Turbo Pudding

TirraleeScreenshot Saturday

Six snapshots up the Skyward Tree

· The Turbo Pudding team · 4 min read

A cloud room in soft pink with white cloud ledges: Tirra, a round orange fledgling with a spiky orange crest, stands on the lilac blocks of the balloon’s basket with its beak open, having just blown a clear bubble with a Stompling, a little brown root with two green leaves, curled up inside; Lee, a round lilac fledgling with a curly purple crest, a long curled tail and sleepy half-closed eyes, stands beside it facing the bubble; on the ledge above walks another Stompling with a gray scribble of a cloud over its head, two Conerolls, round brown pinecones with peeking eyes and a green sprout on top, sit on the long top ledge, and an empty lilac bubble and an empty peach bubble float at the sides

Tirralee is a climb. A storm blew two fledglings, Tirra and Lee, all the way down to the roots of the Skyward Tree, and Mama is singing at the very top. The way back up is fifty rooms, one screen each, and every room is a picture: first the meadow, then the woods, the rain, the clouds and, at last, the night.

For this Screenshot Saturday, we climbed the Tree with a camera and stopped in six rooms, one snapshot each, always at the moment a bubble had somebody in it. The picture at the top is the Hot-air balloon, the first room of the clouds. Tirra and Lee stand on the basket, and Tirra has just caught a Stompling. Another Stompling waits on the ledge above, and two Conerolls, pinecones that charge, sit on the widest part of the balloon.

Honeycomb, in the meadow

The meadow is the first two levels, the place where everyone learns how bubbles work. The Honeycomb is the second room of level 2: rows of short grassy ledges, staggered like the cells of a comb. Two Stomplings, little roots with a sprout on top, walk the middle ledges, and two Chirpets, the grasshoppers, hop on the ones above.

The two fledglings don’t blow the same bubbles. Tirra’s are small and quick, and they fly further. Lee’s are big and slow, and they rise gently, which makes them easier to ride up on. Hold jump, and either of them can bounce off a bubble to reach a higher ledge.

A bright meadow room with a pale sky and green hills: Tirra, a round orange fledgling with a spiky orange crest, stands on a grassy ledge with its beak open, having just blown a clear bubble with a green grasshopper Chirpet caught inside; next to the bubble a Stompling, a little brown root with two green leaves on top and a gray scribble of a cloud over its head, walks toward Tirra; another Chirpet with long antennae and its own gray cloud stands on a small ledge at the bottom left, and Lee, a round lilac fledgling with a curly purple crest, a long curled tail and sleepy half-closed eyes, stands on a ledge at the bottom right
Searched “cute bubble platformer.” Got a grasshopper, gift-wrapped.

Owl, in the woods

Level 3 takes the climb into the woods, and its third room is an Owl. The whole room is its face: two square blocks with a hole in each for the eyes, a block for the beak between them and two little tufts on the top ledge for ears.

Spotkins live here. They’re ladybirds, and they don’t bother with ledges at all: a Spotkin flies on the slant, straight through ledges, and bounces off the walls. Like every critter in the Tree, it’s a spirit who lost its song, and you can see it, because the lost song hangs over its head as a small gray scribble of a cloud. In the snapshot, Lee has caught one right in front of the beak, while the other buzzes past the left eye.

A woods room on a pale yellow-green background, where brown earth blocks with grassy tops form an owl’s face: two square blocks with a square hole in each for the eyes at the top left and top right, and a beak block in the middle; a red Spotkin ladybird with black spots, white wings and a gray scribble of a cloud over its head flies beside the left eye, a second Spotkin floats inside a lilac bubble in front of the beak, and below on a long grassy ledge Tirra, the orange fledgling, and Lee, the lilac fledgling with its beak open from blowing, stand facing the bubble, with the tips of two pine trees peeking up from the bottom
Typed “platformer owl level.” Turns out the owl is the level.

