Spiral Mode
A ball is thrown into a spiral tunnel made of loose boxes. Each run throws harder and reaches deeper, until one reaches the centre. Every control in Space Spiral Settings, explained. (Creator)
What Spiral Mode Does
Spiral mode builds a spiral tunnel out of individual boxes and throws a ball into its mouth. After the throw nothing pushes or steers the ball. It travels on its own momentum, knocks the boxes around, and slows down until it runs out of speed. The boxes are real physics objects with their own mass, so the tunnel bends and scatters as the ball passes.
The mode is a sequence of runs. Each run throws the ball harder than the last, so it gets deeper into the spiral. On the default ladder there are four runs, and the fourth is thrown hard enough to reach the centre, which triggers a victory blast. A run ends when the ball has used up its speed, reaches the centre, leaves the screen, or hits the Interval time limit. Then the next run starts, and after the last run the sequence starts again from run 1.
In the Studio preview you can press B on the keyboard to throw the ball.
| Default run | Throw power | What happens |
|---|---|---|
| Run 1 | 10 | Coasts to a stop in the outer part of the spiral. |
| Run 2 | 18 | Gets further in. |
| Run 3 | 28 | Reaches the inner turns. |
| Run 4 | 50 | Reaches the centre and triggers the victory blast. |
Technical parameters
- On the stock spiral the four default runs take about 23 seconds in total. The centre is reached from roughly power 45, so 50 leaves some margin because the boxes knock the ball around differently each time.
Plans, Panels and Basics
Space Spiral Settings needs Creator. The Round Sequence Planner inside it (where you edit the runs) needs Pro. The run sequence itself is always on: without the planner unlocked, the mode still plays the default four-run ladder, you just cannot edit 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.
Technical parameters
- Basics shows: Number of boxes (10 to 500), Space between boxes (0 to 100), Spiral size (0.1 to 3), Launch power (0 to 100), Seconds per run (5 to 300).
- Launch power in Basics is the same setting as Throw Power in Kinematics: it sets the throw of Run 1 and scales the later runs with it (see Kinematics below).
Ball Entry Point
Where the ball starts.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Placement Mode | Outer Start (Spiral Entrance): the ball starts at the mouth of the spiral. Manual Control: the throw uses your Throw Angle. | Default Outer Start | Leave it on Outer Start unless you want to aim the throw yourself. |
| Auto Position Ball | Button. Puts the ball back at the outer start of the spiral and sets Placement Mode to Outer Start. | Use it if the ball starts in an odd place after editing the geometry. |
Geometry Engine
The shape of the tunnel. Changing these rebuilds the spiral.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box Count | How many boxes make up the spiral. More boxes, longer tunnel. | 10 to 500, default 100 | Very high counts cost preview speed. |
| Box Width | Width of each box. | 5 to 100, default 40 | |
| Box Height | Height of each box. | 5 to 100, default 30 | |
| Box Spacing | Gap between neighbouring boxes. | 0 to 100, default 3 | Near 0 gives a solid wall. Wide spacing gives a broken tunnel the ball can slip through. |
| Min Box Scale | Size of the boxes at the inner end of the spiral. | 0.1 to 1, step 0.05, default 0.2 | Together with Max Box Scale this tapers the tunnel toward the centre. |
| Max Box Scale | Size of the boxes at the outer end. | 0.1 to 2, step 0.05, default 1.0 | |
| Spiral Scale | Size of the whole spiral. | 0.1 to 3, step 0.1, default 1.0 | Throw power scales with the spiral, so a bigger spiral does not need new run values. |
| Spiral Rotation | Turns the whole spiral. | 0 to 360, default 90 | Use it to move the mouth away from your caption. |
| Box Rotation | Tilts every box. | 0 to 360, default 3 |
Box Aesthetics
How the boxes look. Colouring the boxes along the spiral (Rainbow or Gradient Flux) is what makes the tunnel read as depth rather than a flat pattern.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Box Style | The surface shading of the boxes. | None, Matte, Shiny, Neon, Chrome, Metal, Ghost, Crystal, Glow, Wireframe, Holographic, Plasma. Default Matte | Matte and Metal read cleanly at small sizes. Wireframe and Ghost let the background through. |
| Texture | A pattern over each box. | None, Stripes, Dots, Crosshatch, Noise, Checkerboard, Honeycomb, Circuit, Waves. Default None | |
| Color Engine | How colour is applied across the boxes. | Single Color, Alternating, Rainbow, Gradient Flux. Default Rainbow | |
| Color A | First colour. Shown for Single Color, Alternating and Gradient Flux. | Default blue (#3B82F6) | |
| Color B | Second colour. Shown for Alternating and Gradient Flux. | Default red (#EF4444) | |
| Opacity | Box fill opacity. | 0 to 1, default 1 | |
| Texture Opacity | How strongly the texture shows. | 0 to 1, default 0.5 | |
| Glow Radius | Glow around each box. | 0 to 100, default 0 | A moderate glow on a dark background adds depth. |
| Glow Color | Glow colour. | Default white | |
| Border Color | Outline colour of each box. | Default white | Only visible when Edge Thickness is above 0. |
| Edge Thickness | Outline width. | 0 to 10, default 0 |
Kinematics
Mass, bounce and the throw. The ratio of Ball Mass to Box Mass decides how the run feels: a heavy ball against light boxes ploughs through and scatters the tunnel, while a light ball against heavy boxes rides along the tunnel wall.
