As this is the trans mission, it's the first one where we've made it possible to complete almost the whole thing with almost any size of robot! I (Gordon, the one who got this whole Prideworld thing happening) apologise for the 'almost' in that last sentence. I built a game engine which depends on pressing switches to complete each mission, and doesn't allow small robots to press those switches. This hasn't allowed quite the "anyone can do anything" level of freedom that I later found myself wanting for the trans mission...
It's also the biggest Prideworld mission of all... which means it's giving your computer or device more work to do. If you find the graphics aren't animating as quickly as you'd like, first try going to the Options page and reducing the detail settings. If that's not enough, you might be able to try a different browser or a newer machine. After that, all we can recommend is playing a smaller mission - the lesbian and bi ones are the smallest.
Blue or pink objective (choose either colour - it doesn't affect the order or the difficulty of the puzzles in this mission) The city square has four areas in the middle below ground level. These include one for the blue pride flag colour switch and one for the pink. All you can do right now is press either the pink or blue switch. As always in Prideworld you'll now see that colour painted onto some of the buildings. The ramps between the levels of the city square have also changed as a result of pressing the switch: if you chose the blue switch it's now impossible to get to the pink one and vice versa, so you'll have to complete the rest of the mission before you can reach that other switch!
You now have the option of customising your robot before leaving the city square for the rest of the game. There are six alternative robots provided in a range of sizes (which affect their abilities) and colours (which do not). So if you like the look of a different colour, bump into that robot to take it over. You can now go down to the opposite corner of the square and collect plus or minus tokens to change it to a size that suits your playing style. Depending on the size you go for, you'll face different challenges and perks in each section, so there should be more fun to be had playing again with a different robot... And even within a single session you might want to visit some areas more than once with different sizes of robot or newly-acquired keys, to claim extra lives that weren't accessible first time round. The earlier parts of this mission are more generously stocked with lives, so get as many as you can - you'll really need them later in the areas that don't have so many! We recommend that right now before collecting any keys, you should choose one robot to use for the whole mission. That's because each key can only be used by the robot that picks it up. If at any time in the game you switch to a new robot - to get a new set of 3 lives or to 'borrow' a robot big enough to press switches - you'll temporarily lose access to any keys that the earlier robot is carrying.
If you go for a smaller robot than the usual size, you'll be able to jump further, and quickly sneak across flickery floor before it fails. The disadvantage is that it can't press switches, and you must press at least the two remaining pride colour switches and the one that lets you from the racetrack back to the city square, to complete this mission. For those and any optional switches you think worthwhile, you'll have to make your robot temporarily heavy enough by picking up plus tokens... which are in fairly scarce supply except at the city square and the racetrack exit. If you're going for small, we reckon that something close to the minimum size gives you the most advantages, even though you might have more trouble getting hold of enough size tokens when there are switches to press. On the other hand if you choose a big robot, switches are no problem! You might find the lower speed makes it easier to drive accurately on narrow walkways... as long as you can cope with its size blocking your view somewhat. The very biggest size is lava- and electricity-proof, offering you some shortcuts unavailable to other robots, so if you're going big we recommend the maximum size. The catch is that teleporters can't quite cope with big robots; every time you use one you'll shrink the same amount as if you'd picked up a minus token. One teleportation and you're no longer lava-proof; five and you're back to normal size! So you'll have to keep an eye out for plus tokens throughout the game as well as the ones in the city square.
The switch you pressed at the very start has also created ramps out of both ends of the square, making the pink and blue keys there accessible. You'll have to get both keys before you can leave the square by the eastern (blue key) exit.
White objective Go up the ramp at the end of the square, to the 'turntable'. Here we're trying to get up onto the roof of the two sheds. Each of the switches adds a wall an 8th of a circle clockwise of itself, making it impossible to get clockwise round the ring until you hit the same switch again to set it to off. Some of the switches also give you access to extra lives and secret areas. If your robot is smaller than the normal size then it won't be able to press the switches; you can cross the turntable without trouble but won't get any bonuses for the moment. Extremely small robots can also cross the flickery floor (you'll have to do it at top speed, but if you weren't quite quick enough, at least the extra life provided will make up for the one you lost in the attempt) on the left side of the left shed, and climb the easy walkways up to the roof (with walls to stop you falling off). Alternatively, with a robot of at least normal size, avoid the left switch in the first pair you come across; head to your right and go round the ring anticlockwise. Keep going past the first extra lives and stop on the first switch you reach in front of the right shed; do a U-turn to see that this switch has taken away the wall that was in front of the lives. Go and pick them up, and don't worry about any switches that get changed again in this manoeuvre. Carry on round the turntable until you reach another extra life, and again hit the switch immediately after you've passed that section, and go back on yourself to get the life. The switch you've used to open the extra life area has also blocked your way round the turntable back to the sheds... so you'll have to return to that switch and put it back to red (off). Then work your way round clockwise to the sheds, setting the switches to off by driving across them as many times as necessary in whatever order seems to work - you'll get the hang of it! If you have the biggest possible robot you can safely cross the orange lava in the floor of the left shed and use the easy walkways. Everyone else must go for the right shed, take a reasonably fast runup to get up the (unwalled) walkway ramps, but don't overdo it and fall off! At the back of the shed roof, find an area with pink floor and forcefields. Just for once it's the non-switch-capable robots who get more extra lives here... but if you collect whatever you can, ensure both the switches are off and then come back with a different robot, you could get all of them. Finally, find the walkway to the next section...
