I liked the design of the game. It was a lot of fun to be able to pull all these dynamic climbing moves off.
I wasn't a huge fan of the "hope" grip mechanic though, think it detracts a bit from the climbing experience.
The "Zone of Dispair" was a really nice (and stylish) touch and think also helped tutorialise the game when you inevitably fall the first time.
Tech wise, the ragdoll mostly worked well, though I'm not sure whether it was intentional that the character would occasionally explode if it got too twisted.
Well done! A solid jam game.
Thanks N!
I added the "- hope" grip in later because a personal goal I had for this was to try and make moment-to-moment decisions interesting. Without the hope grip, I found myself constantly moving towards the powerup grips without much thought. As soon as I added the "- hope" grip, things felt more interesting because there were also things to avoid. I hear you on the detraction, so that's something for me to think about.
Ragdoll definitely not intentionally exploding... wish I'd had more time to get to the bottom of that :)