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Review
Timelapse is definitely one of the better adventure games released in
recent months. Large in scope, it contains several diverse and
detailed environments that are a real pleasure to experience. Its
playability is reminiscent of two all-time favorites from Sanctuary
Woods, Buried in Time and The Riddle of Master Lu, from both of which
Timelapse borrows some concepts.
Puzzles are well-integrated into the overall storyline, which is fully
fleshed out with background material available in the Professor's
journals and in other areas of the game (notably Atlantis). The
puzzles tend to be more abstract than the standard
inventory-manipulation types often seen in adventure games. Their
level of complexity seems just about ideal - not so easy as to lack a
challenge or sense of accomplishment, but neither unreasonably
difficult. In most cases, the game challenges "play fair" - solutions
are logical and usually involve objects close at hand. This latter
characteristic is particularly enjoyable since a lot of repetitive
wandering and pixel-searching can be avoided. Only a couple of the
puzzles involve arcade-style dexterity or a time limit for solution.
Gameplay is fairly nonlinear - typically several goals must be
completed in each age and often there is some flexibility as to their
order. Like Myst, the ages themselves can be completed in any order,
but the writings in the Professor's journals do suggest a "natural"
sequence. Once an age has been completed, it cannot be revisited, so
in a sense Timelapse consists of several independent sub-games. Four
ages must be completed before the final game sequence can begin.
Graphics are pretty good, but many scenes seem a bit on the blocky
side. The sheer number of views that needed to be rendered for this
large game may have limited the number of polygons used. However, many
of these views seem somewhat redundant and gameplay often requires
passing through a lot of intermediate nodes in order to reach the next
decision point. In a few areas of the game, a "hyperlink" feature is
available to bypass these intermediate nodes, but an optional "zoom"
feature such as that available in Myst would have been more
universally useful. Additional shading and/or shadowing would have
given better depth to a number of scenes that appeared rather flat, in
some cases making it difficult to sense directions for movement.
Overall, however, it is easy to become immersed in the various ages
due to their layout and particularly to the sound effects, which are
excellent. In addition, there are frequent spots throughout the game,
particularly in the Anasazi world, where small animations of animals
can be seen, adding a really nice touch of realism to the game.
The game has two serious flaws. The first, and more annoying, is the
requirement to re-insert CD #1 whenever the game is restarted. An
introductory playback that is optional and user-selectable might have
kept the initial sequence small enough to be repeated on each CD. The
second is a failure to parity-check a randomized sliding-piece puzzle
in the Mayan world, causing half of all configurations to be
unsolvable (which often cannot be detected until the puzzle is nearly
finished).
Live-action acting is very good overall, with the exception of a
rather amateurish performance by the actor protraying Professor
Nichols.
The background music is adequate, not particularly noteworthy except
for a really outstanding music-and-vocals piece that is played in the
Storyteller Cave.
The user interface is just about as close to perfection as possible,
using keyboard arrow keys (or mouse) for movement, combined with a
Myst-like mouse cursor for exploration and object manipulation. A
rosette of available movement directions is displayed when the arrow
keys are being used, but disappears once the mouse is used for
movement. This arrangement is reminiscent of that used in Sanctuary
Woods' The Journeyman Project and Buried in Time, but avoids
cluttering up the screen with extraneous items and graphics. A single
item may be carried around as inventory. A control menu is turned on
or off with a simple press of the spacebar. Saved games are file-based
and unlimited in number, and thankfully include an overwrite warning.
There are a few places in the game where you can be "killed", but at
these points the screen is merely blanked and you are returned to the
game, definitely a plus for those of us that have been burned in the
past by not saving our games often enough.
Overall, Timelapse is a very enjoyable adventure game experience.
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Walkthrough Abbreviations
F: Forward (Fn for n repetitions)
L: Left
R: Right
B: Back out (down arrow)
L and R perform turnarounds whenever they're unavailable as possible
directions for movement
Keyboard arrow keys may be "preloaded" in the type-ahead buffer for
fastest game movement
Press Esc to skip the game introduction and video sequences, or to
exit game credits
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Easter Island
After watching the game introduction, you find yourself on a rocky
hilltop of Easter Island. From your initial position facing the rocks
covered with glyphs, move R F2 R F and pick up Professor Nichols'
camera. The camera can be used to capture up to 36 partial screen
shots during gameplay, and comes in very handy since many puzzles in
Timelapse have graphic clues.
Move B R F2 L F5 R F. Pick up the Professor's journal at the base of
the statue. Be sure to read it for clues and background information
while playing the game.
Move B L F4 L F7 R F4 L F5 R F2 R down to the triplet of stone statues
(moai) on the beach (note the crabs animation, a nice touch). While
facing each of the three statues, note the carved symbol on its base,
zoom in on the statue and touch its chest to disclose another symbol:
Beach Moai Symbols
Turn right from the leftmost statue and move F15 to the table in the
Professor's camp. Drag a piece of paper from the right over the
rongo-rongo board, then use the white pencil to make a tracing of the
three pairs of symbols on the board:
Rongo-rongo Board Symbols
Move B2 R F to the other camp table (note the game designers' names on
the candy wrappers). Pick up and read the directions for lighting the
lantern:
1. Pump the tank 10 times using the TANK PUMP
2. Turn the (L-shaped) PRIMER VALVE to the UP position
3. Open the (circular) GAS KNOB to the UP position
4. CAREFULLY light the MANTLE with a lighted MATCH
5. Once the lantern starts up, turn the PRIMER VALVE to the DOWN
position
Pick up the box of safety matches from the table and move B R F L F2 R
F17 to the cave entrance.
Click on the lantern and follow the above instructions to light it (if
you make a mistake, you'll have to return to the camp table to get
more matches). Move B F13 L F3 L F to the stone head in the cave.
Click on its face to cause its lower jaw to melt into molten lava (one
of many excellent morphing sequences in the game). Cool the molten
head on the lava "tongue" by clicking on the bowl-shaped gray rock at
upper center. Pick up the cooled head before it heats up again, and
make a note of the symbol shown in the large head's eye sockets. Move
B R2 F to the three statues. By referring to the paired symbols seen
previously, determine the statue symbol associated with the
eye-socket symbol and place the stone head you're carrying onto the
corresponding statue hand. If you choose incorrectly, the stone head
will disintegrate and you will have to obtain it again from the lava
flow. Repeat the procedure for five more eye-socket symbols in the
lava-flow head. The symbol sequence can be moved up or down by
clicking in the left or right eye socket. When completed, the head
arrangement will be:
Stone Head Arrangement
Move B L F and click on the now-glowing eyes of the face in the cave
wall to open an entrance to the time portal. Move F7 and listen to the
Professor's message. After he finishes, wait a few moments for a
second message to start. At this point it's possible to visit any of
three worlds: Egyptian, Mayan or Anasazi. To follow the Professor's
path, press the brown scarab beetle button at far left, then click on
the animation in the crystal ball to be transported to the Egyptian
world.
_________________________________________________________________
Egyptian World
There is a separate section in the Professor's journal for each world
you visit in Timelapse, so be sure to consult it on arrival in a new
world (or later if you prefer discovering things on your own).
Your first task will be to release the barge and traverse the Nile.
Examination of the dock area shows that the release mechanism is
controlled by a system of water weights, ropes and pulleys. The
sequence required to release the barge is suggested by a diagram in
Entry 4 of the Professor's journal:
Barge Release Sequence
From your initial arrival in the Egyptian world, move F7 R F L and
click on the hanging basket exactly four times to fill the stone
cistern. Move L F R F R F2 and observe that the cistern is completely
filled. Move B2 L F R F and touch the pulley lever overhead to align
the well bucket with the cistern outflow pipe. Click on the gray lever
to empty the cistern water into the bucket hanging in the well and
notice how the tension increases on the rope. Move B R F2 L F L and
click on the hanging basket exactly two times. Move L F R F2 R F and
again click on the gray lever to add water to the well bucket. Moving
F, you'll see that the bucket is now completely filled and slightly
tilted. Back out and return the pulley lever to its vertical position.
Move B L F R F3 L F to the dock release lever. Drag this lever to the
left to open the dock and release the barge.
Move L F R F R F3 to cross the river in the barge (the Esc key can be
used to skip the animation, if desired). Move L F L2 and pick up the
spear from the dock. Move R2 F to face the crocodile guarding the dock
temple. Wait until the crocodile moves his head to your left, then use
the spear to jab at its pale neck area. After several stabs to this
area, you will vanquish the crocodile.
Move F5 R F3 into the temple embalming room. Open the chest and read
each of the nine scrolls, noting the references to Egyptian gods and
particularly to the Mirror of Hathor:
GodAnimal KnummGoat SebekCrocodile BastetCat HorusHawk AnubisDog
OsirisPharoah ThothIbis SetHorned One
Move B2 R F L F to the standing statue. Open the compartment and read
the tenth scroll:
Standing Statue Scroll
Take a picture of the scroll with your camera as the information on it
will be needed later. Move B2 L F L F4 L F into the temple storeroom.
Click on the dog statue to hear the intonation
Seeeeek the Tablet
This surely must be a clue! Next, move F L F to the fruit baskets.
Pick up the mirror from one of the baskets, back out and use it on the
wall ahead to disclose a warning about trying to take the mirror out
of the temple storeroom. Move R and use the mirror on the six jars at
this end of the storeroom. In the second one from the right, the
mirror discloses a hidden scarab-shaped key; take it. Move R and use
the scarab key to unlock the chest. Then move F and open the chest.
Check out those cursor-tracking eyes!
The tablet in the chest defines values for each element of the
Egyptian number system by referring to specific objects in the temple
storerooms:
Egyptian Tablet
The numbers are translated by counting the quantity of objects in the
temple storeroom and embalming room:
* 9 knives in a chest in the embalming room
* 4 arrows lying on a mat in the storeroom
* 2 tables in the embalming room
* 7 blue ewers in the embalming room
* 3 chests in both rooms (tablet, scrolls, knives)
* 10 scrolls in the embalming room (9 in the chest and one in the
base of the standing statue)
* 6 spears in the storeroom
* 8 jars in the storeroom (6 in the back and one on each side)
* 5 baskets in the storeroom
* 1 sarcophagus in the embalming room
The resulting translation is
Egyptian Number System
Next, refer to Entry 30 in the Professor's journal (25 mouse clicks),
where he refers to Deren's Egyptian religious saying:
"Precede the gods, and things will
be subtracted from you. Follow the
gods, and things will be surely added
onto you."
