Scattersparks Demo Player Help

Do I Need An Account?

No. You can play the Challenges and Tutorial without an account. After clearing the Challenges, you can play Single Player locally or join an online demo room without signing in. Completing Single Player also unlocks Skirmish. Online demo matches are unrated: they do not change an account rating.

Your progress and settings are saved on this device, or in this browser for the Web version. An account is not needed to keep them here. Changing device or browser does not automatically move your progress.

Start Here

1. On this device's first run, open Setup. Choose your language, set up and try your controls, and choose a menu background: Dark, Light or Happy. Select Finish setup when all three choices are checked.
2. Open Tutorial to learn the rules. You can change your language, controls and background later in Options.
3. Play Challenges and clear each challenge. You do not need mastery awards or an Internet connection to earn these clears.

Setup is the only menu choice until you finish it. On a phone or tablet held upright, the controls setup recommends turning it sideways; you can also continue in portrait. Touch setup lets you choose Analog or Cross and the control size, position the controls, then checks Movement, Action and Grab. Keyboard or controller setup checks the same inputs. Setup does not require an account or an Internet connection. You can reopen the whole setup from Options -> Setup without losing progress.

Language, Controls and Menu Background show (config) until you confirm each choice. Accepting the current language or background is enough; controls also need the Movement, Action and Grab check.

After choosing touch style and size, a picture shows the proposed layout on your screen. Browse phone, wide-phone, tablet, foldable and portrait placements, or keep Current layout. The example resolutions identify the presets; placements fit your actual screen. Browsing does not save changes. Use this layout applies the choice and starts the input check; Adjust by hand opens manual positioning.

When touch has not been detected, a notice explains that these adjustments are for touchscreens and do not change keyboard or controller input. If you are using a device with a keyboard or you're using a controller, you probably don't need to adjust this. You can still continue.

Control adjustment explains the steps before you start. Drag the highlighted control to a comfortable position, then release to move to the next one. All three positions save together after placing Grab. Cancel keeps your previous layout.

No mouse or touchscreen is needed for Setup or background selection. On a keyboard, use the arrow keys to select, Enter or Space to confirm, and Escape to go back. On a controller, use the D-pad or left stick to select, the bottom face button (A on Xbox) to confirm, and Start/Menu to go back.

Light uses pale blue; Happy uses light pink with a slowly zooming pattern in menus. Gameplay uses a dimmer, plain background with no pattern animation. Leading players, including tied leaders, have their score panels filled with their player colours in every background mode.

After Setup, until all the included Challenges are cleared, the main menu shows just Challenges, Tutorial and Options. Single Player and Live Games become available afterwards. Already saved clears count; you do not need to repeat them before each match.

In Challenges and Single Player, an open padlock marks your next available level: clear it to unlock the next step. Later levels have a closed padlock and are dimmed. Cleared levels stay available without a padlock.

Each Challenge lasts at most one minute. The first five and Back It Up allow 30 seconds; Quickstep Circuit and Gnawer Run allow 10 seconds; Stun And Shift and Brace And Blast allow 15 seconds; Wrap Relay allows 7 seconds. Repeating a Challenge restarts that Challenge, not the whole sequence.

Every Challenge includes a successful example. After three unsuccessful attempts in a row at the same Challenge during a play session, its example plays automatically, clearly marked Tutorial replay. A graduation cap and a three-second countdown appear in the middle of the screen before the replay begins. Watch the first five seconds, then press your action button to retry, or let the example finish. Watching does not clear the Challenge for you.

The browser version needs its game files to load first. This is not a promise that a fresh browser visit works without an Internet connection. Installing or loading the game and verifying Challenge completion are different things.

Play Single Player

Choose Single Player after clearing the Challenges. Start with map 1 and win each map to unlock the next. Cleared maps remain available; later maps are dimmed and marked with a closed padlock until you reach them. A draw does not clear a map.

