- Mystery Of Time And Space, Room, Escape, Escape Games, Room Escape, Play, Free, Online, Games, Free Online, Free Online Games, Escaping, Addicting. Mystery of Time and Space (or MOTAS) is a free to play adventure game that is available online. The game involves mostly escape the room style puzzles (of which it was one of the first) with over 20 different levels for players.

Time travel may be theoretically possible, but it is beyond our current technological capabilities. (Image credit: )Time travel — moving between different points in time — has been a popular topic for science fiction for decades. Franchises ranging from 'Doctor Who' to 'Star Trek' to 'Back to the Future' have seen humans get in a vehicle of some sort and arrive in the past or future, ready to take on new adventures. Each come with their own time travel theories.The reality, however, is more muddled. Not all scientists believe that. Some even say that an attempt would be fatal to any human who chooses to undertake it.

Understanding timeWhat is time? While most people think of time as a constant, physicist showed that time is an illusion; it is relative — it can vary for different observers depending on your speed through space. To Einstein, time is the 'fourth dimension.' Space is described as a three-dimensional arena, which provides a traveler with coordinates — such as length, width and height —showing location. Time provides another coordinate — direction — although conventionally, it only moves forward.

(Conversely, a new theory asserts that )Most physicists think time is a subjective illusion, but what if time is real? (Image credit: /)Einstein's theory of special relativity says that time slows down or speeds up depending on how fast you move relative to something else. Approaching the, a person inside a spaceship would age much slower than his twin at home. Also, under Einstein's, gravity can bend time.Picture a four-dimensional fabric called. When anything that has mass sits on that piece of fabric, it causes a dimple or a bending of space-time.

The bending of space-time causes objects to move on a curved path and that curvature of space is what we know as.Both the general and special relativity theories have been proven with GPS satellite technology that has very accurate timepieces on board. The effects of gravity, as well as the satellites' increased speed above the Earth relative to observers on the ground, make. (Engineers make calibrations to account for the difference.)In a sense, this effect, called time dilation, means astronauts are time travelers, as they return to Earth very, very slightly younger than their identical twins that remain on the planet. Through the wormholeGeneral relativity also provides scenarios that could allow travelers to go back in time,. The equations, however, might be difficult to physically achieve.One possibility could be to go faster than light, which travels at 186,282 miles per second (299,792 kilometers per second) in a vacuum.

Einstein's equations, though, show that an object at the speed of light. This appears to be physically impossible, although some scientists have extended his equations and.A linked possibility, NASA stated, would be to. While Einstein's equations provide for them, they would collapse very quickly and would only be suitable for very small particles.

Also, scientists haven't actually observed these wormholes yet. Also, the technology needed to create a wormhole is far beyond anything we have today. Alternate time travel theoriesWhile Einstein's theories appear to make time travel difficult, some groups have proposed alternate solutions to jump back and forth in time.Infinite cylinderAstronomer Frank Tipler proposed a mechanism (sometimes known as a ) where one would take matter that is 10 times the sun's mass, then roll it into very long but very dense cylinder.After spinning this up a few billion revolutions per minute, a spaceship nearby — following a very precise spiral around this cylinder — could get itself on a 'closed, time-like curve', according to the Anderson Institute.

There are limitations with this method, however, including the fact that the cylinder needs to be infinitely long for this to work.An artist's impression of a black hole like the one weighed in this work, sitting in the core of a disk galaxy. The black-hole in NGC4526 weighs 450,000,000 times more than our own Sun. Sword of mana 3. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)Black holesAnother possibility would be to move a ship rapidly around a black hole, or to artificially create that condition with a huge, rotating structure.'

Around and around they'd go, experiencing just half the time of everyone far away from the black hole. The ship and its crew would be traveling through time,' physicist Stephen Hawking.' Imagine they circled the black hole for five of their years. Ten years would pass elsewhere.

When they got home, everyone on Earth would have aged five years more than they had.' However, he added, the crew would need to travel around the speed of light for this to work. Physicist Amos Iron at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel pointed out another limitation if one used a machine: before being able to rotate that quickly.Cosmic stringsAnother theory for potential time travelers involves something called — narrow tubes of energy stretched across the entire length of the ever-expanding universe. These thin regions, left over from the early cosmos, are predicted to contain huge amounts of mass and therefore could warp the space-time around them.Cosmic strings are either infinite or they’re in loops, with no ends, scientists say.

