Guide / Freeplay and co-op
Freeplay and co-op
Drop into a public Freeplay lobby on today's layout, or climb the same tower with up to 3 friends in co-op. No accounts.
Freeplay: climb with strangers
Press MULTIPLAYER on the menu, then QUICK PLAY under Freeplay. You join a lobby of up to 8 players on today's layout. Everyone climbs their own run, with their own enemies and boss, and sees the others pass as see-through Pixels with their names. Nobody can bump or block you.
- A bar on the right edge shows how high everyone in the lobby is, coloured by biome; your marker is the big one. Players within about a screen of you get an arrow at the top or bottom edge with how far away they are.
- A few lines in the top corner say when someone falls, reaches a new biome, beats a boss or sets a new best.
- Your hearts work as usual. Out of hearts, the run counts like any run (best height, gems, the Streak) and a new one starts at 0m 3 seconds later, in the same lobby. Press LEAVE on that banner, or QUIT RUN in the pause menu, to go back to the menu; your best climb of the session can go on the Online leaderboard then.
- There's no chat. Names go through the same filter as the leaderboard, and a name it refuses becomes PIXEL and four digits.
- On a busy day Freeplay can fill up: QUICK PLAY then says FREEPLAY IS FULL TODAY. Co-op still works.
Starting a co-op party
- Everyone opens the game and presses MULTIPLAYER on the menu.
- Type a name (up to 20 characters). It is shown above your Pixel.
- One player presses HOST A PARTY. They are the host, and a six-character room code appears.
- The host sends the code to the others by any means: say it out loud, text it, paste it in a chat.
- Each friend types the code under Join a friend and presses JOIN.
- Everyone presses READY, and the host presses START RUN.
A party holds 2 to 4 players. Friends can be on any mix of computers, phones and tablets. A run that has already started can't be joined; wait for it to end, and the party stays together for the next one.
What is shared and what isn't
| Shared by the party | Your own |
|---|---|
| The level: everyone sees the same platforms | Gems, hearts and power-ups you pick up |
| Drones, lasers, meteors and bullets | Crumbling platforms (yours break for you only) |
| The boss and its health bar | Your Pixel, perks and hearts |
| The boss's reward, paid to everyone | Your respawn timer |
Because pickups are your own, nobody can steal a gem or a power-up from a teammate. If you see an orb, it is yours to take.
The camera and the team limit
The party climbs together. A TEAM LIMIT line marks the top of the screen, and the player in front bumps their head on it instead of leaving the others behind. If you are leading, that bump is your cue to wait a second. If you are at the back, the bottom of the screen is still the bottom: the party can't carry you.
Falling and coming back
Hearts work as they do in solo play: one is spent to save you if you have one. With none left you are knocked out, and you watch a teammate while a countdown runs. The first is 15 seconds, and each time you go down in the same run it is 10 seconds longer. Then you drop back in behind a Hard Shield.
The run is over only when the whole party is down at once. One player hanging on is enough to bring everyone back, so the right move for the last one standing is to stop climbing and stay safe.
Things that differ from solo
- The level comes from the host's party, not the daily layout, so there is no ghost.
- An EMP Pixel clears drones around its player for the whole party.
- CONTINUE? is a solo feature. Co-op respawns are always free.
- A teammate who stops responding for a few seconds stops holding the camera back, and after about ten seconds counts as down.
If it won't connect
Players connect to each other directly, which most home networks allow. School, office and some mobile networks block that, so the game then sends its traffic through a relay server by itself. If joining still fails:
- Check the code. It is six characters, and a new one is made each time someone hosts.
- Make sure everyone has the same version. If one player has an old copy open, the game tells them to refresh. The version on old.pixeljump.online can only play with others there.
- Have a different player host. The host's network matters most.
- Move one device to another network (a phone on mobile data instead of WiFi is a quick test).
Still stuck? Write to support@pixeljump.online with the devices and networks involved.
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