World Design Exercise: Game #8 (SUPERHOT)

It is probably best to preface this blog post by stating that I have no idea what the fourth dimension is, other than the fact that it is only a theoretical made-up axis of spatial navigation. I will re-iterate by saying that while we have a fairly substantial understanding up until the third-dimension, we primarily depict and perceive the world in through the second and third dimension. Within the context of video games, it does for the most part boil down to two-dimensional imagery mimicking third-dimensional space, therefore when the fourth-dimension is brought into the equation it is quite understandably never a proper depiction of the fourth-dimension, but again a mimicry of what the fourth-dimension could possibly be.

Games like Piotr Kosmala’s SUPERHOT is one of a handful of games that had toyed with the concept of fourth-dimensional navigation, at least on paper. Because if we are to analyse the game and consider its premise (that time only flows when the player character is in motion), it can be considered that it is squashing and stretching the flow of time, moving along the constraint of time, rather than bending and distorting it. Consider this, from the point of view of the enemy characters, the player character will not be perceived as ‘blipping’ around the map and teleporting as most depictions of time travel is shown in popular media.

Rather, as far as the enemy characters are concerned, the player character will travel within the same wavelength so to speak of both their perception of spatial dimension and time, they would appear to have incredibly sharp reflexes, but again, happening in ‘real-time’ no different from any other characters in the game.

Conversely, there are other examples of shooter games that had experimented with the idea of time travel as a means of manipulating the fourth dimension, with characters like Quantum Break’s Shawn Ashmore and Tracer from Overwatch, both characters with the ability to travel and manipulate the flow of time, therefore it is unlike the aforementioned method mentioned in SUPERHOT.

As the second law of thermal dynamics state, time in theory only travel in one direction, due to a universal phenomenon many physicists call entropy. In the context of video games, in principle most of these video games are considered low entropy, as there are many outcomes of the player character manipulating the numerous constituent events within the game. While SUPERHOT still adheres to the constant forward-moving flow of time, Shawn and Tracer are able to break the very basis and law of time, that time can travel backwards.

It is imperative to emphasise that while the manipulation and depiction of the fourth-dimension in video games are interesting concepts that allow avenues of discussion in regards to our understanding of it, the truth is that as of now our understanding come from the act of mimicking it through our current understanding of both the second and third dimension.


REFERENCES:

Author Unknown. SUPERHOT BETA. Retrieved from http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/screen_kubrick/368/3687506/2921719-superhot_beta_gs.jpg