The v0.5.0 release brings several changes to the game. The most important is the addition of a new level system with a top level of 100, configurable through Settings.MAX_LEVEL.

The difficulty progression is linear, topping out at a difficulty of 3.5. I'm estimating around 12 minutes of playtime to beat the final level.

At higher Arcade levels, the game starts with a greater difficulty multiplier. Eventually, it becomes almost impossible to blip between two points because the speed is too high. At that point, powerups become essential, the focus shifts to keeping one active as much as possible. Without them, it's very hard to land a blip.

For reference, the starting difficulty is calculated as:

local difficulty = 1.0 + (level_index - 1) * (3.5 - 1.0) / (Settings.MAX_LEVELS - 1)

This gives a base difficulty of 1.0 at level 1 and a maximum of 3.5 at level 100. The rate of increase depends on Settings.MAX_LEVELS. Difficulty also rises gradually within each level as time passes.

In Endless Mode, you start at 1.0, and the difficulty increases over time. I haven't tested the theoretical maximum survival time using only perfect blips and no powerups, but I'd guess around 15 minutes before it becomes virtually impossible to survive.

A nice future addition would be a leaderboard to save and compare high scores.

Changelog

[0.5.0] - 2025-11-06

Features

• (levels) Implement 100-level system and overhaul selector of levels

  Introduces a major overhaul of the game's progression system, replacing the previous 10 fixed levels with a new system of 100 procedurally generated levels, with difficulty and the number of required blips increasing incrementally from level 1 to 100.

  The level selection screen is redesigned to support vertical scrolling. Players can now navigate the 100 levels using keyboard arrow keys, the mouse wheel, and touch-screen swipes on mobile devices.

  The player progress save file format has been updated and is now compressed to support the new 100-level structure.

  The pause menu now displays the ID of the current level being played.

  A bug was fixed where active power-up effects and timers continued on the level completed screen. They are now correctly paused.

  The final blip in a level is now rendered as a hexagon for better visual distinction.

  And lastly, the current score and high score are rendered at the bottom of the screen to make them less intrusive.

• (gameplay) Implement various quality of life improvements

  Introduces adjustments to improve the overall player experience, including gameplay balancing, UI enhancements, and code refactoring.

  Powerup spawn rates have been increased by reducing their spawn interval timers, making the gameplay more dynamic and easier on higher difficulty levels.

  The vertical position of the bolt powerup has been raised to be more central on the screen, giving players more time to react and making it easier to use and more frequent to blip.

  The level selector now defaults to the highest unlocked level, saving players from having to scroll up from the beginning each time.

  Pulsing and fading animations for powerups and UI elements are now correctly paused when the game is in the pause menu.

• Add options menu to toggle sound and music

  Introduces a new options screen, accessible from both the main menu and the in-game pause menu.

  The new screen allows players to independently enable or disable the game's music and sound effects. The state for these settings is now managed centrally in the Settings module.

  For PC users, the existing keyboard shortcut m to toggle all audio and shift + m to restart procedural music generation remain functional.

Bug Fixes

• (game system) Pause parallax and powerups on level completion screen

  The parallax background and active powerups were not being paused during the levelCompleted game state.