Earth from space, with cargo ships and satellites streaming out toward the Moon.
English

MoonMan

Save the Moon. Save the mine. Save humanity.

The Moon mine is collapsing and you are the only one who can stop it. Launch off the rock, then make your way to the surface. You're the last hope for survival!

Play in your browser

The App Store and Google Play versions are coming soon.

  • Free, no ads, no purchases
  • iPhone, Android and the web
  • 14 languages

The story

One MoonMan left at the bottom

In the future, the Moon is mined for moon diamonds, and civilization depends on them for its energy.

The miners who dig out the moon diamonds are the most respected people on Earth. Every city runs on stones that passed through their hands, and they hold on to every one, whatever the Moon throws at them. On Earth they are called Diamond Hands.

Then a meteor hits. The main shaft starts to collapse, and the crew near the surface get away in time. Far below, one MoonMan is still at work.

If the shaft goes, the Moon loses its hold on its orbit and falls toward Earth. Climb to the surface and save humanity.

  1. The Moon in a pale haze, with a bright flash where the meteor strikes.
    A meteor strikes the Moon.
  2. The mine head on the Moon's surface: a winding tower over the shaft, miners venting clear of the shaft and a shuttle lifting off.
    The crew near the surface get away.
  3. The dark shaft rushing past on the way down, with a depth counter reading minus 42,069 meters.
    Far, far down the shaft.
  4. MoonMan swinging an axe on the mine floor, beside a cluster of glowing moon diamonds and an ore cart.
    One MoonMan is still at work.

A short film tells the story before your first run.

Moon diamonds

Why the mine runs so deep

Civilization depends on moon diamonds for its energy, so the shaft was dug far down into the Moon to reach them. You will see them glowing in the rock all the way up.

Moon diamonds in pink, violet, gold, blue and white, set into the grey rock of the mine floor.

How to play

One thumb, anywhere on the screen

Every run starts on the mine floor, and a few seconds later the floor splits. Four moves get you out.

  1. Holding to aim: the arrow swings out from MoonMan on a ledge above Venus.

    Hold to aim

    Press and hold anywhere. An arrow swings back and forth. A steep jump climbs higher. A flat one crosses faster.

  2. Just after letting go: MoonMan leaves the wall over Mars.

    Let go to jump

    Release to launch. Your first jump from the floor can go to either wall. After that you leap from wall to wall.

  3. Turning in the air over Saturn, tipped to one side and venting, with the thumb dial pushed to one side at the bottom of the screen.

    Slide to turn

    In the air, hold and slide your thumb left or right to turn. Turning vents air from your suit, so keep it short.

  4. Landing above Neptune: MoonMan's boots meet the rock square on.

    Land feet first

    Get your boots square to the rock before you touch it. Come in crooked or too fast and your suit tears.

What you'll fly into

  • O₂. Refills your air. Air drains while you idle, faster while you vent, and faster again for every tear in your suit.

  • Heart. Seals one tear in your suit.

  • Shield. Absorbs your next hit. You can hold two, and a charge shows as a bubble around you.

On a computer, hold Space or an arrow key. In the air, ← → or A D turn you.

Let the game walk you through it

Learn it in six short lessons

The training ground teaches one thing at a time: the jump, the turn, the landing, taking cover, finding air, and hearts and shields. It is on the title screen and in Settings.

  1. Jump. Hold, and let go when the arrow points where you want to go.
  2. Vent and turn. Hold to vent, and slide your thumb to turn in the air.
  3. Land well. Boots square to the rock and a slow approach make a PERFECT.
  4. Take cover. Wait flat on a ledge while rock falls past.
  5. Air and O₂. Venting spends your air. Fly into O₂ to fill the tank.
  6. Hearts and shields. A heart patches a tear. A shield takes the next hit.
  • MoonMan on the floor of the training shaft, an arrow swinging out from the boots, a coach line overhead and a goal of 0 of 6.
    Hold, and an arrow swings out from the floor.
  • MoonMan tipped over in open shaft, inside the vent ring, with the thumb dial below it pushed to one side and a coach line overhead.
    Vent in open shaft, and slide a thumb to turn.
  • MoonMan crossing the shaft with boots turned square to the right-hand wall, a coach line about landing overhead and a goal of 0 of 4.
    Square boots and a slow approach make a PERFECT.
  • MoonMan on a ledge on the right-hand wall while a small rock falls past in the shaft, under a coach line about taking cover.
    Wait on a flat ledge and falling rock goes past.
  • MoonMan on a ledge while an O₂ canister drifts down the shaft, under a coach line about air.
    Fly into an O₂ canister to fill your tank.
  • A heart drifting down the shaft toward MoonMan, whose suit gauge shows a tear, under a coach line about patching it.
    A heart patches a tear in your suit.

