VertSky

# VERT SKY

**The sky has fallen down... and it can't get up! Blast it back into place in a roguelite vertical shmup.**

> **A friendly note about AI:** VERT SKY was made with AI. Almost all of the code, art, music and this page were built by **Grok Bot** (and its helper bots) under the direction of **foxlinked**, who came up with the idea, made the calls and played every build. foxlinked doesn't claim credit for the building. This is a FLENT game made with Grok Bot, and we'd rather tell you that right up front.

One Tuesday, Emperor Gravitas stole the Great Up-Crystal, and now the whole world scrolls downward, forever, at a steady and very rude speed. Only one ship can fix it: the VERT-1 "SKYLARK", flown by Lt. Nova Upton, the only cadet in history who has never once looked down.

Every run is different, every boss is loud, and every bullet is going in the right direction: **UP**.

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## 🚀 PICK YOUR FLIGHT

* **1 PLAYER:** the full roguelite run through the **Nine Down-Lands**: COAST, FORGE, ORBIT, TEMPEST, MESA, GLACIER, NEON, ASHFALL and the bottomless ABYSS. 20 waves a land, a mini-boss at wave 10 and an end boss at wave 20.

* **2 PLAYERS:** local co-op on one screen. Bring a second gamepad, or share the keyboard. (16:9 layout.)

* **DAILY CHALLENGE:** the same sky for every pilot on Earth: the same four lands, waves, drops and card offers. One scored attempt a day, a stock ship so nobody can buy a better score, and an **online leaderboard** (you can opt out and keep your scores offline).

* **BOSS RUSH:** all **18 bosses** back to back. No waves, no small talk. Card picks between lands, no-hit bonuses, and best time and score saved.

* **Three damage modes:** MODERN (hearts and lives), TRADITIONAL (one hit, 2.5× points) and SCORE IS LIFE (your score is your health bar, and there's a real ending).

## 🔫 PICK A CARD, CHANGE YOUR GUN

After every land you pick 1 of 3 cards. There are **19** to find, with a live preview of your ship NOW and WITH CARD before you choose:

* **5 weapon cards** that change how you shoot: **Charge Shot** (hold and release for up to 8× damage), **Wave Laser** (two twisting, piercing strands), **Homing Needles**, **Ricochet Rounds** (shots bounce off the screen edges) and **Orbit Drones** (cyan bodyguards that eat enemy bullets).

* **Base cards** like Rapid Fire, Heavy Rounds (your volley changes color as it gets stronger) and the **Gravity Bomb**, which turns your bombs into black holes.

* **4 EXTRA tools**: Swarm Missiles, Pulse Lance, Mirror Shield and Chrono Warp, plus EXTRA OVERDRIVE to level them up.

* Dash through small fry (you're invulnerable while dashing), launch bombs and set them off when you like, and pick up wingmen.

Between runs, spend your coins on **9 ship parts** in Dr. Altitude's Hangar, or try your luck on the Coin Reels (in-game coins only, no real money). Unlock **23 achievements** and **5 ship skins**, then admire every boss and land in the Gallery.

## ✨ LOOKS GOOD ON A TOASTER, GREAT ON A PC

* **Graphics presets: LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH**, or tweak every switch yourself. HIGH adds **bloom** glow on bullets, lasers and explosions and a **heat haze** over the lava lands.

* Hand-painted backgrounds with layered parallax, drifting clouds and per-land **weather**: rain, snow, falling ash, dust and storm flashes. Weather has its own switch, separate from the clouds.

* Optional **CRT** and **ARCADE** filters, color grading, vignette and gamma.

* A **14-track** re-orchestrated chiptune soundtrack.

## 🎮 MADE FOR HANDHELDS

* **Android** phones and tablets (landscape) with touch controls: a virtual stick plus FIRE, BOMB, DASH, EXTRA and PAUSE buttons.

* **Linux arm64 handhelds** like the RG35XX / H700 family, on custom firmware such as ROCKNIX, Knulli or muOS. On these the game picks the LOW preset and the right screen shape by itself.

* **AUTO screen layout:** picks **16:9**, **4:3** (640×480 handhelds) or **3:2** (GBA-style screens) to fit your screen, and you can still change it in Options. In 4:3 and 3:2 the whole battlefield is still there: the camera slides after your ship, arcade style.

* Fullscreen from the start, rumble on bombs and hits, and auto-fire if your thumbs need a rest.

## 🕹️ CONTROLLERS WELCOME

* Gamepads are hot-plug friendly: unplug one mid-run and the game pauses. On-screen prompts follow whatever you touched last.

* **Rebind every key and button**, for both players, keyboard and pad.

* Accessibility: a 0–100% screen-shake slider, a slow-motion **practice speed** (85% / 70%), auto-fire and rumble on or off.

| Action | Keyboard | Gamepad |

|---|---|---|

| Move | WASD / Arrow keys | Left stick / D-pad |

| Fire (hold) | Space / Z / J | A |

| Bomb (press again to detonate) | X / K / Shift | B / LB |

| Dash | V / L | X / RB |

| EXTRA tool | C | Y |

| Pause | Esc / P | Start |

| Auto-fire on / off | F | Select / Back |

| Pick a card | 1 / 2 / 3, or ← → + Fire, or mouse | ← → + A |

| Fullscreen | F11 / Alt+Enter | |

| Mute music / sound effects | M / N | |

Player 2: I J K L to move, U to fire, O to bomb, H to dash, Y for EXTRA, or a second gamepad.

## 💾 PLATFORMS

* **Windows** (64-bit)

* **Linux** x86_64 and **Linux arm64** (handhelds)

* **Android** (APK)

* **Play in your browser** (sound starts on your first click or tap)

* **macOS:** included, but we haven't been able to test it on a real Mac yet. Let us know how it flies!

## 📖 THE INSTRUCTION BOOKLET

Download the **VERT SKY Instruction Booklet** (PDF, 44 pages) from the downloads below. It's an old-school manual: every card, every boss, the controls, the story, a warranty card, and far too many puns.

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When the sky needs pushing back up, you know who to call.

**PICK IT UP! (GET IT? UP!)**

*A FLENT game · Made with Grok Bot *

I do not have a Mac to test but the builds are there anyway - have fun!