Killing Time

Killing Time is a horror-themed first-person shooter video game developed by Studio 3DO. Originally an exclusive for their 3DO platform, it was later remade for the Windows and Macintosh platforms in 1996 by Logicware after the 3DO system was discontinued. On July 23, 2015, ZOOM Platform announced the release of an updated version of Killing Time exclusively for their store. The update work was done by Jordan Freeman Group and published by ZOOM Platform and Prism Entertainment.

The player takes on the role of a former Egyptology student, trapped within the estate of wealthy heiress Tess Conway on Matinicus Isle, Maine. In 1932, during the night of the summer solstice, Tess Conway vanished while attempting to use a mystical Ancient Egyptian water clock which purportedly grants eternal life, along with many of her society friends. The player's objective is to find, and destroy, the water clock, and discover the secrets of the estate, all while beating back the many horrors that now occupy the island.

Throughout the game the plot is slowly revealed to the player through numerous vignettes performed by live actors. An unusual aspect of the game is that live action full-motion video characters overlap with the real time gameplay, without breaking to cutscenes (the only exceptions are the opening and closing sequences). These are activated by standing near Tess' spectral pleadings, while in a couple of locations (The Ballroom and the Master Bedroom) clocks can be be set to change which vision is shown.

A remastered version of the game entitled Killing Time: Resurrected was released by Nightdive Studios on October 17, 2024, featuring assets from both the PC and 3DO versions.

Development

The 3DO version of the game began life as "Zombie Xanadu", a concept for a 3D first-person-perspective maze-crawling game populated by undead creatures with inspirations from Agatha Christie. The custom ZX engine was developed to support the project, which could utilize streaming technology on the 3DO game console to render seamlessly transitioning levels drawn via the Cel Engine. A special case version of the painter's algorithm is utilized for hidden surface removal. The level creation was completed using the DEU editor, before eventually being converted for the ZX engine with several additions.

Several original songs were created for the game. "On This Island" by Robert Vieira and sung by Elizabeth Snyder, which plays in the ballroom, and "Time Trapped Isle" by Larry Reed and the Toot Sweet Jazz Band, which plays over the end credits, are specially credited. Additional music was recorded by the Toot Sweet Jazz Band.

In 1996 Acclaim Entertainment acquired the rights to release three Studio 3DO games for the PlayStation, Saturn, and PC, including Killing Time. However, while Acclaim did publish the other two games for those platforms, they did not do so with Killing Time, even though a release date was announced and it was advertised in magazines and on the back of some manuals on games published by the company.

Instead, rights for development of a PlayStation and Saturn version were passed on to Torus Games (who later produced the version of Doom II for the Game Boy Advance). While Torus would work on both versions of the game, the PlayStation version would only advance to a beta stage of development before being canceled, while the Saturn port would be abandoned early in its development without even a functioning prototype.

Rights for development of a Power Macintosh version went to Logicware, Inc. Developer Rebecca Heineman, also known for the 3DO version of Doom, would develop an engine for this version of the game. James "Quasar" Haley, one of the developers of the remastered version, confirmed the game was based on the Atari Jaguar version of Doom that she had previously worked on. This version was also ported to Windows 95. These versions of the game differ significantly from the 3DO version, using different game logic, enemy designs, lower resolution 8-bit artwork, and completely redesigned levels which only make a few references in key areas to the original 3DO designs.

According to tools engineer Michael Lutynski, the game's redone levels were created using the Build level editor from Duke Nukem 3D, then double converted to WAD files and finally to the engine's native format, with no trace of Build in the finished product. LightWave 3D was tested as well, as part of an ultimately canceled attempt to implement room-over-room effects.

On July 23, 2015, ZOOM Platform announced the release of an updated version of Killing Time exclusively for their store. The update work was done by Jordan Freeman Group and published by ZOOM Platform and Prism Entertainment, and featured fan made patches and fixes. The game was also re-released onto GOG.com by Ziggurat Interactive on November 10, 2016.

It was announced on June 6, 2024 that a remaster of the game was being developed by Nightdive Studios under the name Killing Time: Resurrected. It was released on October 17, 2024.

Gameplay

The gameplay follows the standard set by most first-person shooters with the player using an assortment of weapons. These include a Colt .45 pistol which can be single or dual wielded, a shotgun, a Thompson submachine gun (Tommy gun), and a flamethrower. The PC/Mac version adds a crowbar for melee attacks, Molotov cocktails, and a magical ankh which can be used to wipe out many enemies at a time. To finish the game one must collect the ten Winged Vessels—a stylized form of canopic jar—spread throughout the island of Matinicus, presented as a seamless open world, and each containing a symbolic part of Tess Conway's spirit. These vessels also grant limited-time power-ups. A rejuvenation vessel can restore the charge of previously used vessels. Some sections require the player to strafe, crouch, or jump. The game takes place on a rather large, nonlinear island, with no load times in between sections. Enemies defeated and items taken are permanent for the duration of the campaign, with guarded weapon caches scattered throughout the island.

