DON'T NOD

Map each hand to a trigger so holding on feels physical. In Jusant the left stick moves a cursor to pick a handhold and each trigger grips with one hand, so releasing the trigger makes the climber let go of the wall. Pushing the stick further from centre picks a more distant hold.

The clenching grip came from Shadow of the Colossus and the trigger-per-hand idea from Grow Home, applied here to a realistic human rather than a goofy robot. Mark Brown contrasts it with Tomb Raider and God of War, where climbing is mostly holding up on the stick.

Drop realistic inputs that players struggle to learn or execute. DON'T NOD prototyped controlling both arms and legs with four shoulder buttons, and a jump charged by tilting the stick away from the jump direction. The first was overly complicated and the second hard to teach, so they settled on holding the jump button to charge it.

"But this proved difficult to teach and execute."

Sustained trigger holding has an accessibility cost. Gripping the triggers for long stretches aggravated Mark Brown's repetitive strain injury, so he played in 20 minute sessions.

DON'T NOD ships accessibility settings for easier input.

A limited rope and three pitons make every route a decision. The rope is exactly 40 metres, so a route must leave enough slack to reach the top, and only three pitons act as checkpoints, so players choose where to save. The rope is a physics object that snags and tangles, and a piton pulling it the wrong way has to be removed.

Small concessions keep it fair: the rope grows five extra metres near a ledge, and relay points reset the whole rope, giving a target to aim for and allowing much longer climbs. Real climbers call a route a "problem", which is the planning feel the rope recreates.

The rope opens up the space players can explore. Placing a piton, abseiling down and swinging along the wall reaches ledges far from any handhold, so players can dangle under a wall and swing to a surface further back.

A button makes plants sprout buds that serve as handholds; buds that wilt in direct sunlight push players to move fast and use pitons for safety.

Playtest several stamina designs and drop the punishing ones. DON'T NOD tried a gauge per arm, chunks that refill only on the ground, refilling only on the rope, and a forced descent when empty. Playtests showed these were punitive, broke the climbing flow or were hard to explain, so they kept one bar that refills any time by clicking the left stick.

Grabbing a hold costs a tiny amount of stamina and jumping costs a lot; jumps shrink the bar until you reach flat ground, so you only run out by ignoring prompts to rest. "Ultimately, playtesting showed that none of these were a good fit."

Cut friction on purpose when the goal is a peaceful experience. Inspired mainly by Journey, DON'T NOD removed anything causing friction or frustration: you cannot die, invisible walls stop falls, and the rope returns you to your last piton if you let go. Puzzles stay light so they never break the flow.

Mark Brown notes the cost: without consequences for failure there is little fear, yet he argues games should be judged by what their makers intended. "the intention for this game was to make a peaceful experience without pressure."