tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 02/09/2026its me I'm a friend This was a blast to work on!! I think it turned out really cool 050
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 26/08/2026gamebanana.com/mods/709813 new map! dash codes, for fungamebanana.comRidge Gate Mod for Celeste | Celeste Modsthere actually aren't any in the map... A Celeste (CELESTE) Mod in the Maps category, submitted by tobyaaa 062
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I might as well post my recent map releases, and comment on other maps too. I have no idea how to do this without feeling really pretentious so I have been neglecting it 010
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 25/08/2026I was going to set up a quick lowscope contest map, but realized that A. the deadline passed before I started, and B. I have other things to prioritize. But the level's basically done anyway so I'll probably release it soon regardless. 130
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 09/08/2026serious congratulations on beating the map, though, sorry for not saying that first 020
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 19/07/2026On Wednesday Touhoe and Juckter will be speedrunning T-Minus for the Fangame Marathon. It's a deathlink run, so if either of them dies, they'll both have to start the room over. I'll be commentating, too.! www.twitch.tv/FangameMarat...twitch.tvFangameMarathon - TwitchThe official Fangame Marathon channel. 040
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 31/05/2026don't know if this counts, I used to do casual speedrunning, only ILs, in a way not dissimilar to P-ranking in pizza tower. I did use tutorials though. A guess: perhaps it could have helped to know both very-advanced and easier strats for sections? But maybe that'd be overwhelming... 100
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 19/05/2026I hadn't planned to make this MTC map but here we are gamebanana.com/mods/677874gamebanana.comCloisonné Mod for Celeste | Celeste ModsMind Your Business... A Celeste (CELESTE) Mod in the Maps category, submitted by tobyaaa 041
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 15/05/2026I think it is totally reasonable to say, "it just didn't click for me"; the trouble is when that gets conflated with "it's Objectively Bad" Come to think of it, tier lists maybe aren't the best about that kind of nuance in general. 010
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Same here, I spent quite a long time trying every interaction I could possibly think of in that room! It's a good thing EXOK added the hint. 000
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 22/02/2026map released gamebanana.com/mods/654997gamebanana.comReflections go Both Ways Mod for Celeste | Celeste Modsback on my rotational symmetry shenanigans... A Celeste (CELESTE) Mod in the Maps category, submitted by tobyaaa 132
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 02/02/2026gamebanana.com/mods/650147 I made a map for @aurora.aquir.me's "letter map" event! It's silly and fun and maybe a little unbalanced because I made it in a daygamebanana.comParticularly Perilous Pastures Mod for Celeste | Celeste ModsI "P"'d... A Celeste (CELESTE) Mod in the Maps category, submitted by tobyaaa 183
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 24/10/2025only took me like 3 years but my second really-big map is finally done! Play it if you have longing nostalgia for the feeling of stress you get during a big exam gamebanana.com/mods/628864gamebanana.comT-Minus Mod for Celeste | Celeste ModsBetter Hurry Up... A Celeste (CELESTE) Mod in the Standalone category, submitted by tobyaaa 1176
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 22/07/2025I've no idea how other games (eg. SMW) have handled this but I think there's a chance it'll always be just a little easier to find/FMOD an arbitrary song yourself than get someone to make a cover of it for celeste... a section of the Asset Drive for audio is an appealing idea either way though 160
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 14/07/2025this is fantastic!! Thanks so much! (fun fact I have every part of this puzzle memorized except the 4th and 6th colors) 041
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 16/06/2025A bit back, abuffzucchini and I were chatting about how to do an Music Translation map of Solar Fields' No Answer. Zucchini's idea released a while ago, but here's mine! gamebanana.com/mods/600953 I hope you enjoy! It's a bit of a strange one.gamebanana.comNo Answer Mod for Celeste | Celeste Mods...find anything?... Download the No Answer Mod for Celeste. Customize your gameplay with this fan-made Celeste Mod by tobyaaa in the Standalone category, 173
Reposted by tobyaaaskqw @skqw.bsky.social · 09/06/2025I finally put out a new Celeste mod! This is an effort to be more creative and less restrictive, reminding myself why I love making maps. Here are two of my favorite rooms, or watch and download the whole thing on the mod page! gamebanana.com/mods/598635 3194
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 28/05/2025It's been so long since this mechanic came out, it's incredibly underused 3111
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 24/05/2025forgot to post this here, me and @bosssauce.bsky.social made an Music Translation map! Since the contest requires submissions to have the same title as the relevant song, we naturally chose a song no one knows the name of. I think the map turned out really well! gamebanana.com/mods/592788gamebanana.comABS Submersible Pump Installation and Operation [Celeste] [Mods]We know how water works!... A Celeste (CELESTE) Mod in the Collab/Contest category, submitted by BossSauce 062
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 19/04/2025I do find this really interesting actually since Celeste doesn't render more than >128ish onscreen lights at once and allegedly sometimes less? It's still usually way more than enough but I wonder if the technique got altered at some point 150
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I think the biggest takeaway I have from this level is that this sort of “cryptic” puzzle should always try to be as friendly & easy as it can. I’m not kidding that EVERY puzzle in this level was harder at some point in development, but very little was lost in making any of them simpler. 010
