Hello everyone!
While we continue developing more content for the full release of ORBA, we are also constantly improving the game’s core. We want to share an in-depth look at our journey and the improvements we’ve made since the launch of the ORBA Demo in December (long read ahead!).
Streamlined Trials
In earlier stages of ORBA's development, the Tower was one continuous, uninterrupted climb. When we implemented the Trials as closed segments of the climb, we didn't follow this idea to the end. The player, for example, still had to advance to the Custodian's Chamber after delivering the Orb to the Custodian at the end of the Trial - even though there was nothing left to do. It also confused the real "end" of the Trial: Is the Trial complete when the Custodian catches the Orb, or is it really completed only once the player advances to the Custodian's Chamber?
To make things clearer, Trials are now similar to the Lucky Charm Challenges: The Trials start automatically after a brief countdown (the Custodian will release the Orb without player interaction) and the Trial will end automatically once the Orb is caught by the "finish line" Custodian, also advancing the player to the Custodian's Chamber. We believe that this will support the idea of a "Trial" and streamline the gameplay for new players, making the general gameplay loop easier to understand and follow.
Unlock abilities at the Base
As you improve and become faster at climbing the Tower, you are rewarded with new abilities to spice up your runs. But you cannot use them right away: Before they are fully unlocked (and available in your Lucky Charm pool), you have to beat a small challenge that highlights the ability's unique strengths.
Previously, you would attempt these challenges exactly where you unlocked them: in the Custodian’s Chamber. While this made the link between the Trial and the reward clear, it had a major downside - it forced you to interrupt your current run, which disrupted the flow of the game.
This is why we moved the Lucky Charm Challenges down to the Base! Of course, now we have to make clear that a new challenge awaits you just after you finish your run, but we got that covered. We feel that challenging and unlocking new abilities in the base instead of within a run will give the player more room to relax and break up the grind for a while, improving the general pacing.
Improved level design
We are aware that ORBA has a rather high barrier of entry: The controls are complex, the movement is very fast and the physics simulation sometimes unpredictable. While these things will not fundamentally change due to the games general design, we identified that - with the help of the first players playing our Demo - something we can change still was a little too unforgiving: the first Trial.
It can quickly get very frustrating seeing the Orb drop all the way down again because you missed a hit or didn't quite get the Orb through a gap. So we revisited especially the Earth Trial to make sure the level is designed with safety nets in mind: An extra platform here, a conveniently placed rope trap there and some extra bouncers to ease the climb. As players advance into higher Trials, these safety nets will become fewer, but by then there will have been enough time to learn the pitfalls, making the games entry just a little easier.
Making every input count
We’ve refined the underlying engine to ensure your intent as a player is always reflected in the game state. Here are two examples out of the numerous improvements we made:
When you and the Orb move toward each other at high velocities, the window to connect can become very tight. To prevent the Orb from "skipping" past your strike between frames, we now scale the size of your attack hitbox based on relative velocity. The faster you move, the more forgiving the strike zone becomes. This ensures that high-speed situations feel snappy and fair, while low-speed precision remains tight.
Previously, an attack was only registered if the Orb was within range on the exact frame you pressed the button. If you were even 1/60th of a second too early, you’d miss and trigger a 0.3s cooldown - possibly resulting in a devastating drop. We have implemented a 6-frame grace period. If you press slightly before the Orb enters your range, the game will "hold" that intent and trigger the hit the moment the Orb becomes reachable.
Take a look at the red circle in the clip below. It represents your active hitbox. You’ll notice it expanding as the relative velocity increases. When the circle flashes, it indicates the input was registered and the grace period is active, waiting to catch the Orb as it enters the zone.
The catch
As we want new players to get a good impression of the final game, we will push these improvements also to the Demo build. This comes with two downsides though:
First, we will be resetting the Demo saves. This is due to the major changes in unlockable content. For example, players with existing saves would find themselves in strange situations where they have unlocked Lucky Charm abilities without having access to the respective challenge. So, if you want to give the Demo another try, you will have to start over (giving you a chance to find other details we’ve improved!).
Second, due to the changes in the level design, player ghosts you challenge from the leaderboard might have been recorded with a different level layout. This can make the ghosts a little spookier than intended: standing on invisible platforms, moving through walls, or bouncing out of nowhere. Of course we could reset the leaderboard so that it can populate with updated ghost recordings, but to honor our early players and their achievements we decided against it. The leaderboard will reset with the full release of ORBA.
We hope you had a wonderful start to 2026 and are looking forward to your feedback on the changes and the Demo in general. Let us know if you like more in depth insights like these in the future!
Kind regards,
Jan