Hold anywhere, and your thumb sets how wide your planets swing around a small star. They smash whatever comes close.
A one-thumb arcade game
You are a small star, and your planets do the fighting. Hold anywhere on the screen: how far your thumb is from the star sets how wide your planets swing, and they smash whatever they touch. Pull in to block what comes fast, and swing wide to reach what keeps its distance.
How to play
Put your thumb anywhere. How far it is from the star sets how wide your planets swing, and a dashed ring shows where they are heading.
A tight ring spins fast and a wide one reaches far. Your planets smash whatever they touch, so meet each rock, comet and pulsar with the right swing.
A stage is won once everything it sends is smashed and the sky is clear. Keep the star's health high for three stars.
What makes it special
Hold anywhere and slide. That is the whole control. The ring sits a little inside your thumb, so your finger never hides the planets.
A tight ring spins fast enough to block a comet, and a wide one reaches a pulsar that stops out of range to shoot. No one swing is right for long.
Rocks, then comets, pulsars, swarms and boulders, each met first on its own, with one line on screen saying what it wants.
Smashed hazards drop light, and light buys upgrades: more planets, moons, a second ring that turns the other way, a pulse from the star, burning trails and more.
Three stars for ending a stage with most of the star's health, fewer as it dims. When the star burns out, the game names what got through.
After the first chapter, a short sky opens every day, the same for everyone, timed until it is clear, with a streak to keep.
Screenshots
Sunwise's title screen: the wordmark, a small star with its planets, and the Play button
Sunwise's level 58 in play: the planets pulled in tight round the star as rocks close in
Picking an upgrade in Sunwise: Fusion, Moon and Heat Trail on three cards over the paused stage
A Sunwise stage cleared with three gold stars and the star at full health, its card ready to share or save
The star burnt out in Sunwise: the card says comets got through and to pull in as they come
Sunwise's night look on level 72: the star glowing in deep space, its planets on a wide ring among the rocks
About the game
Sunwise is an old word for the way the sun moves across the sky, which is clockwise. Your planets swing sunwise round your star, and the Twin Ring upgrade adds a second ring that turns the other way.
It began as a small prototype called Corona, an endless run round one small star. The star and the one-thumb ring stayed, and the endless run became stages in chapters, each with an end you can reach.
Every stage is a fixed list of what arrives and when. It opens gently, comes in waves that start with a short lull, and ends on its biggest moment. Each chapter brings one new hazard, what a stage sends at your star never drops from one stage to the next, chapter starts included, and every stage is proven winnable before it ships.
The star, the planets, every hazard and every sound are made in code, and a low drone under every screen rises as a stage empties.
Sunwise is free to play, with no account, no timers and no energy to wait for.
It has a few ads, placed so they never touch a level in play: a banner at the foot of the title and the level list, never on the screen you play on, an ad between levels now and then, and short videos you can choose to watch, for one more life or to try a pack. Its shop is optional, since every level opens by playing. The Supporter pack turns the ads off for good, and the other packs, level keys and the tip jar help pay for the next game.
Made by Shravan Goswami.Credits
From the blog
Guides to holding the sky, from the game where your planets do the fighting.
Sunwise's Endless is one sky that never clears. How the score works, chains up to x5, bosses on a clock, twists, fruit, and why speed is what finally beats you.
Every Sunwise chapter brings one new thing to keep off your star, its own sky and a named boss at the end. Meet Old Grey, The Lighthouse and the rest.
In Sunwise your thumb only sets how wide your planets swing. Why the ring moves like a spring, why tight rings spin fast, and why it sits a little inside your thumb.
Questions
Hold anywhere on the screen. How far your thumb is from the star sets how wide your planets swing round it, and they smash whatever they touch. Pull in to block fast things like comets, swing wide to reach things that keep their distance, like pulsars, and let go to let the ring drift back. A stage is won once everything it sends is smashed and the sky is clear.
Yes. Sunwise is a free Android game, coming soon to Google Play. It shows a few ads, never during a level, and its shop is optional: every level opens by playing.
No. Sunwise plays completely offline, and your progress is saved on your device. The Android app goes online only for its ads, for purchases through Google Play and, if you use it, for Google Play Games. Without a connection no ads appear, and one more life that would ask for a video is given anyway.
Stars come from the health your star keeps: three if it ends a stage with at least 70%, two from 35%, and one for surviving. The stars at the top show how many are still possible as the stage goes on. A stage won on one more life earns one star.
Sunwise is free, with nothing to sign up for. It is coming soon to Google Play.
