Snip the Cord

Goal

Gloup, a hungry little creature, is waiting for a treat hanging from one or more ropes. Swipe a finger (or the mouse) across a rope to cut it at the right moment: the treat must drop into Gloup’s mouth, wide open on top of its head. On the way, collect up to three stars by brushing against them with the treat.

How it works

• A cut is a swipe that crosses a rope; no need to aim for an exact spot, the treat reacts the same way wherever you cut.
• The treat is lost if it falls off the screen, touches spikes or stays stuck with no rope: the level restarts by itself.
• Time only counts in two-player, against the AI and online: with equal stars, the fastest wins, then whoever cut the fewest ropes.
• On the keyboard: left and right arrows to pick a rope, a bubble or a bellows, Space or Enter to act, R to restart, U to undo, H for a hint, N to skip, L for the levels.

The elements

• Bubbles: they catch the treat and lift it; tap the bubble or swipe across it to pop it.
• Bellows: tap them to send out a puff of air that pushes the treat. They recharge in about a second.
• Spikes: the treat is lost at the slightest touch.
• Rails: a ring slides along a bar, and the rope follows.
• Magnets: they pull the treat (or push it away).
• Spinning blades: they sweep the treat along in their motion.
• Elastic ropes (pink): they stretch and pull the treat back like a spring.

Chapters and modes

• Five chapters of nine levels: The Attic, The Greenhouse, The Workshop, The Lighthouse and The Clouds. Your progress and stars are saved level by level; finish all nine levels of a chapter to get its summary.
• Solo: free campaign with a level selector, hint, undo, restart and skip.
• Two players: same device, same level, one after the other (“Pass the device” screen). Stars first, then time, then number of cuts.
• Against the AI: you play the same level as the AI at the same time, and its attempt is shown in a thumbnail. Three strengths: it hesitates for a shorter or longer time and cuts with more or less precision.
• Online: simultaneous race on the same level; the most stars wins, then the fastest.

About the AI

The physics is a fixed-step simulation at 1/60 of a second: distance-constraint ropes, Verlet node chains for the visible shape, collisions and sensors. Every level has a recorded solution, checked by a solver that explores the cutting moments. The AI replays that solution with a starting delay and an inaccuracy on each gesture that depend on its strength, then tries again when it misses.