So, I was just playing, and I hadn't been able to get very high lately (only around 500 my last dozen or so times). Normally I just zoom up as far as possible. But this time, I caught a little snag around 200m - I slungshot around a node and went flying towards the bottom of the screen. Normally, I'd just give up and let myself fly off the bottom, but, I dunno, this time I felt lucky. I grabbed at a distant node, and it slowed my descent, but not enough to save me. So I grabbed at another, nearer node, just at the bottom of the playing-field, and it swung me around once, my yellow bot just barely brushing the bottom of the screen. I didn't have enough speed to make it to the next highest node, so I grabbed it and swung around again, popping just high enough to get the next one. I hung there for a second, unsure of whether it would pull me or not. It did. I flew up another hundred meters or so, and once again began a quick ascent, diving from node to node with virtually no loss of speed. Of course I slowed down eventually, and it happened at two nodes that were conspicuously distant from one another. No matter how hard I tried, I just
could not get to that next minething. Like, I'd grab at it, but it wouldn't even slow me down. I'd try again, and same thing - no luck. After about seven tries to jump from the low node to the high, I finally mistimed it and hit the mine. Fortunately, though, I finally broke my low-streak, as my new height was 1231 - my personal second best. It may not be highscore worthy, but I'm quite proud of the recovery I made early on. Just a reminder that even when all hope seems lost, you mustn't give up. You mustn't give in. Reach for the forbidden, and soar to new heights.
Also, I think this game is about desires and aspirations. You must constantly set new goals for yourself or the ones you settle for will be your downfall. We mustn't settle for anything for then we will merely stagnate in our ways and become victims of mediocrity. Yet we must set goals nonetheless, and we must reach them, as near as we can and to the best of our ability, or else we merely stay grounded to the known, and the safe, and the never hope for anything more.
This is made evident not only in the actual gameplay, but also in the game's design - your personal best lies at the top of the screen, where you desire to be. It is not the all-time high of some other faceless three-character being thousands of miles away, one that we know we will never reach. Some absurd number. it is your personal best, indicating that you have done it before, and you can do it again. And if it can be done again, it can be done better. Seeing the number motivates us. And yet, when we choose to quit and return, we find the number - "
my number" - gone, wiped away as though it never were. Thus we are forced not to settle even for our own all-time highs, but only the recent ones. We must constantly re-assess our abilities, and set a fresh goal with every beginning.
We are not kings. We are not gods. We are all mere civilians, deep beneath the ground. But only those few diligent and brave enough to set goals, to reach those goals, and to surpass those goals with newer and greater aspirations - only those who wonder how deep they really are - will ever actually find out.
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I like this game. Great game, Adam. I like it.
edit: Also, to anyone who says it's too hard, try playing with a tablet. That's not a challenge, it's a suggestion.