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I felt the need to sprite an additional flower color, as well as hanging flowers, since I wanted to draw attention away from the purple lilac. The flowers are also often grouped into similar colors, because that also makes the groups of purple fit in more. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025The trees all belong to spooooky; for each one I spirited 3 or 4 variants with more yellow/orange leaves. Each tree in the level is one decal with 5 flag decals on top of it, and there are savefile-persistent flags set to progress as the player hits certain milestones. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I've heard that the level is a bit under-decorated. This is true; I underscoped decoration since I was so worried about getting the trees to change color as you progress through the level. In the end, partially thanks to lonn layers (a lifesaver) it was easier than I expected. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I consider fall to be one of the most difficult aesthetics to nail in a celeste level; nothing ever really matches going outside in the fall and staring in awe at individual trees (yes I do this). I don’t think this level succeeds either, but I do think specific parts capture some aspect of it. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025There also used to be a challenge with the extended variant “lava/ice everywhere” (it swaps when you dash, it’s super cool and very underused). It was a fun twist but it made the vertical room way too hard (and playtesters noted that it ruined the atmosphere). 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025Early on I came up with the idea of having a knowledge check in the form of doing part of the map grabless, instead of a dash code. I loved this idea of imposing challenges on gameplay you’ve done many times (kind of like the Forgotten unlock in TBoI), so I did it a bunch in the level. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I knew from KTaNE that if the SFX puzzle’s message was too long, it’d be annoying; but too fast, it’d be hard to parse the morse. I shortened the message from FIND LAVENDER to NEAR LILAC; NEAR is shorter than FIND in morse. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025The SFX puzzle itself has also been in my head for several years; now felt like a good time for it, though I think maybe I should’ve included other similar puzzles. The shape is a FEZ reference because it’s the first geometry I placed then I never felt the need to change it. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025There’s a post joking about puzzle-game conlangs being just encrypted english. The blue text came from reading this and imagining such a “conlang” turning out to be simple obfuscation, like bad handwriting. This idea had stuck in my head for some time before starting work on the level. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025Originally, the SFX puzzle gave the hint about the blue text; and the blue text led to the hidden signs. This got flipped after some playtesters figured out the blue text immediately, and the blue text was made more clear (though it probably could still have used a more distinct single hint) 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025In retrospect it probably would’ve been a good idea to have helpful hints for the other path if the player got too far down a single one only. A lot of people do end up stumbling on hidden signs by chance and I think a lot of that is from lack of guidance. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I really wanted players to have multiple “routes” through the puzzle flowchart, so if they’re stuck on one puzzle they can still make progress elsewhere. I did include several gates to make sure they never fell too far behind either path, though. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I gave myself a certain deadline to get all the puzzles implemented, and stuff like the "paintings clue" didn’t make the cut. The colors in the picture are to help me track my progress implementing each puzzle. It stopped getting updated after a while though. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I use this one diagram program all the time and I used it for this map to brainstorm what sort of puzzles would fit the map, and what order they’d go in. I don’t have that anymore but I did copy it into lonn. A lot has been moved around or scrapped since then, though! 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025The exception is the room left of the well; it’s meant to feel like a secret, but the room geometry tries to push your eye towards it. It’s a clue that there’s more to find. Eventually I settled on more-hidden secret rooms, with a map in the well to show their locations; this worked perfectly. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025The reason the level’s geometry is so “broken” around the edges of rooms is to make the 4 main hidden rooms blend in more with the rest of the level. Those went back and forth from more- to less- hidden as I wanted players to find them during precisely their 2nd run through the level. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025From this idea the concept of using morse (and even the “rotated” morse) sprang forwards pretty quickly. In addition, wondering what sort of information a sign saying “try again” would convey led naturally to the restart code, the key-smuggling puzzle, and even the final puzzle of the map. 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025I like having a “pitch” to myself for my levels (say, a map of just the 2b heart room). For this, the whole level came from the concept of beating a map, entering the heart room, and being told to TRY AGAIN and seeing a bunch of cryptic symbols; replaying the map you’d find stuff you’d missed before 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025The rest of the main rooms are partially based on interesting interactions I noticed with the mechanic, and partially to conform with a structure that’d allow secrets. This section was room 3 until zucchini (playtesting before I added any secrets) played it and then it changed immediately 110
tobyaaa @tobyaaa.bsky.social · 05/04/2025The first few rooms of the level are dedicated to making sure the player learns the mechanic. In room 1, your dash over the gap causes the blocks to show up; room 2 makes you walk off the block to regain your dash to make it go away; room 3 makes you figure out what the red block does yourself. 110
