Turbo Pudding
In Lassoodle, Milo can cross his own body without a scratch, and when he closes a loop, everything inside it is caught. It’s our signature move, it’s right there in the name, and it’s Wednesday, so this dev diary is about how the game knows you’ve drawn a loop, how it decides what’s inside, and why there are fewer lassos in the game now than there used to be.
The picture at the top is Buzz Off!, the second level of the Sunny Orchard. Milo has just looped a Buzzbee, one of the fruit thieves, and it has burst into a fruit shower: a golden pear, an apple and a bunch of berries.
A snake made of breadcrumbs
Sixty times a second, Milo’s head writes down where it is. That list is the path, and the body is laid along it, one bead every 0.55 meters back from the head. The path stores height too, so after a jump the body follows the head along the very same arc. And since crossing yourself is harmless, the head just slides over the body, cartoon style, the path can cross itself as often as you like.
When is a loop a loop?
Every step, the game checks whether the head is within 0.6 meters of its own body. The first six beads behind the head don’t count, or Milo would keep lassoing his own neck. If the head touches bead six or anything further back, the stretch of path from that bead to the head makes a closed shape. If the shape covers at least 3 square meters, it’s a lasso. If it’s smaller, nothing happens.
The smallest loop that passes takes about 13 to 16 beads, so length matters. When Milo first reaches 15 beads, his tail sparkles, five soft rising notes play, and a message appears: “Lasso ready! Loop around things to catch them.” It’s also why every boss level starts with a long snake. Milo meets the Mole King at 32 beads.
What counts as inside
To decide what’s caught, the game counts how many times the rope winds around each spot. Anything it wraps at least once is inside, so a figure eight or a loop wound twice still catches everything it should. Things lying right on the rope count too.
Bigger catches pay more. Every extra thing in one loop adds half to the score multiplier, a big loop adds up to one more, and the whole thing tops out at five times.
Rules that keep it honest
The first version was too easy to fool. When we went through the game’s logic the first time, we fixed eleven bugs, and several of them were in the lasso. Circling on the spot fired lasso after lasso. Doubled-up loops closed when they shouldn’t. A body up in the air, mid-jump, could close a loop.
So now the youngest bead whose loop is big enough wins, and you always get the loop you just drew. After a lasso, while the head is still on the body, only a loop made entirely of new path counts: one lasso per lap. Beads in the air never close a loop, and there’s a 0.4-second pause between lassos. A loop that runs through a portal doesn’t close at all, because half of it is somewhere else.
A rope you can hear
When Milo is long enough and keeps turning the same way for about 200 degrees, a soft rope zip plays, and another follows every 45 degrees, each a little higher. When the loop shuts, there’s a snap and a chord. The more you catch, the more notes in the chord, up to seven, and three or more catches add a shimmer on top. An empty loop gets a smaller sound of its own.
On screen, a glowing gold rope traces the loop just outside the body, so the snake doesn’t hide it, then snaps shut and fades in a spray of sparkles. A soft fill marks what’s inside. That fill is cut into triangles that follow the rope, because a simple fan from the center would spill outside a bent loop.
Fewer lassos, more fruit
In the first build, Buzz Off! was all about lassoing bees. Playing it, we found that a level that needs four lassos gets old fast, while eating fruit, growing and chaining combos never does. So the rule changed: in every regular level, the goal is fruit, and the lasso is a bonus, with at most two chances per level.
Once Milo is long enough and a thief comes close, a hint pops up: “Loop a Buzzbee for a fruit bonus!” Catch it, and it bursts into four fruit, the first one a golden pear: “Bonus! Fruit shower!” Only the bosses really need the lasso. The Mole King’s tip says it plainly: “When the dirt shakes he is coming up. Loop his hole while he taunts!”
World 1, the Sunny Orchard, Mole King included, is free to play in your browser at lassoodle.com. The full game, all six worlds, is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on its Lassoodle page.
