There is something about robotic-focused comedic puzzle games that just gets me. Now, that sounds like a mouthful, but it’s a surprisingly packed video game genre. There are iconic titles the likes of “Portal” and “Portal 2,” more experimental indie titles like “Superliminal” and “Virtual Virtual Reality” and a more straightforward, but undoubtedly charming, comedy the likes of today’s review, titled “Time Stall.”

“Time Stall” is a 2019 virtual reality game from Force Field Entertainment (creator of “Star Trek: Bridge Crew”) that has a grounded yet cosmic scope that reeks of humorous fun. Buzz had the opportunity to speak with good folks at Force Field Entertainment, specifically the developers of “Time Stall,” who talked about the game and what developing for virtual reality is like.

buzz: How would you describe “Time Stall” to someone unfamiliar with it? 

Force Field Entertainment: “Time Stall” for Oculus Quest VR is a humorous physics puzzle game where you play a human woken from cryogenic sleep aboard a crowd-funded prototype “time-folding” spaceship (Fantastic Leap destined for a better life on a new planet – Terra Prime). You meet the Captain and Victoria, the ship’s computer, in a time of great need. The combination of the robot crew malfunctioning and the ship’s cheap construction is causing mini catastrophes. These problems are causing it to drift off course and into perilous danger of colliding with a star.

The player must journey through a series of catastrophes situated in different parts of the ship to reach the end goal of the ship’s bridge. The ship’s computer, Victoria, is able to detect catastrophic events and slow time for a short duration, enabling you to save the Captain and progress throughout the ship. Save the remnants of mankind by getting the Captain safely to the bridge and avert the ship’s destruction.

As time slows, falling objects slow and allow you to grab them and manipulate them in any way that you can imagine. It’s all timed, so it’s fun to set up a situation and then wait to watch what happens. There are hundreds of different ways to solve the puzzles, and our dev team put a lot of fun “easter egg” surprises all over the environments for players to discover.

buzz: How long was the development cycle of “Time Stall” from the first idea for the game to the release of the final product?

FFE: This is difficult to say, but from the first idea to the final launch was probably more than one and a half years. The original idea was more action-oriented and did not have the humorous storyline. That was added later, but once we found the brand of ridiculousness that is unique to the game, we knew we had a great game on our hands!

buzz: I gotta ask. Were the Quicksilver scenes in the X-Men movies an inspiration?

FFE: Yep.

buzz: What is some advice you would give to college students aspiring to be game developers? 

FFE: Keep playing games and try to really pay attention to what works and what doesn’t. You don’t have to “reinvent the wheel,” so to speak. You should try and learn from what other designers and developers have done already and expand from there. You never know where a great idea will come from. Sometimes it’s the craziest ideas that become the best concepts.

Remember that just because something has been done before doesn’t mean it can’t be done again but better. Some of the most popular games out there are games that, at their core, have been around for a long time. It’s about finding that “key ingredient” to add to the mix that makes the game exceptional. Be sure to include a way to be social in your game, if possible. Even though “Time Stall” is a single-player game, the trends are moving toward playing with others and sharing, so keep it in mind when designing.

“Time Stall” is available on Oculus Quest.

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