DDraceNetwork is a free, open source cooperative 2D precision platformer built on the Teeworlds engine, and it arrived on Steam on 17 August 2020. Up to 64 players share one server and drag each other through thousands of community maps using a grappling hook and a hammer. Official servers run across 14 countries, and every finish feeds a single global points table holding over 33,000 points.
Starting DDraceNetwork can feel overwhelming. This guide tells you exactly what to focus on during your first hours so you don't waste time on things that don't matter yet. For the full progression path, see our walkthrough.
What Kind of Game Is This?
DDraceNetwork is a action game built around Grappling hook movement and Freeze and deep freeze tiles. The core loop involves mastering these systems to progress through increasingly challenging content.
What to expect: Time investment in learning mechanics, experimentation, and gradual mastery. The game rewards patience and knowledge.
Choosing Your First Role
| Role | Beginner Rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Novice runner | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Rank chaser | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Team carry | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Dummy solo player | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
| Map maker | Excellent for beginners | Balanced approach |
Our recommendation: Start with Rank chaser. It offers the most forgiving experience while teaching core mechanics.
Avoid Map maker as your first pick. It requires deep knowledge of game systems to use effectively. Once you're ready, check our classes guide for all options.
First Session Step-by-Step
Step 1: Learn Grappling hook movement
The hook reaches roughly 11 blocks and accelerates you toward whatever it grabs until you hit the cap of about 20 blocks per second. Hooking a teammate instead of a wall lets a pair swing, throw and carry each other across gaps neither tee could cross alone.
This is the foundation. Spend your first 15-30 minutes getting comfortable with how Grappling hook movement works before worrying about anything else. Our combat guide breaks this down further.
Step 2: Head to Novice
The entry category and the largest one, meant to be finished by a group rather than a soloist. Star ratings run from 0 to 5, paying 1 point up to 6 points per map.
Clear the main content here before moving on. Everything teaches fundamentals you'll need later. See our maps guide for all locations.
Step 3: Get Your First Upgrade
Look for Hammer: it's the most accessible early upgrade. The only melee tool and the one you press most often. A hit unfreezes a teammate instantly and pushes them sideways or upward, never down, which powers hammerrun, hammerjump and hammerfly.
Step 4: Understand Freeze and deep freeze tiles
A freeze tile disables movement keys, jumping, the hook and every weapon for a few seconds. Deep freeze refreshes that three second countdown once per second, so only an Undeep tile clears it and a teammate hammer does nothing at all.
This is the system most new players overlook. Invest time here early. It pays off throughout the entire game.
Step 5: Push to Moderate
The step where parts stop forgiving sloppy hook timing. A 0 star Moderate map already pays 5 points, which is more than any Novice map.
Essential Mechanics Explained
Grappling hook movement
The hook reaches roughly 11 blocks and accelerates you toward whatever it grabs until you hit the cap of about 20 blocks per second. Hooking a teammate instead of a wall lets a pair swing, throw and carry each other across gaps neither tee could cross alone.
Freeze and deep freeze tiles
A freeze tile disables movement keys, jumping, the hook and every weapon for a few seconds. Deep freeze refreshes that three second countdown once per second, so only an Undeep tile clears it and a teammate hammer does nothing at all.
Hammer unfreezing
The hammer is short ranged melee that instantly releases any tee it touches from freeze. It never applies downward force, only sideways and upward, which is exactly why hammerjump and hammerfly are built on top of it.
Team system with save codes
Typing /team followed by a number drops you into a private team where every member has to reach the finish together. The /save and /load commands store that team state behind a code, so a group can stop halfway through a Brutal map and resume the identical run days later.
Points scaled by map difficulty
Points depend on the server category plus the map star rating. A Moderate map at 0 stars pays 5 points and a Brutal map at 3 stars pays 24, and each map only ever pays once no matter how many regional servers you finish it on.
Common Beginner Mistakes
1. Treating DDNet as a solo game
Most Novice through Insane maps have parts that physically cannot be passed without a second tee to hook or hammer you.
2. Hammering a deep frozen teammate over and over
Deep freeze ignores the hammer completely and only an Undeep tile releases it.
