Slingshot Speeders | Quick Tutorial | The First Orbital Racing Game
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Slingshot Speeders | Quick Tutorial | The First Orbital Racing Game
@jaykrown@lemmy.world
member since 20 Nov 2024 02:17
posts
Slingshot Speeders, the first orbital racing game, is now in a true MVP state with the v0.2.0
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I’ve been working on this solo for a solid two months now. Finally, I’m happy to announce that it’s now in a minimum viable product beta condition with the v0.2.0 and Season Zero.
Experience real physics while racing. By learning to play you also learn the basics of orbital mechanics, with concepts taught in an introductory physics class. Fly a space ship around gravity bodies in a server authoritative simulation.
If signed in, you earn points (Pax) by completing daily challenges which they can use to buy visual cosmetics and create new map challenges in the MapMake system. There is the Founder’s Pack which grants an exclusive time limited cosmetic pack.
In the video what you are seeing is a true slingshot being performed by a player who understands orbital mechanics to increase their relative speed and direction the most efficient (lowest time/fuel) possible. You can read more on the site if you’re interested in trying it out, thanks for reading!
Free to play in browser with no account.
The first orbital racing game Slingshot Speeders now has cosmetics and an extreme difficulty rotating map and refueling system
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It’s free to play in browser without an account. Feel free to ask me any questions, happy to talk about it! The next update will be the Season Zero which won’t be wiped. I plan on creating many more maps through the in-game map making system once is fully live to ensure there’s plenty of challenges along with weeklies.
slingshotspeeders.com/changelog
Slingshot Speeders now has an in-game map making system
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Orbital racing in browser for free without an account using real inverse square gravity. Players that have signed in with google can now create and share their custom maps once a week. If you have any questions/feedback please comment, and thanks to you for being supportive.
The first orbital racing game is now officially v0.1.0 and has new fun challenges
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You can view my previous post lemmy.world/post/50602921
slingshotspeeders.com No account required, free to play in browser online.
The new snake map is a little bit of everything, pushing, pulling, moving, static. I still haven’t found the best path. Thanks to everyone who played last time, your feedback helped shape what it is today.
A plan I have in the future is to pay homage to “Spacewar! (1962)” and add a PvP 1v1 battle mode around a gravitation well.
I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics
i.imgur.compreview
masland.tech/slingshot-speeders/
No account required! Your goal is to get your orbit into the green zone as quickly as possible using as little fuel as possible. For anyone who’s played games like Kerbal Space Program, you should know exactly the vibe.
If you have any suggestions or feature requests, please let me know. I hope to add PvP real time racing soon with rounds, more chaotic maps that have moving gravity wells, and more! (maybe even combat?) Currently there is a leader board for best score.
It uses Rust Bevy 0.19 and is compiled to WASM in the browser, purely server side authority, impossible to cheat or manipulate the server state from the client side. A full client-server architecture and client prediction system.
Thanks for playing!
comments
- on Bernie Sanders says if AI is coming for workers, it should bring a four-day workweek with it in c/technology@lemmy.world · 17 Sep 2026
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on The first orbital racing game Slingshot Speeders now has cosmetics and an extreme difficulty rotating map and refueling system in c/games@lemmy.world · 4 Sep 2026
I can actually navigate using the gravity and velocity arrows without the trajectory line, it’s a pretty weird experience. You have the ability to toggle them off, and key bind. It’s 4 and 5, and it should save your choice so you don’t have to keep doing it.
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on The first orbital racing game Slingshot Speeders now has cosmetics and an extreme difficulty rotating map and refueling system in c/games@lemmy.world · 4 Sep 2026
Yea the Rocinante is a cool attempt to design a hard physics combat ship, a part of the inspiration for the game was the slingshotter Belters not the MCR. Manéo is remembered.
Check out the Y Que. expanse.fandom.com/wiki/Y_Que
I’ll be working on a very short rapid tutorial explaining as much as I can and put a tutorial button on the main home screen.
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on The first orbital racing game Slingshot Speeders now has cosmetics and an extreme difficulty rotating map and refueling system in c/games@lemmy.world · 4 Sep 2026
Thank you, that’s good to know about the initial scaling, I’ll set it to 100% instead of 50%, also knowing you have to exit to adjust is good to know, I’ll make a proper dedicated exit button on the settings page. As stated previously this is what I’ll do regarding ship rotation and size:
The ship size I will be scaling up by about 20% on screen, along with adding a white arrow that points in the direction it’s facing, similar to the yellow force arrows which can be toggled on and off, and I’ll add a feature to separate the toggle so you can turn off force arrows while keeping the direction arrow.
I won’t be making ships a certain shape to make them easier to know which way they’re pointed. Because space has no air, no need for aerodynamics.
There’s an entire replay system where you can see all other player’s runs, easily by clicking the leaderboard runs, or going to a user’s profile history. If you’re playing the easy map and it’s too easy, and you’re sitting waiting for 2-3 minutes, check out the fastest run which are around 25 seconds on both Prime and Reach. I’m glad you found the more difficult maps more enjoyable. The easy maps are genuinely meant to be for people who have no concept of orbital mechanics at all. Where as a map like Apollo is for someone skilled in capturing a moon’s orbit manually. So if you want a challenge then do the Apollo map, you’ll be burning and rotating in all directions.
