Really good game, probably the best I've seen so far, particularly in terms of gameplay & usage of the theme. Using a fixed-width loop as movement has a very unique flavor to it that I haven't seen anywhere else in the jam (or even conceptualized before, really). The difficulty is on-point and the level designs are nicely varied. Took me 32:44.

The movement really is awesome, both the fixed-circle as I mentioned but also the fixed turning direction. It really means you have to learn how to properly orient the circle to go in a specific direction, and it's easy to get tripped up while working through the levels. It just feels good to get better at it.

I do have a couple of gripes.

- The waiting time is too high for me. Part of this is that the death animation is simply too long, but then add on top of that 4 seconds of waiting for most of the levels -- most of them I want to go straight up, and it takes about 4 seconds for the loop to spin around from pointing to the left to pointing straight up. For some levels, like level 6, I spent significantly more time waiting between lives than I did actually playing (I would usually die in ~2 seconds, compared to ~6 seconds of waiting).

- The camera movement screws me up, because it changes where your mouse is pointing. Now, to be fair, that could simply be considered part of the challenge, and if it's a legit part of what you want in the challenge, fair enough. I feel like the camera is too unpredictable, however, especially with how key collection works--it seems like it likes to focus on a key once you collect it? I thought levels 8, 9, and 10 should have no camera movement whatsoever, as they're small enough to fit on screen. (On level 5 this seems especially bad, but on the other hand it kind of encourages you to be more clever about when you start pressing the mouse, so maybe it is a good thing?)

- I think that the orbit animation should not be a circle spawning in and getting larger. This really makes it feel like you should be able to "catch" the thing as your orbit is spawning in, which is not the case. I knew intellectually that I was not able to catch it but I still just kept trying to do it anyways, particularly on level 10. This is of course partially probably just muscle memory from other games with orbit-y things, and so changing the animation might not make a difference, but I would at least give it a try, I think.

- I actually didn't realize the game had music until I started writing this comment... I think this is because the sound effects seemed plenty loud so I didn't bother to turn up the volume. I do think that, once I turn up the volume so that the music is audible, the sound effects are too loud, especially the "disconnect from orbit" sound.

Still, all told, this has to be the best game I've played so far, as it really is quite novel (at least to me) while having enough there to make for a satisfying set of levels. Fantastic job!

Awesome game! I've actually played it on the phone lol. Just wanted to take a quick look first, but got immediately addicted by the challenging gameplay. And almost beat it? Not sure - no shift on the phone. Loved the ambient sound and minimalist visuals, too. The transition animation is amazing. Fantastic experience!

SHEESH

i think that this was the closest game to that "Flywrench-type rage game" vibe I was going for myself in my own jam game. i think you did an excellent job of saying "hey, this is a crushingly difficult game, it's going to be hard" which I wish I conveyed on my jam game a bit better.

the main mechanic was really, really well-done and the difficulty curve eased in perfectly as well. its amazingly easy to screw yourself over by making one misclick, and the fact that it was so punishing works in this game's favor really well.

normally, i'd feel that a jam game like this would need more mechanics to keep player attention, but the level design was so tight that it felt like the perfect amount of complexity for this game. probably the best-designed set of levels I played in a stage-based jam game for this jam. some levels (the four spike "platforms") made my mouth drop but turned out to be easier than expected. Others, like the final level, were like "okay, how hard can this possibly be?" and then managed to beat me to a pulp. It felt good being caught off-guard a bit by how devious the game could be : )

overall, love this game. really well executed with tight level design. a great accomplishment and a stellar entry imo

Really sick game, I love bouncing between walls and figuring out how to aim my shots, though I found there wasn't any particular incentive to use the walls and bouncable surfaces, so I would have liked if part of the objective was doing the level in as few orbits as possible so you need to interact with the world a little more. Still loved getting through all the levels, and managing to weave through spikes while being slightly afraid of accidentally slinging the ball right into them is ace.

HAHAHA I WAS YOUR 100TH RATING!

Another banger from slimewitch!! Idk how you come up with these simple mechanics that are so hard to master

slimewitch!!! i've been in so many jams alongside you and i'm always so impressed with how you construct a style across your projects. not just in art and palette but also in gameplay structure and mechanic prototyping! IRIS fits so neatly in your portfolio it's hard to believe it wasn't there the whole time.

i really enjoyed the main mechanic and how it informed the level design. however, something about it was a little bit unintuitive the whole way through. it was hard to remember whether the orbit was clockwise or counterclockwise, and my brain kept telling me that the ball would keep its momentum on release rather than shoot off straight. i think the way you have it is much better for the gameplay, but i wonder if there's an even better way to communicate the motion. i LOVED the sound and music, it does wonders to elevate the aesthetic into an intentional, meditative experience.

overall, great stuff! make more forever!! see you in another jam :]