This note refers to the information obtained earlier in the standing
statue, which together with knowledge of the Egyptian number system
can be translated into a numeric adjustment for each of the Egyptian
gods:
GodAnimalNumeric Adjustment KnummGoatAdd 4 SebekCrocodileSubtract 1
BastetCatSubtract 8 HorusHawkAdd 4 AnubisDogSubtract 2
OsirisPharoahSubtract 1 ThothIbisAdd 1 SetHorned OneAdd 2
In the center area of the dock temple, find the sparking electrical
display on one of the columns. Press the lowest of the three buttons
on the panel to send power to the crystal statue at the back of the
temple. Move F L F2 to the statue. Drag the crystal ball around the
perimeter of the statue to disclose a sign for each of the Egyptian
gods:
Egyptian God Signs
Next, move B L F L F L back to the power panel. Press the middle
button to provide power to a staircase that will be encountered later.
Exit the temple to the marble walkway behind it by moving R F3 R F R
F2 R F2 L F2 R. On the black obelisk, note the glowing numeric symbol
associated with the crocodile god Sebek. Examine the other seven
obelisks along the walkway to derive numeric values for the other
Egyptian gods, and apply the numeric adjustments from the table above:
Bastet W Anubis
A
Osiris L Horus
K
Set W Knumm
A
Thoth Y Sebek
Dock Temple
GodAnimalInitial Value Adjusted Value KnummGoat43 SebekCrocodile59
BastetCat37 HorusHawk108 AnubisDog91 OsirisPharoah76 ThothIbis810
SetHorned One12
Continue into the crystal room at the end of the walkway. Here you
will find eight crystals corresponding in relative position to the
eight obelisks along the marble walkway. Zoom in on each crystal and
set the animal symbol (top), adjusted numeric value (middle) and sign
(bottom) for each of the Egyptian gods using the Animal Table,
Adjusted Value Table, Egyptian number system and Egyptian god signs
given above. When each crystal has been correctly configured, the
corresponding miniature in the raised pool at the back of the crystal
room will glow.
Alternatively, you can use the following table showing the mouse
clicks required for each crystal, starting from the initial positions
they're in when you first enter the crystal room:
Pool
(1,0,2) (7,10,6)
(7,8,7) (5,3,9)
(4,6,0) (7,11,9)
(7,2,10) (2,6,1)
Entrance
Notation: (x,y,z) means click the top symbol x times (sequence repeats
after 8 clicks), click the middle symbol y times (sequence
repeats after 13 clicks) and click the bottom symbol z times
(sequence repeats after 11 clicks).
Click on the pool at the back of the crystal room and pick up the red
crystal. Move B F5 to the cobra blocking the passageway. Give the red
crystal to the snake and it'll disappear. Move F9 and drop the red
crystal into the blue-green pool. After you've finished watching the
Yul Brynner impression, back out twice from the pool and press the
small square staircase symbol on the column. Since you've already
routed electrical power to this section of the temple complex, a
spiral staircase opens. Move F R F6 R F10 R (past the Guardian
apparition) and click on the chutes-and-ladders game rules on the
wall.
To play the game, move B F and roll the tetrahedron-shaped die. Your
ankh is the red one; to win the game you must reach the final golden
square (by exact count) before your blue opponent does. It's usually a
better strategy to give up gems rather than accepting a position
penalty from a snake, but to do so you must quickly drag one of your
red gems on the wall to the right side where your opponent's blue gems
are stored. Be sure to accurately position your gem into one of your
opponent's open holes, or else the snake will knock you back. There is
no click-ahead buffer for this game, as there is, for example, when
reading the Professor's journal. Also note that the game is completely
reset if you back out from it.
On completion of the game, you'll hear a short musical tone. Pick up
the light-blue eye symbol from the wall. Move B L2 F and put the eye
symbol next to its mate on the cabinet door. Open the cabinet and move
F2 to bring up the pyramid lock combination diagram:
Pyramid Lock Diagram
Note that the diagram also includes a triangular representation of a
pyramid (not shown above), matching one seen on the power panel
buttons. Counting the symbols in the columns on the diagram, you'll
find
3 10 9 4
symbols symbols symbols symbols
Back out from the diagram and click on the gene pod lying in the gray
receptacle. After watching the video sequence, move B3 L F and click
on the rotating blue spot to watch another video sequence. Move F10 L
F6 L F17 to exit the crystal room. Use the hyperlink icon to zoom to
the dock temple, then move R F2 L F2 L F L F3 R to the power panel.
Click on the upper, triangular button to send power up the river to
the pyramid above the dock area.
Move F R F6 L F to return to the dock area. Move B2 R F R F2 L F10 R
F8 L F4 to reach the pyramid combination lock. Using the Egyptian
number system diagram, drag the tumblers to enter the combination
(3,10,9,4) that you found by counting symbols on the diagram in the
cabinet. When correctly configured, the combination lock will show
Pyramid Combination Lock
Click on the triangle at left to open the lock. Move F11 to enter the
time portal. Watch the movie of Professor Nichols, then wait a few
moments and watch a second one. At this point it's possible to visit
either the Mayan or the Anasazi world; we'll go to the Mayan world
next. Press the green lizard button second from the right, then click
on the animation in the crystal ball to be transported to the Mayan
world.
_________________________________________________________________
Mayan World
From your initial position on the beach, move R F4 R and click on the
sea monster's head. Pick up the carved egg and move B L F5 L F5 R F14
to the steaming platform in the pool. Place the carved egg onto the
platform and it will change into a chameleon. Click on the chameleon
to play three rounds of a color-sequence/music-tone memory game
(randomized for each game and each round). Move F4 into the Castillo
temple.
Move R F to face an arithmetic puzzle on the temple wall. If a dot
represents one and a horizontal bar represents five, then the matrix
of twelve buttons can be thought of as
131412 20 289 1 211322 23
The trick to solving this puzzle is to see it as four vertical
addition problems, out of alignment. Click on the buttons in this
order to solve the puzzle:
147 10 1125 8 3912 6
When the puzzle is solved, a lever is exposed in the column to the
left; click on it and move L F to the now-activated stela control
mechanism. Drag the crystal ball one position to the right to morph
the alien head into a skull. Move B L F L F4 and hyperlink to the
spider stela (see map) down near the water. Move R to the skull stela
and click on the lighted blue skull. This in turn lights up three
Mayan calendar symbols:
Skull Stela Symbols
Move R, hyperlink to the monkey stela, move L, hyperlink to the snake
stela, move R, hyperlink to the Castillo temple, and move F5 R F R to
the Mayan calendar. The calendar consists of three rings: the left
inner ring nested inside the left outer ring, and a right ring. Each
ring can be turned either clockwise or counterclockwise by dragging
the mouse cursor over it. In each case, the position of other rings
may be affected when one ring is turned:
* Turning the left inner ring turns the left outer ring in the same
direction.
* Turning the left outer ring turns the left inner ring in the same
direction and turns the right ring in the opposite direction.
* Turning the right ring turns the left inner ring in the same
direction.
Also, the rings themselves have varying numbers of symbols on them: 8
for the left inner ring, 12 for the left outer ring and 16 for the
right ring. Armed with this information, it's possible to come up with
a guaranteed strategy for aligning any combination of symbols:
1. Turn the left inner ring in either direction to bring the target
left inner ring symbol into position.
2. Use move pairs
Turn left inner ring clockwise, then
turn right ring counterclockwise
to bring the target left outer ring symbol into alignment with the
left inner ring symbol.
3. Use move pairs
Turn left inner ring clockwise, then
turn left outer ring counterclockwise
to bring the target right ring symbol into alignment with the other
two target symbols.
When all three target symbols are aligned, a bright musical chord
plays and the corresponding temple shown on the map below is unlocked.
Starting with the stela control mechanism, repeat the above procedure
for the monkey temple:
Monkey Stela Symbols
for the jaguar temple:
Jaguar Stela Symbols
and for the lizard temple:
Lizard Stela Symbols
Mayan World Map
From the Mayan calendar, move R F R F2 R F2 R and note that all four
temple access symbols are now lit up on the frieze in the crystal
skull alcove. Move R F2 R F13 R F8 R into the skull temple.
Skull Temple
The challenge here is to reassemble the skeleton. However, clicking on
any joint to reposition a previously-placed bone causes all bones to
drop and the puzzle to restart, as does placing certain bones from the
wrong skeleton (there are more loose bones than needed for one
skeleton). One aid to solving the problem is knowing how the skeleton
should look when it's finished:
Skull Temple Skeleton
Obviously, a humerus must be placed before its radius and ulna, a
femur before its fibula and tibia, etc. Also note that the skeleton's
left femur is broken and must be reassembled using two pieces, as is
its right humerus. In these cases, be sure the edges of the broken
bones match up. The skeleton's right fibula, tibia and foot can be
placed as a single unit, as can its left radius, ulna and hand.
However, the skeleton's right radius and ulna must be placed
individually, creating sort of an "X" arrangement. The hand with a
single arm bone attached to it is not used. Generally, bones on the
skeleton's left side have a slightly more brownish color than the ones
on its right. When the skeleton is complete, the extra unused bones
will disappear.
Remove the green crystal ball from the skeleton's mouth, move L2 and
place it in the center of the circular wall design. After the movie is
done playing, note the two Mayan figures now visible in the wall
design.
Monkey Temple
Move L F15 L F3 and click on the monkey skull to activate the
PacMan-like game in the monkey temple. Move L F to start the game.
The object is to move your green spider to the blue crystal at the
bottom of the maze, while avoiding the red spiders in the narrower
passages (relatively easy to do since their movements are
predictable). Several areas in the game are isolated from one another,
so most of the time you're just trying to move from an entrance hole
to an exit hole. As in most of the puzzles in Timelapse, you can save
your game after part of the puzzle has been solved, which avoids
having to start over completely if something goes wrong. With this
feature, even the most difficult puzzles can be solved incrementally.
Once you've got the blue crystal, move B L F4 to the monkey wall
design. Put the blue crystal in its center. After the movie is done
playing, again note two Mayan figures now visible in the wall design.
Jaguar Temple
Move R2 F L F7 L F2 R F L F9 R F up the stairs into the jaguar temple.
Note the arrangement of colors in the circular design on the wall:
White
Red Yellow
Black
Move B R F L F and note the arrangement of four yellow symbols
surrounding the jaguar picture on the wall. Move F and set up these
symbols in the segmented circle, using the four-color scheme above.
When the correct arrangement is selected, the cylinder opens up and
you can pick up a golden jaguar head.
