MOTAS - The Mystery of Time and Space

Mystery Of Space and Time (MOTAS)  


You wake up with no memory in, what could be your bedroom...


You have agreed to have your memory wiped by the Observers of space and time.  Only by doing this can you understand the deeper structure of the universe...for you are a human who can see another parallel reality.  Unfortunately you don't remember the agreement since your memory was wiped. It seems to learn more, you must first escape the room you are in... 

MOTAS is one of the earliest puzzle-adventure/escape room types of video games, and would go on to influence future games such as Crimson Room (often considered the original escape room game) that would, in turn, influence the entire escape room industry!  Created by Jan Albartus using Macromedia Flash, it started as a single room in November of 2001 and has since expanded to 20 levels!

MOTAS focuses mostly on the puzzles versus the story.  It is about completing (escaping) from each level to get to the next level.  MOTAS builds upon, and simplifies, the graphical adventure games of the 90s (Monkey Island, King's Quest, MYST, et al) by using a simple programming language that let the game be run on a server online so that anyone could play.  It uses simple graphics, simple commands (point and click), and a simple storyline to give you a nice puzzling experience, especially for its day.  

Jan Albartus is the creator of MOTAS and did the concept, story, artwork, and programming.(1)   It was first released in November 2001. At that time MOTAS was hosted on a free web server and the game featured only one room (level) and as of the final update had 20 levels.  Based on the ending, it appears the game was to continue with more levels, but none have been created since 2008.  Since then Jan Albartus appears to have retreated from work on the game and any online presence as Flash was phased out of the online world.  

You can download Flashpoint and play the game here:  Bluemaxima

Music by Sam Cardon; John Frederick Coots, Haven Gillespie (Level 8); Dorothy Fields, Jerome Kern (Levels 9 & 13) (Source: Wikipedia)

(1) Albartus, Jan. Mystery of Space and Time.  V.  LOGAN Interactive. Flash. 2001



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