Teacup, in the rain

After level 4 the rain begins, and Tirra is the first to notice: “Rain! The canopy must be close.” The fifth room of level 5 is a Teacup, and Tirra and Lee stand right inside it, between its tall gray walls.

Two Burrnuts sit on a ledge in the cup. They’re chestnuts in spiky green cases, and they throw burrs. Down at the bottom is Shellie, the snail with a tiny chimney on her shell. She hides from any bubble that comes at her face, so Lee went for the Stompling next to her.

A caught critter doesn’t stay caught for long. After five seconds it starts to wriggle, at seven it turns red, and at nine it breaks free, angry and faster than before. Pop the bubble before then, and the critter tumbles out and lands as a treat.

A rainy room in blue-gray, with thin white streaks of rain falling: Tirra and Lee stand on the gray floor of a teacup between two tall gray stone walls; on a ledge above them two Burrnuts, round green chestnut cases with spikes and brown faces with pink cheeks, sit with gray scribbles of clouds over their heads; on the floor next to Tirra, Shellie, a cream snail with a red-brown spiral shell and a little chimney puffing white smoke, peeks out on two eye stalks, and a lilac bubble holding a curled-up Stompling floats right in front of Lee, who has just blown it
People also ask: can you play a platformer inside a teacup?

Pinwheel, in the clouds

Up in the clouds, the wind starts to matter. Bubbles usually drift straight up and gather under the ceiling, but some rooms have currents. In the Pinwheel, the third room of level 8, the lower currents push bubbles out to the sides and then up along the walls.

The hub of the pinwheel is a big block in the middle of the room, and a Stompling stands on top of it. Jellydrops float around it. They’re rain jellyfish, and they don’t walk: they drift after whichever fledgling is closest. Lee has just caught one and picked this moment to blink. Tirra is already blowing the next bubble.

A cloud room in soft pink with white cloud platforms: a big pale lilac block made of tiles stands in the middle, with a Stompling, a little brown root with two green leaves and a gray scribble of a cloud over its head, on top; on the left a Jellydrop, a pale blue jellyfish dome with dark eyes and wavy pink strands of rain, drifts in the air with its own gray cloud; at the bottom left Tirra, the orange fledgling, has just blown a peach-colored bubble that floats to the right, and at the bottom right Lee, the lilac fledgling, blinks with both eyes shut next to a lilac bubble with a second Jellydrop caught inside
Search: “bubble game two players.” One of them is napping.

Sleeping cat, at night

Level 9 is night, and its fourth room is a Sleeping cat, built out of stone blocks in the middle of the screen. Tirra and Lee stand on its ears. Between them, on top of the cat’s head, a Nimbling is dozing. She’s a chubby little cloud from Nimbo’s flock, and she’s too heavy for one bubble: the first one only wraps her, and it takes a second to catch her.

This room also sends up firefly bubbles from the holes in its floor, every six seconds. Pop one, and two fireflies wake up and fly to the nearest critters within six tiles to lift their spell. A firefly can do that up to three times in a row, and each critter it frees lands as a better treat than the last.

A night room in deep indigo, with a soft purple cloud in the background and stone blocks with lilac tops stacked into the shape of a sleeping cat: Tirra, the orange fledgling, stands on the cat’s left ear and blows a clear bubble toward the middle, where a Nimbling, a fluffy white little cloud with a gray face and sleepy half-closed eyes, dozes on top of the cat’s head under a gray scribble of a cloud; Lee, the lilac fledgling, stands on the right ear facing it; at the top left a pale blue Jellydrop drifts under the ceiling, and at the top right floats a golden bubble with a glowing firefly inside
Search history: “cozy night platformer,” then “don’t wake the cat.”

The first two levels, the whole meadow, are free to play in your browser at tirralee.com. Play alone, or with a friend on the same keyboard. The full game is $4.99, paid once. More about the game is on the Tirralee page.

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