Boink! (playtest)

Boink! is a 2-player co-op precision platformer where you and your friend are tangled up in a fully physics-simulated rubber band. Stretch it, wrap it around poles, and slingshot each other up the level.

It came out of the flow-state type feeling we experienced when playing other climbing rage games on late nights, screaming and laughing at each other over Discord. We wanted to build that feeling into a game of our own.

This is a very early playtest.  The rubber band and the movement are the real thing, just unpolished. The visuals are still placeholders and will change a lot.

It currently has one level, about an hour long. Local split-screen or online through Steam.

We're putting it out there for people to try, share their thoughts and help us shape it, so don't hesitate to share your feedback! :)
Did launching feel good? Where did you get stuck? How did the difficulty feel? Did online hold up? 

Let us know on our Discord or in the comments.

Multiplayer

The game can currently only be played as a 2-player co-op.

There are two ways to play:

1. Local split-screen (2 controllers or keyboard + controller)
2. Steam multiplayer

Steam multiplayer

Steam multiplayer is supported. However, the game doesn't have its own Steam AppID yet so it is using the Spacewar AppID (provided to developers by Valve to test Steam multiplayer). This will soon change as we are in the process of acquiring an AppID of our own for Boink!

How to play over Steam:

1. Both players must have both the game and Steam running and be logged into their Steam accounts.
2. One of the players hosts the lobby in-game and invites the other using the in-game invite panel.
3. The other player receives an invite and accepts it. They need to do so via the  Steam chat as Shift+Tab might not work in the current build!
4. The first player sees the other join in the lobby and can start the game.
5. Boink!

Mechanics

• The rubber band - A real, physics-simulated elastic between you and your partner. It stretches, snaps back, bounces, boinks and jiggles. It never breaks. But you might.
• Wrap, swing and slingshot each other - Bend the band around poles, ledges and corners. Swing, bounce and shoot each other across the level.
• Brace - while bracing the band pulls on you much less and you become a soft anchor. This is great for catching a falling partner!
• Countdown - Either player presses it and both screens get a synced countown. Made for coordinated jumps, because counting down over Discord never works.

Controls

Action	Mouse + keyboard	Controller
Movement	WASD	L-Stick
Jump	Space/Mouse-wheel UP	A/X
Sprint	Shift	RT/R2
Brace	Ctrl	LT/L2
Start countdown	C	L-Dpad
Return to checkpoint	R (hold)	R-Dpad (hold)

The controls cannot currently be rebound. They will in the future.

Known issues

The game might be buggy, it might lag, it might crash. We are actively developing it and such issues are to be expected. 

Please report any that you find on our Discord or in the comments, we appreciate all and any feedback!

Known issues/bugs in the latest build:

• Xbox controller does not work when playing the game with Steam open - This is a known Spacewar issue and will be resolved once we switch to our own AppID. For now you can fix this by going to your Steam library and disabling Steam Input on Spacewar.
• The game drastically drops frames when the rubber band is touching the floor/wall in some places - We know about this issue and are currently working on a fix.
• The game sometimes lags for the player not hosting in multiplayer games even on stable ping - Hey, netcode is HARD ok? We're fixing it daily:)