Might be the chillest game coming to the Nintendo Switch this spring.In this “rolly roguelike,” players must carefully navigate around holes and other procedurally generated environmental obstacles. The trick is that their character can only be moved by balancing a 2D plane as though it were connected to the right and left analog sticks.

A Thwomp or Somethin' - Tumbleseed Ep 3 - Let's Play Tumbleseed Switch Gameplay EVERYTHING IN THIS GAME IS DANGEROUS-TumbleSeed is a deceptively deep roguelike about balancing a seed up a dangerous and ever-changing mountain.

Move one up and the seed rolls “down” to the other side of the screen, and vice versa. In the video above, we go through the game’s tutorial and a few level runs.TumbleSeed will take advantage of the Switch’s HD Rumble by providing players with detailed haptic feedback as they roll their seed through the game’s colorful environments. Tumble S eed’s bright and charming art style isn’t surprising, considering the game comes from one of the developers of. Adding to the relaxing vibe is sound design that is one part Boards of Canada and one part gentle ASMR.Tumble S eed is also in development on Mac, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC.

Just as a data-point, I think I played four games this evening and got about half way up the area after the forest, including unlocking the teleport to the first camp. On that subject, it'd be nice if the bubble unlocked the teleporter as soon as you reached the camp, in case I want to try the challenge room, so I don't have to worry about losing the bubble. (I don't actually know if you can lose the bubble like that; I didn't try it.)I found myself mostly sticking to using the basic seeds, I think mostly because I was more comfortable with them. Maybe it'd be a good idea to get a free, automatic use of a seed when you acquire it, just so players can see what they do?

(Or in the case of seeds acquired in crystal rooms, after you bounce out the effect activates?) I know there's text describing things, but, for example, the Vert Thorn Seed's particular attack isn't what I was expecting when I used it.Enemies seem very tenacious, and overall the game feels quite difficult, but I think that's pretty expected since it's more-or-less the first time playing. Still trying to figure out what the 'gem economy' is like. I've never had enough to buy anything at the store or to invest at the bank.Last thing for tonight, I found myself wanting to see a gallery of the seeds I've gotten at least once. I think that would provide a nice sense of meta-progression and accomplishment. On that subject, it'd be nice if the bubble unlocked the teleporter as soon as you reached the camp, in case I want to try the challenge room, so I don't have to worry about losing the bubble. (I don't actually know if you can lose the bubble like that; I didn't try it.)Great point. Teleporters are definitely one of the less-polished pieces of the alpha right now (you definitely won't be carrying around a programmer-art green circle in the end haha).

Currently you activate a teleporter by bringing the bubble close to the pillar with the chunk of land on top of it. This isn't super clear, so I think you're right that until the art is more polished it'd be good to trigger as soon as you enter a camp.Maybe it'd be a good idea to get a free, automatic use of a seed when you acquire it, just so players can see what they do?We've been struggling with this problem for a while - a free automatic use is a great idea. An example of something we've tried in the past included having pre-planted versions of the seeds in the room. This ended up making the room too dangerous in a lot of cases and most players started skipping them because the risk didn't feel worth it. Think this is definitely worth exploring more.I found myself wanting to see a gallery of the seeds I've gotten at least once.

I think that would provide a nice sense of meta-progression and accomplishment.Totally agree!:D. Really loving the game so far, it's definitely got that 'one more round' pull to it.One thing I noticed was that for quite a while I didn't understand how losing health when you fall through a hole worked.

Because your heart meter is hidden while you're falling down, it didn't occur to me that I could lose more than 1 heart while falling-the red indicators didn't fully signal to me what was going on. Even now that I understand that, it always feels like a surprise whether or not I'm going to die when I fall through a hole. Because your heart meter is hidden while you're falling down, it didn't occur to me that I could lose more than 1 heart while falling-the red indicators didn't fully signal to me what was going on.Great point - the number of hearts you lose is tied to the distance that you fall, but those distances are opaque.The mystery of how much damage you take is in that sense somewhat intentional. We want to punish not planting checkpoints, and not fully knowing how hard that punishment will be is in the ideal case part of the mental calculus that makes deciding whether or not to plant a checkpoint suspenseful/interesting/difficult. The feedback probably isn't quite there yet to make that feel fair yet. Just some quick initial points (non-gameplay, but more menu flow) on UX elements:.