Weapons

• Crowbar
• Pistol
• Double Pistols
• Shotgun
• Tommy Gun
• Molotov
• Flamethrower
• Ankh

Enemies

• Hunter
• Gardener
• Two Headed Dog
• Wasp
• Gangster
• Thug
• Flying Head
• Clown
• Chef
• Maid
• Diabolic Maid
• Roach
• Specter
• Scarab
• Prohibitionist
• Cloud demon
• Skeleton
• Crawler
• Anubis
• Avatar of Seth (Duncan De Vries)
• Avatar of Isis (Tess Conway)

The Duck and Bat enemies from the 3DO version are not present, although they are re-added in Resurrected.

Vessels

• Ears - enemies show up on the map
• Hands - unlimited ammunition
• Eyes - increases map detail
• Liver - eliminates enemies
• Nose - highlights ammunition locations on map
• Mouth - highlights secret areas on map
• Legs - doubles player's running speed
• Back - invincibility
• Chest - maximum health doubled
• Arms - damage inflicted increases by eight

Plot

Spoiler Warning: Plot details follow.

The player character is a former archaeology college student (voiced by Bruce Robertson) who has set out to discover the mystery behind a missing Egyptian artifact. The ancient "Water Clock of Thoth" had been discovered by his Egyptology professor, Dr. Hargrove, but the artifact went missing soon after a visit by the expedition's patron, Tess Conway. Tess is the heiress of her family's estate on Matinicus Isle, where she keeps her friends (and pawns) close by so that she might gain the true power of the water clock. As the game progresses, the player discovers that Tess has used a number of people to gain what she desires, but at a price. Something went horribly wrong, transforming everyone on the entire island (including the wildlife) into either restless ghosts, demons, or undead zombies. In the opening cinematic of all versions of the game, Boldt Castle located on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands region of the Saint Lawrence River is used as the visual representation of the Conway Estate.

Characters

• Tess Conway (played by Lise Bruneau): Inheritor of her parents' wealth as well as the Conway Estate, Tess will stop at nothing to get what she wants. Obsessed with being young and beautiful forever, Tess acquires the ancient Egyptian Water-Clock in the hopes of using it to stop time itself. Tess keeps her most useful pawns close to her on the isle, nourishing them with food and drink long enough for her to have them help her fulfill truest ambitions. When at last she has the power of the Water-Clock within her grasp, she is murdered and subsequently activates the Water-Clock too soon in order to save her life and curse her killer. This action ends-up trapping all the people on the island, and the timing causes the experiment to go horribly wrong. Tess and her friends become restless spirits while the rest are turned into mindless zombies.
• Duncan De Vries (played by Eric Flom): Tess's associate, and her key to the black market. Duncan is an ambitious bootlegger trying to make a name for himself in the world of crime. His goal to marry Tess in order to acquire her property and wealth. Duncan does whatever Tess asks in order to gain her favor. With a short temper and a broad mean streak, it is no wonder how quickly he turns to murder when he finds out that Tess has no mind for marriage. With her dying breath, Tess curses Duncan, and possesses his body with the vengeful spirit of the Egyptian god Set (Seth).
• Byron Flemming (played by Colin Thomson): Tess's archaeologist friend, Byron falls hopelessly in love with her, while helping her to decipher the instructions for the water clock. All his efforts to woo Tess are of course futile. The most clever person on the island, he knows the true power of the water clock.
• Mike Murphy (played by Tim Flanagan): Duncan's rent-a-cop body guard, Mike follows Duncan around and makes sure everything goes smoothly. Officially the "guard" of the estate, Mike finds himself without much of a job to do most of the time. He appears only once by himself in the game to offer a quick warning to beware of both Duncan and Tess.
• Robert Kenilworth (played by Edward Sarafian): Robert has been the Conways' official butler for decades, and even goes as far as to reminisce over Tess and Lydia's childhood together. Robert laments over Tess's transformation after the death of her parents, and keeps a wary eye on Duncan, whom he openly distrusts. He is Byron's only friend. He appears often to offer friendly advice on how to navigate the Conway estate. Robert dislikes what is going on but remains a loyal servant out of honor for the dying memory of the Conway family.
• Lydia Tewkesbury (played by Paula Sonenberg): Tess's childhood friend, Lydia is kept on the isle for reasons unknown, though it would seem as though Tess gains confidence from being two steps ahead of Lydia at all times. Lydia confesses later in the game that she is sick of being in the shadow of Tess and works to bring her whole establishment down from the inside by leaking as much information as she can to Duncan. Both Duncan and Mike grow fond of Lydia during the course of the game primarily because she is physically attractive. All the same, she remains miserably trapped on the island and spends most of her time drowning her worries in gin.
• Angela Conway (played by Ashley Penrod): Tess's niece, this ghost of a young girl appears often in the game to spout cryptic poems, particularly in junctions in the hedge maze. Seemingly wise beyond her years, she understands what must be done and where to go and hopes that one can decipher her riddles in order to get the job done.