Choose your MoonMan

Pick one of four suits the first time you play: classic red, cobalt, moss or plum. Change it any time in Settings. A suit changes the look and nothing else, so the boards stay fair whichever you wear.

The four MoonMan suits side by side: classic red, cobalt, moss and plum.

In the shaft

What happens on the way up

Flow and PERFECT landings

Land square and gently for a PERFECT and your flow grows. Flow makes every jump faster, and with enough of it your points count double. A scrappy landing loses most of it, and a torn suit loses the lot.

The collapse

Three seconds after you drop your axe, the floor splits. Falling rock chases you up the shaft and gets faster as you climb. When it gets close, a countdown starts and the edges of the screen burn red. If it catches you, the run is over.

Air and pickups

Your air runs down all the time. Grab O2 to top it up. Hearts float by and patch a tear in your suit. A shield takes the next hit or bad landing for you.

Shaft events

Now and then something happens to the whole shaft. Each event is announced a couple of seconds before it hits.

  • Solar flare. Get to a ledge. The rock gives you shade.
  • Eclipse. Earth blocks the sun. Fly by your helmet lamp and the ring around you.
  • Magnetic storm. Gusts push you across the shaft.
  • Meteor shower. Stay out of the marked lane.
  • Aftershock. Brace. The shaft is about to jolt.
  • MoonMan pushed sideways by a gust in the air above Saturn, under a Magnetic storm warning.
    A magnetic storm pushes you toward the far wall.
  • MoonMan in a narrow stretch of shaft beside a marked lane, under a Meteor shower warning.
    In a meteor shower, the marked lane shows where it will fall.
  • MoonMan on a ledge above Jupiter, with a crack running through the rock overhead.
    Wait too long on a ledge, sooner under an overhang, and the rock above you breaks loose.

Marks in the shaft

Your best height is marked across the shaft, and so is the next climber above you. Pass a mark and the game tells you.

A marked line across the shaft with a climber's callsign and height on it, and MoonMan in the air below it.

Laps and score

Every meter you climb scores a point. Past Neptune the shaft runs on: your air refills and one tear in your suit is patched. Then the next lap starts over Earth, a little harder, and every lap you finish adds a bigger bonus than the last.

Between laps you fly on up the shaft at speed for a few seconds while the lap's numbers come up. Nothing falls and your air holds. It is a moment to rest your thumb.

MoonMan flying up the middle of the shaft at speed, light streaking past, with the lap's numbers on a panel above.

The universe

The solar system, behind the shaft

Behind the shaft, the solar system slides past as you climb, with planets drawn from real NASA imagery. Each zone is 100 meters of shaft.

  1. MoonMan on a ledge in the shaft, with Earth below.

    Zone Earth

    Home, and the start of every lap.

  2. MoonMan climbing above the pale cream clouds of Venus.

    Zone Venus

    Wrapped in thick cloud.

  3. MoonMan above the grey, cratered face of Mercury.

    Zone Mercury

    The smallest planet.

  4. MoonMan crossing the shaft over the blazing surface of the Sun.

    Zone The Sun

    Our star, up close.

  5. MoonMan above Mars, with a satellite drifting down the shaft.

    Zone Mars

    With its moons Phobos and Deimos.

  6. MoonMan aiming a jump in the asteroid belt, with distant rocks behind the shaft.

    Zone Asteroid belt

    More rock falls through the shaft here.