Move B2 L F L F and melt the jaguar head over the fire. Cool the mold
with blood from the small gray container. Move F and wait about 70
seconds for the gold heart to cool enough to pick up (or you can use
this time to further explore the temple). Move B2 R2. Put the heart
into the the pot of blood on the green statue; pick up the red
crystal. Move R F R and place the red crystal into the center of the
circular wall design. After the movie is done playing, note the two
Mayan figures now visible in the wall design.
Lower Temple and Jungle
Move L F8 R F R F13 R F into the lower temple. The
scissors-paper-stone game must be won before the chasm bridge can be
crossed:
* Frog beats spider
* Spider beats scorpion
* Scorpion beats frog
* Like choices tie
You must win three rounds of the game before your opponent does. Each
round is won by the first side to win three encounters. Your opponent
seems to adapt to your prior gameplay, so one strategy is to pick your
choices for each encounter on a purely random basis and save your game
after winning each round.
Back out from the game and watch the chasm bridge raise up. Move F30 L
and pick up the orange gem from the pink plant on the tree branch.
Move L F and put the gem into the right-hand eye socket of the statue.
Move R and wait a few seconds for the spider to drop down; pick up the
green gem in the center of the web. Move L and put the gem into the
left-hand eye socket. Push on the right socket and take the machete
from the mouth of the statue. Click on the machete four times to chop
down all the brown vines immediately to the right of the statue.
Lizard Temple
Move F26 R F3 and click on the gray bowl to pick up a cracked red
heart. Move B F R and pick up the codex page on the floor next to the
potted plant. By referring to the faces shown in Entry 39 of the
Professor's journal (34 mouse clicks):
Mayan Number Symbols
and the previously-discovered number notation, the codex page can be
translated into negative (black) and positive (red) numbers:
-5 +4 -5
----------
-5 +4 -6
-6 +5 +5
----------
-8 -8 +5
+8 +8 +5
----------
+5 -8 -6
+8 +4 +8
----------
-5
Return the codex page to the floor and move R F7 R. Put the cracked
heart into the yellow bowl to activate the crocodile/tree puzzle.
Move F. The object of the puzzle is to light up each of 22 positions
on the double pyramid, while using the moves indicated by the skulls.
This problem would be extremely difficult to solve without the aid of
a computer (and several hours of CPU time); fortunately, a solution
was seen on the codex page. Click on the left (positive) and right
(negative) skulls in the left-to-right order shown on the codex
translation above, and pick up a golden salamander. Move B L F. Open
the floor hatch and place the golden salamander into its receptacle.
Move B F12 L F9 L into the lower temple region. Pick up the Mayan gene
pod. After the movie sequence completes, pick up the axe.
Unfortunately, the green storage unit acts like a counterbalance and
since the gene pod and axe have been removed from it, stalactites have
lowered from the ceiling blocking your exit. You will need to find the
correct combination of bones and debris from the floor to place on top
of the green storage unit to cause it to be depressed the correct
amount, releasing the stalactites and allowing you to leave. Of the
256 possibilities, the correct combination of objects is: all four
skulls, plus the flat brown piece.
Move L F9 L F2 to another passageway blocked by stalactites. Click on
the axe-shaped depression in the wall and listen to the tones. If the
notes range from 1 (low) at left, to 5 (high) at right, the tunelet
played is
5 3 4 2 2 5 5 1
Match these tones by using the skull axe on the five stalactites, and
the doorway will open.
Move F4 to the tomb. You need to get the yellow crystal ball from the
hand of the skeleton, but he just doesn't want to let go! While
holding down the mouse key, rapidly move the cursor up and down over
the skeleton's hand until you've tugged the ball free (amidst a
particularly juicy sound effect).
Move B R2 F24 to the circular wall design. Place the yellow crystal
into the center of it. After the movie finishes playing, note the two
Mayan figures now visible in the wall design.
Move R2 F4 L F26 R2 and press the green eye of the jungle statue to
avoid being killed by a poison dart as you move to the left. From a
position facing the statue, move L F12 L and pick up the purple gem
hidden in the base of the tree fern. Move R F10 to the sun temple
entrance.
Sun Temple
Place the purple gem into the center of the design that holds each of
the four crystals you've previously found.
Move F5 to the sun temple sliding-piece puzzle. This puzzle randomizes
each time you move to it, so no closed-form solution is possible. The
puzzle pieces are from the four temple designs discovered previously;
each design occupies a 2 x 2 subsection of the puzzle and must be
completed in the following arrangement:
Sliding-Piece Puzzle Solution
By examining the puzzle, you should be able to figure out which of the
four temple designs is missing a piece, corresponding to the open
square in the puzzle. Obviously, that temple design must be completed
last.
Once a 2 x 2 temple subsection is completed, its design "freezes",
making the occupied squares inaccessible during further work on the
puzzle. As a result, a good strategy is to concentrate on configuring
the first 4-element row and first 4-element column of the puzzle
before completing any 2 x 2 subsection (as long as this is not where
the missing piece is).
Many configurations are impossible to solve, for example,
Impossible Sun Temple Puzzle
The frequency of these outcomes indicates that the Timelapse game
software is not checking the puzzle randomizations for basic parity;
consequently, half of all starting positions will be unsolvable. In
these cases, it will be necessary to restart the puzzle from the
beginning.
Once the sliding-piece puzzle has been solved, move F9 into the time
portal. Watch the movie of the Professor, then wait a few moments and
watch a second one. Press the blue insect button second from the left,
then click on the animation in the crystal ball to be transported to
the Anasazi world.
_________________________________________________________________
Anasazi World
From your initial position on the cliff, move R F4 and pick up the log
lying on the ground. Move B R2 F3 L F5 to the chasm (if you zoomed in
on the gray rock bulge, you're too close). Place the log across the
chasm and move F16 to the calendar control lever. From the Professor's
journal, note that the calendar has a setting for each of the cardinal
compass points, selected by the lever:
Off
East North
West South
The Anasazi world has a challenge to solve for each of these compass
settings, and each challenge has an associated animal that will appear
when the calendar lever setting is selected.
East
Drag the lever to the East position; if desired, you can confirm the
sun shadow by moving F2. From a position facing the calendar lever,
move B R F9 R F R F10 L and pick up the stick at the end of the road.
Make your way toward the East sun spiral shown on the map in the
Professor's journal:
Anasazi World Map
As you progress up the canyon, you'll follow a friendly gray squirrel,
the animal associated with the East challenge. About halfway up,
you'll see a nest of bees in a dead tree trunk; use your stick to get
a bit of honey on its end. Continue on up to the end of the path,
where you'll discover a golden acorn trapped in a rock crevice. You'll
have no trouble recovering the acorn using the stick tipped with
sticky honey.
Take the acorn back to the end of the road, where you found the stick,
and place it into the depression in the rock. Move F3 into the cave
and pick up a safety match from the box in the basket (seems a bit out
of place or time, doesn't it?). Move B2 R and ignite the match by
quickly passing it over the flat rock with the vertical slit in it.
Then immediately use it to light the pile of twigs next to the rock.
If you turn around, you'll see an important Anasazi symbol projected
onto the cave wall.
South
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
for South. From your position facing the calendar lever, move B R F9 R
F R F4 R F5 and pick up some arrowheads on the ground to the right of
the path. Continue F6 L and watch the animation of a hawk flying
through a hole in a canyon rock spire. Move F to the mounted bow and
touch the bowstring to load a blunt arrow. Find the arrowheads you're
carrying at the lower right of the game window. Load only the first
(smallest) of these arrowheads (two remain, but won't be needed). Save
your game at this point.
Your goal is to shoot the arrow through the same rock spire hole that
the hawk flew through. A sweet spot obviously exists for a successful
shoot, but there is some evidence that its location may be randomized
between different games. However, if you need to restore your
just-saved game, the sweet spot should be consistent, so the problem
is to find the aiming point for your particular game.
We found best results were obtained by using only the first (smallest)
of the arrowheads. The other ones vary in size, and so require
different aiming positions for the point of the arrowhead. The other
two arrowheads also seem to vary in weight, affecting their flight
characteristics. We found the best bow position was set up by dragging
the mouse to pull the string all the way back, then up one position.
All that remains is to drag the mouse laterally, without releasing the
mouse button, to correctly position the arrowhead point. In several
games, the sweet spot was somewhat to the left of the short horizontal
black line on the target rock spire. In some games, this spot was
immediately to the left of the line, in others it was as far as
halfway to the edge of the rock spire. Your mileage may vary.
If you miss, restore your game and try again until you get the aim
just right. Carefully watch the arrow strike point for clues on how to
adjust the aim. When you get the arrow to fly through the hole, you'll
hear a voice say
"Success! You are a skilled warrior"
and a sound of rock sliding. Move B R2 F3 R F3 and listen to the sound
of thunder while watching an animation of stampeding buffalo.
West
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
for West. From your position facing the calendar lever, move B R F9 R
F L F12 L F2 R F6 R F and pick up the flashlight in the geode cave.
Move B L F to the first cave shadow.
The professor's journal mentions corroded batteries in the flashlight,
so you'll have to shake it to get some light out of it. You can see
only a portion of the symbols hidden in shadow at any one time since
the flashlight beam is limited. Make a note of all symbols you see,
you'll need them later. Be sure to also check the second cave shadow
to the left.
Exit the geode cave and move R F9 L F to a rock wall carving,
following the coyote who seems to be leading the way. Highlight the
nine symbols you saw in the geode cave, each of which has been
augmented by a hand symbol and some of which vary in size from what
was seen in the cave:
West Puzzle Solution
When you get it right, a really cool shadow of a coyote will cross the
rock and you'll hear him howl. Move L and click on the West sun spiral
carved into the rock. Move R F2 R into the emerald cave and note the
Anasazi sun symbol rising out of the water. Move F to get a closeup of
it, and note the sound of dripping water.
North
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
for North. The animal associated with this challenge is a crow. You'll
need to find up to 7 bird feathers to solve the challenge:
1. White bottom, tan-and-brown tip
2. Black
3. Tan-and-brown striped, white tip
4. White, black tip
5. Tan-and-black striped
6. Small white, tan tip
7. Blue
From your position facing the calendar lever, move B R F11 L and pick
up a feather lodged behind the rock. Move F2 L F3 R F6 L F5 and put
the feather on the ground in front of the decorated gray stand.
Move B L. On the rock face are depictions of the five birds whose
feathers you must find (we'll show you where all seven are, even
though you'll need only five). Move L F4, pick up the black feather,
and return it to the gray stand. Move B R2 F4 R F, pick up the third
feather, and return it to the others. Move B R2 F4 R F4, pick up the
fourth feather, and return it to the others. Move B R2 F4 R F6 R, pick
up the fifth feather, and return it to the others. Move B R2 F4 R F6 L
F2 L F4 L, pick up the sixth feather, and return it to the others.
