Upswing

Note: Upswing is currently Early Access. See "Roadmap" for planned improvements.

Master the swing of things!

Swing, stop, and spin your way to victory in Upswing! Steer the red and blue nodes to safety by strategically anchoring and un-anchoring each one to swing them in steadily longer arcs around the other. But be careful! Un-anchor them at the same time, and they'll both start falling!

(Note: Upswing was designed as a cooperative game, and works best with two players.)

Features

• Single-player and two-player modes: Play by yourself or with a friend.
• Unique pendulum physics: Intuitive swinging mechanics allow for graceful coordinated maneuvers – or chaotic cooperative play!
• One-button gameplay: A single button is all each player needs!
• Variable control schemes: Choose between "Hold" and "Toggle" controls, and remap your control buttons as desired.

How to Play

Game Objective

• Dodge Mode: Avoid projectiles for as long as you can – without falling off the screen!
  
• Climb Mode: Flee endlessly rising water as you bob and weave your way around obstacles! (Note: Climb Mode is not available at this point in Early Access.)
  
• Level Game: Tackle a series of individual levels and bonus stages! (Note: Level Game is not available at this point in Early Access.)

Controls

Toggle

• When anchored, press the button to un-anchor.
• When un-anchored, press the button to anchor.

Hold

• Press and hold the button to anchor.
• Release the button to un-anchor.

Keyboard Inputs

If you are not using controllers, PICO-8's native keyboard controls map to the following buttons.

PICO-8 Input	Player 1 (Red)	Player 2 (Blue)
UP	UP	E
DOWN	DOWN	D
LEFT	LEFT	S
RIGHT	RIGHT	F
X	X / V / M	TAB / W / Q  / A
O	Z / C / N	LEFT SHIFT

Roadmap

Upswing is under development, and plenty of additional features are in the works. The following features are planned for the game before its official release:

• Climb Mode: Flee endlessly rising water as you bob and weave your way around obstacles.
• Level Game: Tackle a series of individual levels and bonus stages.
• Ikaruga Mode: An optional setting where projectiles that match a node's color can be safely absorbed.
• Additional/improved music
• Additional backgrounds
• Persistent high scores