You play against three bots in one round of up to two minutes. Their levels are fixed for each map and increase as you progress. Your clears are saved locally; you do not need an account or an Internet connection. Winning all ten maps adds Skirmish to the main menu. Live Games does not require completing Single Player.

Play Skirmish On This Device

Skirmish is a local match against bots, with optional additional players on the same device. It does not need an Internet connection or an account.

1. Choose Skirmish after completing all ten Single Player maps.
2. Choose a map from the demo selection and the Bot level.
3. Choose how many people will play on this device. Bots fill the other places.
4. Choose Start. With more than one person, each player presses their action button to join the player setup. Use a controller per player, or combine controllers with the keyboard or touch controls. The keyboard counts as one input; the touch controls count as one input.
5. Start when every player has an assigned input. After the match, return to setup to change the map or bot level and play again.

Matches have four runners and one round of up to two minutes. The demo fixes the other match settings. It does not include Episodes.

The available maps are Ring Exchange, Clockwork Lockdown, Relay Foundry, Magnet Haul, Hatchery Lanes, Nestwork Citadel, Splinterworks, Last Nest Labyrinth, Central Mayhem and Ninefold Nexus. Translated map choices include the English name in parentheses. Languages marked Provisional may still have their wording revised.

Join An Online Game

1. Connect to the Internet and choose Live Games. Before opening the rooms, read the short recording notice. Privacy and Support open in your browser. Choose View online rooms to continue, or Stay offline to return to the main menu.
2. Select the available open demo waiting room to reserve a place. Rooms you cannot join are dimmed and marked with a padlock.
3. Check Reserved as for your room nickname. The game assigns it for you; you do not need to type a name or remember a code.
4. Choose Ready to start with ... humans when you are ready. The number includes you. Keep the game open while it counts down and joins the match.
5. Play the round and review the results, choosing View match results if offered. Choose Return to Live Games, then select the next waiting room when you want another game.

The open demo room rotates through the same map selection as demo Skirmish. Each match has one round of up to two minutes, with up to four people and bots filling the remaining places. A round can finish early. Everyone ready can start the match; a full room starts its countdown automatically. You can play with bots without waiting for another person.

This rotating, unrated offering is the only online room available to demo players. Other advertised rooms remain visible but locked, including rated games and rooms reserved for registered players.

The Join window closes in ... timer belongs to the waiting room, not your individual reservation. It may already be partly used when you arrive. If the room expires, return to Live Games and choose the next waiting room. The Starting in ... timer is the shorter countdown before play begins.

Your room nickname is not a permanent account identity. It stays with your seat when you reconnect, but may change in another match. Other players see that nickname. The server still receives your connection information and records the game; using a nickname does not make the connection anonymous.

Stop Waiting Or Leave

• While waiting, choose Leave queue and wait for confirmation. Main menu alone does not cancel your reservation. Once the countdown has locked the players, leaving the queue may no longer be available.
• During a match, open the pause menu and choose Abandon match to leave. Opening your menu does not pause the online match for everyone; a bot may take over while you are away.
• After the match, Return to Live Games lets you choose another room. Main menu returns to local play; your Challenge progress is unchanged.

A Connection Was Lost

1. Return to the same installation or browser and reopen Live Games.
2. Choose Rejoin beside the saved room, if offered.
3. Let the game check the seat and reconnect. A bot may have been playing in your place; the round did not wait for you.

Rejoin is possible only while the server still has a usable seat and match. If the game reports Saved live game ended, choose the next waiting room. If it reports a check failure, wait and retry before giving up the saved seat. Abandon live game discards that saved rejoin option; do not choose it merely to refresh the connection. Clearing app/browser storage can also lose it.

When Something Does Not Work

For help, contact hello@pavuno.org with the game version, device, approximate time and room label if shown. Describe the message or send a screenshot without private codes. Do not send saved connection files or account credentials. For privacy or replay-removal questions, contact privacy@pavuno.org.