  7. MoonMan aiming a jump above the banded clouds of Jupiter.

    Zone Jupiter

    With Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

  8. MoonMan above Saturn, with its rings across the sky.

    Zone Saturn

    With Titan, Enceladus and Rhea.

  9. MoonMan above the pale blue face of Uranus.

    Zone Uranus

    With Titania, Oberon and Miranda.

  10. MoonMan aiming a jump above the deep blue clouds of Neptune.

    Zone Neptune

    With Triton, the last zone of a lap.

Up close

  • Two of Jupiter's moons in the sky above its clouds, as MoonMan aims the next jump.
    Jupiter and its moons
  • Saturn's rings across the sky above the shaft, as MoonMan aims the next jump.
    Saturn's rings
  • The shaft opening onto the glowing orange surface of the Sun.
    The surface of the Sun
  • MoonMan aiming a jump above Neptune's blue clouds.
    Neptune, the last zone of a lap

Also in the game

More to know

  • An opening film

    A short film sets up the story before your first run, from the meteor strike to the last MoonMan at the bottom of the shaft.

  • Drum and bass

    One continuous drum and bass score plays through every run and changes as you climb. While you aim, an acid bass line joins in.

  • Boards

    See where your best climbs place on the Today, This week, 30 days and All time boards.

  • Your callsign

    Your callsign is made from a list of safe words and a number. Nobody types a name, there is no email and no password, and players under 13 rank on the boards like everyone else.

  • 14 languages

    Play in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Turkish, Indonesian, Arabic or Hindi.

  • Phone, tablet or computer

    Play in your browser today. The iPhone and Android apps are coming soon to the App Store and Google Play.

About

Who made MoonMan

MoonMan is made by Michael Duncan McArthur, who runs 4th Culture, a product strategy and design practice in Toronto. He sketched the first version of the game in 2013 while working at BNOTIONS.

He has spent twenty-five years shaping digital products. He also builds his own apps and has made electronic music as Gorf since 2003.

Gorf produces, composes and plays electronic music live. Listen at gorfmusic.com.

See more of his work at gorfed.net.

What's new

Sign in from your phone

1.1.0

  • Signing in now works inside the iPhone and Android apps. Google and Discord open in your phone's browser and bring you straight back to the game.
  • On iPhone and iPad you can also sign in with Apple. The game asks Apple for a sign-in code only, with no email and no name.
  • Settings links to two new pages: Support, with answers to common questions, and Delete your data, which shows how to remove everything the server keeps about you.
  • In the opening film, the rush of air now lands as the camera reaches the bottom of the shaft, and the low hum keeps going until the meteor comes in.

All time means all time

1.0.4

  • There are four boards now: Today, This week, 30 days and All time.
  • All time keeps each climber's best climb ever, not just the last 30 days. Climbs already on the boards count.

The same rule in both

1.0.3

  • The Terms of Service now say what the Privacy Policy does: climbers under 13 are on the online leaderboards, under the callsign the game made for them.
  • The Privacy Policy now lists what the player ID is used for, and how long each thing kept about a climber under 13 is kept.

The suit you chose

1.0.2

  • MoonMan's boots keep their colour in play. The cobalt, moss and plum suits were going grey at the boots the moment the climb began, after the film had shown them in colour.

A gentler training ground

1.0.1

  • Each training level asks for twice the practice, and hearts and shields come round twice.
  • When you finish a level, your last move plays out and a chime sounds before the card fades in.
  • Tips for new things wait a moment, so you see what they are about before the game pauses. Two never arrive back to back.

Out of beta

1.0.0

  • The opening film's music is back to how it first sounded, now the full length of the film with no gaps.
  • Jumping and venting sound the way they did before. Venting is also a little quieter.
  • A simpler start: one button to begin, your best score above it, and four clear links below.
  • Share a run with the score first. Pick a tall, square or wide card, and sharing works in more apps.
  • In Settings, Back is always on screen and the tabs stay in view while you scroll.
  • The stones stay fixed in the rock as the view moves, and stars sit behind the planets.

