Baby Steps.

Mind Map when conceptualizing themes for "TIME":

I landed on the concept of aging... where I thought it'd be interesting to design a game where the playable character aged as the game progressed.
My mom and mannnnny adults around me have always said "youth is wasted on the young", and it stuck. Maybe I am subconsciously trying to prove them wrong. Maybe not. Who knows.

So the game concept is a side scroller, where the player is a kid running late to school. So you run right, but as time goes on, you notice your character is aging, and their movement changes (less speed, less power). You'll run into other kids (they are the enemy!!), and you'll need to kill them, with your yo-yo, to gain their youth (which collects in your "youth vial" on the interface).

Therefore, the more you fill up your youth vial, the better you can beat time aging your character.

The twist in the game are the "time shifters" that the player runs into. "Speed Up", "Slow Down", & "Freeze" time would be symbolized by clocks on the path of the character. Once you run into one, it immediately begins to affect the time (whether it being positive or detrimental to you is to be seen...) on the screen and hence, your character's aging.