Paper Galaxy

Overview

In Paper Galaxy, Luna the moon is lost in space and must find her way back home to Mother Earth. The player controls Luna as she orbit hops from one friendly planet to the next while avoiding obstacles such as angry Suns and mysterious Black Holes. All the while, an exceedingly cranky Crab Nebula gives chase.

Background

One day, Luna sees a beautiful Cosmic Butterfly flutter past. She gives chase while Mother Earth is asleep. Luna follows the butterfly into deep space before finally losing track of it within a thick cloud of stardust. Luna, who is allergic to stardust, soon begins to sneeze uncontrollably. Her sneezes launch her deeper into the cloud until she smacks into a sleeping Crab Nebula, causing it to awaken. In a foul mood, and never fond of small satellites in any case, the Crab Nebula reaches out with its giant pincers to snatch poor Luna. Only a last-second sneeze saves Luna from this fate as she launches away from the impending pinch of doom and back toward Mother Earth.

Gameplay: Story Mode

OBJECTIVE

At the start of each new game, Luna launches upwards and away from the Crab Nebula. The player's goal is to safely guide Luna back home to Mother Earth, who lies 5000 light years straight up, without being caught by the Crab Nebula.

To do so, the player uses Luna's ability to sneeze out of a planet's orbit to hop from one friendly planet to the next while avoiding obstacles such as Suns and Black Holes. All the while the Crab Nebula gives chase, beginning at the starting point and working its way steadily upward.

A distance meter is present at the left of the screen showing the relative positions of Luna, Mother Earth, and the Crab Nebula.

CONTROLS

Paper Galaxy features a simple one-tap control scheme. When Luna nears a friendly planet, she enters that planet's orbit.

• While in orbit, single-tapping anywhere on screen causes Luna to sneeze, which launches her directly away from the planet based on her current position.
• When not in orbit, i.e. drifting free in space, single-tapping anywhere on screen causes Luna to perform a Super Sneeze, which launches her directly upwards regardless of her current heading. Note that Luna may only perform a Super Sneeze if the player has one available. Super Sneezes must initially be unlocked via the upgrades shop.
• When not in orbit, i.e. drifting free in space, tapping-and-holding anywhere on screen causes Luna to enter Aimed Sneeze mode, which is a special variant of Super Sneeze. During this mode, time dilates and Luna begins to slowly rotate in place. When the hold is released, Luna then launches in the direction her nose is pointing. Note that Luna may only perform an Aimed Sneeze if the player has unlocked this ability from the upgrades shop and has a Super Sneeze available.

COMBO PLANETS

The same Cosmic Butterfly that led Luna astray now attempts to help Luna make it back home. As Luna orbits each basic planet (known as Combo Planets) the Cosmic Butterfly flies ahead to the nearest Combo Planet upwards of Luna's current position. If Luna can hop to that planet's orbit, the player's combo count increases and with each increase to the combo count, Luna's speed increases. If the player lands on a different Combo Planet, the combo counter resets to 0.

At every interval of 10 on the combo count, Luna gains a free Super Sneeze refill!

OTHER FRIENDLY PLANETS

In addition to Combo Planets, Luna can encounter a variety of other helpful intergalactic pals:

• Fast Planets: when Luna orbits one of these ringed planets, it begins to spin her faster and faster. The longer Luna stays in a Fast Planet's orbit, the more speed it imparts.
• Rich Planets: these jovial giants have extra Stars just waiting to be collected.
• Gas Giants: if Luna times her sneeze to exit a Gas Giant's orbit precisely while over its top hat, the Gas Giant will launch Luna far ahead in the direction its hat is pointing.
• Smokey Planets: each Smokey Planet has a Super Sneeze refill pick-up in its orbit.
• Comets: Luna can ride Comets! Upon entering a Comet's orbit, the player can tap up to three (3) times to spur the Comet in the direction of Luna's current position in its orbit. While riding a Comet, Luna can't be affected by Suns or Black Holes, and cannot be caught by the Crab Nebula!
• Record Planets: each Record Planet features a Super Sneeze refill pick-up in its orbit. These planets appear to mark the player's previous best distance.
• Social Planets: each Social Planet features a Super Sneeze refill pick-up in its orbit. These planets appear to mark your friends' best distances for the current week.

