''Time Traveler'' or ''Hologram Time Traveler'' is a
LaserDisc interactive movie
Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but m ...
arcade game. It was designed by ''
Dragon's Lair
''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer and Don Bluth. The series is famous for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television a ...
'' creator
Rick Dyer, and released in
1991
File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
by
Sega. Its plot is that an American old west
cowboy named Marshal Gram travels to various timelines to rescue Princess Kyi-La and defeat the evil time lord Vulcor. The game is best known for its
arcade cabinet which displays a "
holographic
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
" like projection, produced using
optical
Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultravio ...
technology from
Dentsu
Dentsu Inc. ( ja, 株式会社電通 ''Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū'' or 電通 ''Dentsū'' for short) is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is currently the largest advertis ...
.
In 2001, a home version was published by
Digital Leisure in PC CD-ROM and standard DVD format. The DVD version includes a red-blue
stereographic presentation intended partially to mimic the arcade original.
Plot
The game's premise is that American old west
cowboy Marshal Gram (played by Stephen Wilber, also hired to coordinate the game's stunts) is required to save the universe from scientist turned evil time lord Vulcor, who's found a way to manipulate and distort time itself; and to also rescue Princess Kyi-La (played by LeAnn McVicker) of the Galactic Federation, whom Vulcor is holding prisoner in his quest to disrupt the flow of time. The player must pursue the villain across time through the ages overcoming various obstacles along the way while undoing all the damage done by Vulcor.
Gameplay
The gameplay of ''Time Traveler'' is similar to that of other laserdisc games such as ''
Dragon's Lair
''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer and Don Bluth. The series is famous for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television a ...
''. The player moves a
joystick in a specific direction or presses a button at certain points in the game. By entering the correct command, a movie clip plays showing the player's character progression through the game, while the wrong move results in a unique death scene for each segment. The game offers a short tutorial and hints on gameplay.
The player controls consist of a 4-way joystick, an action button and a time reversal button. The latter is a feature that allows the player to rewind and repeat the last few seconds of a failed segment. This gives the player a second chance to try and escape his death without having to repeat the complete
Full-motion video (FMV) sequence all over again. Between levels, players can buy more time-reversal cubes by inserting more coins into the arcade machine.
The game starts with three lives and one time-reversal cube, lasting potentially ten minutes of perfect gameplay. Sometimes the game sequences have intentional latency, and "time malfunction" is displayed. It has a total of seven levels called "time periods". Every level consists of randomized FMV sequences within a time era theme such as pre-historic, Middle Ages, the future, and the Age of Magic.
As the game progresses players randomly encounter a slot machine mini-game called "Hellgate" where the player can bet a life to win or lose extra lives or a free credit, or lose the whole game.
Development
The game's action sequences were filmed in
San Diego
San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...
,
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, with forty actors and a small production crew of about five people headed by Producer/Director Mark E. Watson of
Fallbrook, California
Fallbrook is a CDP in northern San Diego County, California. Fallbrook had a population of 30,534 at the 2010 census, up from 29,100 at the 2000 census.
Fallbrook's downtown is not on a major highway route. It is west of Interstate 15 or n ...
.
The game takes place across many iconic settings from different time periods. All the game's footage was shot as if it were a live action movie. Few props were used during filming as the actors had to imagine fantastical locations while being filmed in front of a
green screen stage. Some actors performed multiple roles, for example, the same actor played the obese "amazon queen" in the bonus DVD features and a chainsaw-wielding character in the game. The game's special effects, music and character voices were later added at a special effects studio in
Carlsbad, California.
The arcade version has two
easter eggs
Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...
: Pressing both game buttons while pressing down on the joystick with a credit on the machine shows Rick Dyer dancing around with his son on his back. Doing the same procedure while pressing up on the joystick shows the game's development team. There are video clips of production footage and interviews on the disc.
The game had a development budget of $2 million.
Arcade design
Sega billed ''Time Traveler'' as "the World's First 3-D Holographic Video Game".
The game uses a special
arcade cabinet that projects the game's characters using
reflection Reflection or reflexion may refer to:
Science and technology
* Reflection (physics), a common wave phenomenon
** Specular reflection, reflection from a smooth surface
*** Mirror image, a reflection in a mirror or in water
** Signal reflection, in ...
, making them appear free-standing. The
"holographic" effect is an optical illusion using a large black
spherical mirror
A curved mirror is a mirror with a curved reflecting surface. The surface may be either ''convex'' (bulging outward) or ''concave'' (recessed inward). Most curved mirrors have surfaces that are shaped like part of a sphere, but other shapes are ...
and a
CRT television set. Characters appear to stand in mid-air as tiny images about five inches (12.7 cm) tall.
''Time Traveler'' has a non-standard shape for an upright arcade cabinet. Though the game is played standing up, the cabinet is larger and shorter resembling an oversized cocktail design (50"H x 43"W x 45"D) (127 cm x 109.2 cm x 114.3 cm) weighing . It doesn't have a monitor but instead uses a flat, dark stage called the "Micro-theater",
[Demaria, Russell and Wilson, Johnny L., ''The Illustrated History of Electronic Games''. 2002. McGraw Hill Publishing. p. 279.] which was invented by engineers Steve Zuloff and Barry Benjamin. The Micro-theater is composed of a big concave mirror that lies underneath the stage. This holographic mirror-like optical device was invented by the Japanese firm
Dentsu
Dentsu Inc. ( ja, 株式会社電通 ''Kabushiki-gaisha Dentsū'' or 電通 ''Dentsū'' for short) is a Japanese international advertising and public relations joint stock company headquartered in Tokyo. Dentsu is currently the largest advertis ...
