Celeste Taught me Game Design Philosophy

This update is a big one. A lot of it came from your feedback, but honestly, a lot of it also came from replaying Celeste and asking myself: "why does that feel so good?"Almost every major change in this update traces back to something Celeste does that I wanted to bring into my game.

Here's what's new.

No More Lives: Explore Freely

The old system used to give you 4 retries per episode. if you ran out of strokes and retries, and you'd have to restart the whole episode, or load from the premade checkpoints.

That was a problem because this game has secrets, like Secret Coins hidden around every hole, and the X Letter, and the secret chest. A retry limit punishes curiosity, and that was not the intention.

Now you can take risks and try to get these secrets, and you will NOT get worse results in the leaderboards btw. you just have to retry the hole if you run out of strokes.

Assist Mode

Nobody asked for this one. But I added it anyway.

Celeste's Assist Mode is one of the most thoughtful things in any game I've played. By making it accessible to those who only want to play casually.

I wanted that same philosophy here. Although Binary Golf isn't and won't be as hard as Celeste, but it's still challenging. And It will NOT lock out anything if you use assist mode, you can even get the steam achievements through assist mode.

Game speed control · Infinite strokes · Invincibility · Skip to next hole · Move the ball freely (remappable button)

None of these are on by default. They're there if you want them.

Secret Coins Rework: Visible, Not Punishing

I've tweaked the locations of every single Secret Coin in the game.

Previously you had to actively search for them, which felt more like a scavenger hunt than a reward. Celeste's strawberries showed me a better way: you can see them, they're right there, but getting to them is the challenge. That's the balance I'm going for now. Easy to spot, satisfying to collect.

The animation got an upgrade too, more satisfying when you grab one.

Everything Else Worth Knowing

• Font and Main Menu overhaul: Visually the game looks much better.

• Profile system rework: you no longer have to pick a profile just to start the game. Profiles are now Adventure Mode only.

• Save & Quit: quit anytime and resume from the exact hole you left, not just the last checkpoint.

• New main menu layout: redesigned based on feedback from Twitter. Time Attack has been moved here too.

• Controls reminder in pause menu: always visible so you're never guessing.

• Ball charging animation: small but satisfying. The charge now has a visual pulse to match the sound, inspired by Kirby's Dream Course.

• Easy AI added: for Battle Mode, plus overall AI difficulty adjustments.

• AddedCheckpoint flagsadded around holes so you know this is a checkpoint and can start from there if you want.
• AddedWishlist buttonadded to the main menu and pause menu.

• V-Sync option added.

That's everything for now! If you've been playing the demo, thank you.

This update exists because of your feedback. If you haven't tried it yet, now's a great time. And if you like what you see, an add to wishlist would be very appreciated. 🙏

Drop your thoughts below. I read everything.