NOT-SO-FRIENDLY OBSTACLES

Not everything in the galaxy is helpful...

• Suns: if Luna hits a Sun, she is burned and immediately bounces away from the point of contact at high speed.
• Black Holes: while Luna is caught in a Black Hole, time speeds up outside, effectively making the Crab Nebula gain speed.
• Ice Barriers: flying through an ice barrier freezes Luna. When frozen, Luna cannot orbit any planet, instead bouncing off them. If Luna is frozen, the player must quickly and continuously tap anywhere on screen to break her out of the ice.
• Crab Nebula: after a short initial head start, the Crab Nebula begins to move upward in pursuit of Luna. A tell-tale skittering sound can be heard when the Crab Nebula gets close to Luna, just before he appears on screen. If he gets too close to Luna, he snatches her away and the current game ends.

COLLECTING STARS & PICK-UPS

The galaxy is full of stars and Luna can collect them by passing over them. Collected stars are saved after each game and added to the player's total. Stars can be used to purchase upgrades from the upgrades shop.

In addition to Stars, Luna can also collect Super Sneeze (all modes) and Timer (Frolic mode only) pick-ups. Super Sneeze pickups refill one of Luna's available Super Sneezes. Timer pick-ups increase the amount of time remaining in Frolic Mode.

UPGRADES

After each game, the player can visit the upgrades shop. The player can also pause a current game and choose to quit the current game and head directly to the shop. Note that when quitting a current game to visit the shop, all Stars collected during that game are lost.

The upgrades shop offers thirteen (13) different upgrades, each with ten (10) tiers, for a total of one hundred thirty (130) unique upgrades. Upgrades include:

• Super Sneeze: buying the first Super Sneeze upgrade unlocks the Super Sneeze ability. Each successive tier of this upgrade increases Luna's maximum number of Super Sneezes by one.
• Moon Wax: decreases the amount of inertial drag Luna experiences when flying through space.
• Moon Rise: increases the height and distance of Luna's Super Sneezes.
• Stardust Magnet: increases the range of Star and Pick-Up collection.
• Bounciness: increases the speed and number of subsequent bounces following Luna's initial launch at the start of each game. While bouncing, Luna does enter orbit but can still collect Stars and pick-ups.
• Combo Planet: increases the range at which Luna will enter the orbit of friendly Combo Planets. This makes performing combos easier.
• Fast Planet: increases the acceleration and maximum transferred velocity of Fast Planets. The more this is upgrades, the faster Luna will be spun when orbiting a Fast Planet.
• Rich Planet: increases the number of Stars that appear in the orbits of Rich Planets.
• Gas Giant: buying the first Gas Giant upgrade makes Gas Giants appear in the galaxy. Subsequent tiers of this upgrade make them more and more common.
• Smokey Planet: buying the first Smokey Planet upgrade makes Smokey Planets appear in the galaxy. Subsequent tiers of this upgrade make them more and more common.
• Comet: buying the first Comet upgrade makes Comets appear in the galaxy. Subsequent tiers of this upgrade make them more and more common.
• Black Hole: decreases the frequency at which pesky Black Holes appear.
• Aimed Sneeze: buying the first Aimed Sneeze upgrade unlocks the Aimed Sneeze ability. Each successive tier of this upgrade increases the power of Luna's Aimed Sneeze.

GOALS

In addition to the overarching objective of getting back home to Mother Earth, there are 130 smaller goals to accomplish. Three (3) goals are available each game. The player can view the current game goals by tapping the pause button. The player earns bonus Stars for each goal completed. Each new game, new goals appear to replace any goals completed in the previous game.

Game Play: Frolic Mode

Frolic Mode is unlocked after first completing Story Mode. Key differences in this mode include:

• No Crab Nebula! Instead, Luna is free to play and explore the galaxy until the timer runs out and Mother Earth calls her back home.
• More time can be added to the timer by collecting Timer pick-ups that are scattered around the galaxy.
• More time is also added at every interval of five (5) on the combo count.

In-App Purchases

Stars are used to buy upgrades and can be collected during normal game play. Players may also perform in-app purchases to buy more Stars.

Game Center Integration

There are fourteen (14) Game Center Achievements available for Paper Galaxy players, for a total of 225 points.

The Game Center Leader Board tracks total distance traveled.