Move B R2 F4 R F6 L F2 R F2 R F3, pick up the last feather, and return
it to the others. Arrange the feathers to match the diagram of birds
on the wall:
North Puzzle Solution
then click on the feather on the wall to turn the gray stand into a
full headdress. Move B L F R F and note the bird sculpture and the
sound of wind. Move R2 F L F R F4 R F6 L F2 back to the crossroads.
Storyteller Cave
This section of the game is optional - you don't need it to finish the
Anasazi world, but it's worth visiting for the music alone.
From the crossroads, face west and move F2 R F19. You can use
trial-and-error to solve the 35-element rattlesnake puzzle, or just
try this sequence (assuming animal prints are numbered from 1 to 8,
left to right):
3 3 4 4 7 6 7
7 4 2 4 2 3 8
5 1 5 8 3 2 4
4 7 4 2 3 8 3
2 4 4 6 1 6 7
But be careful! One wrong move and you'll have the restart the puzzle
from the beginning. Move R F2 - if the rattlesnake puzzle has been
solved, the peacepipe will be smoking and you can click on it five
times for Anasazi storyteller sequences. Move B R for an alternate map
of the Anasazi world.
Gene Pod
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
back to vertical. From your position facing the calendar lever, move B
R F9 R F R F4 R F4 R F4 R to the four tablets identified with the
cardinal directions. On each tablet, select the animal sound
associated with that direction, and one natural sound experienced
during the solution of each puzzle:
Four Tablets Solution
Then press the spiral symbol above the tablets to open a passageway.
Move F5, pick up the Anasazi gene pod and watch the movie. After it
completes, note the leaf outline exposed under the pod. Exit the
purple cave and use the Anasazi map to return to the crossroads.
Cliff City
From the crossroads, face north and move F10. Pick up the spear and
move B L. Use the spear to chop holes at the bases of the three cacti
(some of the prickly pear may have to be chopped away before you can
get at the left one). When you've released water from a cactus, it
flows to the green corn plant at center. The plant requires five
waterings in order to grow tall enough to climb into the cliff city,
so you'll have to chop a second hole in the barrel-shaped cactus and
one at the base of the left arm of the right cactus.
Move F3 R and pick up the blue-handled rattle inside the basket. Move
R2 and click on the rattlesnake to hear its rattle. Emulate the sound
with the rattle you're carrying by sweeping it down, up, down, down.
The snake then morphs into a ladder; move F6 R into the loom room.
Drag the large medium-red yarnball from the bowl to the empty white
basket at right. Drag the shuttle in your inventory at lower right to
the white basket. Click on the yarnball to unroll some yarn. Click on
the shuttle to thread it with the yarn. With your mouse cursor, click
on the white-threads area of the loom. Click on the sliding horizontal
bar to complete a portion of the blanket.
Repeat the above procedure using the small dark-red yarnball and the
red-and-yellow striped yarnball. The blanket will then be complete and
you'll see a glowing representation of a corn plant, an important
Anasazi symbol.
Move L B6 R F2 R F4 L into the music room. Pick up the drumstick and
move R2 to the wind chime. Click on the wind chime with your mouse
cursor and listen carefully - you'll need to emulate the sound on the
drums. Turn left to the drums and strike them with the drumstick in
this order:
1 5
4 3 2
The wind chime will answer with its cadence and a doorway into the
shaman's room will be revealed to your right behind the animal skin.
Enter the shaman's room and move forward to the firepit. Pick up a
glowing piece of wood and turn left. Drag the glowing end of the wood
over the five cavities at the top of the wall to disclose various
dangers (including more bees in the center hole). You can see a rag in
the hole second from the right - take it. Turn around and dunk the rag
into the stone pool of water, then use it to clean the wall and
disclose a reindeer-style pictograph, another important Anasazi
symbol.
Move R F3 R B4 R F3 R F R to the sandpit puzzle. The outline of a leaf
at the back of the pit is colored green to indicate that the puzzle
has been activated by your retrieval of the Anasazi gene pod. Move F
to begin the puzzle. Variously-colored leaves are blown onto the sand
spiral, and you must determine which ones go into the next three
positions. Moving from the center of the spiral outward, you'll see
that the leaves progress in sequence to the dark green leaf, then
reverse the sequence. Assuming this is the pattern, the leaves you
should choose are the first three leaves in the center of the spiral,
placed in reverse order:
Sandpit Leaf Puzzle
Back out and pick up the outlined leaf at the back of the sandpit, now
turned brown. Move R F L F3 R F4 L2 and place the brown leaf into the
depression by the music room door, opening an entrance to the kiva
straight ahead. Move F5 into the kiva.
The object of the kiva puzzle is to correctly identify exactly seven
Anasazi images you've encountered in the game. The design on the west
wall is circled by 7 blue arrowheads, each of which brightens when one
of the correct wall images is lighted in blue.
To solve the puzzle, turn right from the circular design and select
the buffalo symbol from the South challenge and the image of a bee
from the East challenge and the shaman's room:
North Kiva Wall
Turn right and select the sun-headed man symbol from the East
challenge, the sun symbol from the West challenge, and the reindeer
image from the shaman's room:
East Kiva Wall
Finally, turn right and select the bird symbol from the blowing-leaves
cave in the North challenge and the corn plant image from the loom
room:
South Kiva Wall
Turn right and note that all seven blue arrowheads are now glowing.
Click on the center of the circular design to open a door in the wall;
move F B4 R2 F10 into the Anasazi time portal. Watch the movie of the
Professor, then wait a few moments and watch a second one. Press the
central paired-dolphins button, then click on the animation in the
crystal ball to be transported to Atlantis.
_________________________________________________________________
Atlantis
From your landing point in Atlantis, move L F2 R F6 into a windowed
pyramid building and to a view of a map of the Atlantis world. Move R2
and note the "4"-like symbol associated with this building. Move F L F
and view a movie sequence on the video player. Move R2 F2 for another
movie sequence.
Move B L F5 L F R F9 R F10 into an aquarium-like building housing a
glowing DNA helix. Move L2 and note the bent-square symbol on the
floor of this building. Move F R F and view a movie sequence on the
video player. Move R2 F2 for another movie sequence.
Move B R F8 R F4 R F L F8 L into a schoolhouse-like building. Above
the side door, note the steering-wheel-like symbol associated with
this building. Move R2 F and view a movie sequence on the video
player. Move R for another movie sequence, R2 for another, and L F R F
for five more (with Greek subtitles), including some from the Guardian
robot.
Move B L F8 L F R F4 R F6 into a truncated pyramid building and note
the curved "+"-like symbol associated with it. Move R F and view a
movie sequence on the video player. Move R2 F2 for another movie
sequence.
Move B L F7 L F7 R F3 R F to the elevator control panel. Select the
symbol associated with each building by clicking on the blank squares
underneath each building representation:
16 clicks 5 clicks 27 clicks 10 clicks
(out of 28 possibilities):
Elevator Control Panel
Click on the far-right button with the small circle to activate the
elevator. Move B L F2 L2 and click on the rightmost of the three
paired-J symbols at the bottom of the window frame to descend to the
lower level. Move F R F and take the sparking red crystal from the
robot. Move B R F R2 and put the crystal into the receptacle under the
window to reactivate the elevator. Click on the leftmost of the three
paired-J symbols at the bottom of the window frame to ascend to the
upper level. Remove the crystal and move into the stasis chamber
rooom. You are now under a time limit to deal with the robot Guardian
before he finds you and sends you to eternity, ending the game with a
few newspaper articles. To accomplish this, you will lay a trap for
the Guardian using one of the stasis tubes.
While passsing by the individual stasis tubes, make a note of the
pattern of blue lights on the panels in them. Find the empty stasis
tube and enter it. Set the same pattern of blue lights:
XX
X
X
X
XXX
X
X
X
X
X X
XX
X
Move B2 and bait your trap by putting the crystal on the stasis tube
floor (this has to be done by dragging the crystal so its lower
triangle is just below the lower edge of the game window). Move L2 F2
to the hexagon puzzle controlling the stasis tube gun.
Each click on a yellow triangle rotates the tri-colored circles; the
object is to orient them so that they all have a red sector facing
inwards, matching the central red button on the hexagon. Here's one
solution (the order of clicks is unimportant):
* Click once on the upper-left yellow triangle
* Click twice on the upper-right yellow triangle
* Click once on the left yellow triangle
* Click once on the right yellow triangle
Save your game at this point as an arcade-style sequence is coming up.
Click on the central red hexagon button and back out. When the robot
appears, shoot him in the chest (ow!) a few times to drive him back
into the stasis tube. While he's in there, quickly fire on the dark
circle above the light panel in the tube to activate the stasis field
and trap the Guardian.
Move R L F L F5 R F and open the gene pod receptacle. Press Ctrl-G to
bring up your gene pod inventory, and click on any of the pods to
transfer all three to the receptacle. Pick up the receptacle and move
B L F7 to the transmission panel. Click on the central bent-square
symbol and put the gene pods you're carrying into the depression
formed in the panel.
You now have two minutes to leave Atlantis through its time portal, or
you can wait it out for the same endgame sequence. To reach the time
portal, move B L2 F6 R F7 and watch the Professor's Steve Martin
impression (boy, he's really scared, isn't he?). If you try to
transfer back to Easter Island, the time portal melts and you get the
same endgame sequence anyway.
The submerged Atlantis outpost blasts off from Earth and transports to
the Atlantean homeworld. At the conclusion of the endgame sequence, a
reference is made to a game sequel:
The Adventure Continues...
...Timelapse 2: The Homeworld
_________________________________________________________________
Nits
Apart from the things mentioned in the review, here are a few little
nits that stand in the way of Timelapse being a truly perfect game:
* Some of the writing in the journal flows off the page onto the
black screen background.
* All video sequences have very bad lip sync (local bus video card
used, per game recommendation).
* Would have preferred the movement direction rosette not
disappearing every time the mouse is used.
* The save-game query on exiting the game is sometimes irrelevant.
* The CD-ROM automatically ejects without warning.
* An annoying white Timelapse rectangle gets stuck at the lower left
of the screen whenever the program is minimized, then reactivated.
* A really chintzy CD-ROM "case".
* Four CD's, and none of them with an audio track by the Mesa Music
Consortium.
