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Reported by big al phillips: this particular wall in Crawlspaces seems to flicker a lot (screenshot below taken by al):

I can reproduce a similar glitch by standing in the tile to the north of the N blockpad in this screenshot and stepping east once. As the camera drifts to a stop, horizontal black lines flicker on the wall. (This is different from the diagonal lines seen in al's screenshot, though!)

Erik: "I suspect it's the outline shader just really disliking something about that surface. It's a bit of an anomaly. Cicaeda sent me a link to a really beautiful outline shader ( https://github.com/AGM-GR/EdgeDetection ) that I'd like to try. It may fix this bug at the same time if I'm lucky."

Reported separately by DannySpillerVA and Schik. In Deep Pit, it is possible to stack blocks up by pushing them down the holes between floors. If enough blocks are pushed down the same hole, they may stack up high enough to plug the hole. If there is no other way to reach the bottom of the stack to push blocks away, this can softlock the level.

Danny's screenshot:

Schik's screenshots:

(Schik has another couple of screenshots, but one of them is the same spot that Danny found and another is a spot Schik later figured out how to get out of.)

Erik: "Self-note: On Deep Pit to make soft locks impossible, I want to first check if I can add a 2nd route to every place where blocks can drop. If that doesn't cover it to 90% or so, I can add a room full of altars and one each of all the blocks. But I'm reluctant to do that because it will add to the overwhelming nature of the level, e.g. "do I need to use these altars to solve the level?" One other thought on the altar room - I could create an asterisk/wild-card block that when sacrificed will destroy all blocks no matter what letter."

Reported and screenshotted by ChessPieceFace. It is possible to get trapped on a strip of grass between two Beards in Mennickton:

Erik note: "It is a proper soft-lock and violates the unstuckable rule. There's no good level fix for it that I can think of. There's an advanced "stalemate" algorithm I want to implement later to detect it and kill the player."

It only happens on some computers. And on one player's system was intermittent - reloading the level got rid of the problem. I saw the same issue on 2 youtube playthrough videos.

Not sure how to reproduce. It is likely hardware-specific.

DEVHINT: Maybe replace the custom animation controller code with Animancer-based movement between poses authored as animation clips in UMotion.

Reported by big al phillips: it is possible to walk off the tower at the start of the level. When you do, Emm says "I don't want to go to back through that. But I think there was more" and the head of the other NPC in the level also appears. However, because the conversation with the other NPC and the memory screens have all been skipped, this comes out of nowhere.

Can be reproduced by loading into Accordorium and immediately heading due east or west until you fall to the ground floor. After a few seconds, Em''s "I think there was more" dialogue will activate.

While playing The Bend and seeing if I could reproduce issue #10 I found that you can get the 1 block stuck in the level, thus disabling that Groldy, if you can make it hit four Beards at once.
Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2O5hT0dh4I

Probably a low-priority bug. I don't think it breaks anything in the level, since you've gotten past the Groldies by that point and you can't take the 1 block out of that corner.

Reported and screenshotted by big al phillips: this particular grass square does not behave properly:

As seen in the screenshot, Emm can fling across it. al also reports that Beards don't care if you step on it.

Reported by big al phillips: when moving, a big white circle flashes on screen and obscures Emm. al's system specs: "macOs 11.5.2, on a newish MacBook Air, M1, 8 GB memory." al recorded the glitch on video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFsXkowXcI8

The glitch only shows up on some systems. It seems to be related to bloom effects. Erik notes that turning off bloom postproc will fix it.

Cicaeda: "It's something wrong with the threshold on the bloom. The bloom settings you're using are extremely aggressive.
You can also maybe kill two birds with one stone and use TAA to fix the issue: https://youtu.be/aFao7bMjv20?t=38 Timestamped for the specular bloom fix
This is the asset: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/vfx/shaders/ctaa-v3-cinematic-temporal-anti-aliasing-189645"

Reported by DannySpillerVA. Voice lines in The Glyphery may cut out, as demonstrated in Danny's clip: https://clips.twitch.tv/YummyScrumptiousGoshawkKappaRoss-WL2vy09wsxR-k9Kw

The song in Deep Pit may also cut out, as seen in another of Danny's streams.

This is related to a long-standing bug in GK development where sounds and music would cut out, which was tracked down to a bug in the Unity engine. Since the Unity bug can't be fixed, GK features a workaround in several places which restarts audio which has cut out. This workaround needs to be applied to The Glyphery, which features special logic for playing voices in its soundscape audio, and to Deep Pit's song controller.

Reported by Muftwin. In Muftwin's playthrough of Grolden Chambers, an A block became inactive, and was treated as a step rather than a pushable block.

Muftwin's video: https://streamable.com/457u13

Unfortunately, it's not known how to reproduce this, and Muftwin doesn't know what they did to cause this to happen.

