Ghost Escape Mode

Ghost Escape is the mode where the ball can fail. One ball bounces inside a container that has a single gap in its wall and a row of spikes pointing inward. If the ball touches a spike it dies: a death effect plays, and a grey "ghost" copy of the ball is left frozen at the exact spot where it died. After a short pause the ball respawns and tries again.

The ghosts are solid. Every later attempt bounces off them, so the arena slowly fills with the history of every failed attempt, and each new run takes a different path through the pile. When the ball finally slips through the gap, it flies out and every ghost ball breaks apart at once. That release is the payoff of the clip.

The container shape (circle, square, star and so on) is not set here. It comes from the Geometry & Word section, and the wall, gap, spikes and collisions all adapt to whichever shape you pick.

In the Engine section Ghost Escape has three panels. Each has its own plan lock. On a plan below the one listed, you can still select the mode and watch it run, but the panel is dimmed and shows a lock with the plan that opens it.

Basics, the first item on the Studio rail, shows a short list of the settings that change the video the most, under Mode settings. Engine on the rail shows every control the mode has, in its own collapsible sections, and the mode's own sounds are in the Audio section. Both edit the same settings, so a change in one shows up in the other.

Four buttons at the top of Ghost Escape Settings set the gap, spikes, rotation and path drawer in one click. They only work while Ghost Escape is the selected mode. A preset overwrites the values listed below and leaves every other setting alone, so you can apply one and then fine-tune from there.

The gap is the only way out. Its width is measured in degrees of the container's outline, and its position is set by where the opening starts.

The spikes line the wall and point inward. Touching one kills the ball (unless Time Mode is on, see below). This group also holds the reset timing and the death sound and effect.

Rotation Engine decides whether the wall, gap and spikes turn. The controls under it change with the choice.

This group controls how each attempt moves, what the bounces play, and what the ghosts look like and do when the ball escapes.

The Path Drawer traces a line behind the ball so the viewer can see where each attempt went. It is separate from the Drawer mode and from the global trail settings, with its own thickness, lifetime and colour.

Time Mode changes the rules. Each attempt gets a countdown. When it runs out the ball dies where it is and leaves a ghost, exactly like a spike death. While Time Mode is on, touching a spike no longer kills the ball: it bounces off instead. Everything in this panel below the first switch does nothing until Time Mode is on.

Pick one thing to be hard, the gap or the spikes, and keep the other generous. Tuning both tight gives a run that fails in the first second every time.

Most Ghost Escape issues come from the balance between gap, spikes and timing.