If you really want to cheat, there's an alternative way to do the turntable and get a black master key that opens every locked wall in this mission. In the first pair of switches, press only the left one and notice how it has powered up a teleporter behind the extra life area to the left of the two sheds... but also put a wall in the way. So you're going to have to jump for it! First though, switch on the next two switches going clockwise round the turntable, so that a total of 3 switches are now on. Go back the way you came towards the city square, revisiting each switch as many times as necessary to make sure all three are left in the on position (green). In the city square, get yourself a much smaller robot then return to the turntable. The corner of the turntable just before the teleporter to the master key, has fractionally shorter walls than the other seven corners, making it possible to aim just to the right of the wall and fly over a tiny bit of the gap in the middle of the turntable. Even with your smaller faster robot, take a runup and be willing to lose lives getting the hang of it. Aim just fractionally to the right of the right end of that wall, going as fast as possible, and jump the tiny gap to land on another pair of switches directly in front of that area. If you bounce off the end of the wall and fall off, adjust your aim to the right a bit for your next attempt. If you're falling to oblivion without bounce, you need to aim slightly to the left next time. Once you've made it, collect your extra life and use the teleporter to reach a secret area on the roof of a building that has the master key! Beam back down to the turntable and make the same jump in the opposite direction. You're again free to scale your robot to whatever size you like. The most drastic thing you can do with this key now, if you want to, is go back to the city square, force your way into the central teleporter and skip the first half of the mission. If you still want to play the whole mission though, it'll certainly come in handy in the next couple of sections...
Look out for slippery ice in the next section, and forcefields that will throw you off the edge. There's a jump here, which is a quicker option than carefully finding a safe path across the ice. As usual, the smaller your robot the more of the ice you'll be able to jump over before you land. Ordinary size robots can take the jump, but they're more likely to come down among the forcefields and get pushed off the edge! If you aren't using a very small robot, aim accurately right down the middle for the jump, so if you accidentally land in the dark grey rubber area between the two forcefields you'll bounce back into the air and avoid the second forcefield. Depending on your speed, when you land you might want to use a bit of reverse thrust to avoid flying off beyond the far edge of the landing area. If instead of jumping you go down the ice, keep it slow! Don't hold down full forward thrust as you run over the bouncy rubber in the middle because you might throw yourself right off the edge. If you've got the master key, collect the extra lives as you go. At the bottom, find the teleporter to the next section.
There are several ways to complete the 'galaxy' section of this mission... but be wary of the ice, lava and flickery floor around here! If you cheated earlier and have the master key, you can bust through the white locked wall to your right and take your robot (of any size) anticlockwise round the very outside of the galaxy - the easiest route of all. If you have the very biggest robot (remember to get the plus size token nearby because you will have shrunk in the last teleportation) you can go the opposite way to your left - over the lava. You'll need the pink or the master key too - that's why we suggested sticking with your one favourite robot so all your keys are available whenever you might need them. If your robot is smaller than usual - and the smaller and faster the better - you can unlock the blue wall in front of you and go over the flickery floor, spiralling in and left towards the middle of the galaxy for some extra lives before spiralling right and outwards to the far side. Be very quick, and if you fail then the floor is gone and you'll have to take a different route on your next attempt. Finally, the only way available to all robots at all times is by ice. Follow the spiral path of ice from the teleporter where you came in, going slowly, steering round the odd wall in your way. This route also crosses the middle of the galaxy for extra lives before spiralling back out to the edge.