Think about making the initial post-install cold-opened tutorial skippable. I'm not sure if it was just me (running on Mac OSX 10.11.6), but I felt constrained to it and was unable to open any in-game menu to either just check or exit out of it. Could come up as an issue when re-installing and forcing players through it again. Suggestions either allow the main/pause menu to be accessible right away, or just open right to the main menu with the tutorial pre-selected so all the user has to do is hit go. Users don't like being forced to sit through stuff. During game over, allow users to just hit space to restart a run immediately (think about the death flow in super meat boy).

Users will die a lot in this game - make the game over screen less punishing and more like something they can gloss over and restart immediately. Think like the game over screen in binding of isaac - it takes less than a second to start a new run.

No,.you. rock. Great points on the UI flow - definitely something I have written down on some list somewhere, but it's very helpful to hear other people share those feelings. We'll always have to have some slight pause in there (the time it takes from the end of the blowing-away animation to when the UI comes in) for generating a new world, but that also has seen 0 optimization so I'm optimistic we'll get it faster in the end.Also just great to hear someone is excited enough to get back into it that the slow UI is bothering them 😄. A couple of smaller thingsWhen restarting, you have to wait for the UI to finish popping up before being allowed to roll.

Minor thing but I'd love to move at once.In the crystal rooms, as well as the shops, one has to roll close to items to see what they do. This is a bit irritating to me because a) I'm bad at making decisions and reading while simultaneously controlling the seed and b) it takes time to roll left and right and I want to get back into the flow of the game ASAP. The crystal rooms are already a flowbreaker for me so I'd love to minimize the time I spend there.To me, the shop seeds seemed a bit expensive - why pay lots of crystals for them when I can just find them in the real world? I might be missing something but I often just skip it to save time.Also OH MAN THERE WAS THIS WORM and I actually murdered it using a mine seed. It felt AMAZINGHaving lots of fun so far!:). The crystal rooms are already a flowbreaker for me so I'd love to minimize the time I spend there.Interesting! Hopefully once they are more arted they will feel more like a mini-break similar to how camps provide a break from the action.

Will have to see if that ends up being the case.To me, the shop seeds seemed a bit expensive - why pay lots of crystals for them when I can just find them in the real world? I might be missing something but I often just skip it to save time.Shops definitely become more important as you start reaching higher up the mountain and are looking for specific seed types to round out your build.

Shop costs are definitely still really early - I think you're right that the post-forest shop could probably use being a smidgen cheaper, and shops in later camps could definitely use being more expensive.Also OH MAN THERE WAS THIS WORM and I actually murdered it using a mine seed. It felt AMAZINGAhhh love stories like this ^^ Thanks for all the feedback! Quick notes after maybe 60-90 mins of play. I'm having a great time with the game, even though these are mostly critiques:)- movement is different from anything else i've played and feels great after the initial adjustment period. I can tell immediately that it's something special, not just another roguelike- if i fall into a hole before planting a checkpoint, it seems strictly advantageous to restart. This is fair but also pretty un-fun.

It happens more often than it might since area 1 is mostly fairly easy and area 2 is really hard, so i know i need to stock up on hearts and gems rather than spamming checkpoints- i'm generally really unsure how much damage things do. This is at least partially because the moments when i take damage (and the couple of seconds after when i'm catching the seed) are the times i'm least likely to have my eye on the health meter. Also i'm not sure how partial hearts work- what if holes didn't do damage? In a roguelike, having to repeat an exhausted area already feels like a huge punishment. Also, it seems nice and elegant for holes to just be holes and for only monsters hitting you to do damage - a closer tie to 'ice cold beer but videogame'.

Just having to repeat that area seems annoying, but i feel like the damage is a distraction from that annoyance rather than a fix (see next note)- as i'm writing these i'm realizing that having to repeat stuff after falling into a hole is central to a lot of my annoyances. Not sure what to do about that and i'm sure you've thought a lot about it.

Maybe something to make the section different each time you fall down?- i can't what extent enemies are seeking and to what extent they're random wandering. Feels messy to me (in a bad way) not to know- restart loop feels slow to get back into the game (both menus and going through the starting camp)- each heart icon represents 1 hp, but the gem icon doesn't represent any gems. I often think i have 1 gem left when actually i have none- love the world building in the camps!- i wish there was a way to jerk one end of the stick up if you tapped a stick hard/fast enough.