Box Mass, Ball Bounce and Box Bounce apply to every run: changing one here updates all runs of the sequence. Throw Power sets Run 1's throw and scales the later runs by the same amount, so each run still throws harder than the last. With the Round Sequence Planner (Pro) you can then fine-tune a single run; the latest change always wins.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ball Mass | Weight of the ball. | 0.1 to 100, default 1 | Set the mass ratio first, then the bounce values. |
| Box Mass | Weight of each box, on every run. | 1 to 1000, default 50 | |
| Ball Bounce | How much the ball bounces, on every run. | 0 to 1.5, step 0.05, default 0.15 | |
| Box Bounce | How much the boxes bounce, on every run. | 0 to 1.5, step 0.05, default 0.1 | |
| Box Air Resistance | How quickly knocked boxes slow down. 1.0 means no slowing: boxes drift forever. | 0.8 to 1, step 0.001, default 1.0 | Around 0.98 lets scattered boxes settle so the tunnel keeps its shape. Small changes are very visible. |
| Throw Angle | Direction of the throw. Only used with Placement Mode: Manual Control. | 0 to 360, default 0 | |
| Throw Power | How hard Run 1 throws the ball. Later runs scale with it. | 0 to 100, default 10 |
Sonic Pulse (Sounds)
Three sound pickers. Each lists the built-in effects plus sounds you have uploaded.
| Setting | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Bounce Effect | Plays when the ball hits a box. | Wood |
| Spawn Effect | Sound for a new ball entering the spiral. | Pop |
| Victory Effect | Plays when the ball reaches the centre. | Explosion |
Run Label
Shows which run is on screen, for example "Run 2 / 4". Every run starts the same way, so without the label viewers cannot tell the fourth attempt from the first. The switch in the group header turns it on or off. The label text is each run's Label in the planner.
| Setting | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Run Label (switch) | Shows or hides the label. | On/off, default on | |
| Position | Top, Middle or Bottom of the frame. | Default Top | |
| Vertical Offset | Moves the label up or down. | -600 to 600, default 0 | |
| Font Size | Label size. | 12 to 220, default 56 | Under about 40 is hard to read on a vertical video after platform compression. |
| Show Total | Adds the total number of runs after the current one. | On/off, default on | |
| Rainbow Color | Cycles the label through the rainbow. | On/off, default off | Hides the Color picker while on. |
| Color | Fixed label colour. Only shown with Rainbow Color off. | Default white | Plain white survives compression best. |
Round Sequence Planner (Pro)
The planner is the list of runs, and it is always on in this mode (the "Always On" badge). The ball is thrown into the spiral and then left alone. Each run throws it harder, so it carries further before it runs out of momentum. Runs play in order and loop.
| Control | What it does | Range / default | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interval (sec) | The longest a single run may last. A run that is still going at this point ends and the next one starts. | 5 to 300, step 5, default 20 | Runs usually end sooner, when the ball runs out of speed. |
| Add New Protocol Round | Button. Adds a run at the end, copied from the last one. | Raise its Throw Power so the ladder keeps escalating. | |
| Reset | Button. Restores the default four-run ladder. | ||
| Delete (bin icon) | Removes a run. The sequence always keeps at least one run. | ||
| Label | The run's name, shown by the Run Label. | Default Run 1, Run 2 ... | |
| Throw Power | How hard this run throws the ball. This is the value that makes one run go deeper than the last. | 0 to 100, step 0.5. Defaults 10, 18, 28, 50 | Depth grows almost in step with power, so double the power goes roughly twice as far. |
| Box Mass | Box weight for this run. | 1 to 1000, default 50 | |
| Gravity Power | Multiplies the global Gravity setting for this run. | 0 to 5, step 0.1, default 1.0 | |
| Air Resistance | How quickly the ball loses speed in this run. Below 1.0 the throw bleeds away, which is what ends a run. | 0.9 to 1, step 0.001, default 0.992 | At 1.0 the ball never slows down on its own. |
| Ball Bounce | Ball bounce for this run. | 0 to 1.5, default 0.15 | |
| Box Bounce | Box bounce for this run. | 0 to 1.5, default 0.1 |
Recommended Setups
Start from the defaults and change one thing at a time. The default ladder is measured so the last run reaches the centre.
| Goal | Settings to use |
|---|---|
| Clean, readable tunnel | Box Spacing 2 to 5, Box Air Resistance 0.98, Color Engine: Gradient Flux, dark background. |
| Chaotic smash | Ball Mass 20+, Box Mass 5 to 20 in every run, Box Air Resistance 1.0. |
| Longer build | Add runs in the planner with powers between the defaults (for example 10, 15, 20, 28, 36, 50) and keep the last one at 45 or more. |
| Clear run counter | Run Label on, Font Size 56 or more, Show Total on. |
Common Problems
What to check when the spiral does not behave as expected.
| Problem | Why it happens | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No run ever reaches the centre | The last run's Throw Power is too low for your spiral, or Air Resistance is too low. | Raise the last run's Throw Power to 50 or more, or press Reset in the planner. |
| Knocked boxes drift forever and the frame gets messy | Box Air Resistance is 1.0. | Lower it toward 0.98. |
| The ball goes through gaps in the tunnel | Box Spacing is wide. | Lower Box Spacing. |
| Every run looks the same | All runs have the same Throw Power. | Give each run a higher power than the one before. |
| The planner is dimmed | Editing runs needs Pro. | The default ladder still plays. |
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