Opus Studio seem to love utilizing time as a gameplay mechanic. In Half-Minute Hero, the clock is the greatest enemy since you only have thirty seconds to save the world from exploding. Jikandia: The Timeless Land, a side-scroller from the same developer, has players set a time limit for a level and the game adjusts the stage accordingly. The kind of treasures, enemies, and even layout changes depending on how long you have to play Jikandia.
"We believe that the concept of time is something that’s important to everyone. Time is strongly associated with the gameplay of most videogames," a representative from Opus Studio replied when I asked why their games play with time. "We aren’t particularly attached to time as a concept, but we do feel like it’s a fun theme to work with. If development could always stay within the timeframe we set for it, that would be great."
That would be great, especially considering the sequel to Half-Minute Hero has been delayed twice now. I guess they owe the Goddess of Time a hefty bill.
Aksys is bringing Jikandia: The Timeless Land, the second PSP game from Opus Studio, to North America this month. Opus Studio will be back along with Idea Factory to talk more about Jikandia tomorrow.