Probably quite hard to tune to feel good and you wouldn't want to use it most of the time, but i imagine it would make fast rolls more usable and widen the action gamut a bit. Obvious caveats are that it would have to maintain the current slow/smooth controls and integrate smoothly with those, and not feel weird when (i assume) the seed never leaves the stick- spikes don't look dangerous enough to be instakillshope these are helpful, looking forward to playing more in the next few days!

Hey Drew!if i fall into a hole before planting a checkpoint, it seems strictly advantageous to restart. This is fair but also pretty un-fun. It happens more often than it might since area 1 is mostly fairly easy and area 2 is really hard, so i know i need to stock up on hearts and gems rather than spamming checkpointsThis is something I've thought about a lot while making this game, and for better or worse it feels like a core part of the design. As you get better that point on the mountain where you have to stop playing maximally greedy starts getting pushed further and further up the mountain.I've started likening it a bit in my mind to a racing game - when you're going for a fast lap there's a very fine balance between pushing your car as hard as you can and playing really risky, and playing conservative enough that you don't crash and ruin the whole lap. You can try to drive really aggressively and take every corner perfectly, in which case restarting the run as soon as you don't nail a corner is in a sense the optimal way to play. But, I think, that push and pull of risk/reward greediness/safeness over an entire lap of a course is what makes the race interesting and fun.

In my own playing whenever I'm shooting for perfection out of the gate it usually ends up being less fun for me because I do restart as soon as I take damage or fall in a hole rather than rolling with the punches and trying to make the best of a sub-optimal situation. Sometimes the RNG of crystal rooms, enemy spawns, shop spawns, etc. Will swing a not great run into one of my best runs.Anyways, sorry that metaphor got out of hand. This is all probably stuff you already know, and I'm not trying to make it sound like you're playing wrong since I do the exact same thing.

We.should. have a quick-restart button so that you.can.

just restart easily.- i'm generally really unsure how much damage things do. This is at least partially because the moments when i take damage (and the couple of seconds after when i'm catching the seed) are the times i'm least likely to have my eye on the health meter. Also i'm not sure how partial hearts workYeah, a clear language around damage is one of the more final art things that needs to happen. Damage amounts are a thing that change so we also haven't done this in part because everything has felt too in flux to nail down with a strong visual language. Definitely a big thing that will need to be improved. The one little thing that is a little helpful w/r/t seed types is that it'll say 'deals massive damage' in the description if they do 3 damage.Partial hearts are a representation of how far you are towards getting another heart with the heart seed. They don't actually provide you any health, and nothing does damage in sub-heart increments.- what if holes didn't do damage?

In a roguelike, having to repeat an exhausted area already feels like a huge punishment. Also, it seems nice and elegant for holes to just be holes and for only monsters hitting you to do damage - a closer tie to 'ice cold beer but videogame'. Just having to repeat that area seems annoying, but i feel like the damage is a distraction from that annoyance rather than a fix (see next note)On the darkest nights when I really want to scare the rest of Team TumbleSeed I talk about experimenting with changes like this. In the long long past (maybe 1.5 years ago) we had prototypes where you'd just pop out of a hole about one screen down from where you fell in the hole and checkpoints didn't exist.

I will say this is unlikely to change, but, never say never.- i can't what extent enemies are seeking and to what extent they're random wandering. Feels messy to me (in a bad way) not to knowThe halfway-done visual rule on this is things that are pink has seeking movement, everything else is random. This will hopefully improve as we move more towards final art.

Definitely a thing that we forget about since we know all the enemies and know which ones seek and which ones don't, so it's good to hear about this pain point.- each heart icon represents 1 hp, but the gem icon doesn't represent any gems. I often think i have 1 gem left when actually i have noneThis is a great point. We've been considering a shift to representing how many crystals you have using the crystal counting system we have in the game on the vine (silver is 1, gold is 3, emerald is 5).- love the world building in the camps!Awesome!!

Can't wait til we get more stuff in like this - we have a lot in mind for camps.- i wish there was a way to jerk one end of the stick up if you tapped a stick hard/fast enough. Probably quite hard to tune to feel good and you wouldn't want to use it most of the time, but i imagine it would make fast rolls more usable and widen the action gamut a bit. Obvious caveats are that it would have to maintain the current slow/smooth controls and integrate smoothly with those, and not feel weird when (i assume) the seed never leaves the stickWe've experimented with stuff like this and unfortunately it doesn't work:(- spikes don't look dangerous enough to be instakillsAgreed!WOW!

