Playing
How do the controls work?
◀ and ▶ sit in the bottom-left corner and ▲ (jump) in the bottom-right. Each one listens to a much bigger area than the button you see, all the way to the edge of the screen, so a thumb that slips down still counts. You can walk and jump at the same time, and slide from ◀ to ▶ without lifting your thumb. A quick tap is a short hop; hold for a full jump.
In Settings › Controls you can drag the buttons where you like (Reset puts them back), move jump to the left side, and change their size and opacity. A keyboard (arrows or A/D, Space to jump, R to restart) and game controllers work too.
I keep dying at the same trap.
Every trap has a tell: a hinge, a hairline crack, a little dust, a click you can hear. When a trap kills you for the first time, the game draws over its tell so you know what to look for next time, and the Tell Book on the house map collects them.
After three deaths at the same trap, a Help button (a skull with a question mark) appears in the top-left corner. It can show you ghosts of players who got past that exact trap, outline the next trap for a few seconds, or let you skip the level. After 15 deaths in one level, the House offers to make it a bit easier, for free. Using help is fine. The House won't make fun of you for it.
Did the level just change while I was playing it?
Probably, yes. On some levels the House learns: once you've died at its trap, it closes that one and sets a new one where you'll land next. Look for wet paint and fresh nails; that's the tell. It's part of the game, not a bug.
How does the Weekly Troll work?
A new level opens every Monday at 00:00 UTC (Sunday afternoon or evening in the Americas). Your first run, from your first start to your first clear, is ranked on a Game Center board by fewest deaths and then time. If you use Help, X-ray, skip or the easier mode, you can still finish the level, but that run isn't ranked. Weeks you missed stay playable in the Weekly archive, unranked.
Can I play offline?
Yes, every level. Offline there are no ads, the skulls show the last numbers the game downloaded, and your reports wait on your phone until you're back online (if you chose "Leave my ghost").
The skulls and the numbers
Are the other players' deaths real?
Yes. They come from players who chose "Leave my ghost". Nobody's count is invented. When fewer than 100 players have reached a trap, the game uses words or a victim number ("Victim #4") instead of a percentage; between 100 and 499 it rounds to the nearest 5%; from 500 it shows the exact percentage.
What are the crash-test dummies?
Before anyone has played a level, I seed it with a few skulls from test runs so the twist still works on day one. Those are drawn as crash-test dummies and labelled "test dummies". They're never counted as players, and they fade out as real players arrive.
The skulls give too much away. Can I hide them?
They only ever show traps you've already seen go off, so they shouldn't spoil anything ahead of you. If you'd rather not see them at all, go to Settings and set "Show other players' deaths" to Never, or turn on Blind mode. Streamer mode hides the numbers too.
How do I stop sending my own deaths?
Settings › Privacy › Leave your ghost. Turning it off deletes anything waiting on your phone and stops sending. You'll still see everyone else's skulls. The privacy page lists exactly what's in a report.
How ads work
The game is free, and ads pay for it. These are the rules, and the game's own code enforces them:
- No ad when you open the app, no banners, and never an ad because you died.
- Nothing for your first five levels and first few minutes.
- After that, a full-screen ad can come between levels, only after you tap Next. You'll see an "Ad break" label for a moment first. There are at least three minutes between them, at most three in any 15 minutes and at most 20 a day.
- No ads in the Weekly Troll, in Pass the phone, in the Theater or X-ray views, or while you're offline.
- Video ads that give you help only play if you pick one in the Help panel and confirm a second time. Close one early and you just don't get the reward. If an ad fails to load, the help is on the house, once per session.
- Watching a help video also gives you three ad-free minutes.
- Ads are limited to a PG rating, and gambling, dating and social casino ads are blocked. If you see one that breaks those rules, or that's just awful, use Report an ad in Settings or Pause.
Right now there's nothing to buy in Died Here.
Progress and devices
My progress is gone.
Progress is saved only on this phone, so it doesn't move to a new iPhone and deleting the app deletes it. If progress went missing without that, write to me with your device model and the game version from Settings › About.
Can I reset a room to play it again for fewer deaths?
Yes. Once you've cleared a room, you can reset its death counter from the house map and go for a cleaner run. Your lifetime Bone Count keeps every death.
Accessibility
Settings has: Reduce motion, Reduce flashing, Screen shake off, Larger HUD, Bold danger outlines, left-handed controls, a two-button jump mode, a short jump calibration, separate haptics switches, Music and Sound volume, and an assist game speed. Assist speed is never held against you, though a Weekly run that uses it isn't ranked. VoiceOver reads the death card and the results. Every trap's tell can be seen or heard, so turning off either one never hides it completely.
If something here doesn't work for you, I'd like to know. Tell me what you use and where it fails.
Contact
Email trungpro5398@gmail.com. It reaches me, the one person who makes the game.
For a bug, these help me find it fast:
- which iPhone or iPad, and which iOS;
- the game version (Settings › About);
- the level number, such as 1-3, and what you expected to happen;
- a screen recording, if you can.
Please don't send personal details I don't need. The game doesn't know who you are, and I'd like to keep it that way.