Manhofer Testing Grounds

Manhofer Testing Grounds

The Manhofer Testing Grounds, was a science research facility that was a part of the Manhofer Institute, located on Root Island, East of Pine Island, connected via the bridge. It was where the Time Machine was invented and where the raid of the Manhofer Facility took place on April 15th, 1984.

Background
The Manhofer Testing Grounds is where the beginning of No Time takes place in. In the Prologue, the player wakes up in their office after the tutorial of the game and is greeted by Edward Reuel Athor, the player's colleague and best friend, as they went through school together. The building also has a counterpart in Pine Lake that was renamed to the Manhofer History Museum of Science but was another research facility in the 80s and was featured in the Facility mission.

Early Years
The Manhofer company was founded in the year 1960 and it introduced many innovations and significant breakthroughs to the island. It is mentioned in a 1975 newspaper that Mayor F. Athor, had an internship at Manhofer before the company flew for insolvence after important knowledge was stolen from them by mysterious men, who allegedly were the Time Agents before their time machines were created.

Manhofer was supposedly the first to develop the island's Satellite Dishes for astronomic research, since the complex was built along with the dishes in 1960 and they have the Manhofer name displayed on them.

Main Goals
The Manhofer Testing Grounds were trying to develop Nuclear-fueled cars before the rival corporation, CCORP could. During the process of making nuclear-fueled cars, Edward and PC realized that using their knowledge of Temporal Physics they could advance the cars even further and it was supported by their supervisor that eventually led to early plans for the Time Machine. It was also apparent that prototypes for time travel were made that eventually led to the successful construction of the Time Machine. The time machine also brought disaster to the facility, by causing Time Agents to infiltrate the facility, scheming to steal the plans for the machine for their own intentions and ideas.

Building


Although the size of the complex from the exterior is very large, the interior that is seen in the game is quite small and very brief. The reasons for this are probably because the building is only inhabited by the player during the Prologue where the Time Machine is introduced and the rest of the building's contents does not need to be shown.

PC's Office
Right after the game's Tutorial, the player spawns in their office and wakes up from off the floor and is later greeted by Edward. The room's main features consist of a bright and dark blue wallpaper, a painting, and basic furniture such as a TV, a couch, and some tables.

Also in the Office are books which were given to PC in order to help him build a Fission Reactor for the car, along with a Blackboard with a diagram for the reactor inside the room as well.

Testing Room
The Testing Room was the main area where Edward Athor and PC would construct and test their unique technology, especially the earlier versions of the Mach 3 and the separate prototype Time Machines that led up to it.

The room contains the earlier prototypes and the Blackboard diagrams for the final version of the Time Machine. Along with those are tables, one having a Fire extinguisher and a piece of paper on it.

Acceleration Tunnel
The Acceleration Tunnel was used to test out the Time Machine and give it enough space to go through Temporal Displacement.

The first half of the tunnel has black walls and is accessed by a large door that can be opened from a panel. The second half of the tunnel has white padding and a door that separates it from the first half of the tunnel. The entirety of the tunnel is comprised of small sensors that analyze the speed of the car as it is about to travel through time.

Secret Room
The Secret Room was used by Edward Athor incase of a emergency like the Raid of the Manhofer Testing Grounds. Right after PC returned from the 1 hour trip into the future, he landed into a swarm of agents who were attacking him. Edward opened up the door to the Secret Room and let PC in after eliminating the agents.

PC and Edward stayed in the room as they discussed their plan to escape and meet up with each other sometime in the future. The room is not that unique and only has a few boxes and a fan up on a wall, but a more notable feature would be the room's very large door.

Drainage Tunnels
The drainage tunnels were supposedly the tunnels where the waste was carried out of the facility after experiments.

PC used the drainage tunnels to escape from the facility after the agents had taken over. It was the safest way to escape, however there were agents along who tried to hinder PC's attempt along the way but in the end PC drove out safe with the car to the Pine Island Bridge.

Trivia

 * The Manhofer Insitute is a nod to the real life Fraunhofer Institute, where Erathor worked at as scientific aid before creating No Time. His scientific knowledge is shown throughout the game and especially shared during the Prologue if the player would view the Fission Reactor chalkboard diagram, along with the diagrams for the Time Machine.