Thank you so much for all this incredible feedback. It is insanely helpful. Thank you so so much for taking the time to play and give us all your thoughts!

A few suggestions after playing some more tonight:. In the button challenge room, it might be nice to have an indicator of how many buttons there are left to push. I've never actually gotten far enough into it to be able to judge how difficult it'll be to hit all of the buttons in 30 seconds because I have no idea how many buttons there are. You might want to re-word the bank to clarify that you'll only get money back if you visit him again in the same game. Perhaps have him say '.when I see you again further up the mountain.' Coming from a background of playing a lot of Binding of Isaac, I initially assumed it worked like the donation machine and the gems could help me out in a future game.

Passive upgrades seems like an interesting design space you could explore. The potential synergies could help create more emergent gameplay and keep people engaged. Also, occasionally letting people get overpowered combos can help people who feel like they are bad or stuck make progress in the game. I don't know how hard you want to go on the meta-progression elements a lot of rogue-lites have, but unlocking seeds based on various criteria seems like an obvious step in that direction. Kill X green flies, die in the last hole before a camp, that sort of thing. This can also increase engagement so long as it's paced well, and maybe keep people from being overwhelmed by seeds right from the outset. Speaking of green flies, I died to one in a camp.:(.

I think there is the potential for some interesting alternate game modes:. Random starting load-out. Classic 'holes only' mode. 'Seeded' (ah ha ha) daily runs. An arena mode where you just fight enemies in a static room. Passive upgrades seems like an interesting design space you could explore. The potential synergies could help create more emergent gameplay and keep people engaged.

Also, occasionally letting people get overpowered combos can help people who feel like they are bad or stuck make progress in the game.Yes! This is something that we have in the game but is not in the alpha build right now. We call them auras.

I've made a thread so people can discuss and post ideas for!I don't know how hard you want to go on the meta-progression elements a lot of rogue-lites have, but unlocking seeds based on various criteria seems like an obvious step in that direction. Kill X green flies, die in the last hole before a camp, that sort of thing.

This can also increase engagement so long as it's paced well, and maybe keep people from being overwhelmed by seeds right from the outset.In this aspect I think we're going pursuing a more Spelunky route than Binding of Isaac. One of our design goals is that a friend can come over to your house and play the game in the same way they play at home. However, I think your ideas are right on in that spreading out suits a bit more, and giving the player more sub-goals are things we want to explore. I'm hoping to explore some kind of mission-style structure you mentioned as a series of steps/prerequisites for unlocking teleporters to later biomes.Speaking of green flies, I died to one in a camp.:(Sorry, that shouldn't happen:( Their wall detection is a little wonky.I think there is the potential for some interesting alternate game modesLove these ideas.

Seeded daily runs are definitely the thing that is most certain to be in the game. I also love the random starting loadout idea a-la Eden in Binding of Isaac.Totally agree with the other items you posted as well!. Falling down / taking certain damage seems extra punishing because you lose all of your accumulated thorns. Thanks for making crystals never fall down the holes.:).

Bonus for using all the plots in a stage? Or fewer plots in a stage?

(Although I guess this is functionally similar to simply using the crystal seed.) Bonus for no checkpoint plots? If you want it to be subtle you could just alter the number of crystals in the next camp. If you fall down a hole during the button challenge, I feel like you may as well just end the challenge because there's zero chance of finishing. This itch.io feature is pretty great!Having played a lot of the ICB arcade machine, one difference I noticed right away with the physics is that you fall in holes much more easily in TumbleSeed.It looks like TS checks if the center of the seed is over a hole, and if so you fall in. This means you could fall in a hole that is smaller than the seed itself, or more relevantly a gap between the bar and the edge of a hole smaller than the seed. You also roll into holes you would roll in front of in ICB.To be more like the physics of the ICB machine checking a point straight down from the center, maybe 1/3 or 1/4 of the radius from the edge, and a point 1/3 or 1/4 the radius above the top of the seed when rolling along a bottom edge of a hole.

And the top and bottom points on the seed for the top edge of a hole. Then if either of those 2 situations is true fall in.Not sure if that would mess up game balance or not having not gotten too far yet. But just thought I would mention it.Love the game so far! I am into the fire level so far. Some thoughts after playing a bit:. Crystals sometimes land over holes and float or out of bounds.

Teleportation bubbles blend in a whole lot with the background, lots of them all over the map when doing the run, even if you haven't died? Was a bit confused about that not sure if intended. Flying seed ghost can land on bar even if immediate death is result/over hole, doesn't feel good when it happens accidentally.

