Score
0
Best
-
Keep a kite flying through gusts and lulls that grow stronger every second. Hold to pull the line in, let go to pay it out, and score for every second the kite stays high.
Hold anywhere on the screen (or Space) to pull: the line reels in and the kite climbs. Let go and the line runs out: the kite drifts further away but sinks unless the wind is strong. Keep it between the ground and the dashed line near the top, and keep the tension bar out of the red.
The kite starts on 40 m of line at 35° in a steady 7 m/s breeze, and nothing moves until your first touch. Pulling reels the line in at 4 m/s and adds 4.2 m/s of airspeed; once the line is down to its 10 m minimum you can only tug with your arm, which adds 1.5 m/s. Letting go pays the line out at 6 m/s, up to 140 m, but the slack line leaves the kite only 60% of the airspeed. The higher the kite stands in the sky, the less the wind can lift it.
Gusts and lulls take turns. Each one swells for 0.8 s, holds for 1 to 2.5 s and fades for 0.8 s, and their size is 2 m/s plus 0.2 m/s for every second you have flown, with no limit. White streaks blow in from the left and reach the kite about a second before the wind they show: long, bright streaks mean a gust, few short ones mean a lull.
The run ends when the kite touches the ground (below 2°), is blown past 85° overhead and collapses, or the line snaps after staying too long above its tension limit — the white mark on the bar. While you let line out, tension is only 35% of what it would be while pulling. Score is the kite's height in metres, added up every second it flies.
Fly with the wind, not against it. When a gust arrives, let go: the line runs out, the kite gains height from the extra length, and the tension drops to about a third. When a lull comes, pull: reeling in creates your own airspeed and keeps the kite up until the wind returns. The streaks give you about a second of warning, so make the change as they arrive instead of after the kite has already started to fall or the line has already turned red.
Line length is your score. Height is line length times how steep the kite stands, so a kite at 140 m and 45° scores far more than one on 30 m straight overhead. Spend calm moments letting line out a little at a time, and give back only as much as a lull forces you to. Do not reel all the way in: at the 10 m minimum your arm adds only 1.5 m/s instead of 4.2 m/s, and a lull at that length is very hard to survive.
Watch the dashed line near the top. Holding in steady wind makes the kite climb quickly, and above about 70° it rises toward 85° faster than you expect when a gust hits. Let go before a big gust if the kite is already high, so it has room to rise. A kite sitting in the middle of the sky has room in both directions, which matters more as the gusts grow.
The weather gets worse every second, and from 220 seconds of flight even a gentle gust will carry the kite past the top whatever you do, so every flight ends. Most good flights end long before that. A low, careful flight that lasts longer can still lose to a high, bold one that ends sooner — the score counts height as well as time.