. Along with it, a 20-inch (50.8 cm) Sony TV sits in front of the mirror. The player controls are located on top of the TV equipment. Several neon colored geometric blocks placed at the back of the stage serves as the only background for the game. It is decorated with white formica all around and with a tall "SEGA Hologram Time Traveler" sign on its back.
Image:Arcade_closeup_part1.jpg, Sony TV inside the cabinet
Image:Arcade_complete_view.jpg, Hologram Time Traveler arcade cabinet
DVD release
In 2001, the game was published by
Digital Leisure in PC CD-ROM and standard DVD formats. These home versions have the option to simulate the mirror reflection of the original arcade cabinet through a pair of anaglyph stereoscopic glasses. This adds a whirlpool-like moving background to provide an illusory stereoscopic effect.
As with other Digital Leisure DVD releases, the game's box advertises being "Playstation 2
r XboxCompatible" on the cover to attract console owners. Bonus features include interviews with creator Rick Dyer about the making of ''Time Traveler'', as well as some of the actors in the game. It also shows behind the scenes footage from some of the scenes without the special effects.
Reception
In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Time Traveler'' on their November 15, 1991 issue as being the eighth most-successful upright/cockpit arcade unit of the month. The game generated over $18 million in revenue in its arcade debut.
According to archived news video footage from TV stations in California, US, the game was considered a financial success for Dyer's company Virtual Image Productions and SEGA, earning an average of US$1 million per week during its peak at the arcades. The game's commercial life was not long. With fighting games such as ''Street Fighter'' and ''Mortal Kombat'' becoming extremely popular, SEGA released the game ''
Holosseum
is a 1992 fighting arcade game developed and published by Sega. The name is a portmanteau of holography and colosseum, due to it being a fighting game created exclusively for Sega's hi-tech hologram theater cabinet, and is the second and last ...
'' as a conversion kit for the arcade cabinet about a year after ''Time Traveler''s release. Dyer considered making a sequel, or adapting the technology for use in casino machines.
British gaming magazine ''
The One
The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...
'' reviewed ''Time Traveler'' in 1991, calling the holographic effect "novel" and compares the structure of the game to ''Dragon's Lair'', although stating "The difference is, ''Time Traveller'' does it better than ever before. All the action has been filmed using real actors ... and lavished with a considerable amount of expensive post-production special effects." ''The One'' furthermore praises the variety of the game, noting that the game can take twenty scenes to finish, but there are sixty in the game, allowing different playthroughs to play out differently, and expresses that this is an improvement over other laserdisc games. ''The One'' states that "''Time Traveller'' plays well and is an exceptionally well polished piece of software. Although the gameplay isn't to my personal taste, a great many people will marvel at the 'hologram' effect, and have a great time getting the girl."
The Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) nominated ''Time Traveler'' for the "Most Innovative New Technology" award in 1992.
The DVD version is the only product to receive a 0/10 score from ''
Official UK PlayStation 2 Magazine''.
See also
*
Computer-Generated Holography Computer-generated holography (CGH) is the method of digitally generating holographic interference patterns. A holographic image can be generated e.g. by digitally computing a holographic interference pattern and printing it onto a mask or film for ...
*
MIT Media Lab
The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
*
Holography
Holography is a technique that enables a wavefront to be recorded and later re-constructed. Holography is best known as a method of generating real three-dimensional images, but it also has a wide range of other applications. In principle, i ...
* ''
Holosseum
is a 1992 fighting arcade game developed and published by Sega. The name is a portmanteau of holography and colosseum, due to it being a fighting game created exclusively for Sega's hi-tech hologram theater cabinet, and is the second and last ...
''
*
Laserdisc video game
An interactive film is a video game or other interactive media that has characteristics of a cinematic film. In the video game industry, the term refers to a movie game, a video game that presents its gameplay in a cinematic, scripted manner, ...
s
** ''
Astron Belt''
** ''
Dragon's Lair
''Dragon's Lair'' is a video game franchise created by Rick Dyer and Don Bluth. The series is famous for its Western animation-style graphics and complex decades-long history of being ported to many platforms and being remade into television a ...
''
** ''
Space Ace
''Space Ace'' is a LaserDisc video game produced by Bluth Group, Cinematronics and Advanced Microcomputer Systems (later renamed RDI Video Systems). It was unveiled in October 1983, just four months after the '' Dragon's Lair'' game, followed b ...
''
*
List of games containing time travel
** ''
Time Gal
is an interactive movie video game developed and published by Taito and Toei Company, and originally released as a laserdisc game in Japan for the arcades in 1985. It is an action game which uses full motion video (FMV) to display the on-scre ...
''
References
External links
*
News report on Time Traveler featuring an interview with Rick DyerTime Traveler and similar games at The Interactive Movies ArchiveTime Traveler promotional flyer, courtesy of dragons-lair-project.comExample of the arcade machine in use
{{Authority control
1991 video games
Arcade video games
DVD interactive technology
Full motion video based games
Interactive movie video games
LaserDisc video games
Sega arcade games
Video games about time travel
Video games developed in the United States