Would like to have 'shoulder' buttons change seed type 1 slot and pause, unpause 1 second or so after the last shoulder button pressed. Died a few times due to changing seed type when too close to enemy and having to have finger on A button instead of a stick to unpause. Feels like there should be a bigger reward for reaching the 1/4 map friendly zones? Maybe a heal to 3 hearts?

Or having the special seed type unlock zones appear there if you didn't teleport up instead of mid level? They are such a big reward that having them used that way would make sense. Loosing multiple hearts when falling in a hole was very unintuitive. I didn't understand it until I read how it worked on here. 1 heart is probably enough with the pain of having to go up again still making checkpoints worth placing nearly the same as they are now. If you die from falling in a hole, would like that to happen right away maybe?. The 'last heart' warning noise kinda gets in the way and don't think it made me care any more about my health level.

I didn't understand (and maybe still don't?) the antidote seed. But seems like it should only appear if you already have the mushroom seed?. When ending run where you teleported, path on the map maybe should start at the zone you teleported too? Actually the whole teleporting thing I am not sure how I feel about. It might make the higher levels more special if it just didn't exist?. I kind of wanted to have the bar move faster, seems like there would be some problems with leaderboard etc if the user could choose speed though.

I haven't beaten the game yet so don't know what happens (working on it) but maybe a hard/pro mode or something where the bar is faster? It seems like it might actually make the game easier if there aren't other differences as well though, more holes etc. The score seems based only on distance, not sure?

Having it be a factor of speed, enemies killed, seeds planted, crystals/gold picked up, lack of deaths, would give more competitiveness. See the leader-board thing, maybe some of that is already planned?. Would like to be able to skip the loading/splash screen on click if it is just a visual. Enemies that jump from off-screen killing you is a bit frustrating. The black slug things that rotate and jump from below, the ones that create and pop out of holes from above.Game is amazing!

Was thinking something that might be fun in the starting camp is a shorter very difficult challenge/practice area that does not change like the current challenges do, and has no impact on the real game. More of an ICB machine analogue. 20+ with a good run is a bit long to play competitively with friends on the couch passing the controller around. Different RNG means they are hard to compare and the score doesn't really account for that right now. Just a thought!This is a really interesting idea! Sort of a local multiplayer quick-competition mode! We've been thinking on how to make the game more amenable to multiple players and this is a really cool idea.

Hoho here he comes. Whenever I get into a menu my brain tells me to navigate with the dpad on a ps4 controller (which doesn't work in seed selection). Would also be nice to back out of the seed selection menu with the O Button, tho it is Arguably not a problem b/c forcing selection of a seed isn't bad and reduces buttons used, etc. #BringBackMyEmojis. When will we get to put sick EmojiSprays on the Mount?. the PSHT sound effect would work well.

In that vein, this game is kinda like one long grind rail sesh in Tony Hawk Pro Skater X. Could you add some sparkies to the branch that would be dope. IN all seriousness, the new text gets the point across but removes a lot of the mystery in the game. Part of what I like the most about TS is the mindfulness and care it evokes through different aspects of its systems. For example, Branch movement is best controlled slowly/carefully, monsters are best dealt with through careful timing / reading of their behaviors, etc.

I know that the emoji system caused confusion w/ people but it also creates a dialog between players. 'I got the star seed and it makes you invincible!'

Says Tumbler #1 to Tumbler #2, 'I bet I can get through all those crazy holes in the desert if I roll it in my next run'. 'Yeah but holes still gitcha!' Says Tumbler #2. Tumbler #1 looks sad but understands.

It also taps into the mystique of emojis. Their meaning is symbolic and have the potential to express complex ideas. I'm sure y'all have talked about all of this and have weighed pros/cons.

That's just why I'm a Fan of that. At a minimum, the full text in seed descriptions make me use abilities less b/c I already feel like I know what they do so I'm not as inclined to experiment when I find something new. Sometimes Landing on an enemy after being Plopped up by them is rly frustrating. Would be cool if certain seeds were heavier and would smoosh enemies when they land back on the Branch. Or if it didn't happen at all but that's Too Easy. Oh man, it's a suuuuper bummer that falling down a hole in the timed race hurts you. There's a chance I just lost money AND lost my spikes AND now I've lost a heart, even though I'm in what I'd consider to be a safe space where I couldn't die or take damage.Have y'all considered just dropping you down to the bottom without penalty?

