Hi, thanks for playing the game~ It is a short game that expressed some aspects of my game manifesto for the given prompt "Game Manifesto".
There are multiple ways to end the game. The ending you got (moving up at a very low speed) is one of them. You can also walk down leave the stairs, wait for your friend to come back and get you up, and also you can exploit the control scheme to "Break" the game ( Notice that when you are facing the 2nd level you move slower. You can turn your back walking backward to the 2nd level at a normal speed)
In this game, I am trying to consider every aspect that players might want to do on this stairs, respect their possible behaviors, and design for all those behaviors.
Hope you like it~