Darker, smoother, in tune

0.6.0

  • The shaft is darker and moodier. Your helmet lamp lights the rock around you, shadows run cold, and each planet tints the light.
  • When the collapse closes in, a red glow climbs the walls and a low drone rises with it. The start of a climb stays quiet.
  • Every sound is in tune with the music, from landings to the meteor strike.
  • A new Helmet sound setting muffles effects as if heard from inside the suit, with a heartbeat when air runs low. It stays off until you turn it on.
  • Between laps the walls slide apart, light streaks straight up, and the wall comes back to meet you. Your air refills and a tear is patched while you watch.
  • The shaft is not the same twice. Each lap may be mirrored, and you land on a different wall.
  • Pickups count when they touch any part of MoonMan, helmet and boots included.
  • The pickaxe is swung with both hands, and MoonMan no longer shifts as the countdown starts. A second climb goes straight to the countdown.
  • In the opening film the music keeps the game's tempo, satellites no longer blink into view, and a ship that enters a wormhole is seen coming out.
  • The collapse warning pulses slowly and steadily.

Smoother, all the way up

0.5.1

  • The game runs more evenly. MoonMan, the view and everything that falls now move the same distance every frame, and the short pauses are fewer.
  • Between laps MoonMan flies on up the shaft at speed, with light streaking past.
  • Falling things are the size they should be. A helmet is small, a drum is waist high and an ore cart is the big one. The hard hat is now a suit helmet and the lantern a suit lamp.
  • In the opening film the mine head caves in with slabs, boulders, an ore cart and dust, and the hoist cage drops down the shaft.
  • Ships fly in and out of the picture. Only ships between the Earth and the Moon, and craft in orbit, fade from view.
  • The wormhole opens somewhere new each time, and so does the saucer's visit.

Choose your MoonMan

0.5.0

  • Choose your MoonMan. Pick from four suits the first time you play: classic red, cobalt, moss or plum. You can change it any time in Settings.
  • Finish a lap and MoonMan flies on up the shaft at speed while the run's numbers show together. The game never stops, and a tap sends you on sooner.
  • A jump always leaves the wall you jumped from. Under an overhang, the arrow only swings through jumps that clear the rock.
  • MoonMan stands up straight with both boots flat. Knees bend while you hold, and MoonMan springs when you let go.
  • Everything that falls has been redrawn so you can tell what it is: satellites, a lunar lander, a space telescope, ore carts, lanterns, hard hats, and rocks with scars of their own.
  • Your best height is marked in the shaft, and so is the next climber above you. Pass them and the game tells you.
  • The training ground has a sixth lesson: hearts and shields.
  • Settings has tabs now, and it is the same in a run as out of one.
  • In the opening film the wormholes sit far off in open sky, and the crew vent their suits as they get away.
  • The air pickup is called O2 and the suit patch is called a heart, in every language.

Room to breathe

0.4.0

  • Climbers under 13 are on the boards now, under the callsign the game made for them. That is all the game sends for them: no sign-in, no chosen name, no play data.
  • A training ground with five short lessons: jump, vent and turn (and pick natural or inverse), land PERFECT, take cover, and find air. It is on the title screen and in Settings.
  • Finishing a lap gives you a moment. The shaft holds still while the lap card comes up, and a tap sends you on.
  • The tank goes further. Turning costs less air, the first sections drain slower, a torn suit leaks less, and O2 comes a little more often.
  • Landings forgive a little more on angle. The speed limit is where it was.
  • Your boots catch the rock the moment they are square to it. Brush a wall crooked and it still pushes you clear, but only for a moment.
  • Pick a suit in Settings: classic red, cobalt, moss or plum. Colour only; nothing about how you fly changes.
  • The opening film runs slower, the way space does, and the traffic drifts instead of darting. The wormhole sits far off in the deep sky.
  • Falling rock comes in more shapes and sizes: cratered and split asteroids, more mine gear, more wreckage, and bigger pieces show more of their damage.

