Time Travel
From Time Travel Game
Used in many games, movies, TV shows, books, etc. As both the simplest and most complex of plot devices. While used in many games in the past, none have really dealt with higher level concepts. Its use in games is usually split between using Time Travel as a plot device (Time Splitters, Sonic Generations) or in a limited capacity in the game mechanics (Blinx The Time Sweeper, Prince of Persia). There is rarely a convergence of both for the simple reason that the more control the player is given over time the more complex the gameplay/story becomes because Time Travel can be very, very confusing!
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Time Travel in TV/Film
Time Travel has been used to varying degrees of success in many TV shows over the years. From time travel storylines in Star Trek to the more "wibbly wobbly timey wimey" stories of Doctor Who. All have different sets of rules and regulations within their fiction to make time travel work for them. In Doctor Who the rules are more fast and loose and in Star Trek there is a sense of order to them. Most time travel stories are self contained to one or two episodes rather than spanning the whole length of a show. There is one big exception to this, Lost.
Lost
As a science fiction show Lost starts simply enough but quickly expands upon itself and time travel eventually becomes the main thrust of the show but not in the typical way. The presentation of the show takes the viewer backwards in time via flashbacks to see key moments from the characters lives while the current events of the show, on the island, play out. Eventually flash-forwards were added to show the viewers where the current events of the show would be leading up to. In the main storyline for the show time travel also played an important role in explaining how key events happened and even as a jumping off point for the later seasons of the show. The result was a show that could be followed easily enough by watching it from one episode to the next but it also gave long time viewers a complex story that worked on multiple levels. The time travel rules for Lost gave fans several time periods and timelines to explore, write and talk about as the story and characters jumped between different periods of time. It also gives us one of the most complex timelines in a modern piece of fiction.
Lost Timeline
The complex nature of Lost as a long form narrative means that many events happen in parallel as the story and characters move backwards and forwards along the various timelines. In Lost it is fairly typical for a character's future self's actions in the past to effect what happens to them in the present of the show or further down the line in the story. This results in a lot of small seeds paying off down the line in a big way with even the most insignificant of actions having big repercussions later on in the show.
Terminator Timeline
The timeline for the Terminator franchise is a case of the act of time travel itself becoming part of solidified time. It is arguable that the events of the film and over-arcing story wouldn't exist without the terminator in first film being sent back in time. The consequences of the terminator being sent back in time result in two things happening; the eventual creation of the terminators through the left over hand that survives the first film and the creation of the terminator's greatest threat John Connor because Kyle Reese is sent back into to stop the terminator killing John Connor's mother, Sarah Connor. The events of the terminator films have to happen for the most part to keep the timeline intact. The act of time travel does not create alternate timelines or change the flow of history.
Back To The Future Timeline
Back to the Future is a bit looser on its interpretation of the rules of time travel. Marty and Doc's time travel adventures result in the creation of new timelines for better or worse, that stack on top of each other. It also shows how changing events in the past can effect the future. Such as Marty now playing a very important role in how his parents got together ends up giving him a better future because his father learns to stand up for and believe in himself due to Marty helping him. The two sequels take this idea further with Sports Alamac storyline from the second film and Marty and Doc playing an important role in the early history of Hill Valley where the films are set.
The Time Traveler's Pocket Guide
The Time Traveler's Pocket Guide by K. Sekelsky (available at The Time Travel Bureau) takes a comical look at the nature of time travel and the implications of it becoming a ubiquitous for of travel and holidaying. The book lays out a lot of good ground rules and ideas that will be used or explored at certain points in the final game. These rules explain away some of the more popular time travel conundrums for example the rule on not killing babies,
'Especially babies: Yes, this includes Baby Hitler. Many simulations of this scenarios have been run and in every one, Mr. and Mrs. hitler have another son - Dieter Hitler - who is way worse."
It doesn't stop the game from exploring these ideas though...
The Rules The Game Will Use
Divergent and plastic time are often used together in time travel stories due to their easy to understand nature. You go back in time, change history and create a new alternate future or divergent timeline. It relies on the audience accepting that history can be changed and that the Time Traveler is aware of or the cause of these changes. This idea will be the starting point for the game. In the game the player is recruited, against his will and trained to worked for an agency that attempts to stop time travellers from creating these alternate timelines to help themselves or hinder others. During the course of the game the player will learn that they are actually locking off these alternate timelines to give the leaders of the agency control over them to plunder their resources and enslave their populations to aid them in their wider goal of controlling time.
Because of this the rules will need to be very loose but still have a grounding base to them. The normal timeline of the main character and the player's real life will be considered as a central and unchanging timeline which the agency is trying to control by harvesting alternate timelines. Half way through the game the main character will switch sides to try and stop the agency from controlling all reality. It is the divergent time line theory of Lost and Back to the Future mixed with the fixed hard time theories of Terminator.
Reading List
This section details several books, films, comics and TV shows that deal with the idea of time travel or aspects of it such as alternate timelines or parallel earts. These materials can be used for inspiration for aesthetics, gameplay ideas, story ideas, etc. etc. Links to relevant web articles will be provided where possible.
Books
The Time Traveler's Pocket Guide - Detailed in the above section
Comics
52 - Not strictly time travel related but it deals with the notion of Parallel Earths/Timelines serves as a good introduction to the characters of Booster Gold and Rip Hunter who are both time travellers.
Booster Gold - (One Year Later onwards Vol.2 Issue #1-#47) In his main comic Booster Gold travels to various key points in DC Comic's history to ensure certain events happen and to stop rogue time travellers from interfering with the DC Comics Timeline.
Batman: The Return of Bruce Wayne - A storyline that sees Bruce Wayne being lost in time without any memory of who he is after apparently dying. As he journeys through time he inadvertently creates the Batman myth and idea that his younger self adopts to fight crime.
Films
The Back To The Future Trilogy - The well know film series that shows Marty and The Doc's Time Travel adventures and how they effect the past, present and future of the American town of Hill Valley.
The Terminator Films - The film and TV franchise that sees the waring armies of the further sending operatives back in tome to swing the future war in their favour.
TV Shows
Sliders - A 90s TV show that is about the nature of parallel earths and alternate timelines. Each episode sees the characters journey to a different alternate earth. Sometimes there are only minor differences other times whole alternate histories such as the Nazi's winning World War II are the main aspects of a given reality.
Lost - Cult and Critical TV show hit that has time travel at its heart. (Lostpedia is a good resource to help understand what the hell is going on during the show)
Doctor Who - Pretty much any time travel storyline and idea has been covered in Doctor Who at some point in its long running history.