Timelapse is definitely one of the better adventure games released in
recent months. Large in scope, it contains several diverse and
detailed environments that are a real pleasure to experience. Its
playability is reminiscent of two all-time favorites from Sanctuary
Woods, Buried in Time and The Riddle of Master Lu, from both of which
Timelapse borrows some concepts.
Puzzles are well-integrated into the overall storyline, which is fully
fleshed out with background material available in the Professor's
journals and in other areas of the game (notably Atlantis). The
puzzles tend to be more abstract than the standard
inventory-manipulation types often seen in adventure games. Their
level of complexity seems just about ideal - not so easy as to lack a
challenge or sense of accomplishment, but neither unreasonably
difficult. In most cases, the game challenges "play fair" - solutions
are logical and usually involve objects close at hand. This latter
characteristic is particularly enjoyable since a lot of repetitive
wandering and pixel-searching can be avoided. Only a couple of the
puzzles involve arcade-style dexterity or a time limit for solution.
Gameplay is fairly nonlinear - typically several goals must be
completed in each age and often there is some flexibility as to their
order. Like Myst, the ages themselves can be completed in any order,
but the writings in the Professor's journals do suggest a "natural"
sequence. Once an age has been completed, it cannot be revisited, so
in a sense Timelapse consists of several independent sub-games. Four
ages must be completed before the final game sequence can begin.
Graphics are pretty good, but many scenes seem a bit on the blocky
side. The sheer number of views that needed to be rendered for this
large game may have limited the number of polygons used. However, many
of these views seem somewhat redundant and gameplay often requires
passing through a lot of intermediate nodes in order to reach the next
decision point. In a few areas of the game, a "hyperlink" feature is
available to bypass these intermediate nodes, but an optional "zoom"
feature such as that available in Myst would have been more
universally useful. Additional shading and/or shadowing would have
given better depth to a number of scenes that appeared rather flat, in
some cases making it difficult to sense directions for movement.
Overall, however, it is easy to become immersed in the various ages
due to their layout and particularly to the sound effects, which are
excellent. In addition, there are frequent spots throughout the game,
particularly in the Anasazi world, where small animations of animals
can be seen, adding a really nice touch of realism to the game.
The game has two serious flaws. The first, and more annoying, is the
requirement to re-insert CD #1 whenever the game is restarted. An
introductory playback that is optional and user-selectable might have
kept the initial sequence small enough to be repeated on each CD. The
second is a failure to parity-check a randomized sliding-piece puzzle
in the Mayan world, causing half of all configurations to be
unsolvable (which often cannot be detected until the puzzle is nearly
finished).
Live-action acting is very good overall, with the exception of a
rather amateurish performance by the actor protraying Professor
Nichols.
The background music is adequate, not particularly noteworthy except
for a really outstanding music-and-vocals piece that is played in the
Storyteller Cave.
The user interface is just about as close to perfection as possible,
using keyboard arrow keys (or mouse) for movement, combined with a
Myst-like mouse cursor for exploration and object manipulation. A
rosette of available movement directions is displayed when the arrow
keys are being used, but disappears once the mouse is used for
movement. This arrangement is reminiscent of that used in Sanctuary
Woods' The Journeyman Project and Buried in Time, but avoids
cluttering up the screen with extraneous items and graphics. A single
item may be carried around as inventory. A control menu is turned on
or off with a simple press of the spacebar. Saved games are file-based
and unlimited in number, and thankfully include an overwrite warning.
There are a few places in the game where you can be "killed", but at
these points the screen is merely blanked and you are returned to the
game, definitely a plus for those of us that have been burned in the
past by not saving our games often enough.
Overall, Timelapse is a very enjoyable adventure game experience.
_________________________________________________________________
Walkthrough Abbreviations
F: Forward (Fn for n repetitions)
L: Left
R: Right
B: Back out (down arrow)
L and R perform turnarounds whenever they're unavailable as possible
directions for movement
Keyboard arrow keys may be "preloaded" in the type-ahead buffer for
fastest game movement
Press Esc to skip the game introduction and video sequences, or to
exit game credits
_________________________________________________________________
Easter Island
After watching the game introduction, you find yourself on a rocky
hilltop of Easter Island. From your initial position facing the rocks
covered with glyphs, move R F2 R F and pick up Professor Nichols'
camera. The camera can be used to capture up to 36 partial screen
shots during gameplay, and comes in very handy since many puzzles in
Timelapse have graphic clues.
Move B R F2 L F5 R F. Pick up the Professor's journal at the base of
the statue. Be sure to read it for clues and background information
while playing the game.
Move B L F4 L F7 R F4 L F5 R F2 R down to the triplet of stone statues
(moai) on the beach (note the crabs animation, a nice touch). While
facing each of the three statues, note the carved symbol on its base,
zoom in on the statue and touch its chest to disclose another symbol:
Beach Moai Symbols
Turn right from the leftmost statue and move F15 to the table in the
Professor's camp. Drag a piece of paper from the right over the
rongo-rongo board, then use the white pencil to make a tracing of the
three pairs of symbols on the board:
Rongo-rongo Board Symbols
Move B2 R F to the other camp table (note the game designers' names on
the candy wrappers). Pick up and read the directions for lighting the
lantern:
1. Pump the tank 10 times using the TANK PUMP
2. Turn the (L-shaped) PRIMER VALVE to the UP position
3. Open the (circular) GAS KNOB to the UP position
4. CAREFULLY light the MANTLE with a lighted MATCH
5. Once the lantern starts up, turn the PRIMER VALVE to the DOWN
position
Pick up the box of safety matches from the table and move B R F L F2 R
F17 to the cave entrance.
Click on the lantern and follow the above instructions to light it (if
you make a mistake, you'll have to return to the camp table to get
more matches). Move B F13 L F3 L F to the stone head in the cave.
Click on its face to cause its lower jaw to melt into molten lava (one
of many excellent morphing sequences in the game). Cool the molten
head on the lava "tongue" by clicking on the bowl-shaped gray rock at
upper center. Pick up the cooled head before it heats up again, and
make a note of the symbol shown in the large head's eye sockets. Move
B R2 F to the three statues. By referring to the paired symbols seen
previously, determine the statue symbol associated with the
eye-socket symbol and place the stone head you're carrying onto the
corresponding statue hand. If you choose incorrectly, the stone head
will disintegrate and you will have to obtain it again from the lava
flow. Repeat the procedure for five more eye-socket symbols in the
lava-flow head. The symbol sequence can be moved up or down by
clicking in the left or right eye socket. When completed, the head
arrangement will be:
Stone Head Arrangement
Move B L F and click on the now-glowing eyes of the face in the cave
wall to open an entrance to the time portal. Move F7 and listen to the
Professor's message. After he finishes, wait a few moments for a
second message to start. At this point it's possible to visit any of
three worlds: Egyptian, Mayan or Anasazi. To follow the Professor's
path, press the brown scarab beetle button at far left, then click on
the animation in the crystal ball to be transported to the Egyptian
world.
_________________________________________________________________
Egyptian World
There is a separate section in the Professor's journal for each world
you visit in Timelapse, so be sure to consult it on arrival in a new
world (or later if you prefer discovering things on your own).
Your first task will be to release the barge and traverse the Nile.
Examination of the dock area shows that the release mechanism is
controlled by a system of water weights, ropes and pulleys. The
sequence required to release the barge is suggested by a diagram in
Entry 4 of the Professor's journal:
Barge Release Sequence
From your initial arrival in the Egyptian world, move F7 R F L and
click on the hanging basket exactly four times to fill the stone
cistern. Move L F R F R F2 and observe that the cistern is completely
filled. Move B2 L F R F and touch the pulley lever overhead to align
the well bucket with the cistern outflow pipe. Click on the gray lever
to empty the cistern water into the bucket hanging in the well and
notice how the tension increases on the rope. Move B R F2 L F L and
click on the hanging basket exactly two times. Move L F R F2 R F and
again click on the gray lever to add water to the well bucket. Moving
F, you'll see that the bucket is now completely filled and slightly
tilted. Back out and return the pulley lever to its vertical position.
Move B L F R F3 L F to the dock release lever. Drag this lever to the
left to open the dock and release the barge.
Move L F R F R F3 to cross the river in the barge (the Esc key can be
used to skip the animation, if desired). Move L F L2 and pick up the
spear from the dock. Move R2 F to face the crocodile guarding the dock
temple. Wait until the crocodile moves his head to your left, then use
the spear to jab at its pale neck area. After several stabs to this
area, you will vanquish the crocodile.
Move F5 R F3 into the temple embalming room. Open the chest and read
each of the nine scrolls, noting the references to Egyptian gods and
particularly to the Mirror of Hathor:
GodAnimal KnummGoat SebekCrocodile BastetCat HorusHawk AnubisDog
OsirisPharoah ThothIbis SetHorned One
Move B2 R F L F to the standing statue. Open the compartment and read
the tenth scroll:
Standing Statue Scroll
Take a picture of the scroll with your camera as the information on it
will be needed later. Move B2 L F L F4 L F into the temple storeroom.
Click on the dog statue to hear the intonation
Seeeeek the Tablet
This surely must be a clue! Next, move F L F to the fruit baskets.
Pick up the mirror from one of the baskets, back out and use it on the
wall ahead to disclose a warning about trying to take the mirror out
of the temple storeroom. Move R and use the mirror on the six jars at
this end of the storeroom. In the second one from the right, the
mirror discloses a hidden scarab-shaped key; take it. Move R and use
the scarab key to unlock the chest. Then move F and open the chest.
Check out those cursor-tracking eyes!
The tablet in the chest defines values for each element of the
Egyptian number system by referring to specific objects in the temple
storerooms:
Egyptian Tablet
The numbers are translated by counting the quantity of objects in the
temple storeroom and embalming room:
* 9 knives in a chest in the embalming room
* 4 arrows lying on a mat in the storeroom
* 2 tables in the embalming room
* 7 blue ewers in the embalming room
* 3 chests in both rooms (tablet, scrolls, knives)
* 10 scrolls in the embalming room (9 in the chest and one in the
base of the standing statue)
* 6 spears in the storeroom
* 8 jars in the storeroom (6 in the back and one on each side)
* 5 baskets in the storeroom
* 1 sarcophagus in the embalming room
The resulting translation is
Egyptian Number System
Next, refer to Entry 30 in the Professor's journal (25 mouse clicks),
where he refers to Deren's Egyptian religious saying:
"Precede the gods, and things will
be subtracted from you. Follow the
gods, and things will be surely added
onto you."
