About

What it is

Lunatic Fling is a space dogfighter for iPhone and iPad where everything is physical. There's no friction: thrust and you keep going, in that direction, until you thrust the other way. A relativistic speed limit means you can get close to top speed but never quite reach it on your own.

A hive in the corner of the sector launches wave after wave. You fight them with one weapon at a time, grab what they drop, and limp home to the harbor to patch up, refuel and shop with the scrap you've scooped. Break the hive open and it spills its hoard, and a tougher one starts to form.

Your ship is built from parts: two wings, a tail fin, a nozzle and a canopy. Hits land where they strike, a part that takes too much tears off, and the ship flies differently without it. What breaks off keeps flying, as wreckage that hurts whatever it hits. Some sectors have a black hole, to slingshot around, orbit, or fling your enemies into.

Every day, the whole world gets the same sector: the same suns, planets and waves. Your first run is the one that counts.

Where it comes from

Lunatic Fling is a tribute to Lunatic Fringe, the space game Ben Haller wrote for Berkeley Systems' After Dark in 1991: Newtonian dogfighting in a wrap-around sector, with no friction and a speed limit you could feel. The name is a wink; the physics are the homage. Everything else is new, and nothing from the original is used.

Who makes it

Lunatic Fling is made by Marc Hoag and published by Axiomic, LLC. Questions, bugs or a good story about the time a black hole ate your ship: marc@axiomic.ai.

The type is Righteous and Chakra Petch, both under the SIL Open Font License.