Whichever way you crossed the galaxy, you'll eventually reach a lift down to a system of walkways over the city square. You'll see the white pride flag colour switch ahead of you, so press it (if you can) to make the white colour appear on the buildings. Cross one of the walkways to the south side and pick up the white key. The teleporter system here lets you beam yourself down to the middle of the city square - and back. This gives you access to all the different friendly robots and size tokens again, so use them if necessary to get the white switch pressed before continuing with the mission. While you're up on the walkway, if you've got the master key and at least a normal size robot you can find the pyramid in the southeast corner. The walls round the outer corner of the walkway are openable with this key despite not being marked in any key colour, allowing you to burst through them and jump down onto the pyramid. Be careful how you land though - the sides are very steep and the flat area rather narrow. Press the switch to remove the top stone of the pyramid, revealing a whopping 9 extra lives and a teleporter for getting back to the safety of the square1 Don't worry about getting trapped on the pyramid - any robot too small to switch on that teleporter is going to be fast enough to jump back into the square.
Pink or blue objective (whichever of these two colours you didn't choose at the start of the mission) Up on the city square walkways again, make your way between the two tower blocks, southwards towards the moon. Before getting to work on this section of the game though, we'll prepare something for the next. Make sure that (at least just for now) you have a robot big enough to press switches. Turn right and find a slightly raised area with a teleporter to the right of it. Use that to beam yourself to a grandstand at the far side of a racetrack. Press all three switches - these will make things easier later on when we finally get to the racetrack part of the game. Now teleport back the way you came, and if that caused you some robot shrinkage there are plus tokens around here to make up for it.
There are many different solutions here depending on what kind of robot you've got, but they'll be made easier if you can get some (or ideally, all) of the five 'bonus' switches in the central area pressed. Each switch removes some hazards or obstructions towards the end of this section. If you're cheating with the master key (you'll want a switch-compatible robot too) you can simply barge through the walls in three secret unmarked places - a bit like getting to the pyramid earlier. We recommend going to the east side of that central area and facing west, with the forcefields, then the switches, then the glowing blue-green electrical zapper, dead ahead of you. Make sure you're on the white floor, not the pink that would slow you down, then force your way through the grey wall and jump down into the central area, go slowly over the forcefields and immediately use reverse thrust to stop them throwing you right onto the zap-thingy! Be sure to press all five switches then drop down from the south side to the bouncy rubber floor below - slowly so you don't bounce all the way over the edge! Follow the rubber floor to a teleporter that'll beam you up to near the end of this section. There's a completely different way to get the bonus switches pressed if you don't have the master key. If you find the switch that was dead ahead of you on your way into this section of the mission (near the two tower blocks) and press that, an enemy robot will appear in front of you. It'll try to follow you whenever you're close enough but it will change its mind and head towards the west whenever you get too far away. By luring it into position to line up with one of the five switches, then moving away and letting it cross the forcefields and be thrown over the switch to its explodey electrical doom, you can get the switch pressed without going down there yourself. It's a tricky aiming job though - as the robot makes its turning manoeuvre towards the switches it might not line up with them as you'd expected. For some of the switches the only way you can get the robot to stop trying to follow you once it's in position, is by taking a lift (which operates whenever the enemy robot is switched on) up to the raised area at the very end with two plus tokens on it. To get all five switches pressed this way can be tricky and time-consuming, and that robot only has 99 lives for you to waste! But we've found that doing the (slightly easier) middle and end ones last seems to give us fewer mistakes and setbacks. Once you've got as many switches pressed as you think you can hope for, quickly find the switch you initially used to make the enemy appear, and set it to off to destroy the enemy before any of the bonus switches can get changed again! While it may be tempting to let the enemy carry on getting zapped as punishment for everything its colleagues have inflicted on you in the other Prideworld missions, you don't really want any bonus switches to keep getting accidentally changed while you're playing the next bit of the game, so make sure it's off before you continue...
Now, if your robot is maximum size, head to the south (moon) side where there are two lifts of different height. The taller lift goes up to where there's a plus size token and beyond that you can drop down via a series of three floating octagonal platforms, being careful to turn slightly to the right each time and not bounce too far at the bottom. The platforms have electrical zap though, so only the biggest robots can survive going this way. Find a teleporter at the far end to beam yourself up to the top of this section. Alternatively, if you picked a robot at least two sizes down from normal, head west and down a flickery ramp (as quickly as possible so you don't fall through) towards a tall lift up to the highest area. For all other robots, ascend the shorter of the two southern lifts. To your right you'll see an ice walkway with incomplete walls in the way making it more dangerous - be careful not to bounce off those. If you got enough of the bonus switches pressed, there'll be an easier route parallel to it, and maybe more extra lives to collect along the way. Once you're past that lot, don't try to use the downhill ramp with forcefields pointing against you - you'll never get through! Instead, go to the end and find a teleporter to take you to the bottom of the tallest lift. Travel by lift to the very top.
