Controls & Mechanics | SteelStacks

01

Controls

Default keyboard layout. Controller support is planned but not in Pre-Alpha yet.

Movement

Action	Key	Notes
Move Left / Right	A / D or ← / →	Holding builds momentum
Jump	W or ↑ or Space	Coyote time: ~4 frames after ledge
Dash	S or ↓	Directional: dashes toward current movement vector
Wall Grab	Hold direction into wall	Slows fall, enables wall jump
Wall Jump	W / Space while wall-grabbing	Launches diagonally away from wall
Respawn	R	Instant reset to last checkpoint

Menu & UI

Action	Key
Pause	Esc
Level Select	Tab

02

Movement System

SteelStacks uses a momentum-based movement model. Speed is not capped during dashes: it accumulates and is preserved through air time. Understanding this is the difference between clearing a level and optimising it.

Dash Mechanics

1 Dash direction is determined by your current input vector at the moment of press, not where you're facing.
2 Dashing while moving horizontally at high speed amplifies velocity in that direction. Use this to clear wide gaps.
3 Dashing into a wall cancels horizontal momentum. Use this to land precisely on tight platforms.
4 Dash has a short cooldown: you cannot chain two dashes mid-air without touching a surface or checkpoint.

💡

Advanced: Dashing just before a wall and immediately wall-jumping preserves almost all your incoming speed and redirects it upward. This is the fastest way to gain vertical height.

Wall Jumping

1 Hold a direction into any solid wall surface to enter wall-grab state.
2 You slide down slowly while grabbing: the longer you hold, the lower you start your wall jump.
3 Press Jump to launch diagonally. The angle is fixed: input the next direction immediately after to steer your arc.

⚠

Pre-Alpha note: Wall-jump angles may feel slightly inconsistent at very high incoming velocities. This is a known issue being tracked for v0.4.

03

Obstacle Types

Each obstacle type has distinct behaviour. Learning to read them at a glance is half the skill in SteelStacks.

Hazard Reference

Obstacle	Behaviour	How to deal with it
Spike tiles	Instant kill on contact from any side	Pixel-perfect gaps. Slow down before committing to a jump.
Electric traps	Toggle on/off on a fixed cycle	Learn the timing window: count the pulses before entering.
Moving platforms	Loop between two points at constant speed	Match the platform's velocity before landing to avoid being knocked off.
Spike strips (ground)	Contact from below: safe. Contact from above: kill.	Jump over, don't land on. Used as floor traps in advanced sections.
Crusher blocks	Drop when player is directly below	Don't linger. Move through their zone before the drop triggers.

04

Checkpoints

Checkpoints auto-save on contact. Press R at any time to instantly reset to the last checkpoint you touched.

1 Checkpoints are visible as glowing marker tiles in each level. They activate the moment your character sprite overlaps them.
2 You can only hold one active checkpoint at a time: touching a new one replaces the previous.
3 In co-op mode, each player has an independent checkpoint. One player dying does not reset the other.

💡

Speedrunning: Checkpoints do not stop the run timer. Skipping optional checkpoints is legal and sometimes faster if the respawn point is less optimal than an earlier one.

05

Multiplayer Lobbies

Create or join a lobby from the main menu. Both Race and Co-op modes are available in Pre-Alpha.

Creating a Lobby

1 From the main menu, select Multiplayer → Create Lobby.
2 Choose a mode: Race (first to finish wins) or Co-op (both players must complete).
3 Select a level. The lobby code is shown in the top-right corner.
4 Share the code with other players. Start when ready.

Joining a Lobby

1 Select Multiplayer → Join Lobby.
2 Enter the lobby code.
3 Wait for the host to start the session.

⚠

Pre-Alpha limitation: Lobbies are hosted peer-to-peer. High ping between players may cause visual desync. Server-hosted lobbies are planned for a future update.

06

Speedrunning Tips

SteelStacks doesn't have an official leaderboard yet, but the community tracks runs in Discord. Here's how to approach optimising a level.

Route Finding

1 Clear the level first without caring about time. Learn what kills you and where the checkpoints are.
2 Identify sections where you slow down. These are your optimisation targets.
3 Look for momentum-preserving lines: can you skip a platform and carry speed through instead of landing and relaunching?
4 Post your route in Discord. Other players often find cuts you missed.

💡

Known skip: In Skyscraper City, dashing into the left wall before the final descent and immediately wall-jumping bypasses the lower platform section entirely. Save ~4-6 seconds depending on execution.