#01: Beating a Timer AKA Ticktockster

About the Mechanic:

The Timer mechanic is all about completing some task or tasks, at or before a certain amount of time has passed. This mechanic is useful for providing players with a chance to take a skill they feel confident with, and express mastery of it by doing it quickly and with precision. This mechanic creates stress for the player; historically this mechanic is often used when tension is required in a work.

The "Referee" of a game is responsible for measuring this mechanic; the game's interface is responsible for letting the player know how much time they have to complete their task, however.

Referee Information / Data Structure:

Target Time
Start Time
Elapsed Time = Current Time - Start Time

Player Information / Feedback:

Remaining Time = Target Time - Elapsed Time

Designer Information:

Margin = Target Time - Expected Execution Time

Conditions:

Victory: Elapsed Time <= Target Time
Failure: Elapsed Time > Target Time

When Is This Mechanic Engaging? 

1. The player has been well-trained in a particular skill, or that skill is so intuitive it doesn't require much training. 
2. There's a well-balanced margin between how long it takes a player to do something, and the target time. 
3. When a feeling of stress is needed. 
4. The challenge can be retried, so that the player can improve their mastery of the skills, if appropriate to the context the mechanic is used in. 
5. When other players are involved - beating another player's time is a long-standing social tradition dating back quite a long ways! 

When Is This Mechanic Distracting?

1. The player has not had adequate practice with skill(s) - the player feels like they can't succeed, and gives up. 
2. The margin of failure is too long - the player has so much time that there is no tension, thus there is no emotional effect on the player or audience. 
3. The margin of failure is too short - the margin is so small the player feels like they can't succeed, and gives up. 
4. The payoff is not appropriate to the margin of failure - the challenge of beating the timer needs to be worth it. 
5. The consequence isn't proportional to the margin of failure - short challenges should be less consequential if failed; long challenges should be more consequential, up to and including non-standard game overs. 

Game References:

1. Speed Chess during each player's turn. Each player has to quickly reason what their best move it, and make it before the timer sounds. 
2. Super Metroid's intro where the player has to escape a self-destructing space station - as an early 'quest', the player has a comfortable, but short time to escape. Also, the escape from Zebes, after Samus defeats the final boss with a super-weapon gained during that boss fight - just like the intro, the player has a balanced time to escape. 
3. Final Fantasy VII's intro uses this after the Scorpion Robot fight to add tension to the escape sequence; the time limit is extremely lax, however, as it's the first quest in the game. In Wall Market, a part of the quest to get into Don Corneo's mansion involves challenging a body-builder to squats to gain a required item. Failure is only minimally punished; you get an inferior item that still counts towards advancing the quest. A bonus boss, Emerald Weapon, is fought under the ocean, while the party has a limited oxygen supply. Also, the boss itself is really freaking hard. 
4. Any video game speedrun (many people give up speedruns due to not being able to beat a high-profile runner's times at a particular game.) 
5. World of Warcraft, the Dwarf starting area has a quest where you're supposed to take a mug of hot hot something to an inn. The quest gives you five minutes; the quest is achievable within one. There is no tension, and the mechanic feel superfluous in this case.