Slice Master Timing: What Each Tap Does to the Knife

Every tap is the same jump

Slice Master has one input: a click, a tap or the Space bar. Each press gives the knife the same launch every time: a fixed push forward, a fixed push upward and a fast backflip. The launch does not add to the speed the knife already has. It replaces it. So a tap made while the knife is falling does not make a weaker jump. It starts a full new jump from wherever the knife is at that moment.

That is why the first tutorial screen says TAP ANYWHERE TO JUMP AND FLIP! and the second says KEEP TAPPING TO FLY. You are allowed to tap in mid-air as often as you like, and each tap lifts the knife again. The only limits are small ones:

• Taps closer together than about 0.15 seconds are ignored, so hammering the button does not stack jumps.
• Taps on the top tenth of the screen do not jump. That strip is kept for the pause button. Space works anywhere.
• Each level has a height ceiling. When the knife is above it, a tap gives almost no lift, so you cannot fly over a whole level.

Blade, handle and what you cut

The knife only comes to rest when the blade sticks into a platform. While it is stuck it waits for your next tap, so a platform is a safe place to stop and think. The handle does not stick: if the handle hits a wall, the knife bounces back, which costs you distance.

Objects such as apples, lemons, donuts, cups and blocks are not platforms. The blade cuts straight through them, they split in two, and the knife keeps flying. Each cut takes a little forward speed off the knife, so a long row of objects shortens the jump. Expect to tap again sooner when you fly through a stack.

What ends a run

The game over screen gives the reason, and there are three:

Some levels also have swinging hammers, and some watermelons bounce up and down on the spot. The watermelons are worth cutting, but their bounce changes where the knife meets them.

One continue per level

The first time you fail in a level, the game asks CONTINUE?. Choosing YES plays a video ad. The knife then comes back stuck in the last platform it landed on, blinking, and the game removes the spikes and hammers close to that spot so you do not die again straight away. Choosing NO THANK YOU goes to the game over screen. You get this offer once per level, and never in a bonus level.

Using this in a run

• From a platform, take one jump per gap and let the blade land. Every stop is a fresh, known starting point.
• Tap in mid-air only to stretch a jump that is falling short, not as a habit. Each extra tap also adds spin, so the blade may not be pointing down when it reaches the next platform.
• Near hammers and moving spikes, wait on the platform. The knife is safe while it is stuck and there is no clock in a level, so you can watch a hammer swing once before you go.
• If you fly along the ceiling for more than a second, an arrow points down. Stop tapping and let the knife drop.