Timecrest

Category

Description of App

*** Best iOS Game & Developer of the Year, AppleVis Golden Apples 2016 ***

*** Apple Watch Best of 2015 ***

“An interesting story... Simple fun.” - The New York Times

“Worth a look–even if you’re not a fan of interactive fiction–as this is the best one so far.” - RNIB Connect Radio

“The meteors will obliterate everything, and all I can do is watch.

You don't know how glad I am you can see my messages.

It means, in this moment, I don't have to die alone.”

In Timecrest, where epic fantasy meets interactive fiction, author Lisa J. Skye introduces you to Ash Elden, where together you both must scramble to solve the puzzle of who unfroze the meteors to destroy Ash’s world of Alyncia. You discover that you have access to a forbidden magic–the ability to turn back time.

Every choice you make matters, and will change the outcome of this massive 225,000-word interactive story, leading to one of multiple endings. Immersive yourself within the emotional soundtrack and explore the non-linear maps.

With your new incredible powers, who will you choose to live and let die?

- EXPERIENCE AN EPIC STORY with over 225,000 words and multiple endings.

- DECIDE who lives and who dies. Your decisions change the story, so choose wisely.

- EXPLORE ALYNCIA at your own pace with our new non-linear maps.

- IMMERSE YOURSELF in a world of fantasy and magic, with 24 musical tracks to set the scene.

- BUILD A TEAM and make friends. Unlock secret storylines by building your relationship with other characters.

Timecrest is a nonlinear story based game with multiple endings where every choice you make matters. The story progresses in realtime. Ash will be notifying you on what is happening in Alyncia and awaits your guidance throughout the day.

What would you do with the power to turn back time?

Praise for Timecrest:

“Timecrest stands out from many of the other interactive fiction games I've played.” - AFB, AccessWorld Magazine

“The characters really do draw you in.” - Jamie Pauls

“It's not just a survival, yes/no–binary choice thing. It's like you're watching actual characters, actual people, living actual lives.” - Alex Hall

“With its developer actively engaging with the AppleVis community to learn how to improve the accessibility of the app and then acting on this feedback, it is no surprise that Timecrest has become a firm favorite with many blind gamers.” - AppleVis

Version

3.5.0

Free or Paid

Free With In-App Purchase

Apple Watch Support

Yes

Device(s) App Was Tested On

iPhone

iOS Version

16.4

Accessibility Comments

This app is very accessible.

VoiceOver Performance

VoiceOver reads all page elements.

Button Labeling

All buttons are clearly labeled.

Usability

The app is fully accessible with VoiceOver and is easy to navigate and use.

Other Comments

I find this app to be quite awesome. It will keep me busy for a while. Hope you will enjoy it too.

Developer's Twitter Username

@Timecrest

Recommendations

44 people have recommended this app

Most recently recommended by Jen 4 weeks ago

Options

Comments

By cowbunny on Friday, April 21, 2023 - 12:16

Hi everyone. I just wanted you all to know that we're releasing a major update to Timecrest tomorrow (April 25, 2023).

We’ve rewritten Timecrest 1: Fated Connections entirely to bring it up to the level of adventure, mystery, and emotion that it has always deserved. With this update, we deepened the story and characters to the level of what we always imagined and wished they could be. There will also be some new Easter eggs since it’s the season. Lastly, we kept the structure the same so it will not affect the comprehension of future story for those that have completed their journey.

But for those who choose to take the journey again, a familiar, yet fresh new adventure awaits you.

This update adds around 120,000 new words. This brings Timecrest up to a whopping total of over 640,000 words. Timecrest 2: The Door also gets a fresh coat of paint as we’ve adjusted many scenes to match. This is also our biggest app update ever with over 50 new features and bug fixes, as well as adding animations and accessibility improvements for all to enjoy.

Ash opens the pocket watch, filled with hope. Will you respond?

Here's a link with more details about the update:

https://www.sneakycrab.com/timecrest-notices/2023/4/24/timecrest-rewrite-releasing-tomorrow

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

Please let us know if you have any feedback on the Timecrest rewrite! We have loved the tremendous response and your comments help us move Timecrest forward.

By Enes Deniz on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

I have a question on the timers. Well, more of a suggestion, I should say. There are some points to consider:
How do I know that something will take exactly 5 minutes or 8 hours? Ash is going to talk to the Timecrest merchant or Guildmaster Petora, and we know in the very first place that it will take exactly 3 or 5 minutes? Why does taking the griffin transport from one place to the other always take the exactly same amount of time? This doesn't really sound realistic. Just make a random variable so that anything can take between 90 and 110 percent of the default duration. Well, the percentages are only to clarify my point more easily. You can make it range between 80 and 125. Also, I know you want players to use up more skip crystals, so this is why we have some unnecessarily long timers, but they make the story meaningless. I can't recall any particular examples right now, but it was already disappointing enough that you made time crystals totally useless unless one is willing and able to collect enough of them to get a TOD generator or whatever it is called. So players are given only 10 skip crystals at the beginning, and unlike time crystals, they can't get more of them every day for free. I still appreciate that the game's developers pay attention to our feedback, and we have such a game to play. By the way, one more point I have is that Ash is overchildish and dramatic at some points, exaggerating things and overreacting and becoming overemotional or asking silly questions. I wouldn't really expect a sixteen-year-old to be that childish. Well, I'm not sure it's 16 but I am referring to the timeline where the story first begins.

By Lily Rose on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

What a coincidence that I got this app then it started showing up on the AppleVis feed!
Still on chapter 1, loving it so far!

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

@Enes Deniz First of all thank you for such detailed feedback! I really appreciate you taking the time to write out your thoughts.