This note refers to the information obtained earlier in the standing
statue, which together with knowledge of the Egyptian number system
can be translated into a numeric adjustment for each of the Egyptian
gods:
GodAnimalNumeric Adjustment KnummGoatAdd 4 SebekCrocodileSubtract 1
BastetCatSubtract 8 HorusHawkAdd 4 AnubisDogSubtract 2
OsirisPharoahSubtract 1 ThothIbisAdd 1 SetHorned OneAdd 2
In the center area of the dock temple, find the sparking electrical
display on one of the columns. Press the lowest of the three buttons
on the panel to send power to the crystal statue at the back of the
temple. Move F L F2 to the statue. Drag the crystal ball around the
perimeter of the statue to disclose a sign for each of the Egyptian
gods:
Egyptian God Signs
Next, move B L F L F L back to the power panel. Press the middle
button to provide power to a staircase that will be encountered later.
Exit the temple to the marble walkway behind it by moving R F3 R F R
F2 R F2 L F2 R. On the black obelisk, note the glowing numeric symbol
associated with the crocodile god Sebek. Examine the other seven
obelisks along the walkway to derive numeric values for the other
Egyptian gods, and apply the numeric adjustments from the table above:
Bastet W Anubis
A
Osiris L Horus
K
Set W Knumm
A
Thoth Y Sebek
Dock Temple
GodAnimalInitial Value Adjusted Value KnummGoat43 SebekCrocodile59
BastetCat37 HorusHawk108 AnubisDog91 OsirisPharoah76 ThothIbis810
SetHorned One12
Continue into the crystal room at the end of the walkway. Here you
will find eight crystals corresponding in relative position to the
eight obelisks along the marble walkway. Zoom in on each crystal and
set the animal symbol (top), adjusted numeric value (middle) and sign
(bottom) for each of the Egyptian gods using the Animal Table,
Adjusted Value Table, Egyptian number system and Egyptian god signs
given above. When each crystal has been correctly configured, the
corresponding miniature in the raised pool at the back of the crystal
room will glow.
Alternatively, you can use the following table showing the mouse
clicks required for each crystal, starting from the initial positions
they're in when you first enter the crystal room:
Pool
(1,0,2) (7,10,6)
(7,8,7) (5,3,9)
(4,6,0) (7,11,9)
(7,2,10) (2,6,1)
Entrance
Notation: (x,y,z) means click the top symbol x times (sequence repeats
after 8 clicks), click the middle symbol y times (sequence
repeats after 13 clicks) and click the bottom symbol z times
(sequence repeats after 11 clicks).
Click on the pool at the back of the crystal room and pick up the red
crystal. Move B F5 to the cobra blocking the passageway. Give the red
crystal to the snake and it'll disappear. Move F9 and drop the red
crystal into the blue-green pool. After you've finished watching the
Yul Brynner impression, back out twice from the pool and press the
small square staircase symbol on the column. Since you've already
routed electrical power to this section of the temple complex, a
spiral staircase opens. Move F R F6 R F10 R (past the Guardian
apparition) and click on the chutes-and-ladders game rules on the
wall.
To play the game, move B F and roll the tetrahedron-shaped die. Your
ankh is the red one; to win the game you must reach the final golden
square (by exact count) before your blue opponent does. It's usually a
better strategy to give up gems rather than accepting a position
penalty from a snake, but to do so you must quickly drag one of your
red gems on the wall to the right side where your opponent's blue gems
are stored. Be sure to accurately position your gem into one of your
opponent's open holes, or else the snake will knock you back. There is
no click-ahead buffer for this game, as there is, for example, when
reading the Professor's journal. Also note that the game is completely
reset if you back out from it.
On completion of the game, you'll hear a short musical tone. Pick up
the light-blue eye symbol from the wall. Move B L2 F and put the eye
symbol next to its mate on the cabinet door. Open the cabinet and move
F2 to bring up the pyramid lock combination diagram:
Pyramid Lock Diagram
Note that the diagram also includes a triangular representation of a
pyramid (not shown above), matching one seen on the power panel
buttons. Counting the symbols in the columns on the diagram, you'll
find
3 10 9 4
symbols symbols symbols symbols
Back out from the diagram and click on the gene pod lying in the gray
receptacle. After watching the video sequence, move B3 L F and click
on the rotating blue spot to watch another video sequence. Move F10 L
F6 L F17 to exit the crystal room. Use the hyperlink icon to zoom to
the dock temple, then move R F2 L F2 L F L F3 R to the power panel.
Click on the upper, triangular button to send power up the river to
the pyramid above the dock area.
Move F R F6 L F to return to the dock area. Move B2 R F R F2 L F10 R
F8 L F4 to reach the pyramid combination lock. Using the Egyptian
number system diagram, drag the tumblers to enter the combination
(3,10,9,4) that you found by counting symbols on the diagram in the
cabinet. When correctly configured, the combination lock will show
Pyramid Combination Lock
Click on the triangle at left to open the lock. Move F11 to enter the
time portal. Watch the movie of Professor Nichols, then wait a few
moments and watch a second one. At this point it's possible to visit
either the Mayan or the Anasazi world; we'll go to the Mayan world
next. Press the green lizard button second from the right, then click
on the animation in the crystal ball to be transported to the Mayan
world.
_________________________________________________________________
Mayan World
From your initial position on the beach, move R F4 R and click on the
sea monster's head. Pick up the carved egg and move B L F5 L F5 R F14
to the steaming platform in the pool. Place the carved egg onto the
platform and it will change into a chameleon. Click on the chameleon
to play three rounds of a color-sequence/music-tone memory game
(randomized for each game and each round). Move F4 into the Castillo
temple.
Move R F to face an arithmetic puzzle on the temple wall. If a dot
represents one and a horizontal bar represents five, then the matrix
of twelve buttons can be thought of as
131412 20 289 1 211322 23
The trick to solving this puzzle is to see it as four vertical
addition problems, out of alignment. Click on the buttons in this
order to solve the puzzle:
147 10 1125 8 3912 6
When the puzzle is solved, a lever is exposed in the column to the
left; click on it and move L F to the now-activated stela control
mechanism. Drag the crystal ball one position to the right to morph
the alien head into a skull. Move B L F L F4 and hyperlink to the
spider stela (see map) down near the water. Move R to the skull stela
and click on the lighted blue skull. This in turn lights up three
Mayan calendar symbols:
Skull Stela Symbols
Move R, hyperlink to the monkey stela, move L, hyperlink to the snake
stela, move R, hyperlink to the Castillo temple, and move F5 R F R to
the Mayan calendar. The calendar consists of three rings: the left
inner ring nested inside the left outer ring, and a right ring. Each
ring can be turned either clockwise or counterclockwise by dragging
the mouse cursor over it. In each case, the position of other rings
may be affected when one ring is turned:
* Turning the left inner ring turns the left outer ring in the same
direction.
* Turning the left outer ring turns the left inner ring in the same
direction and turns the right ring in the opposite direction.
* Turning the right ring turns the left inner ring in the same
direction.
Also, the rings themselves have varying numbers of symbols on them: 8
for the left inner ring, 12 for the left outer ring and 16 for the
right ring. Armed with this information, it's possible to come up with
a guaranteed strategy for aligning any combination of symbols:
1. Turn the left inner ring in either direction to bring the target
left inner ring symbol into position.
2. Use move pairs
Turn left inner ring clockwise, then
turn right ring counterclockwise
to bring the target left outer ring symbol into alignment with the
left inner ring symbol.
3. Use move pairs
Turn left inner ring clockwise, then
turn left outer ring counterclockwise
to bring the target right ring symbol into alignment with the other
two target symbols.
When all three target symbols are aligned, a bright musical chord
plays and the corresponding temple shown on the map below is unlocked.
Starting with the stela control mechanism, repeat the above procedure
for the monkey temple:
Monkey Stela Symbols
for the jaguar temple:
Jaguar Stela Symbols
and for the lizard temple:
Lizard Stela Symbols
Mayan World Map
From the Mayan calendar, move R F R F2 R F2 R and note that all four
temple access symbols are now lit up on the frieze in the crystal
skull alcove. Move R F2 R F13 R F8 R into the skull temple.
Skull Temple
The challenge here is to reassemble the skeleton. However, clicking on
any joint to reposition a previously-placed bone causes all bones to
drop and the puzzle to restart, as does placing certain bones from the
wrong skeleton (there are more loose bones than needed for one
skeleton). One aid to solving the problem is knowing how the skeleton
should look when it's finished:
Skull Temple Skeleton
Obviously, a humerus must be placed before its radius and ulna, a
femur before its fibula and tibia, etc. Also note that the skeleton's
left femur is broken and must be reassembled using two pieces, as is
its right humerus. In these cases, be sure the edges of the broken
bones match up. The skeleton's right fibula, tibia and foot can be
placed as a single unit, as can its left radius, ulna and hand.
However, the skeleton's right radius and ulna must be placed
individually, creating sort of an "X" arrangement. The hand with a
single arm bone attached to it is not used. Generally, bones on the
skeleton's left side have a slightly more brownish color than the ones
on its right. When the skeleton is complete, the extra unused bones
will disappear.
Remove the green crystal ball from the skeleton's mouth, move L2 and
place it in the center of the circular wall design. After the movie is
done playing, note the two Mayan figures now visible in the wall
design.
Monkey Temple
Move L F15 L F3 and click on the monkey skull to activate the
PacMan-like game in the monkey temple. Move L F to start the game.
The object is to move your green spider to the blue crystal at the
bottom of the maze, while avoiding the red spiders in the narrower
passages (relatively easy to do since their movements are
predictable). Several areas in the game are isolated from one another,
so most of the time you're just trying to move from an entrance hole
to an exit hole. As in most of the puzzles in Timelapse, you can save
your game after part of the puzzle has been solved, which avoids
having to start over completely if something goes wrong. With this
feature, even the most difficult puzzles can be solved incrementally.
Once you've got the blue crystal, move B L F4 to the monkey wall
design. Put the blue crystal in its center. After the movie is done
playing, again note two Mayan figures now visible in the wall design.
Jaguar Temple
Move R2 F L F7 L F2 R F L F9 R F up the stairs into the jaguar temple.
Note the arrangement of colors in the circular design on the wall:
White
Red Yellow
Black
Move B R F L F and note the arrangement of four yellow symbols
surrounding the jaguar picture on the wall. Move F and set up these
symbols in the segmented circle, using the four-color scheme above.
When the correct arrangement is selected, the cylinder opens up and
you can pick up a golden jaguar head.
