Latchline

Latchline

A one-button arcade game. You swing a small robot through a city at night, from street lamps, crane hooks and neon signs. Hold the screen to grab the light ahead of you, and let go to fling yourself at the next one.

There's a new course every day, and everyone plays the same one.

iPhone and Android versions are on the way

How it plays

  1. Hold

    Hold anywhere on the screen and your rope goes to the white light ahead. You keep your speed from one swing to the next.

    The robot hanging from a crane hook in Tower Heights, scoring 120 points

  2. Let go

    The rope turns gold at the best moment to let go. Release then and it counts as a perfect: you keep your speed and gain a little. Land several in a row and your trail turns cyan.

    The robot on a gold rope in Canal Docks, the moment to let go

  3. Skip

    Once you're going fast enough, you can fly straight past a light instead of grabbing it. Each light you skip in one flight is worth more than the last, but the points only count if you catch the next one.

    The robot flying past a light in Crane Yard, worth 640 points

The daily course

Every day there's a new course, and it's the same for every player. It always starts in Neon Square, then runs through the other seven districts in a different order. The further you get, the further apart the lights are and the steeper the climbs.

  • Neon SquareStarts hereLamps and signs dotted around an open square.
  • Lamp RowA straight street with evenly spaced lamps.
  • Sign AlleyA narrow alley with signs on both walls, alternating high and low.
  • Crane YardA building site where cranes hang hooks at two or three heights, then leave a gap.
  • Canal DocksLow dock lamps just above the water.
  • Tower HeightsHooks on long cables from tower cranes too tall to see the top of.
  • Stair StreetSigns up a stepped street on a hill, then a drop.
  • Long BridgeSuspension bridge hangers, far apart and all at the same height.

Every day

Three challenges a day

One easy, one medium and one hard, such as travelling 1,000 m in a day or landing 40 perfects in one run. Clear all three and you get a clean sweep.

The result screen: 5,375 points and 342 m into Long Bridge, all three challenges cleared

Your ghost

From your second run on, a faint copy of your best run that day swings along with you, so you can see whether you're ahead of it.

Sparks and looks

Sparks hang along the best lines through the course. Collect them to unlock new looks for your robot and its trail.

An orange robot in Neon Square, just ahead of the grey ghost of an earlier run

Daily leaderboard

On Android you can sign in to Google Play Games and see where your best run of the day ranks among everyone who played the same course. Signing in is optional.

A few more things

Your points go through a combo multiplier that goes up to ×11. If you fall, you're back on a rope in under a second.

Your phone gives a small tap on every grab, and the synth soundtrack builds as you speed up. After a run you can copy your result as text and paste it into a chat.

You don't need an account, it works offline, and your progress is stored on your phone. The one exception is the leaderboard: if you sign in to Play Games, your best score of the day goes to Google.

Play Latchline

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