Living reference

Docs

Snapshot of the game as it ships today. Older design notes in the repo may describe earlier prototypes (rising water, surge meters); this page follows the evolving movement, weaving, and musical world.

Fantasy

Swing. Weave. Discover. Movement is how you inhabit this world, not merely a way to reach the next destination. Grapple, swing, and leave silk strands behind to build, repair broken webs, catch things, and play with the cave's music.

Weaving silk

While grappled, press and hold Space or right-click to lay silk along your movement. Release the draw input to leave a strand behind. This is part of exploration, construction, and the web-based challenges—not just traversal.

Controls

  • A / D or ← / →Move
  • MouseAim silk
  • Hold left-clickGrapple / hold tether
  • Space or hold right-click (while grappled)Weave / lay silk strands
  • W / ↑ (while attached)Climb silk
  • S / ↓ (while attached)Extend silk
  • Space (when free)Jump
  • RRelease silk / restart run (on death or victory)
  • EscPause menu
  • HToggle control hints

Interfaces

  • Map select — choose a level, see map-best time when available, start a run.
  • Play HUD — level name, section, timer, checkpoints, deaths.
  • Pause (Esc) — resume, restart checkpoint/level, replays, controls, home.
  • Victory — run summary, personal / map best, restart or return to maps.
  • Editor (F12 in play builds that enable it) — layout draft stored in the browser; export JSON to ship a baseline.

Playable maps

  • Training Spire · Tutorial — Learn the core silk movement.
  • Fallen Spire · Standard — Original vertical climb prototype.
  • Rhythm Crossing · Flow — Wide anchor-chaining flow level.
  • High Drop · Desktop — How does a climb become a satisfying fall and catch?
  • Countercoil · Desktop — When does swinging backward make the next forward move feel better?
  • Needle Nest · Desktop — Can a fast approach become careful tether positioning without losing its flow?
  • Neverfly Grove · Desktop — Can a tiny living, musical Neverfly hold you, sing while you hang, and still play fair?

Systems (current)

  • Grapple tether with attach, release, climb, and extend; grapple-based drawn silk strands.
  • Checkpoints and hazard / death volumes; silk-breaker hazards cut the line.
  • Optional shared map-best ghost during a run.
  • Local replays in the browser; optional anonymous playtest telemetry on web builds.

Deeper historical design text still lives in docs/design.md (partially outdated). Art kit notes: docs/ART_WORKFLOW.md. Workflow defaults: docs/DEFAULTS_AND_BACKLOG.md.