Endings

The 3DO version only has a single ending, in which the Avatar of Seth gets defeated with a Tommy gun by Tess, who appears out of the thin air wearing a black robe, presumably from the underworld Duat. Upon dying and transforming back to Duncan, he expresses his regret of not killing Tess earlier. Tess laughs at both him and the player, imprisoning them in Duat alongside the rest of the undead dwellers of Matinicus Isle.

The Windows/Macintosh version expands on this by having two endings, depending on the final outcome of the battle against Tess under the form of the Avatar of Isis. If the player gets defeated by Tess, the last part of the original 3DO version's ending will be played. However, if the player manages to defeat her instead, a good ending will be played. In this exclusive ending, the player finally goes back to the boat that he used to access Matinicus Isle, pointing out that Dr. Hargrove's words on the water clock were indeed true, alongside Tess' treacherous ambition to use its true power. He relates his plans of revisiting the isle the next day, in hopes of being able to recover what remains of the water clock to show to the archaeological society, hoping for plentiful funds to conduct a more thorough expedition. As the scene fades out, Tess can be heard emitting a distant cackle, suggesting she may not be done with the player yet.

Spoilers end here.

Areas

• Dock
• Courtyard
• The Gardens
• The Kennels
• The Hunter’s Cabin
• The Lighthouse
• Conway Estate (contains The Great Hall)
• 2nd Floor West Wing (contains The Guest Quarters)
• 1st Floor East Wing Conway Estate (contains The Ballroom)
• Kitchen
• Wine Cellar
• The Sewers - Level 1
• The Sewers - Level 2
• Temple of Isis
• 1st Floor West Wing Conway Estate (contains The Firepit and The Library)
• The Caverns
• The Lookout Tower
• The Mausoleum
• The Topiary
• The Arboretum
• Hedge Maze
• 2nd Floor East Wing Conway Estate (contains The Master Bedroom)
• The Attic and Towers (contains The Vessel Altar and Hall of Mirrors)

Keys

• RSVP Invitation
• The Wine Cellar Key
• The Kitchen Key
• The Kitchen Annex Key
• Master Bedroom Annex Key
• Temple of Isis Key (also unlocks The Mausoleum)
• Second Floor - East Wing Mansion Key (also The Lookout Tower)
• First Floor - West Wing Mansion Key
• The Library Key
• The Hedge Maze Key (also The Caverns and The Topiary)
• Master Bedroom Key

Reception

The original 3DO release received mostly positive reviews. Critics for both Next Generation and GamePro praised the fast game engine and combination of intense first-person shooting with brain-stimulating adventure elements. GamePro also approved of the stylish visuals and music and especially the use of real-life weapons for the player's arsenal, though they criticized the need to use button combinations to change weapons or look up and down. Next Generation complimented the humor and concluded, "In short, Killing Time is the bastard child of Doom and 7th Guest, and it works." GameSpot concluded that the PC version was a "breath of very fresh air", due "largely to a thoughtful design interweaving setting and story with healthy doses of gunplay and gore."

The game was awarded the 3DO Adventure Game of the Year. In 1996, GamesMaster ranked the 3DO version 2nd on their "The GamesMaster 3DO Top 10."

External links

• Killing Time at Ziggurat Interactive
• The Conway Estate - Killing Time Fan Site (archived) by Mike MacDee (Impie)
• Mask of Sobek and Kiss of the Scorpion fan games by Mike MacDee (Impie)
• Killing Time Walkthrough (mirror)
• Killing Time on Ross's Game Dungeon
• Killing Time retrospective by Ruby Ranger
• Killing Time retrospective by Sabwones
• PC version playthrough by Pedro Arturo Gomez Blanco (PAGB666)

Sources

• This article incorporates text from the open-content Wikipedia online encyclopedia article Killing Time (video game).

References

Source code genealogy
Based on	Name	Base for
Doom (Atari Jaguar)	Killing Time (PC)	Killing Time: Resurrected