However you got here, you now need to cross this highest area to reach the ramp down to the racetrack. The more of the five bonus switches you managed to press earlier, the easier it'll be, so look out every time you play this for extra floor sections or missing walls that could help you. The switch here makes extra lives appear between it and the central 'spine' of this area of the game. If you didn't manage to get enough of the bonus switches then you'll have to cross flickery floors to get to it, which as always must be done quickly, and is actually impossible with the very biggest robots. Pink sticky floor makes it easier to keep to a slow safe speed, but your steering will be slightly more sensitive. Ice on the other hand, is entirely a problem up here! As you roll down a slope onto ice, use reverse thrust so you won't end up going too fast and being thrown over the far edge. On the bridge over the downward ramp, the walls might be flickery, depending which bonus switches are on. If so, you can avoid the ice entirely by forcing your way through the flickery wall, and then fall from the bridge onto the ramp below. Make sure you're at the very middle of the bridge before trying this one, and be patient - a small robot will have to grind away at the wall for many tens of seconds before it gives way. Once you make it down the ramp, take a very slow jump off the end and down to the racetrack.
You'll have to go round the racetrack anticlockwise because of forcefields. It's not really a race though - the idea is to get from this inner circuit to the outer one and then to escape back to the city square via a switch that'll give you teleporter access to the last of the pride colour switches. Work your way round the track and stop in the pits (as long as you pressed all the grandstand switches earlier) for any extra lives and size tokens you want to help yourself to. If you can, press the switch near the starting grid to dispose of the two racing enemy robots and open up a nice easy ramp to the outer circuit, which you'll find just before the northeast curve. On the other hand, if you're running a small robot that can't press switches then the smaller the better here. Drive round to the north of the circuit until you find a narrow jump ramp with a forcefield to help you accelerate into the jump. Try to move as quickly as possible and put on some right turn on your way up the ramp. It might take you a few attempts even just to aim for the ramp, let alone to make it over the wall and into the outer circuit, but it's possible. If you're struggling (which is most likely if your robot is only slightly smaller than usual) you could go back to the pits to make your robot either smaller and faster for the jump, or big enough to use the switch-based technique above.
When you reach the outer circuit, if your robot is big enough to press switches then that's what you're going to have to do. Go all the way round to the starting grid and hit the outer circuit's switch. This will make all the flickery sections in the track ahead solidify into proper tarmac that a robot as big as yours can safely drive on... but it will also give you two new racing robots to deal with. You could race round for a lap or two and see if you can get them to lose track of you, although that'll depend on what speed you're capable of. Whereas if you're driving too small a robot to press switches, again the smaller the better. In this case just pile on round the flickery curves of the track, as fast and as close to the inside of the curve as you can. If you destroy the track and fall through, the only way it's possible to complete the mission now is to scale up your robot so you can follow the switch-based solution we've just given! To do that, find the outer circuit's jump ramp near the starting grid. If you can see in the pits enough plus tokens to bring your robot up to switch-pressing size then jump towards the left from this ramp, back to the inner circuit for a pitstop. Otherwise, jump to the right from the same ramp, into the grandstand, and teleport yourself back to where you can get more plus tokens... but you'll have to replay a lot of the second half of the mission in order to return to the racetrack by the same ramp that you used to reach it first time round.
Once you've made it round the curves of the outer circuit you'll reach a junction, with size tokens and a switch on the right. This is your way back to the city square. Collect whatever tokens you may need to be able to press this switch, which takes a wall out of your way just ahead and powers up the teleporters in the lower areas of the square. You can now go down to whichever pride colour switch you pressed at the very start - blue or pink - and use the teleporter next to it to reach the switch for the other colour. Press that final switch to complete the mission!
Mission info
Pride flag colour switches: 3
Keys: 4 (one for each pride flag colour plus a master key)
Extra lives: 30
Friendly robots: 6
Enemy robots: 5
Switches: 35 (total including pride flag colour switches)
Lifts: 5
Teleporters: 15
Hazards: ice, flickery floor & walls, rubber, lava & electricity, high altitude, forcefields
Secret areas: 2
Complexity: 1542 polygons, average 4.14 vertices per polygon, 892 walls, 2 vertices per wall
Published: 31-03-2021 (Transgender Visibility Day)