Every death in Color Gate comes from touching a ring segment whose color does not match the ball. The rings rotate at speeds the engine computes from a formula, so the safe window is a number you can count, not a feeling. This build runs on its own engine, and every timing below is taken from the rotation code.
One tap equals one fixed arc
Gravity is 1800 px per second squared and each tap sets the velocity to 580 px per second upward. The ball has a radius of 14 px. Two numbers follow.
1. Each tap buys 0.32 seconds of rise.
2. The peak of each arc sits 93 px above the tap point.
Chained taps stack these arcs. Tap again near the peak and you climb another 93 px with almost no drop between arcs. This is the only movement the game offers, so all timing rides on it.
The vertical layout repeats every 320 px
The engine places one obstacle ring every 320 px. Each ring carries a color switcher 112 px below it, at 0.35 times the spacing, and a star 160 px above it, exactly halfway to the next ring. Pickups use a radius check, 28 px for stars and 30 px for switchers.
The layout gives you a fixed routine per ring.
1. Collect the switcher 112 px below the ring. The ball color changes immediately to a color different from the current one, chosen at random.
2. Climb the remaining 112 px, which costs at least two full arcs because a single arc peaks at 93 px.
3. Enter the ring with the new color in mind, then collect the star 160 px above the exit.
Quarter turn times you can count
Ring rotation speed is computed as 1.0 plus 0.12 times the difficulty, in radians per second. The difficulty is simply the ring's index above your starting height, so the first ring spins at 1.0, the fifth at 1.6, the tenth at 2.2.
Each ring holds four segments of 90 degrees with a 0.12 rad gap between them. Divide a quarter turn, about 1.571 radians, by the speed to get the window.
1. Ring 1, difficulty 0, one quarter turn takes 1.57 seconds. A wrong-color segment in front of you cycles away in under two seconds.
2. Ring 5, difficulty 4, a quarter turn takes about 1.21 seconds.
3. Ring 10, difficulty 9, a quarter turn takes about 0.75 seconds.
The counting rule is deterministic. Watch the segment at your entry point, which is the bottom of the ring for a climbing ball. If its color differs from the ball, wait one quarter turn before the final approach arc. Counting beats reacting from ring five upward.
The kill distance is 20 px
Collision is checked between the ball center and the segment centerline. Contact counts when the distance drops below 20 px, which is the 6 px half thickness of a 12 px segment plus the 14 px ball radius. Two consequences matter.
1. Matching color makes a segment fully safe. The engine only kills when the touched segment color differs from the ball color, so passing through your own color is always correct.
2. The 20 px band means you can shave the edge of a wrong-color segment by 5 px and survive if the ball center stays outside the band. Aim for the middle of the safe segment instead and remove the judgment call.
Two obstacle types break the quarter count
Horizontal bars do not rotate at all. Four bars, each 240 px long, slide sideways with offsets computed as the sine of phase plus 1.2 times the bar index, at amplitude 100 px. For these, count vertical passes instead. Enter when the bar of your color is swinging away from your column.
Pulsing circles rotate at 0.6 times their base speed but pulse their radius by 15 px at 1.5 times the base rate. The gap you measured widens and narrows twice per rotation phase, so enter when the ring is near maximum expansion, because the wrong-color neighbors are then farthest from your path.
The camera only moves up
The camera target follows the ball upward and never scrolls back down. The death check triggers when the ball falls more than 1010 px below the camera top, which is the full 960 px screen height plus 50 px.
This sets a hard rule for waiting. You may drop below a ring to let a wrong-color segment cycle away, and the engine even generates new content below the camera line, but every dropped pixel is permanent pressure. Drop at most one arc, 93 px, wait out the quarter turn, and climb back immediately.
Color Gate honest downsides
The color order on every ring is a fresh random permutation of the four colors, so the safe segment lands in a different position on every ring. The switcher hands you a random different color, and you cannot choose it, so roughly one switcher in three gives you a color that is poorly placed for the ring above. At high ring indices the quarter turn falls under 0.8 seconds, which is close to the 0.32 second rise time of one arc, and the counting method loses margin fast.
Per ring checklist
- [ ] Switcher collected 112 px below the ring, new color noted before climbing.
- [ ] Entry segment color checked against the ball at the ring bottom.
- [ ] Quarter turn time computed from the ring number, 1.57 seconds divided by 1 plus 0.12 times difficulty.
- [ ] Final approach timed so the safe segment sits at the entry point at contact.
- [ ] Obstacle type confirmed, bars counted vertically, pulsing circle entered at full expansion.
- [ ] Descent kept under one arc, 93 px, because the camera never returns.
Play the [Color Gate game](https://webrecast.com/en/color-switch) and count one ring out loud. If your measured quarter turns disagree with the table above, or a same-color contact killed your ball, send the ring number and the obstacle type. Timing corrections from real runs improve this guide for everyone.