As soon as I hit camp, I expected to be able to take a breather and focus on resource management before venturing into the next area. But once I realized I can get hurt in the bonus race room, I stopped visiting them altogether even if I had good health (since I still didn't want to lose my spikes).Also: the springboard challenge room looks really fun! But it's so difficult, and I risk losing a heart if I fail, that I pretty much only tried it once before vowing to never try it again.And while we're talking about safety in camp: sometimes those green flies end up in camp.

Is this a bug or a feature? Again, with camp I expect to stay safe, so any enemies appearing is more annoying than usual ('cause I just want to relax in that sweet sweet camp!). Haha I recently hit all 8 buttons but only managed to pick up four crystals.

Windows One PS4 SwitchSine Mora EX is a side-scrolling shoot'em up that provides a unique challenge, where time is the ultimate factor. Mixing classic shooter sensibilities with contemporary presentation, Sine Mora is a gorgeous shoot'em up offering both a Story Mode that weaves an over-the-top tale and an Arcade Mode that provides deep, satisfying gameplay to challenge fans of the genre. The story mode can be also played in local co-op mode.

There weren't any gold crystals in my path and that was the best I could do given the time limit. I felt REALLY stupid carefully rolling back down knowing I'd just failed to make a profit despite completing a satisfying challenge.I think I still approach all challenge rooms as like a carnival game. They're a place to test my skills and maybe lose money.

The springs being free is surprising, but I dunno, maybe I'll use a warp and just dive into a spring map and play that until I die a few times. But the format of 'pay 5 crystals to probably lose 5 crystals and that's the full risk' is what I.expect., since both camp and a carnival-esque game both tell me 'this place is safe.' I feel like a jerk hammering this. Maybe it's because these mini-games are fun and I feel bad getting salty about them. Like yes they're high-level, advanced challenges, but I can't practice them if I feel super discouraged. Like I can either focus on going up the mountain OR do challenge rooms at camp and take damage (making that run less likely to succeed), but not both.Fellow alpha testers, how do you feel about challenge rooms? Same feeling.

Right now, it doesn't signal as advanced play, it signals as a break activity. When half/all of the activity in a safe space is dangerous, that feels not so safe.What if you had to do something else to unlock the dangerous version. Or if the free safe things had a decent upgrade (you get one shot then it locks), but secret strats, like bringing in extra crystals, unlock the dangerous but oh-so-good results? (People will figure out every secret.)I have basically not engaged with any holes because I'm just trying to reach zone 3 before I even dream of more advanced strats. It feels like I still have so much space to improve my thorn/crystal/heart balancing, the last thing I want to do is hurt myself or spend crystals on things with unclear value. 'Like I can either focus on going up the mountain OR do challenge rooms at camp and take damage (making that run less likely to succeed), but not both.' This is how I feel, exactly.

I don't know if I'll ever want to 'practice' these because the time invested to get there is substantial enough and the risk is very high.Maybe if there was an upgrade structure to the side-games? Like, if at first the games are way less risk, but the reward is proportionally low as well.

Then, upon completing 'Level 1' of said challenge, the next time you get back it's at Level 2. That would definitely be more appealing to me and I would be less inclined to ignore these before I'm an expert. The jellyfish-looking things that pop out of new holes and then fly down: it feels really cheap that spikes don't hurt them. Sometimes they appear so suddenly that I can't dodge to the side, and I've thought 'well at least I have my spikes' then nope, they hit me and I lose all my spikes.

Suuuuper frustrating. I'd feel less frustrated if they telegraphed their arrival sooner, or they moved more slowly.And here's a random thought: I agree that the 'last heart' noise is annoying, but it's serving an important purpose. Consider adding a new layer to the soundtrack instead? Something heartbeat-y?

This is a completely unsolicited idea but warning noises are rarely not annoying. (The 'you have 30 seconds left' alarm in Katamari Damacy struck me as surprisingly bad and that game came out like 10 years ago.)I was surprised that tumbleweeds were an insta-kill.