You can also make your own maps with the map making system! slingshotspeeders.com/m/vnocbt8g
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on The first orbital racing game Slingshot Speeders now has cosmetics and an extreme difficulty rotating map and refueling system in c/games@lemmy.world · 4 Sep 2026
Thank you for the feedback, I have a solution as mentioned in another comment just to make sure you saw:
The ship size I will be scaling up by about 20% on screen, along with adding a white arrow that points in the direction it’s facing, similar to the yellow force arrows which can be toggled on and off, and I’ll add a feature to separate the toggle so you can turn off force arrows while keeping the direction arrow.
On mobile I could add an indicator to the top of the screen like an icon which displays an arrow representing ship angle rotation.
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on The first orbital racing game Slingshot Speeders now has cosmetics and an extreme difficulty rotating map and refueling system in c/games@lemmy.world · 4 Sep 2026
Seriously thank you for the feedback and I’m glad you like the idea. Scaling should work if you go to settings, and rebinding R to something else. I have made the adamant decision to never add time controls to the core simulation for multiple reasons, but I encourage you to try to map making system to make tighter faster maps. Most maps are already under 2 minutes to complete, but indeed the easy once involve only two major maneuvers unlike the hard ones.
The ship size I will be scaling up by about 20% on screen, along with adding a white arrow that points in the direction it’s facing, similar to the yellow force arrows which can be toggled on and off, and I’ll add a feature to separate the toggle so you can turn off force arrows while keeping the direction arrow.
The point of QE to rotate is to provide meaning and skill to ship main thrust vectoring, which is much more realistic similar to a game like Rocket League. You can use RCS but it’s only 50% as powerful and doesn’t have afterburner. Did you have issues choosing increasing the scaling in the settings? On my phone I typically do 150% and it allows for up to 200%. Thanks again for playing!
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on The first orbital racing game Slingshot Speeders now has cosmetics and an extreme difficulty rotating map and refueling system in c/games@lemmy.world · 3 Sep 2026
I seriously appreciate it, thank YOU. Please let me know if you have any suggestions or issues while playing. I’m completely open to any feedback. Anyone who plays signed in will be receiving a free exclusive variant of the Brick hull that will persist beyond the wipe. No one will be able to obtain it once the Season Zero begins.
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on The first orbital racing game is now officially v0.1.0 and has new fun challenges in c/games@lemmy.world · 22 Aug 2026
I created a FAQ slingshotspeeders.com/faq
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on 80% of developers find AI coding more addictive than helpful in c/technology@lemmy.world · 22 Aug 2026
You can think whatever you want, go ahead.
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on 80% of developers find AI coding more addictive than helpful in c/technology@lemmy.world · 22 Aug 2026
That’s only if you have no idea what you’re doing with it. Depending on your skill level in development, that is not the case at all.
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on Fairphone Is Finally Selling Its Repairable Phone in the US in c/technology@lemmy.world · 19 Aug 2026
Bluetooth is fine for mobile.
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on Torvalds: AI Is the New Compiler, Not the New Programmer in c/technology@lemmy.world · 18 Aug 2026
Using AI with Rust compiler is a combination that’s worked well for me many times already. You can check out slingshotspeeders.com if you want to experience compiled Rust in the browser using Bevy 0.19 for an orbital mechanics simulation racing game for free with no account easily.
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on Never seen it this bad in c/programmer_humor@programming.dev · 17 Aug 2026
I primarily use GitLab, is that actually better?
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 15 Aug 2026
What I did instead is I added an afterburner, so you can hold shift to 2x your thrust force. I’ve firmly decided to not have any manipulation of the time in the core simulation, but I did add it to the replay mode.
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on Amazon's New AI Data Center Is So Enormous That It Appears It Will Become the Largest Single Source of Pollution in the United States in c/technology@lemmy.world · 15 Aug 2026
Shut it down.
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 13 Aug 2026
It’s working now, you can click the orbital body you want to view your orbit relative to.
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 13 Aug 2026
Thanks for playing, I’ll be working on that today so you can choose which body is focused in terms of relative orbit. Pretty weird seeing the orbit around the planet while orbiting the moon.
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 13 Aug 2026
Player Bread is at the top of the leaderboard!!! Congratulations 🎉
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 13 Aug 2026
Thank you, please let me know if you have any suggestions. It doesn’t support mobile yet, but that’ll be something to consider once the fundamentals are more set in place.
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 13 Aug 2026
The Expanse is awesome, I still remember that scene. Thanks, if you have any issues or suggestions please let me know.
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 13 Aug 2026
Thank you and I hear you, I’ll be working on speed/time control today.
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on I created "Slingshot Speeders" which is a free browser 2d top down racing game using realistic orbital mechanics in c/games@lemmy.world · 13 Aug 2026
Awesome idea, thank you so much for mentioning it. I’ll work on this today.
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on Linus Torvalds says AI has made 'huge' Linux kernel updates the new normal in c/technology@lemmy.world · 12 Aug 2026
All the sloppers are torn about this, but Torvalds has undeniable mastery at this, so it’s great to see AI being used as a beneficial tool. If there’s a single person who should have unlimited access to the most powerful AI models, it should be Linus Torvalds.
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on Top economist warns that the AI math doesn’t make sense: 'Profits are currently being funded by investors rather than earned from customers' in c/technology@lemmy.world · 11 Aug 2026
It’s a giant economic bubble in plain view.
The whole “four-day workweek” thing, just say “higher pay” because what you’re really asking for is that people get paid more per hour worked, such that they get paid the same, and only work four days instead of five. Why do you have to make it so complicated? PAY PEOPLE THEIR FAIR SHARE.