Move B2 L F L F and melt the jaguar head over the fire. Cool the mold
with blood from the small gray container. Move F and wait about 70
seconds for the gold heart to cool enough to pick up (or you can use
this time to further explore the temple). Move B2 R2. Put the heart
into the the pot of blood on the green statue; pick up the red
crystal. Move R F R and place the red crystal into the center of the
circular wall design. After the movie is done playing, note the two
Mayan figures now visible in the wall design.
Lower Temple and Jungle
Move L F8 R F R F13 R F into the lower temple. The
scissors-paper-stone game must be won before the chasm bridge can be
crossed:
* Frog beats spider
* Spider beats scorpion
* Scorpion beats frog
* Like choices tie
You must win three rounds of the game before your opponent does. Each
round is won by the first side to win three encounters. Your opponent
seems to adapt to your prior gameplay, so one strategy is to pick your
choices for each encounter on a purely random basis and save your game
after winning each round.
Back out from the game and watch the chasm bridge raise up. Move F30 L
and pick up the orange gem from the pink plant on the tree branch.
Move L F and put the gem into the right-hand eye socket of the statue.
Move R and wait a few seconds for the spider to drop down; pick up the
green gem in the center of the web. Move L and put the gem into the
left-hand eye socket. Push on the right socket and take the machete
from the mouth of the statue. Click on the machete four times to chop
down all the brown vines immediately to the right of the statue.
Lizard Temple
Move F26 R F3 and click on the gray bowl to pick up a cracked red
heart. Move B F R and pick up the codex page on the floor next to the
potted plant. By referring to the faces shown in Entry 39 of the
Professor's journal (34 mouse clicks):
Mayan Number Symbols
and the previously-discovered number notation, the codex page can be
translated into negative (black) and positive (red) numbers:
-5 +4 -5
----------
-5 +4 -6
-6 +5 +5
----------
-8 -8 +5
+8 +8 +5
----------
+5 -8 -6
+8 +4 +8
----------
-5
Return the codex page to the floor and move R F7 R. Put the cracked
heart into the yellow bowl to activate the crocodile/tree puzzle.
Move F. The object of the puzzle is to light up each of 22 positions
on the double pyramid, while using the moves indicated by the skulls.
This problem would be extremely difficult to solve without the aid of
a computer (and several hours of CPU time); fortunately, a solution
was seen on the codex page. Click on the left (positive) and right
(negative) skulls in the left-to-right order shown on the codex
translation above, and pick up a golden salamander. Move B L F. Open
the floor hatch and place the golden salamander into its receptacle.
Move B F12 L F9 L into the lower temple region. Pick up the Mayan gene
pod. After the movie sequence completes, pick up the axe.
Unfortunately, the green storage unit acts like a counterbalance and
since the gene pod and axe have been removed from it, stalactites have
lowered from the ceiling blocking your exit. You will need to find the
correct combination of bones and debris from the floor to place on top
of the green storage unit to cause it to be depressed the correct
amount, releasing the stalactites and allowing you to leave. Of the
256 possibilities, the correct combination of objects is: all four
skulls, plus the flat brown piece.
Move L F9 L F2 to another passageway blocked by stalactites. Click on
the axe-shaped depression in the wall and listen to the tones. If the
notes range from 1 (low) at left, to 5 (high) at right, the tunelet
played is
5 3 4 2 2 5 5 1
Match these tones by using the skull axe on the five stalactites, and
the doorway will open.
Move F4 to the tomb. You need to get the yellow crystal ball from the
hand of the skeleton, but he just doesn't want to let go! While
holding down the mouse key, rapidly move the cursor up and down over
the skeleton's hand until you've tugged the ball free (amidst a
particularly juicy sound effect).
Move B R2 F24 to the circular wall design. Place the yellow crystal
into the center of it. After the movie finishes playing, note the two
Mayan figures now visible in the wall design.
Move R2 F4 L F26 R2 and press the green eye of the jungle statue to
avoid being killed by a poison dart as you move to the left. From a
position facing the statue, move L F12 L and pick up the purple gem
hidden in the base of the tree fern. Move R F10 to the sun temple
entrance.
Sun Temple
Place the purple gem into the center of the design that holds each of
the four crystals you've previously found.
Move F5 to the sun temple sliding-piece puzzle. This puzzle randomizes
each time you move to it, so no closed-form solution is possible. The
puzzle pieces are from the four temple designs discovered previously;
each design occupies a 2 x 2 subsection of the puzzle and must be
completed in the following arrangement:
Sliding-Piece Puzzle Solution
By examining the puzzle, you should be able to figure out which of the
four temple designs is missing a piece, corresponding to the open
square in the puzzle. Obviously, that temple design must be completed
last.
Once a 2 x 2 temple subsection is completed, its design "freezes",
making the occupied squares inaccessible during further work on the
puzzle. As a result, a good strategy is to concentrate on configuring
the first 4-element row and first 4-element column of the puzzle
before completing any 2 x 2 subsection (as long as this is not where
the missing piece is).
Many configurations are impossible to solve, for example,
Impossible Sun Temple Puzzle
The frequency of these outcomes indicates that the Timelapse game
software is not checking the puzzle randomizations for basic parity;
consequently, half of all starting positions will be unsolvable. In
these cases, it will be necessary to restart the puzzle from the
beginning.
Once the sliding-piece puzzle has been solved, move F9 into the time
portal. Watch the movie of the Professor, then wait a few moments and
watch a second one. Press the blue insect button second from the left,
then click on the animation in the crystal ball to be transported to
the Anasazi world.
_________________________________________________________________
Anasazi World
From your initial position on the cliff, move R F4 and pick up the log
lying on the ground. Move B R2 F3 L F5 to the chasm (if you zoomed in
on the gray rock bulge, you're too close). Place the log across the
chasm and move F16 to the calendar control lever. From the Professor's
journal, note that the calendar has a setting for each of the cardinal
compass points, selected by the lever:
Off
East North
West South
The Anasazi world has a challenge to solve for each of these compass
settings, and each challenge has an associated animal that will appear
when the calendar lever setting is selected.
East
Drag the lever to the East position; if desired, you can confirm the
sun shadow by moving F2. From a position facing the calendar lever,
move B R F9 R F R F10 L and pick up the stick at the end of the road.
Make your way toward the East sun spiral shown on the map in the
Professor's journal:
Anasazi World Map
As you progress up the canyon, you'll follow a friendly gray squirrel,
the animal associated with the East challenge. About halfway up,
you'll see a nest of bees in a dead tree trunk; use your stick to get
a bit of honey on its end. Continue on up to the end of the path,
where you'll discover a golden acorn trapped in a rock crevice. You'll
have no trouble recovering the acorn using the stick tipped with
sticky honey.
Take the acorn back to the end of the road, where you found the stick,
and place it into the depression in the rock. Move F3 into the cave
and pick up a safety match from the box in the basket (seems a bit out
of place or time, doesn't it?). Move B2 R and ignite the match by
quickly passing it over the flat rock with the vertical slit in it.
Then immediately use it to light the pile of twigs next to the rock.
If you turn around, you'll see an important Anasazi symbol projected
onto the cave wall.
South
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
for South. From your position facing the calendar lever, move B R F9 R
F R F4 R F5 and pick up some arrowheads on the ground to the right of
the path. Continue F6 L and watch the animation of a hawk flying
through a hole in a canyon rock spire. Move F to the mounted bow and
touch the bowstring to load a blunt arrow. Find the arrowheads you're
carrying at the lower right of the game window. Load only the first
(smallest) of these arrowheads (two remain, but won't be needed). Save
your game at this point.
Your goal is to shoot the arrow through the same rock spire hole that
the hawk flew through. A sweet spot obviously exists for a successful
shoot, but there is some evidence that its location may be randomized
between different games. However, if you need to restore your
just-saved game, the sweet spot should be consistent, so the problem
is to find the aiming point for your particular game.
We found best results were obtained by using only the first (smallest)
of the arrowheads. The other ones vary in size, and so require
different aiming positions for the point of the arrowhead. The other
two arrowheads also seem to vary in weight, affecting their flight
characteristics. We found the best bow position was set up by dragging
the mouse to pull the string all the way back, then up one position.
All that remains is to drag the mouse laterally, without releasing the
mouse button, to correctly position the arrowhead point. In several
games, the sweet spot was somewhat to the left of the short horizontal
black line on the target rock spire. In some games, this spot was
immediately to the left of the line, in others it was as far as
halfway to the edge of the rock spire. Your mileage may vary.
If you miss, restore your game and try again until you get the aim
just right. Carefully watch the arrow strike point for clues on how to
adjust the aim. When you get the arrow to fly through the hole, you'll
hear a voice say
"Success! You are a skilled warrior"
and a sound of rock sliding. Move B R2 F3 R F3 and listen to the sound
of thunder while watching an animation of stampeding buffalo.
West
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
for West. From your position facing the calendar lever, move B R F9 R
F L F12 L F2 R F6 R F and pick up the flashlight in the geode cave.
Move B L F to the first cave shadow.
The professor's journal mentions corroded batteries in the flashlight,
so you'll have to shake it to get some light out of it. You can see
only a portion of the symbols hidden in shadow at any one time since
the flashlight beam is limited. Make a note of all symbols you see,
you'll need them later. Be sure to also check the second cave shadow
to the left.
Exit the geode cave and move R F9 L F to a rock wall carving,
following the coyote who seems to be leading the way. Highlight the
nine symbols you saw in the geode cave, each of which has been
augmented by a hand symbol and some of which vary in size from what
was seen in the cave:
West Puzzle Solution
When you get it right, a really cool shadow of a coyote will cross the
rock and you'll hear him howl. Move L and click on the West sun spiral
carved into the rock. Move R F2 R into the emerald cave and note the
Anasazi sun symbol rising out of the water. Move F to get a closeup of
it, and note the sound of dripping water.
North
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
for North. The animal associated with this challenge is a crow. You'll
need to find up to 7 bird feathers to solve the challenge:
1. White bottom, tan-and-brown tip
2. Black
3. Tan-and-brown striped, white tip
4. White, black tip
5. Tan-and-black striped
6. Small white, tan tip
7. Blue
From your position facing the calendar lever, move B R F11 L and pick
up a feather lodged behind the rock. Move F2 L F3 R F6 L F5 and put
the feather on the ground in front of the decorated gray stand.
