Retrograde

Retrograde is a mind-bending puzzle platformer where you turn back time and collaborate with your past selves to solve puzzles.

Controls

Arrows/WASD - Move
C/Space - Jump
X/E - Interact with objects
R - Restart level (hold)
Enter/Escape - Pause

Inversion Mechanic

• When you use the Inverter, you the player begin travelling backward in time, while the world around you appears to run in reverse.
• While your entropy is inverted, you watch your past self do all the steps you just did in backwards order.
• When you use the Inverter for the second time, you are once again traveling forward through time. You see another version of yourself perform your most recent actions in backwards order, while the clone that was already created switches direction and begins performing them in the order you originally did.
• The Inverter can only be used twice per level; to switch to reverse entropy and then forward again.

Making Of

This game was originally created for the GMTK Game Jam 2025. The theme was "Loop". In Retrograde, as you travel backward and forward through time, your timeline loops back on itself.

I hadn't planned on entering the jam until I saw the theme announcement video, so I had a bit of a late start and almost no planning. The second I saw the Loop theme, I brainstormed a bunch of ideas, including this one!

After the jam was over, I intended to keep working on this. There were a couple of levels that needed tweaking, features I wanted to implement, etc. But pretty soon after the jam, I lost motivation to keep working on v2.0, and so it sat on the backburner. But it's finally done! Turns out that waiting actually kind of paid off, as in the meantime, Picotron made dynamic music possible.

Credits

• Made by ooooggll
• Title art: MostlyDaniel
  
• Crouching sprite: ggggpplo
• Made in Picotron Workstation by Lexaloffle
  
• Instrument Packs: Abledbody, Packbat (CC-0)
• Inspired by Tenet, The Entropy Centre, The Talos Principle
  

Note: Linux and Mac versions not yet tested.

Changelog:

v2.1:
- Added sprite for crouching holding a rock
- Added a button in the pause menu to restart level
- "Return to Menu" button no longer shows up while in main menu
v2.0: 
- Added a 16th level
- Added a main menu with settings and level select
- Added savedata for settings and level progress
- Redesigned title logo (thanks MostlyDaniel!)
- Tweaked levels "Catch", "Toggle", "Inversion", "Double Doors" 
- Reworked "Second Inversion"
- Added dot trails to the clones
- Added dotted line indicators to disabled wall emitters
- Added an auto jump for small inclines 
- Ladders now can't be interacted with by using X; only up/down arrows 
- Added level names and popups to show level number/name 
- Added a title card 
- Added dynamic music - switches depending on your entropy 
- Added the ability to crouch (thanks ggggpplo for the sprite)
- Tweaked background art (added stars) 
- Slightly better level decoration 
- Internal restructuring: 
    - Restructured meta.lua 
    - Reworked interaction system 
    - Gamestate system 
    - When close to out of memory, restart the level
v1.2:
- Fixed some rock bugs (specifically stealing them from yourself)
- Disabled devmode and added an obvious indicator if devmode is on
- WASD and controller input methods
v1.1:
- One new level
- Backwards jump sound effects
- Sound effects for picking up/setting down rocks