Giftmaster

you have to make big floaty jumps between platforms, collect gifts (red and blue) and throw them at the right targets (red and blue). you have 16 seconds to do this in each level or else you get pulled back to the start again. the times i've most enjoyed playing a videogame were when i felt like i was practicing choreography to get better at a set of movements. i hope it feels like that playing this game. if you play it perfectly without dying you can sort of maintain your flow throughout the game without any pauses. in an early build of the game it looped back and forth between the first two levels endlessly and i got stuck in a trance for ages. for me it's hypnotising and also scary in a hallucinogenic way to have new places pop in from nowhere in front of you instantly. there's a sense of musicality to all action games. everything is a rhythm game. but i guess i wanted to bash over the head with this so it's all in sync to the music. this was also also an excuse to write goofy music for every level. this started because i felt like i needed to make something with tall buildings, floaty jumping and fun music. it's about doing things over and over until you get it right. unless you get it right the first time! but that doesn't really happen!

controls:

wasd: move

mouse: look 

left click: throw red gift

right click: throw blue gift

space: jump

shift: dash

p: select in menus

you can double jump and dash twice in the air, you need to use this for a lot of the levels.

you get a score for each target hit which is higher the further you are away from the ring, times the multiplier. you can top up the multiplier by picking up the bonus item in each level. there must be an ideal route through each level but i haven't figured it out yet

(hard mode is a version a bit closer to what i originally thought this would be like: it's very strict with the time constraints. you still get 16 seconds to do each level, but whatever you do in the level you get taken to the next one the time is up. so in a way, it's actually easier to get to the end. but harder to "win". i realised that just playing a game where you potentially lose each level on the first go and get whisked to the end in a couple of minutes might not be that fun, but you have the choice. i like it)