.

Speaker 1: 20:33

That's the point of the podcast it's just true, we don't like this one this week this one doesn't work.

Speaker 2: 20:39

So hardcore simulation, so what would you do? I mean, it's like house flipper you do up the tomb and try and sell it on a lovely two bed, yeah this is very much a fixer-upper um I mean going by. You could, I don't know what. Where do you call the line of hardcore simulation? If you make all the physics incredibly real, is that hardcore simulation?

Speaker 1: 21:05

I mean it is. You're simulating something relatively perfectly, so you could say that you don't have a health bar, as it were, If you get hit in the chest with a spear that comes out of the wall. Guess what?

Speaker 2: 21:23

Oh yeah, good idea Then we make a survival game. Yeah, you have to. You have to treat yourself and you have to like, make up, and it does. You could also lead to a thing like is it worth carrying on and wasting these supplies? I'm pretty sure I can get back here.

Speaker 1: 21:34

Yeah, kind of thing. Yeah, that's quite good, but you ain't going to be walking. No, you're not going to be walking.

Speaker 2: 21:44

Maybe that's the hardcore simulation, but you're only as mobile because you're carrying any injuries. That adds to the permadeath. Oh, that slots quite nicely together, actually.

Speaker 1: 21:50

There we go.

Speaker 2: 21:51

Pulled it out of the bag at the last minute, you really did pull it out of the bag, you do realise. Next is plot, and we've pretty much done the plot, so I'm concerned. So so, would you like the plot? I would love the plot.

Speaker 1: 22:03

Okay, I'm losing the plot you have for plot maturation, the rite of passage, the coming of age.

Speaker 2: 22:17

Do you mean?

Speaker 1: 22:19

maturation. Is that the same thing? What did I say?

Speaker 2: 22:21

Well, isn't it mature, being mature, maturing?

Speaker 1: 22:25

Yeah, but it's also Maturation, it's saturation, so yeah, but there's also saturate. Exactly, I'm so confused, right now, basically you're maturing right okay?

Speaker 2: 22:42

you're coming at a so well. The irony is we've also picked a time loop game where you literally don't mature so that went well.

Speaker 1: 22:49

this is true, yeah, but maybe, maybe, maybe, ah, you do not mature in body, but you do mature in mind, because I'm assuming you retain the memories of your previous attempts.

Speaker 2: 23:03

So let's work out why are you trapped in this loop and let's see if we can build it in. Why is this artifact making you live this loop?

Speaker 1: 23:11

Let's go. Indiana Jones 4, Aliens.

Speaker 2: 23:14

I have Aliens, indiana Jones 4. I've have Aliens Indiana Jones 4. I've run out of script. Okay, what's George Lucas doing? He's just written Aliens in capital letters at the back of the script. Yeah, thank you, george cheers George.

Speaker 1: 23:25

Why did George? Why did anyone give George a script and a pen? Um, yeah, I don't like you either yes, yeah, um, yeah, the time thing. It's an interesting one. Could you link it to some god of time in the ancient world, or something like that, maybe?

Speaker 2: 23:51

You could make this quite dark. Maybe what it is is. You have this person who's buried in this tomb, invented this thing that makes them live forever. Invented, slash, prayed to some God, did some sort of ritual and the idea is he died. But there is a period of time from when you die before you come back to life again.

Speaker 1: 24:19

Yes.

Speaker 2: 24:21

So, the idea being is that he realized that the one thing he had to do, he died, and then his, his followers, buried him because they thought he was dead, right, so he is died and he has spent the entirety of his life reliving inside this tomb, which he's locked in. Yes, so perhaps the big twist at the end is that what he's actually done is you've got really close and that first time you get close, you're dying. At the time, you're like you've had an injury and you're dying. So he passes on the power to you to relive it because he wants you to keep coming back, because he wants you to save him. And perhaps you don't realize that. You just think you're trying to excavate this tomb and then you go. I need to work out what's going on, and the big twist at the end is he's been alive the whole time and he wants you to save him because he's trapped. Now, the one thing this doesn't answer.

Speaker 1: 25:14

Yes.

Speaker 2: 25:15

Why do you wake up outside the tomb when you die?

Speaker 1: 25:21

Well, maybe you wake up inside, just at the entrance.

Speaker 2: 25:25

How do you get back to the entrance?

Speaker 1: 25:26

Maybe the one thing that stays the same about the tomb is almost like the atrium the first room you go in, that's the only room that is the same. The rest of it all changes. Let's say yes, let's say that the tomb is obviously linked to, to the guy, and let's say the mummy and the, you know the, the guy in the sarcophagus. As soon as you enter the tomb you're then linked you. That. That's when. That's when you first link to him or her. You get there, and then it goes on as you said.

Speaker 2: 26:00

How about also that there are enemies in the tomb? They are few and far between, but the idea being is, whenever you die, they pick up your corpse and take you back to the front and throw your corpse out.

Speaker 1: 26:11

Oh, so they're like his servants, his undying servants.

Speaker 2: 26:15

Well, what they are. They are, oh, that's a good point. Are they undying servants? No, because you can't have them being undying servants because otherwise they'd be. They'd know that he was locked in the tomb. They'd be like have you seen the boss recently? No, plot hole. There's a bit of a plot hole, isn't it? I need to fill this plot hole with some cement. So perhaps when you die oh, it's so hard, it is a hard one, oh, okay, perhaps the idea is, wherever you die, the temple is a character itself. So the temple reforms. So you end up back at the start.

Speaker 1: 26:58

Yes.

