Hoop Timing
Hoop Timing is a single timing decision repeated until you get it wrong three times. A marker sweeps back and forth across a bar, there is a green zone in the middle, and you shoot when the marker is inside it.
What makes it a game rather than a test is that it does not stay the same. Every basket you sink shrinks the green zone a little and speeds the marker up, so the window you are aiming at keeps closing while your reactions stay where they are.
Three misses ends the round. If you have played a wrestling game and hit the timing meter that pops up during a move, this will feel immediately familiar. It is the same idea, pulled out on its own.
How Hoop Timing works
A marker moves back and forth across a power bar. Pressing Shoot while the marker is inside the green zone scores the basket.
The green zone shrinks by a small amount after every successful shot, and the marker speeds up, so the window keeps getting tighter.
You get three misses. On the third the round ends and your basket count is shown.
Controls
Click or tap the Shoot button, or press the spacebar on desktop.
Press Start to begin and Play again after the round ends.
Tips
The first three or four baskets are easy and you should treat them that way. Do not rush them, just take the shot when the marker is clearly in the green.
Around five baskets in, the zone starts visibly shrinking. That is the point to stop shooting on instinct and start watching the marker cross the zone once before you commit.
By six or seven the marker is moving fast enough that reacting is too slow. You have to press slightly before the marker reaches the middle rather than when it gets there.
Use the spacebar if you are on a laptop. It is quicker than moving to the button.
Notes from playing it
Two rounds so far. Seven baskets the first time, ten the second.
The difficulty curve is well judged. Three or four baskets in it still feels easy. Around five the zone starts narrowing and you notice it. By six or seven the marker has picked up enough speed that it becomes genuinely hard, and that is where both my rounds ended.
The shrinking zone is clearly visible, which matters. You can see the game getting harder rather than just feeling it, and that makes the misses feel fair.
The spacebar on a laptop is easier than tapping the button on a phone. Pressing a key you are already resting a finger on beats moving your thumb to a target, and at the speeds this game reaches that gap shows.
This is the one I have enjoyed most so far. It reminded me of the timing meters in WWE games, where a bar fills during a move and you have to hit the button inside the right window to pull it off. Same concept, stripped down to just that.