Move B L. On the rock face are depictions of the five birds whose
feathers you must find (we'll show you where all seven are, even
though you'll need only five). Move L F4, pick up the black feather,
and return it to the gray stand. Move B R2 F4 R F, pick up the third
feather, and return it to the others. Move B R2 F4 R F4, pick up the
fourth feather, and return it to the others. Move B R2 F4 R F6 R, pick
up the fifth feather, and return it to the others. Move B R2 F4 R F6 L
F2 L F4 L, pick up the sixth feather, and return it to the others.
Move B R2 F4 R F6 L F2 R F2 R F3, pick up the last feather, and return
it to the others. Arrange the feathers to match the diagram of birds
on the wall:
North Puzzle Solution
then click on the feather on the wall to turn the gray stand into a
full headdress. Move B L F R F and note the bird sculpture and the
sound of wind. Move R2 F L F R F4 R F6 L F2 back to the crossroads.
Storyteller Cave
This section of the game is optional - you don't need it to finish the
Anasazi world, but it's worth visiting for the music alone.
From the crossroads, face west and move F2 R F19. You can use
trial-and-error to solve the 35-element rattlesnake puzzle, or just
try this sequence (assuming animal prints are numbered from 1 to 8,
left to right):
3 3 4 4 7 6 7
7 4 2 4 2 3 8
5 1 5 8 3 2 4
4 7 4 2 3 8 3
2 4 4 6 1 6 7
But be careful! One wrong move and you'll have the restart the puzzle
from the beginning. Move R F2 - if the rattlesnake puzzle has been
solved, the peacepipe will be smoking and you can click on it five
times for Anasazi storyteller sequences. Move B R for an alternate map
of the Anasazi world.
Gene Pod
Using the Anasazi map, return to the calendar control lever and set it
back to vertical. From your position facing the calendar lever, move B
R F9 R F R F4 R F4 R F4 R to the four tablets identified with the
cardinal directions. On each tablet, select the animal sound
associated with that direction, and one natural sound experienced
during the solution of each puzzle:
Four Tablets Solution
Then press the spiral symbol above the tablets to open a passageway.
Move F5, pick up the Anasazi gene pod and watch the movie. After it
completes, note the leaf outline exposed under the pod. Exit the
purple cave and use the Anasazi map to return to the crossroads.
Cliff City
From the crossroads, face north and move F10. Pick up the spear and
move B L. Use the spear to chop holes at the bases of the three cacti
(some of the prickly pear may have to be chopped away before you can
get at the left one). When you've released water from a cactus, it
flows to the green corn plant at center. The plant requires five
waterings in order to grow tall enough to climb into the cliff city,
so you'll have to chop a second hole in the barrel-shaped cactus and
one at the base of the left arm of the right cactus.
Move F3 R and pick up the blue-handled rattle inside the basket. Move
R2 and click on the rattlesnake to hear its rattle. Emulate the sound
with the rattle you're carrying by sweeping it down, up, down, down.
The snake then morphs into a ladder; move F6 R into the loom room.
Drag the large medium-red yarnball from the bowl to the empty white
basket at right. Drag the shuttle in your inventory at lower right to
the white basket. Click on the yarnball to unroll some yarn. Click on
the shuttle to thread it with the yarn. With your mouse cursor, click
on the white-threads area of the loom. Click on the sliding horizontal
bar to complete a portion of the blanket.
Repeat the above procedure using the small dark-red yarnball and the
red-and-yellow striped yarnball. The blanket will then be complete and
you'll see a glowing representation of a corn plant, an important
Anasazi symbol.
Move L B6 R F2 R F4 L into the music room. Pick up the drumstick and
move R2 to the wind chime. Click on the wind chime with your mouse
cursor and listen carefully - you'll need to emulate the sound on the
drums. Turn left to the drums and strike them with the drumstick in
this order:
1 5
4 3 2
The wind chime will answer with its cadence and a doorway into the
shaman's room will be revealed to your right behind the animal skin.
Enter the shaman's room and move forward to the firepit. Pick up a
glowing piece of wood and turn left. Drag the glowing end of the wood
over the five cavities at the top of the wall to disclose various
dangers (including more bees in the center hole). You can see a rag in
the hole second from the right - take it. Turn around and dunk the rag
into the stone pool of water, then use it to clean the wall and
disclose a reindeer-style pictograph, another important Anasazi
symbol.
Move R F3 R B4 R F3 R F R to the sandpit puzzle. The outline of a leaf
at the back of the pit is colored green to indicate that the puzzle
has been activated by your retrieval of the Anasazi gene pod. Move F
to begin the puzzle. Variously-colored leaves are blown onto the sand
spiral, and you must determine which ones go into the next three
positions. Moving from the center of the spiral outward, you'll see
that the leaves progress in sequence to the dark green leaf, then
reverse the sequence. Assuming this is the pattern, the leaves you
should choose are the first three leaves in the center of the spiral,
placed in reverse order:
Sandpit Leaf Puzzle
Back out and pick up the outlined leaf at the back of the sandpit, now
turned brown. Move R F L F3 R F4 L2 and place the brown leaf into the
depression by the music room door, opening an entrance to the kiva
straight ahead. Move F5 into the kiva.
The object of the kiva puzzle is to correctly identify exactly seven
Anasazi images you've encountered in the game. The design on the west
wall is circled by 7 blue arrowheads, each of which brightens when one
of the correct wall images is lighted in blue.
To solve the puzzle, turn right from the circular design and select
the buffalo symbol from the South challenge and the image of a bee
from the East challenge and the shaman's room:
North Kiva Wall
Turn right and select the sun-headed man symbol from the East
challenge, the sun symbol from the West challenge, and the reindeer
image from the shaman's room:
East Kiva Wall
Finally, turn right and select the bird symbol from the blowing-leaves
cave in the North challenge and the corn plant image from the loom
room:
South Kiva Wall
Turn right and note that all seven blue arrowheads are now glowing.
Click on the center of the circular design to open a door in the wall;
move F B4 R2 F10 into the Anasazi time portal. Watch the movie of the
Professor, then wait a few moments and watch a second one. Press the
central paired-dolphins button, then click on the animation in the
crystal ball to be transported to Atlantis.
_________________________________________________________________
Atlantis
From your landing point in Atlantis, move L F2 R F6 into a windowed
pyramid building and to a view of a map of the Atlantis world. Move R2
and note the "4"-like symbol associated with this building. Move F L F
and view a movie sequence on the video player. Move R2 F2 for another
movie sequence.
Move B L F5 L F R F9 R F10 into an aquarium-like building housing a
glowing DNA helix. Move L2 and note the bent-square symbol on the
floor of this building. Move F R F and view a movie sequence on the
video player. Move R2 F2 for another movie sequence.
Move B R F8 R F4 R F L F8 L into a schoolhouse-like building. Above
the side door, note the steering-wheel-like symbol associated with
this building. Move R2 F and view a movie sequence on the video
player. Move R for another movie sequence, R2 for another, and L F R F
for five more (with Greek subtitles), including some from the Guardian
robot.
Move B L F8 L F R F4 R F6 into a truncated pyramid building and note
the curved "+"-like symbol associated with it. Move R F and view a
movie sequence on the video player. Move R2 F2 for another movie
sequence.
Move B L F7 L F7 R F3 R F to the elevator control panel. Select the
symbol associated with each building by clicking on the blank squares
underneath each building representation:
16 clicks 5 clicks 27 clicks 10 clicks
(out of 28 possibilities):
Elevator Control Panel
Click on the far-right button with the small circle to activate the
elevator. Move B L F2 L2 and click on the rightmost of the three
paired-J symbols at the bottom of the window frame to descend to the
lower level. Move F R F and take the sparking red crystal from the
robot. Move B R F R2 and put the crystal into the receptacle under the
window to reactivate the elevator. Click on the leftmost of the three
paired-J symbols at the bottom of the window frame to ascend to the
upper level. Remove the crystal and move into the stasis chamber
rooom. You are now under a time limit to deal with the robot Guardian
before he finds you and sends you to eternity, ending the game with a
few newspaper articles. To accomplish this, you will lay a trap for
the Guardian using one of the stasis tubes.
While passsing by the individual stasis tubes, make a note of the
pattern of blue lights on the panels in them. Find the empty stasis
tube and enter it. Set the same pattern of blue lights:
XX
X
X
X
XXX
X
X
X
X
X X
XX
X
Move B2 and bait your trap by putting the crystal on the stasis tube
floor (this has to be done by dragging the crystal so its lower
triangle is just below the lower edge of the game window). Move L2 F2
to the hexagon puzzle controlling the stasis tube gun.
Each click on a yellow triangle rotates the tri-colored circles; the
object is to orient them so that they all have a red sector facing
inwards, matching the central red button on the hexagon. Here's one
solution (the order of clicks is unimportant):
* Click once on the upper-left yellow triangle
* Click twice on the upper-right yellow triangle
* Click once on the left yellow triangle
* Click once on the right yellow triangle
Save your game at this point as an arcade-style sequence is coming up.
Click on the central red hexagon button and back out. When the robot
appears, shoot him in the chest (ow!) a few times to drive him back
into the stasis tube. While he's in there, quickly fire on the dark
circle above the light panel in the tube to activate the stasis field
and trap the Guardian.
Move R L F L F5 R F and open the gene pod receptacle. Press Ctrl-G to
bring up your gene pod inventory, and click on any of the pods to
transfer all three to the receptacle. Pick up the receptacle and move
B L F7 to the transmission panel. Click on the central bent-square
symbol and put the gene pods you're carrying into the depression
formed in the panel.
You now have two minutes to leave Atlantis through its time portal, or
you can wait it out for the same endgame sequence. To reach the time
portal, move B L2 F6 R F7 and watch the Professor's Steve Martin
impression (boy, he's really scared, isn't he?). If you try to
transfer back to Easter Island, the time portal melts and you get the
same endgame sequence anyway.
The submerged Atlantis outpost blasts off from Earth and transports to
the Atlantean homeworld. At the conclusion of the endgame sequence, a
reference is made to a game sequel:
The Adventure Continues...
...Timelapse 2: The Homeworld
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Nits
Apart from the things mentioned in the review, here are a few little
nits that stand in the way of Timelapse being a truly perfect game:
* Some of the writing in the journal flows off the page onto the
black screen background.
* All video sequences have very bad lip sync (local bus video card
used, per game recommendation).
* Would have preferred the movement direction rosette not
disappearing every time the mouse is used.
* The save-game query on exiting the game is sometimes irrelevant.
* The CD-ROM automatically ejects without warning.
* An annoying white Timelapse rectangle gets stuck at the lower left
of the screen whenever the program is minimized, then reactivated.
* A really chintzy CD-ROM "case".
* Four CD's, and none of them with an audio track by the Mesa Music
Consortium.