From the minds of the format-bending There Is No Game comes the soon-dropping Crushed In Time, an adventure starring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson as they journey through a failed video game launch — from inside the game.
A title full of quirks and a fresh take on a well-trodden point-and-click adventure style of game, the player influences the world of Crushed In Time via a distinct stretch-and-pull mechanic that will have characters and objects flinging around the screen from start to finish.
We had the opportunity to interview Pascal Cammisotto, the writer and director of this title from developers Draw Me a Pixel. Here’s how that went:
Niche Gamer: You’re releasing Crushed In Time after having already worked on format-pushing titles like There Is No Game. How do you further stretch the boundaries with this release?
Pascal Cammisotto: We loved playing with the meta aspect of video games. There Is No Game allowed us to explore that direction, and with Crushed In Time, we want to take it even further: showing the game at different stages of development, completely breaking the fourth wall, and including plenty of references to video game creation. All of this in the service of a story we hope will be original and fresh!
Q: The story is set off by a game-breaking bug that affects the main characters. Is this inspired by real events?
A: Not really, but, you know, bugs are so common during video game development that it could have been the case!
In reality, we needed a trigger to justify time travel, and the disappearance of an NPC allows us to explore that angle.
Q: The game’s stretch-and-pull mechanic is a very unique method of interacting with the world. How did you think of it?
A: We really wanted to make a point-and-click game (Day of the Tentacle is actually one of my favorite games), but we quickly ran into a problem: how could we make this genre less austere?
As we were brainstorming, we asked ourselves, “What if Nintendo made a point-and-click game—how would they do it?” and that’s when we thought of the excellent Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle, which brilliantly modernizes the XCOM-style formula.
One thing led to another, and we came to the conclusion that a point-and-click game needs to be more fun to manipulate, especially when it uses a very cartoonish universe. And elasticity lends itself perfectly to this concept: our game is like a kind of stress ball with puzzles. And we think people seem to like it, because most of the players we’ve seen playing enjoy fiddling with the elasticity of the environment while they think!
Q: Why Sherlock Holmes?
A: It quickly became obvious. First of all, because while I was developing There Is No Game, I already wanted to make a game dedicated to them—their world and their dynamic work so well for puzzle games. And on top of that, these two characters seem to be by far our fans’ favorites, right after the trio of Game, GiGi, and Mr. Glitch.
Q: Describe the tone of this game. What petri dish of emotions do you want users to feel while playing?
A: Like There Is No Game, Crushed In Time is an adventure comedy where epic moments blend with humor. It’s a bit of a tribute to 1980s adventure films—a sort of video game crossover between Indiana Jones and Back to the Future.
Ideally, we hope to take players on an emotional rollercoaster where they’ll laugh, focus intently during tense scenes, and maybe even shed a tear or two at certain moments.
Q: Crushed In Time draws heavy inspiration from old-school point-and-click adventure games. How does elasticity improve on that formula?
A: As mentioned earlier, our goal is to preserve the wacky spirit of classic point-and-click games like Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, and Discworld, while offering a modern gameplay experience. We love point-and-click games, but we’d like to offer a bit more than just inventory-based interaction with drag-and-drop objects.
In fact, it’s worth noting that Crushed In Time offers a new paradigm: in the introduction, the player attends the game’s launch party at our offices before being sucked into a computer screen. So you don’t play Crushed In Time: you’re stuck inside the game and try to interact with the world and its inhabitants thanks to its strange elasticity, much like a ghost would.
Q: Time travel can get sticky when crafting a narrative – does this game create or exploit any plot holes, intentionally or otherwise?
A: It’s true—it’s easy to get tripped up by all these layers of time.
But we’ve taken care to maintain logical consistency in everything that happens, and we’ve even included details in the environments that subtly reveal the impact of our actions throughout the story. It’s up to the players to spot them.
That said, there is a temporal paradox that was intentionally included, but we won’t say any more about that.
Q: Set to release on PC in June, but coming to Nintendo Switch and mobile later in the year, can you describe the challenge of porting the game to such fundamentally different platforms?
A: Without a doubt, the biggest challenge is providing a comfortable experience on a gamepad.
Originally, the game was designed to be played with a mouse on a PC, but we were surprised to discover that it’s actually very enjoyable to play on a phone or tablet touchscreen.
For the gamepad, we went back to a solution similar to the one used in There Is No Game: The LR/RB buttons let you quickly navigate between interaction points, and the triggers let you increase the cursor speed for those who prefer to move freely. It took a lot of iteration, but I think we’ve managed to create a comfortable experience for those who prefer to play from their couch with a gamepad.
Q: Crushed In Time ventures into the heart of its own game. Does it have any jokes or references that only devs and fans of the genre would understand?
A: The game is naturally full of nods to There Is No Game and video game development. Its meta nature also allows for plenty of self-deprecating humor, and I think the story and our sense of humor should resonate with most players, if only because most players today have at least a basic understanding of how our industry works.
Q: What flavor is your game? No elaboration.
A: A rare and unique flavor you’ll never forget, reminiscent of umami.
Q: What is your final sales pitch to players on the fence about giving Crushed In Time a buy?
A: If you like video games, you’ll love our video game! Am I going overboard here? I feel like a car salesman.
Crushed in Time is set to release on June 10th for PC (via Steam), and plans to release for Nintendo Switch and Mobile later in the year.