The approach of two such strings parallel to each other would bend space-time so vigorously and in such a particular configuration that might make time travel possible, in theory. Time machinesIt is generally understood that traveling forward or back in time would require a device — a time machine — to take you there. Time machine research often involves bending space-time so far that time lines turn back on themselves to form a loop, technically known as a 'closed time-like curve.' The Doctor's time machine is the TARDIS, which stands for Time and Relative Dimensions in Space.

(Image credit: BBCAmerica)To accomplish this, time machines often are thought to need an exotic form of matter with so-called 'negative energy density.' Such exotic matter has bizarre properties, including moving in the opposite direction of normal matter when pushed. Such matter could theoretically exist, but if it did, it might be present only in quantities too small for the construction of a time machine.However, suggests time machines are possible without exotic matter. The work begins with a doughnut-shaped hole enveloped within a sphere of normal matter. Inside this doughnut-shaped vacuum, space-time could get bent upon itself using focused gravitational fields to form a closed time-like curve.

To go back in time, a traveler would race around inside the doughnut, going further back into the past with each lap. This theory has a number of obstacles, however. The gravitational fields required to make such a closed time-like curve would have to be very strong, and manipulating them would have to be very precise. Grandfather paradoxBesides the physics problems, time travel may also come with some unique situations. A classic example is the grandfather paradox, in which a time traveler goes back and kills his parents or his grandfather — the major plot line in the 'Terminator' movies — or otherwise interferes in their relationship — think 'Back to the Future' — so that he is never born or his life is forever altered.If that were to happen, some physicists say, you would be not be born in one parallel universe but still born in another. Others say that the photons that make up light, which would interfere with your evil, suicidal plan.Some scientists disagree with the options mentioned above and say time travel is impossible no matter what your method.

The faster-than-light one in particular drew derision from American Museum of Natural History astrophysicist Charles Lu.That 'simply, mathematically, doesn't work,' he said with sister site LiveScience.Also, humans may not be able to withstand time travel at all. Traveling nearly the speed of light would only take a centrifuge, but, said Jeff Tollaksen, a professor of physics at Chapman University, in 2012.Using gravity would also be deadly. To experience time dilation, one could stand on a, but the forces a person would experience would rip you apart first. Time travel in fictionTwo 2015 articles by Space.com, and the. Some methods used in fiction include:One-way travel to the future: The traveler leaves home, but the people he or she left behind might age or be dead by the time the traveler returns. Examples: 'Interstellar' (2014), 'Ikarie XB-1' (1963)Time travel by moving through higher dimensions: In 'Interstellar' (2014), there are 'tesseracts' available in which astronauts can travel because the vessel represents time as a dimension of space. A similar concept is expressed in Madeleine L'Engle's 'A Wrinkle In Time' (2018, based on the book series that started in 1963), where time is folded by means of a tesseract.

The book, however, uses supernatural beings to make the travel possible.Travelling the space-time vortex: The famous 'Doctor Who' (1963-present) TARDIS ('Time And Relative Dimension In Space') uses an extra-dimensional vortex to go through time, while the travelers inside feel time passing normally.Instantaneous time jumping: Examples include 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' (2006), the DeLorean from 'Back To The Future' (1985), and the Mr. Peabody's WABAC machine from 'The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show' (1959-64).Time travelling while standing still: Both the 'Time Machine' (1895 book) and Hermione Granger's Time-Turner from 'Harry Potter' keep the traveler still while they move through time.Slow time travel: In 'Primer' (2004), a traveler stays in a box while time traveling.