Your climbs, wherever you play

0.3.0

  • Sign in with Google or Discord and your climbs come with you. Change phone, reinstall, or play on a laptop, and your runs and your place on the boards are still yours.
  • Playing as a guest works exactly as it always has. Your callsign, your runs and your place on the boards are all the same. Signing in only decides whether they survive losing the device.
  • The game asks once how old you are. Climbers under 13 play entirely on their own device, and nothing about them is ever sent anywhere.
  • MoonMan stands like someone who has been standing a while, weight on one leg and the other boot rolled up on its toe. Boots sit flat on the rock at last.
  • Oxygen is a floating O2 mark and a patch kit is a heart, so you can tell at a glance what is worth flying into.
  • Falling rock comes in many more shapes: torn solar panels, a sheared truss, a thruster bell, and gear off the mine floor.
  • Unstable rock no longer puts a banner over the shaft. The crack in the rock is the warning, and it is where the danger is.
  • A run of perfect landings now earns a chord.

The game teaches itself

0.2.0

  • Each of the four moves is explained beside MoonMan, and keeps being explained until you have made it once.
  • The first time you meet O2, a shield, a patch kit, a torn suit or the collapse, the run holds while one line tells you what it is. Each line is shown once, ever.
  • Landing boots first and square to the rock is what earns a PERFECT and what stops your suit tearing. The game says so now, instead of leaving you to work it out.
  • The aim arrow shows the range it can swing through, so you can see where it will stop before you hold through a whole sweep.
  • Shaft events run to a budget: at most one of the hard ones a lap, and none in the first 600 metres. One run is no longer three times harder than the next.
  • Health packs no longer sit on shelves that knocked your shields off as you reached for them.
  • One set of colours and shapes across the whole heads-up display, so a colour means the same thing wherever you see it.
  • Pause is Resume, Restart and Settings, with the sliders one tap in rather than under the Resume button.

MoonMan moves like a person

0.1.3

  • MoonMan moves on springs, with an oxygen hose trailing off the pack and a visor that catches the light instead of carrying it everywhere.
  • Out of air, MoonMan goes starfish for the last breath.
  • The opening stretch of every run carries fewer obstacles, filling in by the sixth section.
  • A tank of air lasts 10% longer, and there is more room to thread past falling rock.
  • MoonMan sits lower in the view, so there is more shaft above to react to.
  • Desktop shows the four controls under the playfield, in all fourteen languages.

Easier, and quieter about it

0.1.1

  • Sound starts at 100 overall, with music and effects at 50.
  • Unstable rock warns you 2.5 seconds before it goes, rather than 1.5.
  • Runs are about 7.5% easier: debris costs less air and the collapse gains on you more slowly.
  • The per-run grade is gone. A run is its distance and its points.
  • Every release now carries a version, shown on the title screen.

MoonMan goes live

0.1.0

  • The game is live at game.playmoonman.com. Free, no ads, nothing to buy.
  • An opening film, a collapsing mine, ten solar zones and a leaderboard.
  • One thumb: hold to aim, let go to jump, hold and slide to turn, land on your boots.
  • Fourteen languages.

Questions

Good to know

Does it cost anything?

No. MoonMan is free. It has no ads and nothing to buy.

Is there a token, coin or NFT?

No. MoonMan has no token, no coin and no NFT, and it never will.

Do I need an account?

No. You pick a callsign from our word list and your finished runs go on the boards under it, with no email and no password. Signing in with Google or Discord is optional and does one thing: it keeps your climbs if you change device or reinstall.

When is it coming to my phone?

You can play it on your phone today, in the browser. The App Store and Google Play versions are coming soon. There is no release date yet.

Which languages can I play in?

English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Turkish, Indonesian, Arabic and Hindi. The game starts in your device's language, and you can change it in Settings.

What do I need to play?

A phone, tablet or computer with an up-to-date browser. Play with a thumb on a touch screen, or with a mouse or keyboard.

Is it finished?

Not yet. It is still being worked on, so it changes often and you may find rough edges.

Support MoonMan

MoonMan is made by one person, Michael Duncan McArthur, who first sketched it in 2013. The game is free and has no ads. If you would like to help keep it going, the MoonMan shop has shirts, hoodies, hats, stickers and more, all drawn from the game itself. Buying something there is the best way to support the game.

Visit the shop

Work with MoonMan

Want to make something with MoonMan? We work with artists, musicians and brands on suits, merch and events.

Get in touch