Hezarfen

Hezarfen: Flight over Istanbul is a gliding and landing game set on the rooftops of old Istanbul. You leap from the edge of a roof with a pair of wings: no flapping, no engine. The controls work in two directions: in flight, hold the upper half of the screen to stretch your wings and glide further, hold the lower half to brake and drop steeply, and let go to glide normally. While you fly, a dashed line always shows where you would land if you let go right now. Your job is to read the wind from signs around the city and bring the marker at the end of that line to the middle of the red carpet. The game has 12 levels across 3 chapters, a Workshop where you change your wing, and Free Flight, where you fly as far as you can from the Galata Tower with today's wind.

In every level you jump from a roof and try to land on the red carpet on the target roof. In the middle of the carpet there is a golden strip; the closer to the centre you land, the more stars you get. Landing on the carpet, which means 1 star, is enough to clear the level. You can never lose and tries are unlimited: if you fall into the sea or the street, or overshoot the carpet, one tap sends you off again. Even if you land on the wrong roof, the flight goes on: you simply jump again from there.

You play holding the phone upright. To jump, tap the screen while you wait on the roof. In flight the screen is split in two: the upper half means up, the lower half means down. Two round areas marked ↑ and ↓ appear on the right of the screen, and the direction you press glows gold. If you slide your finger between the upper and lower half while holding, the direction changes too.

When you let go, the wing drops about 1 metre for every 6 metres forward. Holding the upper half stretches that to about 1 in 9, the longest glide there is. Holding the lower half makes it about 1 in 3: you sink more steeply, but you do not speed up. Input changes smoothly: the marker never jumps, it slides over about 0.15 seconds, so fine adjustments are easy. About 2 metres above a roof, Hezarfen raises his nose by himself and touches down softly; in that last moment he handles the nose.

Every level has a wind, named with Istanbul's traditional wind names: Yıldız, Poyraz, Gündoğusu, Keşişleme, Kıble, Lodos, Günbatısı and Karayel. The flight runs east from Galata towards Üsküdar, so westerly winds such as Lodos, Günbatısı and Karayel push you from behind, while easterly ones such as Poyraz and Gündoğusu hold you back head-on. The scene gives you clues too:

• Sails: show the wind direction over the water.
• Striped air: there is an extra gust there.
• Bakery smoke: warm air rises. Fly in and you circle upwards on your own, leaving the smoke when you reach its top; pressing up or down does nothing in the smoke.
• Blue-shaded area: the air sinks and pushes you down; fly over it or cut it short.
• Gulls and ship masts: hit one and you slow down, but you do not fall.

As you fly you see a dashed line ahead of you with a marker at its end. It shows where you would land if you let go now, and it updates all the time; when the wind changes or you hit a gull, the marker moves too. Its colour tells you the result: gold is the 3-star strip, turquoise is on the carpet, red is off the carpet. The carpet bar at the top of the screen gives the same information as a flat strip: the zones of the carpet, Hezarfen's position and the marker. If the marker is past the carpet, a red arrow appears on the right of the bar. In flight a turquoise reach band also appears under the bar: it shows every spot you could land on between full down and full up. If the carpet is inside this band, you can get there.

Stars depend only on the distance to the centre of the carpet; landing speed does not count:

• 1 star, Landed!: land anywhere on the carpet.
• 2 stars, Nice landing!: no more than 6 m from the centre.
• 3 stars, Golden carpet!: no more than 3 m from the centre, the golden strip.

Land on the wrong roof and you do not lose: you jump again from there, but you can get at most 2 stars in that level. A hard landing only happens when you drop very steeply. Fall into the sea and Hüsnü Reis the boatman fishes you out; fall into the street and a hay cart catches you. Brushing a wall or overshooting the target also means another try.

The 12 levels unlock in order; clear one and the next opens. Each chapter teaches something new:

1. Galata (1-4): First step, Air brake, Over the inn, Rooftop road. Short hops from roof to roof; fall and you land in the street.
2. Golden Horn (5-8): Poyraz, Gull flock, Shipyard, Far shore. Your first sea crossings, headwinds, gulls and ship masts.
3. Eminönü (9-12): Bakery smoke, Two chimneys, Sinking air, Seraglio Point. The target is sometimes higher than you; you learn to climb in smoke and dodge sinking air.

The story is told by Evliya Çelebi: Hezarfen's workshop, Hüsnü Reis the boatman on the Golden Horn, the secret of the bakery smoke, and finally a flight from the Galata Tower to Üsküdar on a day of lodos wind.

As you collect stars, new parts unlock in the Workshop. None is best at everything; you choose for the level.

Free Flight opens once you clear level 4. You jump from the Galata Tower and fly as far as you can. The route is rebuilt every day with today's wind, and everyone races on the same route that day. Your score is the distance you flew plus a carpet bonus: land on a carpet along the way with 1, 2 or 3 stars for 150, 300 or 600 points. Your score goes to the leaderboard.

Ads are only ever your choice. Before take-off, Wind boost gives you a tailwind for the first 6 seconds; 3 stars are still possible on that flight. In Free Flight, if you fall into the sea you can pick Let the boatman launch you once: Hüsnü Reis throws you back into the air with his oar.