Gigglenova patch notes: fairer bosses and clearer Charm cards

What's new in Gigglenova?

This Gigglenova update makes the Grump Lord bosses fairer and the Charm cards clearer. Gigglenova is Wibble's free online space shooter for kids, where you tickle grumpy aliens into giggles and nobody gets hurt. After this update, boss patterns always arrive in one piece, sweeping beams give you more warning, every Tickler has a fair shot at cheering up a boss, and each Charm card tells you in plain words what it does.

Two Grump Lords and one Charm also have new names. Saved runs carry straight on, and there's nothing to download. New to the game? Start with our Gigglenova launch story.

New: Charm cards that explain themselves

After every boss you pick one of three Charms. Each card now leads with one big, plain-words line, like "Grump Globs drift a little slower" or "More Glee Pods drop from aliens". The exact numbers are still there in small print for players who like the details.

• ⭐ Evolves. This badge marks the Charm that will evolve your current Tickler. It also shows how close you are, for example "Tickler level 3/5 · reach 5!", or tells you it evolves right away if your Tickler is already at level 5.
• 🤝 Duet. This tag appears when picking the card would complete a Duet with a Charm you already have. It names the Duet and says what it does.
• 🔗 Pairs with. A softer hint shows up when both halves of a Duet are in the same deal.

The badges use an icon and words, not colour alone, and the card's name for screen readers is built from the same words.

New names for three familiar faces

Two Grump Lords and one Charm have new names:

• Mopebot Mk-9, the Grump Lord with the spinning pinwheel of globs.
• Rattlewheel Grumbolt, the Grump Lord that sends out rings of globs.
• Slowcoach Globs, the Charm that makes Grump Globs drift a little slower.

Slowcoach Globs works just as before; like every Charm card, it now also leads with a plain-words line. Mopebot Mk-9 and Rattlewheel Grumbolt keep their signature moves, and like every Grump Lord they also get this update's fairer patterns (see below).

Improved: fairer Grump Lord bosses

Gigglenova has always announced every boss move before it happens. This update makes sure what you read is what you get:

• Patterns arrive whole. A wall of globs, a ring, a pinwheel spoke or a fan now appears all at once. If the screen is too busy, the boss waits until there's room. If there still isn't room after a few seconds, it calls off the rest of that move. You never get half a wall with surprise holes in it.
• Longer warnings on sweeping beams. Pouticus the Proud's favourite move now always shows its warning line for at least 1.1 seconds before it starts to sweep. On Cadet the warning lasts at least 1.6 seconds, and deep in the game Cadet beams stay at a gentler top speed. As before, beams sweep extra slowly in the first three sectors on every difficulty.
• Gentler on Cadet, the tidy way. On Cadet, boss patterns use fewer pieces, such as fewer rows in a wall or fewer globs in a ring, instead of leaving gaps inside a row.

Improved: every Tickler can cheer up a boss

Some Ticklers used to take longer to cheer up a Grump Lord than others. Now the slower ones get a boost against bosses, so whichever Tickler you've built up, cheering up a boss takes a similar amount of time.

• Kazoo Wave now reaches the boss even when you're flying near the bottom of the screen.
• Tickle Bolts at level 1, the Tickler every run starts with, count double on a Grump Lord, so a new pilot's first boss doesn't drag on.
• The boost is for Grump Lords only. Regular waves of aliens play just as before.

Improved: bonus Smiles at a steady pace

You still earn a bonus Smile now and then as your score grows. Scores get bigger the deeper you fly, so the points needed for each bonus Smile now grow with the sector too. That means bonus Smiles come at a steady pace in every sector instead of piling up later on. You can't hold more Smiles than your limit, and Cadet hands them out most often.

Fixed

• Captain Pip's tips now pop up right in their spot, instead of sliding across your ship on the way there.
• The SYNERGY! cheer after an Evolve or a Duet now stays up long enough to read, instead of being covered by the next sector's banner.
• Picking a Charm with the keyboard: Enter or Space picks the card you've highlighted.
• Saved runs from before the update load as normal. If your run was parked just before Mopebot Mk-9 or Rattlewheel Grumbolt, you'll meet them under their new names.

Do I need to do anything?

No. Gigglenova runs in your web browser, so the update arrives on its own. If you still see an old name, your browser may be showing a saved copy of the page. Closing the page and opening it again, once or twice, brings in the update.

For grown-ups: this update doesn't change how accounts, saving or the leaderboard work. Saved runs stay on the same device and browser, as before. The changes are about fairness and clarity: boss warnings are longer and patterns arrive whole, so watching the warning and moving early pays off, and each Charm card leads with a short plain-words line instead of numbers. For more about how Wibble handles children's play, see the For parents page.

Ready to try it? Open the Gigglenova page or jump straight into Gigglenova.