I discovered this with four spikes and three hearts, and that sudden death suuuuucked. (Roguelikes feel best when you feel like every death is a learning experience and not a cheap death, so I'm trying to share when a death feels 'cheap.' ) If they were anything else that better telegraphed insta-death, (say, a giant boulder) I'd be less frustrated, but for now they look like big fluffy clouds that should do a heart's worth of damage and pop with one spike. Also: holy fuck there are so many tumbleweeds. Between them and the holes, more often than not it's about waiting a looong time time to see an opening, since most of the time they appear to be presenting an unwinnable configuration of tumbleweeds effin' up your business.(I am loving the game so far, by the way. It can get difficult right out of the gate, and I appreciate that.).

Tumbleweeds definitely aren't supposed to be instakill, sorry about that haha!Part of me likes tumbleweeds as kind of this wall that you have to use your abilities and navigation skills to get avoid. I believe the way they're supposed to function is to only on the very bottom of them. This may speak to Mike's concern about 3D objects being hard to distinguish though.and while it's part of why I like and think it makes them different it can be confusing.Maybe we try spawning single tumbleweeds that appear on their own throughtout the biome instead of focused dense sections?

And maybe they only hurt you when they hit the ground/appear to land on you. Even typing this now I'm like brainstorming an almost frogger-like section or maybe challenge room that causes you to weave in and out of tumbleweeds. This could be extremely bad lol, but I think they have potential to create some interesting quick environment-reading opportunities for players and are a weird non-living entity that feel thematically nice to exist in the desert and could help create the identity of how one approaches and views the biome.

Yeah, the tumbleweeds, like the avalanche snowballs, are big objects that use a shadow to convey where you're in danger, right? And since I'm not sure where they're doing damage to me, I tend to avoid them WAY more than I need to. Like I only use avalanches when I can hide in a weave to the level design so snowballs won't hit me.The tumbleweeds section is fun in theory, but I've gotten super frustrated when it's tumbleweeds AND a ton of holes AND I'm being shot at by something. Maybe a clearer hitbox will help! I'm down to test anything.I like the Frogger-like analogy. Any sort of bonus room or stage layout that uses them like that would be fun.Though I mentioned this in another thread: taking real damage in a bonus room completely discourages me from using the bonus rooms at all. Racing all the way up there just to carefully navigate down is kind of a chore.

If you won, and you knew you could safely fall into a hole after winning the race, that'd feel more fair and fun. Like, I already spent 5 crystals. That's the risk: losing crystals. Adding damage / death makes it too much of a gamble. (Oh, and the the spring layouts look fun but they're super difficult so I don't bother.)Kind of a tangent, but I just imagined a tumbleweeds bonus game and immediately thought 'oh if I take real damage, though, I'll pass.' I'm pushing myself to try bonus rooms more often, and taking damage is killing my enthusiasm.

As soon as I get to a between-levels area, I go into money-management mode. Is the bank worth it? What's in the shop? Thinking 'do i have enough health to justify trying a bonus race?' Is the only time I think more about survival than planning ahead and it feels weird. I feel like the challenge rooms have the highest skill ceiling in the game right now (aside from just beating the game itself). The risk reward is so high- trusting yourself enough to engaged those systems and if you manage to bear them the rewards are a usually a huge payoff.

Also, we've talked about adding more challenges in the game (whether in camps or otherwise). I like that there are challenges that push even the most skilled players to their limits, but maybe we need some other challenges sprinkled to give the harder ones context instead of all of them feeling like such an uphill battle.That was kind of a rambling haha, but hopefully that makes sense? Curious to hear more about your (and others'!) experiences with the rooms. Do you favor one or the other or does one seem entirely less fair than the other out of the two that are in now.

A few more notes today:. Tall 3-dimensional objects are kind of confusing-hard to tell where I'm allowed to go and where I'm not. And I'm pretty sure there's at least one instance where you can't go behind them at all (in crystal rooms I think?) which seems inconsistent. Also it's really frustrating when a tree is blocking a hole and you fall in, but I guess this is intentional? It doesn't feel fair though!.

Are the analog sticks supposed to be analog? I remember Greg told me at PAX that the game felt way better when they were changed from digital to analog, but it's definitely not analog on my 360 controller. I've now unlocked all the teleporters and I never use them because I don't have enough seeds/crystals/hearts to make it through the fourth biome. I was the same way with Spelunky. But I guess that's maybe OK?. The soundtrack is basically always running in my head when I'm not playing.

