‘Twas 2017 when Trap Labs surfaced on Steam Greenlight as an online multiplayer platformer inspired by a category of user made content for the original Starcraft.

These were called Bounds, maps where patterns of explosions/traps had to be deciphered, avoided and traversed to get to the other side as a playable character. Software Engineer Han Jiang borrowed the concept, slapped on a few co-op, puzzle, platforming, music/rhythm, race and survival modes with plenty of traps, not forgetting to include a single player campaign of course.

The context being some sort of program set up by a mysterious organization called Trap Labs, with the promise of a cash reward and free cake for the competitor who successfully mastered every challenge.

More than a year later and it seems like Jiang found Cartoon Network classic; also, a new art style, a custom soundtrack and a single player plot reminiscent of the 1990s. Billy’s rooting for the $1337 USD Nintanbruh Flip handheld and he’s willing to go to whatever lengths to muster the cash.

What better way then to subject himself to Trap Labs’ mysterious testing program of 100-odd puzzles that STILL offers free cake, but plenty of financial incentive too. It’s not completely casual, mind you, as attempting to get from one room to the other will require some brainpower and precision – while Trap Labs reeks of some shady business practices of its own.

Planning and timing then are everything, which is why you can still have your friends join in from across the globe – indeed, cross-platform competitive multiplayer will support Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices.

here's a tutorial level that's not really a tutorial. It's more about cheeky robots in strange buildings is not always trustworthy. You can learn this important life lesson in the new demo 🙃🐵#screenshotsaturday #gamedev #indiegame #indiedev #lessonlearned pic.twitter.com/HHQXCO9RBi

— Trap Labs (@TrapLabsGame) June 10, 2018

100 more levels make up an arcade style marathon mode and all of this with many collectables is nearly primed for a November 7^th release across the Steam, App and Play Stores. Meanwhile you can have at a sizeable playable demo or even help Jiang with some closed beta testing of the full game.