Snowpeel is a snowboard action game inspired by Excitebike on the NES.

Game by Radical Slice

Music by mabbees

Controls

← →:  Adjust board angle while in the air

↑↓:  Change lanes

X Button (Pico-8) | X/V (keyboard): Boost (when boost is available)

How to Play

Overview

The snowboarder will move forward automatically. This is magic. Do not question it. As you progress through the levels, you'll encounter ramps that cause the snowboarder to jump.

While in the air after hitting a ramp, tap the left or right keys to adjust the angle of your snowboard to match the angle of the ground that you'll land on. If you align your board to the ground before you land, you'll continue boarding smoothly.

If your board is not aligned to the ground, the snowboarder will bounce and you'll lose speed.

If you can make it to the end of the levels without running out of time, you'll beat the game!

Basic mechanics

Boosting

For every two successful jumps that you land, you'll get a unit of boost (up to a max of three boosts). Press Pico-8's X button (or X/V keys on the keyboard) to use one of your boosts, which will increase your maximum speed for a short period of time. You'll travel higher and farther if you hit a ramp while boosting.

Obstacles

In addition to the ramps, there are obstacles scattered around the courses. If you hit an obstacle, you'll lose speed. Use the up and down keys to change lanes and avoid them.

Advanced mechanics

Boost chaining

Boosts are time-limited; that is, you'll return to your normal speed after a second or two of boosting. But, if you successfully land a jump while boosting, your boost time will be extended, allowing you to boost for longer. The levels are all designed such that you can boost through 90+% of them without reverting to your regular speed. Try it out and see how long you can stay boosting in each level!

Speed pinning

Landing a successful jump will prevent you from bouncing and losing speed. But, you'll still have lost some amount of speed just from being in the air. To make this up, wait until the last possible moment to adjust your board angle. If you do this successfully, the snowboarder sprite will flash briefly and you'll regain all your lost speed and hit max velocity again instantly. This works both when boosting and when not boosting.

Levels

There are six levels to try in total. While the first two levels are always the same, after levels two and three, you'll have a chance to choose which level to try next. In a single run, you'll complete four levels. So if you want to check out all the levels, do a second run and choose other branches!

Scoring

Each level has three scoring opportunities. You can check your total score across all runs from the title screen, and this will be saved even if you close and restart Pico-8. Try to unlock everything! It's not easy.

Juicebox

There is a collectible juicebox item somewhere in each level. In most cases, it will only be reachable if you are boosting and hit a nearby ramp at maximum speed.

No Biffs

If you successfully land every jump in a level, you'll see a "No Biffs!" message at the end of the level.

Boostlord

This is the hardest score to get in each level. If you manage to maintain your boost for at least 75% of the total time you spent in the level, you'll see the "Boostlord" message at the end of the level.

Devlog

I've been sporadically documenting this game's development over on YouTube, if you'd like to check it out!

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5o_boFdYiCrT3jBOrtSn9ZquIiPWbL1G

Special Thanks

To mabbees, for the incredible music work

To satchmobgw, for playtesting over and over again