For each minute they want to go back in time, they need to stay in the box for a minute. If they want to go back a day in time, they have to stay there for 24 hours.Traveling faster than light: In 'Superman: The Movie' (1979), Superman flies faster than light to go back in time and rescue Lois Lane before she is killed. The concept was also used in the 1980 novel 'Timescape' by Gregory Benford, in which the protagonist sends (hypothetical) faster-than-light tachyon particles back to Earth in 1962 to warn of disaster. In several 'Star Trek' episodes and movies, the Enterprise travels through time by going faster than light. In the comic book and TV series 'The Flash,' the super-speedster to travel through time.Difficult methods to categorize: There's a rocket sled in 'Timecop' (1994) that pops in and out of view when it's being used, which has led to much speculation about what's going on. There's also the Time Displacement Equipment in 'The Terminator' movie series, which shows off how to fight a war in four dimensions (including time).

So is time travel possible?While time travel does not appear possible — at least, possible in the sense that the humans would survive it — with the physics that we use today, the field is constantly changing. Advances in quantum theories could perhaps provide some understanding of how to overcome time travel paradoxes.One possibility, although it would not necessarily lead to time travel, is solving the mystery of how certain particles can.In the meantime, however, interested time travelers can at least experience it vicariously through movies, television and books.

The Mystery Of Time And Space (commonly known as MOTAS) is a popular online graphic adventure game created by Jan Albartus (LOGAN). The game was produced using Macromedia Flash (now Adobe Flash) and was an early influential example of the escape the room genre.^[1] There are 20 levels of varying length, some consisting of a single room and others consisting of a large network of rooms. Though advertised as a constant work-in-progress with 'new levels coming soon,' MOTAS has not been updated since May 2008.

The game is currently available in 15 languages, including English, French, German, Japanese, and both traditional Chinese and simplified Chinese. There is also a moderated chat room available for players to discuss the game.

The levels have been noted for their jazz soundtrack, especially the Christmas-themed Level 8 and its jazz representation of 'Santa Claus Is Coming to Town'. Levels 9 and 13 play a MIDI version of The Way You Look Tonight.

Gameplay[edit]

As with most games of this genre, the player interacts with the environment within the game by pointing at and clicking the elements within the game's environment in order to solve the game's puzzles, with many of them exhibiting a high technology and science fiction influence. The environment may be 'searched' by clicking at various spots within the game's environments to uncover hidden items; for example, in the first room, the player has to retrieve a hidden key under the bed's pillow. Retrieved items can then be used to interact with elements within the environment to solve puzzles. A player uses retrieved items by clicking on it in his inventory (shown on the upper left corner), and then clicking on the element within the environment to interact with the element using the selected item. Taking the key from the previous example, a player can click on it when it is in his inventory, and then click on the cupboard's door again to open the cupboard using the retrieved key. If the item is not meant for the element, then nothing happens. Again using the key as an example: if the player tries to use the key on the door instead of the cupboard, nothing happens and the door remains locked.

Often, solving one part of the puzzle will reveal items, codes (passwords), or pathways that in turn that help solve another part of the puzzle. The aforementioned cupboard, for example, yields a screwdriver, and the screwdriver is used to unscrew the painting, which yields a screw in return, and so on. The player must often apply lateral thinking when trying to find uses for the items retrieved in order to solve the puzzles. Codes can be in a variety of formats, usually involving simple number sequences but can also be as complex as involving colours, directions and binary; these must be entered into the appropriate elements inside the game's environment correctly in order to advance through the game.

Some of the puzzles may be presented as a single element within the game's environment itself, rather than involving multiple items and elements within the game's environment; these are usually presented in the form of locks preventing access to other elements or pathways. For example, in one of the rooms on the tenth level, the player must unlock a safe by solving a circular, colourful pie chart-like puzzle, through interaction with the elements of the puzzle itself.

Many elements within the game, such as many pieces of furniture and some of the puzzles themselves, can be interacted without using any additional items. For example, unlocked doors can be opened simply by clicking on them, and some chairs can be moved around by clicking on them.

As the game advances, the gameplay itself steadily evolves at the same time, the levels and puzzles gradually becoming more complex and multi-layered. Levels begin taking place over multiple rooms at once and eventually ventures into an outside world beyond locked buildings. In later levels, the player acquires a device called the Manipulator of Time and Space (MOTAS) device, which takes the player back to previous levels via time travel in order to retrieve items; the player then returns to the current level to solve the puzzles using the items retrieved.