It's good. If you guys ever release a mobile version of this game I'm never going to look up from my phone to make eye contact with another human again. And I'm pretty sure there's at least one instance where you can't go behind them at all (in crystal rooms I think?)Yeah, you're supposed to be able to go behind them. We originally had that but then found out that you could just roll behind and pick up all the suits (this bug existed for, I think, months 😂 ). The quickest fix we came up with was just making the collider much bigger, but, that'll change eventually.Also it's really frustrating when a tree is blocking a hole and you fall in, but I guess this is intentional?

It doesn't feel fair though!This will probably change - right now our side wall sprite placement is sort of roughAre the analog sticks supposed to be analog?They're not anymore. We realized that the analog was a big problem for beginners being able to nail the both-sides-up-at-once maneuver that is so critical to movement since they'd often be not-fully-pushed on both sides. I believe our plan is to add it back as an option.I've now unlocked all the teleporters and I never use them because I don't have enough seeds/crystals/hearts to make it through the fourth biome. I was the same way with Spelunky. But I guess that's maybe OK?Woohoo! That is exactly our intent.

They're mostly there in case you get stuck learning a biome's enemies.Thanks for the kind words at the end! Yeah, I'm really excited for Joel's soundtrack, even just for my own use haha. Forgive me if I'm repeating anything said above (there's a lot to go back and read!) but here are some quick thoughts I have after playing a few rounds:.

The UI for crystal count is a bit hard to read at a glance. I've mistaken my count of 11 for 1 multiple times (read as 'x1').

Of course, short of shop segments there aren't many times I need to fret over how many I have (usually I only need to worry if I have zero), but maybe a more skilled player would find this frustrating. The strokes are cute but I don't think they're worth the sacrifice in readability. I also found myself confused by the heart UI during my first few rounds.they're so dark that I thought they were 'empty' slots. I think an argument could also be made that they're a little hard to parse at a glance, but again, I'm usually not too concerned until I have only one (and at that point it's flashing). Making them a brighter red would go a long way. A quick restart button would be very nice.

The time between death and restart isn't too bad right now, but I'm used to Spelunky allowing me to go from death to restart in a second! Heyo, I can reliably get to the desert. Still haven't hit the winter area.I'm finding I'm really struggling with the 'monsters take multiple hits' thing now. It means my playstyle has changed from very methodical to quite a bit more frenetic. Before, I just had to make sure I'd hit something once, and there was a natural risk-reward relationship with thorns. You have one, it's hard to aim, but if you have many and you fail at aiming and get hit, you lose them all!

(which always felt horrible, but it meant you tried to avoid it) So I didn't have to worry about where I need to go next, or the next bit of path, etc. (I pretty much never use any of the other weapons because they're slow, hard to aim effectively, and are usually dangerous to me. I really don't need more hazards.)But now all these things take multiple hits. The turrets (of all types, it seems) and the shai hulud (yellow worm that follows me), etc. Those taking multiple hits is brutal. I've killed them, but it never feels worth it.

It's always a pain the butt, and a waste of seeds.So it means my play style has moved much more towards checkpoints and rushing strategies. Which works, but it means I often look at multiple hit enemies as almost purely environmental hazards (i.e. Something to be avoided) instead of enemies (i.e. Something to be defeated). After playing for a few hours with monsters having multiple hit points, I gotta say I'm not sure that's a great call.The game is already really hard, and for non-experts hitting one of the turret or homing monsters with multiple hit points is a guaranteed game over, and that feels really crappy. Part of why I've stuck with the game for so many hours is because I felt like it was possible. I'm not sure I would have felt that way if I was regularly hitting (what appear to the novice to be) game ending moments.Maybe that should be New Game plus?

I'm certainly able to almost beat the game with these multiple-hit monstrosities, but having them be in vanilla is def alienating to people who are still learning the mechanics of a rolly-like. So far the only controller throwing frustration from this game is pre-planted vert lasers. NOTHING is as aggravating as being hit by one of those as they enter the screen.

No warning, just if you're the unlucky sucker who happened to be going up in line with one, you get hit.That has ended literally all three of my winter area runs. At least with the rotating turret laser bad guys there's some safe distance. The vert lasers are if you're on screen and they're hitscan damage. Feel impossibly unfair.

The Thomp sight range seems really agressive.I just had an instance where I spawned one, it took out a couple enemies (eeeeeexcellent) and then saw me, missed me, and then went out of sight, below the screen. I understood the terrain back there, so I was pretty sure it wasn't going to be a problem.Potentially 'famous last words' because it almost hit me coming back up. It definitly wasn't attacking an enemy.I may be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that should have been at what seemed like a safe distance.