Hello everyone, Nathan here (concept + artist for the game).

I want this post to highlight some issues present in the Game Jam build, as well as some additional stuff like things that didn't make it in as well as some fun speedrun times for you to tackle if you enjoy that kind of thing. The game was built with speedrunning in mind and we find it's a great challenge to try and beat your best times!

First, here's some things that didn't make it into this build of the game. We originally planned many more levels for the game - a total of 25 names were made originally, but that got shortened to 10 after I realised that that would be way too many to draw up given the time we had. Levels 1-9 were fully drawn but we only got up to 5 being in the game. Collision can take a while to implement, we learned! If this game gets another build in the future, we'll totally add more levels into it, especially the other 5 that you can see on the level select screen. We also were planning on adding another timer to the left of the HUD that showed a record time that you'd aim to beat in the level. If you beat the time, you'd earn a trophy on the level select icon and every subsequent best time you got would replace it in the HUD. The big space that says "TIME" in the HUD was also going to be used for a countdown timer that would tick down during the game, making you hurry to complete a level. You'd earn extra time via pickups (Level 4 has a spot on the right where one was intended to go, if you were wondering what that's about) and Level 9 - Panic Attack was going to be all about that, having a really short timer and loads of time pickups about that you'd need to build up to finish the level. This was a bit ambitious of me to aim for considering we had only a day left at that time, but the state the game is in now is at the very least fully playable without totally falling apart (unlike some other projects me and Kieran tackled!).

Here's at least most of the known issues in this build of the game that would ideally be rectified in a future build:

• The title screen and level select screen should have a little light pulsing animation, but it goes unused in game.
• You have to double click the level select icons to select the level - should only be a single click.
• Level 2 has white text on the bottom for the level name (Lock & Key) where it should be blue.
• Level 3 has a Glitch enemy that moves too far to the right and can potentially spawnkill you.
• Level 3's rotations don't turn gradually like Level 1 and 2's do; they instead snap to the rotation instantly.
• Level 4 and 5's rotations don't work. Kind of an issue considering that's the whole gimmick of the game, but hey, makes it easier to play I suppose!
• Level 4's background is green when it should be yellow to fit with the rest of the level.
• Level 5 should have a Glitch enemy towards the start of the level that moves back and forth through a little path you have to sneak by.
• Level 5's key doors are there, but they're invisible for some reason.
• Level 5 uses Level 4's version of the portal entering animation: the ball should be purple, but it is instead yellow.
• The timer that appears at the top right of the HUD should reset upon death, but it doesn't, and makes recording speedrun times kind of a pain if you don't factor in deaths.
• No countdown timer or record timer in the HUD yet.
• No way to restart levels, quit levels or quit the game in game. To quit a level, you're gonna have to beat it, to restart it you'll have to pick it again from the level select menu and to quit the game you'll have to make do with pressing Alt+F4 for the time being.

We also want to address the biggest criticism of the game we heard during playtesting sessions, which is the sometimes glidey controls. While making the ball glide a little was intentional, we also kind of agree that it can mess you up on occasion and would probably tighten up the way the ball moves a little in a future build. The ball's movement was inspired by wire maze toys and as a result we wanted to capture the panicky, delicate movement you'd use while playing those, though we can agree certainly on diagonal movement it can veer too much. The mouse clicking speeds were an addition I'd thought of to add some more precision to your movement as well as to add more strategy to the speedrun aspect - I'd get used to using them as they can be a big help with controlling the game and remembering that you'll stop as soon as you let go of WASD is also a good tip to remember. We hear the feedback though, and we will take it into account. Thanks for everyone who gave us feedback, by the way. It helps a lot to make us improve.

Anyway, I've waffled on enough about things regarding the state of the game at the moment, so I'll set that aside for something more fun: speedrun times! Me and Kieran had a go at these earlier today when we were playtesting. They're by no means perfect, and some factor in our death times, but here are the best we managed to get!

L1 - Easy Street - 0:06.59s

L2 - Lock & Key - 0:15.23s

L3 - Glitch Chain - 0:18.76s

L4 - Back & Forth - 0:32.12s

L5 - Helter Skelter - 1:14.83s

We'd love to hear your best times and we hope you have some fun and frustration replaying the levels over and over again until you're sick of them and want to smash your computer to bits. I take a great amount of pride in making a game that made a Double Eleven member swear in front of me.

Thanks to everyone who played our game, and thanks to the rest of the people who participated in the Riverside Game Jam 2022 too! You all gave us a good challenge and a lot of your games were sick. Hope to see more from you guys in the future and we hope you hope to see more from us in the future!

- Nathan