Plot[edit]

Unique among many games of this genre, MOTAS features a plot that changes and evolves as the player advances through the course of the game. MOTAS begins in a relatively formulaic fashion; as is the convention in escape the room games, the player awakens in a bedroom that is locked from the outside with no memory of prior events. As the game progresses, the player discovers several elements throughout the game's environment that suggest the player is a clone, such as a letter left on a table in one of the rooms on the seventh level regarding an escaped clone, and a manual about cloning left on a table in the eleventh level, which leaves the player wondering about his existence afterwards. There are also subtle hints throughout the game suggesting that the player may be an alien, such as at the end of level eight the player puts on what is described as an 'Alien Suit'. Depictions of aliens can also be found throughout the game: for example, on the ninth level the player sees the dead body of an alien lying outside a crashed UFO in the first room.

Both possibilities are most strongly hinted at on the sixteenth level. On that level, an encrypted mission report, written by an unknown group of persons aboard an 'artificial moon' and left on a computer to be discovered and decrypted by the player, mentions clones being trained in a 'Logic Training facility' on the artificial moon along with the discovery of a planet that is named by the writers as 'Terra Prime', and is reported as being called Earth by its inhabitants. This strongly suggests that the writers may be extraterrestrial aliens; the report also mentions hostilities from the inhabitants of the planet after the writers' presence in the Solar System was uncovered, and of the measures taken against it by the writers of the report, including the creation of a clone to 'hopefully save the planet'; this clone is hinted at the end of the report as being the player himself.

One plot suggestion has been dismissed though: on the eighth level of the game, a figure in a pink alien suit was shown apparently following the player by exiting one of the two doors inside a room after the player has left the level; this figure was revealed in the seventeenth level to be merely the player themselves, the pink colour explained as the result of an accident while attempting to hide behind the door. The version of the player in the pink suit had travelled from the future using the MOTAS device; the item also helps serve to further the game's metafictional elements.

Other elements that serve as plot suggestions include a book named after the game itself, various notes left behind by persons unknown throughout the game (with one reading 'No unauthorised time travel'), and the use of portals and teleportation devices to advance between some levels of the game.

Development[edit]

MOTAS was created in November 2001. At that time MOTAS was hosted on a free web server and the game featured only one room (level). In February 2002, a counter was added. As of May 2008, MOTAS has 20 levels plus the guestbook/end level. At several points, the game became so popular that bandwidth became a problem, and so the game was moved to another web host.

Reception[edit]

Mystery of Time and Space is considered to be a highly significant escape the room adventure that helped propel the genre to significance as a subset of online games. It has been referenced in other adventure games, such as the similarly alien-themed Cybee's Adventure, in which a 'MOTAS Deluxe box' appears as an item.^[2] The credits of the seminal escape the room adventure Crimson Room name MOTAS as an inspiration.^[3]Channel 4 has commented on the game, describing it as 'a treat' with 'intricate problems', although it also criticized the game for the obscurity and difficulty of its puzzles.^[4]Nytimes.com mentioned MOTAS in its article 'GAME THEORY; A Little Getaway: Small, Simple, Fast and Fun'.^[5]MOTAS is also mentioned in an article on TheStar.com: 'For lots of gamers, escapism means starting out in a trap - 'Room escape' games, with their endless variations, are booming'.^[1] PCWorld.com wrote: 'If you liked the Crimson and Viridian rooms, you'll get a kick out of 'Mystery of Time and Space,' a 12-level game of the same ilk as the 'rooms.'^[6][7]The game Bonte Room also references MOTAS in the walkthrough.

References[edit]

1. ^ ^abFor lots of gamers, escapism means starting out in a trap, Toronto Star, January 20, 2008
2. ^JammJamm.de - Flash Games & EntertainmentArchived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine
3. ^Fasco-Cs > Crimson Room
4. ^4Games: Game Review: The Mystery of Time and Space
5. ^https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DB1730F933A25755C0A9629C8B63 June 10, 2004
6. ^http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,117100/article.html Aug 18, 2004
7. ^http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,127563-c,sites/article.html Nov 1, 2006

External links[edit]