Muftwin later discovered another method of creating what they call "ghost blocks", which is recorded in detail with reproducible steps in issue #25. In light of this later bug, Muftwin suggests:

"the groldy is primed to push the block as long as you are still in line on the next turn, but you broke the block. now the groldy is pushing nothing, so when the next block falls into place its a ghost because... ehh.
considering that i end up on the block when i do the bug i must be climbing and therefore its the same bug? the differences are interesting, but the essence is the same you end up pushing a block that isn't there."

Reported by ChessPieceFace. In their words:

"I didn't talk to Quinzo the first time I played Windings, and I may be doing something wrong, but I've replayed the level several times and I can't get Quinzo to appear in Quadrax or Quinzo's Laboratory. If I understand correctly, convincing Quinzo to leave in Windings should set a flag that causes him to appear in the later levels, but it doesn't seem to be working for me."

I think I've reproduced this. On my save file, Quinzo currently doesn't appear in Quinzo's Lab. I replayed Windings, rescuing Quinzo and making sure he crossed the pop-up spikes (triggering the "I'll find you later" dialogue). I used the level exit to progress to Quadrax, then restored to Quinzo's Lab. Quinzo still does not appear (he doesn't seem to be present in the level, and the QUINZO gate does not drop). Quinzo was present in earlier saves, so I think the flag to ignore him and follow Billy works. I just can't activate him again.

On some players' computers, the frame rate is intolerably low. Add a setting to bring screen resolution down to alleviate this.

Reported by big al phillips: the achievement "Winding Win" is bugged. It is possible to get the achievement by following Billy directly to the exit, ignoring the east side of the level.

I was able to reproduce this by following two steps behind Billy from the beginning of the level. I followed Billy slowly, stopping to let dialogue finish whenever Emm and Billy started talking. This ensured that I played the "Billy, this is so slow..." conversation in full. When I reached the spot in the below screenshot, the "hurry up" dialogue played, implying that Emm had beaten Billy to the end. (In the screenshot, Billy is obscured by Emm's face, but he's two steps north of Emm.) After this conversation played, the Windings Win achievement pop-up appeared.

I have a video of my gameplay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QL2-XBDwdoo Unfortunately, because I was recording the game rather than my screen, my video does not capture the Steam overlay pop-up that proves that I got the achievement here. The pop-up appeared at about 2:52 in the video.

Certain metal railings throughout the game are not solid, and Emm can pass through them.

Two known examples have been spotted by big al phillips. One in Facedral:

One in Quadrax:

Reported by Schik. Sacred Lawns is a viable location for the Gimme Two Steps achievement ()beat a level with only two steps). Schik found a solution that fits the criteria, but which doesn't active the achievement.

Schik recorded a video and uploaded it to Discord. This video is my own reproduction of Schik's moves:
https://youtu.be/R_xS4RtpCYA

My Steam profile does not have the Gimme Two Steps achievement, and I can confirm that these steps fail to activate it.

Schik then says "I then retried it a bunch of times, and on about the 6th variation of how I moved around the room, I got the achievement." This suggests that only some solutions are being recognised as valid for the achievement.

First reported by Schik. His message:

"So I was going back through, from the start. I didn't clear my data or anything, just restored to the first level and kept playing.

I got the achievement for all the view squares on the first one in Quinzo's Laboratory. Which of these is right?

1. It's not supposed to require all of them
2. It is supposed to but the count required is wrong
3. I have old data floating around and that caused it
4. something else"

Muftwin later reported an issue where they couldn't unlock the View Master achievement despite all the view square entries in their save file being true. However, they later found that they had miscounted some lines, and were able to find the missing view squares.

I should note that when I started playing GK after its official release, the Steam overlay pop-ups showing my View Master progress showed that I already had ~40. I assumed that this was related to old data - I assumed that the achievement tracking had been added in a pre-release build that I had used to get videos and screenshots for marketing, so that I was already halfway there when the game released on Steam.

In Placement Chamber, it is possible to get trapped by Beards in the smaller rooms.

Screenshot from big al phillips:

Screenshot from Schik:

Erik: "The intended thing would be that Emm dies as a result of having no moves."

C+P from Erik's self-note: 'change message about abandoning progress in game to more specifically say "the level".'

Reported by DannySpillerVA. In Adytum, it is possible for a Groldy to leave its pad and join a different pad, meaning that the 1 block becomes stuck if it is rebirthed on the adandoned pad. Danny's screenshot:

Reproduced by Erik: "In Adytum, get northwest groldy to push a block west. Then get NW groldy to push block south. This disrupts the formation of the W groldy so he joins SW groldy. And that leaves no groldy at the W spot, which causes a soft-lock."