3. Skipping the Novice category because it looks easy
The category teaches hook release timing, and players who jump straight to Moderate usually stall out for weeks.
4. Forgetting to save a team code on long maps
One disconnect on a Brutal run wipes an entire evening of coordinated progress.
5. Chasing speed before consistency
A part you clear one time in ten will fail somewhere in a twenty minute run, so drill it to near certainty first.
First 5 Hours Checklist
- Understand Grappling hook movement and Freeze and deep freeze tiles
- Choose Rank chaser as starting role
- Clear Novice main content
- Acquire Hammer or equivalent upgrade
- Reach Moderate
- Bind the dummy toggle to a single key before doing anything else. Almost every solo technique, from deepfly to dummy hammer parts, assumes you can swap control between two tees without pausing to open a menu.
- Learn the /r rescue command on your first evening. It teleports you back out of freeze to the last safe position, which turns a dead run into a five second setback rather than a restart from the start line.
Tips for New Players
- Bind the dummy toggle to a single key before doing anything else. Almost every solo technique, from deepfly to dummy hammer parts, assumes you can swap control between two tees without pausing to open a menu.
- Learn the /r rescue command on your first evening. It teleports you back out of freeze to the last safe position, which turns a dead run into a five second setback rather than a restart from the start line.
- Hook the wall before you jump, not after. Beginners jump first and then hook, which wastes the jump, while the correct order lets the hook add its own acceleration on top of your existing upward speed.
- Download the top 5 demo for any map that is beating you. DDNet stores replays of the fastest finishes, and watching a 200 point player route a part is worth more than an hour of blind attempts.
- Use /save after every hard section on a long Brutal map. The code stores your whole team state, so a disconnect or a dinner break costs nothing instead of erasing two hours of progress.
- The laser rifle unfreezes at range and bounces off walls, so aim at the wall behind a trapped teammate when a direct line does not exist. This rescues players stuck in pits that the hammer cannot reach.
- Deep freeze is not the same as freeze. Only an Undeep tile clears it, so stop hammering a deep frozen teammate and carry them to the Undeep tile instead, which is usually placed nearby by the map author.
- Pick a home server region from the 14 available and stay on it. Points are global, but hook timing at 20 ms of ping feels different from 120 ms, and swapping constantly stops your muscle memory from settling.
- Finish every 1 and 2 star Novice map before touching Moderate. The points are small individually, but there are enough of them that the category alone can carry a new player past a thousand points while teaching hook control.
- Join a team with /team before attempting a hard map with friends. Team 0 lets strangers hook and block you mid attempt, while a numbered team isolates the group and makes the finish a shared requirement.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is DDraceNetwork actually free?
Yes, permanently. It is free and open source, released on Steam on 17 August 2020, with no purchases, no ads and no premium servers. The client and the server code are both public.
How do points work?
Each map carries a value set by its server category and its star rating from 0 to 5. A Moderate map at 0 stars pays 5 points and a Brutal map at 3 stars pays 24. Points are global, so finishing the same map on a second regional server pays nothing extra.
Can I play without friends?
Yes. The Solo category is built for single players, and the Novice through Insane servers are usually full of strangers who will hammer you out of freeze without being asked. You can also control a dummy as a second tee.
What is a dummy?
A second tee you control from the same client. It can copy your inputs or be steered separately, and techniques like deepfly and dummy hammer parts depend on it, which makes it near mandatory above the Moderate category.
Which server should I connect to?
Whichever of the 14 official regions gives you the lowest ping, since Germany, Poland, USA, Canada, Russia, China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, India, Chile, Brazil, South Africa and Australia all host servers. Ranks are shared globally, so region choice costs you nothing.
More DDraceNetwork Guides
- DDraceNetwork DDraceNetwork Overview
- DDraceNetwork Best Builds
- DDraceNetwork Tier List
- DDraceNetwork Walkthrough
- DDraceNetwork Tips & Tricks
- DDraceNetwork Weapons Guide
- DDraceNetwork Combat Guide
- DDraceNetwork Boss Guide
- DDraceNetwork Maps & Locations
- DDraceNetwork Crafting Guide
- DDraceNetwork Classes & Characters
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