The first two Timesplitters were published by Eidos Interactive and developed by Free Radical Design. Timesplitters Future Perfect rolled around and was developed by the same studio but published by EA. The fourth game never came to fruition, thus sparking Timesplitters: Rewind by the small team Cinder Interactive Arts. The team’s latest move for Rewind is to better understand the game engine, hiring more people and talking directly to Crytek.
This time around Dan L took to two blog posts over on Timesplitters: Rewind’s official website to explain the current status of the game engine, hiring new people to work on the game and the team’s plans regarding Crytek.
The writer started off with the first post by saying that…
“Since our last post we’ve had a lot of responses with a lot of things to consider. Firstly, we’d like to clear up some statements made that unfairly criticised the engine used. We made reference to the amount of time taken to achieve certain milestones within CRYENGINE, compared to other game engines. While this seemed to reflect the usability of CRYENGINE, it actually represents the skill area of the team and where we are not as conversant, compared to other engines. With this in mind we are still looking for individuals with professional experience in CRYENGINE or C++ in order to fill this skills gap.”
Moreover, the writer went on to explain the scope of Timesplitters: Rewind, the size of the team and what they can and can’t do as of this moment:
“In addition, it is important to consider that as this is a small fan project (with big scope), replying on part time input from members across the world means we can’t respond to large engine updates/changes as quickly as we’d like. This reason, combined with the many others associated with the nature of a fan project like this, means TimeSplitters: Rewind will not fall into the usual development cycle expected of a game this size.”
The end of the first blog surrounds that of Crytek and what the team has planned for the game as well as roadblocks. Additionally, the latter part of the post talks postponing the poll vote for a more efficient and better time:
Currently we are in talks with Crytek in an effort to iron out some of the roadblocks we’ve been hitting, we have every faith that these discussions will be positive and help us achieve the goal of remaking TimeSplitters in CRYENGINE. For this reason, we are postponing the poll vote to a more appropriate time so we can, in good faith, explain the state of Rewind and how we progress. We are aware of the unique opportunity to work with such a beloved IP, so will not take any decision lightly.
The second post details what Cinder Interactive Arts wants to do regarding the act of hiring and expanding the team. The push or initiative to grow the team is as explained below:
“So the team here at Cinder Arts is looking to grow our team by a sizeable amount, this means there are a lot of job openings, we are willing to consider everyone hence why we haven’t provided requirements, although you will be expected to perform a test of your ability.”
So what does this all mean? Well, it means that the team is looking to get the game up and going by understanding the CRYENGINE better and hiring people who are willing to help development of the game/engine. The team is also in direct talk with Crytek and crew to better develop Rewind so that less roadblocks will appear, and when they do they will be less tedious and more of a minor issue.
If, however, you wish to help the devs in this endeavor and help Timesplitters: Rewind progress through development, you can visit docs.google.com to submit a job application to Cinder Interactive Arts.