Erik: "Potential solution: add walls or pillars so the groldies won't push blocks toward perimeter. Potential solution #2: open the railing on perimeter to let block leave."

Reported by big al phillips: when you rebirth a block to a correct spot in Plundy Paths, Plundy will coo. This dialogue activates Emm and Plundy's faces. But because Plundy is in the corner away from the correct blockpads, his face is usually off-screen, and only Emm's face is visible. This makes it appear that Emm is the one cooing excitedly. al suggests putting Plundy's head on screen to make it more obvious that Plundy is reacting.

Reported by Muftwin in relation to Slightly Low Basement. Spelling ERA in this spot, and then getting on top of the A, breaks the word:

After tinkering with this, I think it is a bug to do with flinging up stairs onto blocks, and you don't need the ERA spelling to trigger it. Steps to reproduce in Slightly Low Basement:

1. Destroy the A or R to rebirth a block on the upper floor.
2. Push the rebirthed block south, then east, to place it at the top of the stairs.
3. Drop down to the lower floor. Walk up the stairs until they bend to the north.
4. Fling north. Emm should land on top of the block.

On the next turn, the block becomes what Muftwin calls a "ghost block". When you walk into it, instead of breaking it, Emm will step on top of it. The block is no longer recognised as a letter for spelling words.

I recorded this video which reproduces the glitch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sMFUbb6QEs

I recorded it while trying to reproduce Muftwin's screenshot, so there are some unnecessary steps in there, but the video also demonstrates:

• Flinging on top of the block is an important step. Walking up the stairs breaks the block against the wall as expected.
• The block becomes a ghost block on the turn after the fling. ERA is recognised as a word on the same turn as the fling, but then becomes transparent when I step away.

Muftwin adds: "If i had to guess what happened id say this. i am walking up the stairs therefore i should go above the a. then check if im pushing the block it checks the square where it actually is, but when the breaking code triggers it breaks the spot i am moving to. now it has become a ghost block similar to the groldy bug i posted. ghost blocks are a bug of course so it makes sense that i cannot spell anything with them."

The "groldy bug" is issue #22, which has a similar result (a block becomes non-interactive) and is probably related.

While trying to reproduce a separate bug in a Groldy level, I found a sequence of moves that allows flinging towards Groldies who are throwing blocks:

1. Step in and out of a Groldy's line of sight so that it throws a block
2. Step once parallel to the line of sight
3. Step back into the line of sight. Instead of throwing a block, the Groldy moves to a diagonal position opposite to where you were in step 2
4. Fling towards the Groldy into the block it's supposed to throw. The Groldy cannot get back in time to throw the block

I recorded a video on Blackhold which shows the sequence, and also demonstrates that the exploit can be used on Blackhold to skip the block puzzle:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMBgcdcASDI

Reported by Muftwin. It is possible to reach the Groldies' platform in The Bend. Muftwin's screenshot:

Muftwin's steps to reproduce: "just stack 2 blocks and push into the groldy on the same turn it pushes it into you"

I didn't understand the steps to reproduce so I didn't manage it that way, but I found a separate Groldy exploit which also allows reaching this platform. See issue #23.

Reported by big al phillips: the blocks which spell NO in the level Plundy Paths start the level appearing transparent. Since they form words, they should appear as solid. Each stack of blocks becomes solid if you break and reform the NO (e.g. by rebirthing blocks or by pushing the stack off its platform).

Screenshot by al:

Reported by Schik. In Deep Pit, Schik had talked to Thea, and pushed blocks down the tower to the situation in the below screenshot. Here, he found that the blocks were unpushable - all three available sides showed the red X instead of being pushed.

However, Schik was unable to reproduce this bug. In his attempt to reproduce the bug, he did not talk to Thea, hence the suggestion that Thea being active somehow prevents the blocks being pushed in this spot.

Reported by nekroinverted: it is possible to get trapped behind a block and a Beard in the dead-end which the F block must pass through in the Pit Tower. Emm can't push the block into the Beard, but the game can't detect this as a stalemate.

nekroinverted's screenshot:

Erik: "this is caused by a Beard being in front of the block, and Emm's pacifism preventing the push. Need to fix the "no moves left" check, but even with that, the level is going to be confusing. Maybe raise the floor here so that the pushed block goes over the beard's head."

Reported and screenshotted by Schik: at the top of Deep Pit, you can fling up the stairs by the egg to land on grass, rather than the grass stopping the fling:

Easily reproducible. Possibly related to issue #10's misbehaving grass square, although the grass in Deep Pit activates the Beards.

Reported and screenshotted by Muftwin. It is possible (and easy!) to fall between the L-shaped spokes near the beginning of The Swirl, forcing a restart if the player has set them up as they need to to progress the level.