Speaker 2: 26:59

You have to leave the idea about picking up the backpacks and stuff like that later on unless you actively drop them. So maybe you can say, if you get injured, you drop something and then you have to decide whether to pick it up or leave it. So that's where that comes in. But the temple will manually move itself around, so you end up back at the start, will manually move itself around, so you end up back at the start. Because the idea is, this power that this guy has is not. The world doesn't want to release it.

Speaker 2: 27:22

It's very sort of Indiana Jones 3, last Crusade, like the temple is essentially protecting this power from getting out to the wider populace. And then maybe that's the ending as well, that this person who's lived forever stands out in the sun for two seconds and then kind of gives up the power and realises that the power is too great because all he wanted to do was see the sun again One last time. So the only way you can lose the power is if you willingly die. If you willingly die, the power goes. So essentially, committing suicide would destroy the power and the maturing of the character.

Speaker 2: 27:57

It's the understanding, because both the enemy matures, because he goes from someone who just understands, because he understands how the fact that living forever is not the point he lived when he lived and that's not the thing. And then your character as well realises the value. Through dying every time, he realises that the value was always outside the tomb everything outside, because you spend so much time inside. Your character can be very sort of. We can make it character-driven in terms of he's always looking inward, looking to find things, and he realises that actually he probably should be looking more outward and looking at the world above ground. He's obsessed with what's below it.

Speaker 1: 28:35

Okay, I like that. That. Are you ready to if I summarize and you?

Speaker 2: 28:40

yes, summarize and start writing down names okay.

Speaker 1: 28:43

So, ladies and gentlemen, what we have there is an action adventure with survival game, hardcore simulation and permadeath mechanics.

Speaker 1: 28:53

Uh, you play a um, a young, a young scoundrel of an explorer, and you find yourself in a long forgotten tomb. You're able, in the first aspect of the story, to reach the final room in the tomb Room. In the tomb a bit of alliteration there, wrong rhyming. However, severely injured, you unfortunately perish before you reach the end. The resident of the sarcophagus of the tomb at the end, who this structure houses, grants you part of his power, which is actually a bit of time manipulation, and you end up transported back to the tomb's beginning, where you have to start again and attempt to reach the center. Every time you die, you will begin anew and the tomb will reorientate itself. So you never know exactly what's going on, where to go next itself.

Speaker 1: 29:59

So you never know exactly um what's going on, where to go next, um the, uh, the, the physics of the game and the sort of the um. You know the traps and the enemies will be very, very hardcore. Um, adding to that sort of simulation of you know if you get injured, you need to heal yourself, um, and you know if you take. If you take a spear into the chest, guess what? You're going to die. Surprise, surprise. The game will have a maturing coming-of-age theme. The denizen of the tomb will learn throughout the story that perhaps he does not need to live forever, and you yourself will learn that there is greater value outside of the tomb than there is inside, and your focus, instead of tomb robbing, will instead be about the joys of life. And this game is going to be called Matthew.

Speaker 2: 30:47

In classic tradition. I've got three. Of course I've got Living in the Past, but that sounds more like it should be a sort of 80s song. Living in the Past yeah, I don't know why I've got A Matter the Past, but that sounds more like it should be a sort of 80s song Living in the Past.

Speaker 2: 30:57

Yeah, I don't know why. I've got A Matter of Time, okay, and then I've got two sort of very similar ones, but the Temple's Son and Son of the Temple Interesting. You don't like any of them, do you? No, I?

Speaker 1: 31:12

like A Matter of Time.

Speaker 2: 31:13

A Matter of Time. Yeah, a Matter of Time, a Matter of Time.

Speaker 1: 31:19

Yeah, a Matter of Time, a Matter of Time A Matter of Time.

Speaker 2: 31:21

I feel like I don't know. I've got something niggling at me, thinking either something else is called it or it's really cliche, and I can't work out which it is.

Speaker 1: 31:28

Are you thinking about the film?

Speaker 2: 31:29

About Time I might be thinking of the film About Time. Yeah but don't worry, it's not called the same thing. It's About Time, not called A Matter of Time. Oh, thank God for that. Thank God you were here.

Speaker 1: 31:41

I just thought I'd point it out in case you were confused. A Matter of Time. A Matter of Time coming to you on. I think this is a console game. You always think it's a console game. This is not true Coming to you on consoles in the near future. We hope you've enjoyed this episode of the Gaming Blender. Please do drop us a review, please do write to us on any of the social media platforms that are listed in the description below, and please send us any of your gaming ideas. If you have a game in mind that you'd like us to chat about for half an hour and try and flesh out, we are very happy to do such a thing.

Speaker 2: 32:27

All the contact details are in the show notes, so look at the notes. Look at the notes, people.

Speaker 1: 32:31

I'm pretty sure. Listen, I definitely just said that, didn't I?

Speaker 2: 32:34

Did you just say that? I'm pretty sure I definitely just said that, didn't I? Did you just say that? I'm so sorry, I was trying to write up the notes he doesn't trust me.

Speaker 1: 32:41

This is prime Matthew not trusting me. He's not listening to me. Anyway, it doesn't matter, it's fine it's 8.22 anyway, listeners, we hope you have a wonderful week and we look forward to speaking to you next time.

Speaker 2: 32:56

In the meantime, I have been Scott and I have been Scott.

Speaker 1: 33:02

Excellent.

Speaker 2: 33:03

It's such a simple joke. I still enjoy it.

Speaker 1: 33:05

Please keep on blending and we will see you next time. Bye-bye, Bye.

Speaker 2: 33:10

Bye, bye, bye.