Thank you for asking about the knowing the exact amount of time. It's hard to give an exact answer since much of how time magic works is still unknown, even to those who have been named Master of Time. We do know that it is the pocket watch itself knows how much time is left, and that time does not pass linearly the same in our world and Alyncia. It can certainly be close, especially when the pocket watch is opened and closed frequently, but there are sometimes time skips and changes that also aren't in line.

I'm sorry if this isn't the most sharp answer, but this is the best of our knowledge of time magic. It's certainly a mystery why the timer numbers always end up whole, but perhaps the pocket watch will someday reveal more answers?

I also hear that you're not happy with how Time Crystals work. We designed the system to make sure that as many people can play Timecrest as possible for free, but also balance it with a method so that we can pay the bills and fund the next iterations of Timecrest. Every time someone buys more Time Crystals, it brings in the new content updates a little bit faster. We're just a small two-person team building Timecrest and every little bit helps us be able to focus on Timecrest full-time. Thank you for your support.

I hear that you find Ash very childish and emotional. Ash is a 16 and very excitable and energetic. That's just Ash's character and perhaps it's not the kind of person you're interested in befriending. If you read until the end of Chapter 15, you might even find some reasons as to why Ash's emotions are they way they are. Later on you will be able to spend more time with Luthor, who is certainly the opposite and maybe someone you'd enjoy as he's a lot more stoic and logical, at an even younger age of 13.

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

@Curly What a wonderful coincidence and I'm glad we're here to support you as you take the adventure on for the first time. Let us know what you think and we'd love to hear your feedback and experiences with Timecrest. Thank you for reading Timecrest!

By Enes Deniz on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

Okay, let's find out whether we'll uncover more about how time magic works, and what mysteries shall be revealed to us :)
I do get your point regarding skip crystals and time crystals, and I already have no problem with having to pay in order to be able to skip timers. Let me thank you for giving us the opportunity to play the game for free without any restrictions, unlike many games of that genre where you make choices and have to purchase/unlock chapters. But can we at least not exchange time crystals for skip crystals or vice versa?
As for how Ash and Luthor differ in their personality, I know what Luthor is like because I've met him several times already. I've played through the end of Timecrest 3 and started over once, but I had already played Timecrest 1 and 2 multiple times by the time Timecrest 3 was released. Whoa, how many times did I use the word "time"? By the way, I know time does not pass linearly in Alyncia, because I've just come to a point where a few months pass there. Oh by the way, at the very beginning of Chapter 6, after reconnecting with Ash and trying to tell Ash about the strange message I've got, I stopped receiving messages from Ash right after Ash asked me what the message said. My response saying what the message said, and that I didn't know who the message was from, did not show up. I had to close and reopen the app.

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

@Enes Deniz

Yes! The shop button is in the bottom right corner of the messages screen, and if you tap on Skip Crystals, you can purchase Skip Crystals for Time Crystals. Unfortunately, nobody has figured out how to transform them in the other direction, so make sure to purchase SKip Crystals wisely!

We're sorry that you faced a bug where you stopped receiving messages. If anything like that happens again, please top the title menu button in the top left corner, then pick Settings at the bottom, then Contact Support which is at the bottom of the Settings screen. Here it will generate an email attaching your game data. If you explain the problem, we'll have a chance to fix it for you and fix the bug for everyone else who faces it.

Thank you for your support and hope I can help with anything else in the future as well.

By Cankut Değerli on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

Hi,
I played the game in 2017 then started over again last month. But unfortunately My iPhone 11 got hot and the appp drained the battery really fast. Frankly, I'm more of a computer person than iPhone and being able to use İOS apps on Mac OS is great. Do you have any plans to release a Mac version for Timecrest? It would be such a pleasure to play this game on my Mac book air.
Thanks and keep up the good work.

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

@Enes Deniz

We'll keep an eye out for this so don't worry! There's no need this time, but in the future if something happens like this again, it's helpful to have your exact game data at the time it breaks.

@Cankut Değerli

I'm sorry to hear that your iPhone 11 makes it difficult for you to play Timecrest. We don't currently have any plans to release Timecrest on Mac, and I'm sorry if that is inconvenient for you. We're just a small team, so we limit what platforms we're on to reduce testing and support time investment.

By Lily Rose on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

On chapter 2, this game is awesome! Love the music, too!

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

@Curly

Thank you so much for trying out Timecrest! We really appreciate your feedback. Hope you continue to enjoy the game.

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

I broke the rules by adding Timecrest into the Apple Watch section which I apologize for and have deleted the entry.

But I wanted to mention that Timecrest was updated earlier this year to be 100% accessible on Apple Watch. While it was accessible before, we're proud that given the latest updates to the watchOS developer APIs, we were able to redesign the whole app from the ground up to work incredibly well for VoiceOver users. So if you haven't yet, make sure to give Timecrest on Apple Watch a try!

By Enes Deniz on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

And those contacting a timecrest already become rulebreakers, don't they? Then there's the Chronogem and the thing used to destroy Valdor, right? Sorry, don't recall its name.

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

That's right. We started as rulebreakers, we might as well end as rulebreakers. :)

By cowbunny on Monday, August 21, 2023 - 12:16

Just wanted to update everyone that we just updated Timecrest 3.5.7.

You can now earn 25 Time Crystals for following our Instagram and TikTok each. We've also fixed a few small UI bugs related to VoiceOver.

By Kerry Fielding on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 12:16

Ash has taken a bit of a beating. I lost 78 on his aura. Do I simply need to just wait this out now for the health to go back up to 100? Can't seem to work it out

By Winter Roses on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - 12:16

Go to the inbox. Go to the merchant, and purchase an aura potion for 100 gold. Have Ash drink it. The prompt is at the bottom of the screen.