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Cadenic StudiosBuilt in Canada
Product

Delta-V

A game where you build a spaceship and fly it between planets

Delta-V is a physics game where you build a spaceship from about 580 parts, then fly it through 100 levels between planets, using their gravity and trying to keep enough fuel to get home. It’s in early access on Google Play and in your browser, and it never shows you an ad you didn’t choose to watch.

Status
Early access · On Google Play and the web
Year
Since 2025

Where to get it

Google Play(opens in a new tab)

@playdeltav on Portage (opens in a new tab)

Delta-V in use

Delta-V’s Star Chart on a tablet, showing Inner Belt, Ice Fields, Volcanic Ring and Gas Giant Sector, each locked behind a mission count
Fig. 01Delta-V’s Star Chart, with four sectors that each open up after a set number of missions.

01Brief

The problem

We wanted a physics game where orbits feel real on an ordinary Android phone, running at 60 frames a second. It also had to pay for itself without an ad ever interrupting a flight.

parts to build with
~580
levels to fly
100
hulls, each flying differently
5

02Process

The build

Dia. 01Delta-V is built around getting from a low orbit to a higher one. You burn once to stretch your path out, then burn again at the top to settle into the new orbit, all on a fixed amount of fuel. The game had to make that feel right at 60 frames a second on an ordinary Android phone.

  1. Keeping the parts in balance

    There are about 580 parts across 15 categories, five hulls and 100 levels. Every time something changes, our tests play through the economy and chart how hard each level is, and we tune the game against what they show.

  2. Ads that never interrupt a flight

    There are no forced ads. The only ads are videos you choose to watch for a reward and banners on the menu screens. If you close a reward video early, you don’t get the reward. An early bug paid out anyway, and we’ve fixed it.

  3. Native code where it was needed

    Subscriptions run through a small piece of Android code we wrote ourselves, because the standard one couldn’t do what the game needed. The Android back button got the same treatment, so it does exactly what the on-screen buttons do in flight, on pause, on the results screen and in the menus.

  4. No audio files

    Every sound in the game is made in code while you play, so there’s nothing extra to download.

  5. A companion site and a shop

    playdeltav.space is a separate site that follows real spaceflight using public launch data and draws globes of real planets and moons. Its merch shop runs on Shopify, with live stock, a cart and Shopify’s own checkout, and it sells in Canadian dollars.

03Screens

Selected screens

These are screenshots from the app.

Delta-V in flight, with fuel and boost gauges, a radar inset and thrust controls around a craft near a planet
(open Fig. 02 at full size)
Fig. 02In flight, with gravity, momentum and a limited amount of fuel to work with.
Delta-V’s Garage listing fuel tank components by rarity with their stat bonuses
(open Fig. 03 at full size)
Fig. 03The Garage holds about 580 parts across 15 categories, each with its own rarity and stats.
Delta-V’s Hangar showing the Scout Mk I lander with thrust, fuel, handling and land tolerance ratings
(open Fig. 04 at full size)
Fig. 04The Hangar holds five hulls, and each one handles differently.
Delta-V’s main menu with the Scout Mk I lander, Hangar, Garage, Records and Daily entries
(open Fig. 05 at full size)
Fig. 05The main menu, where you can get to every part of the game.
Delta-V’s HUD layout editor, with the brake, boost and steering controls being dragged into position
(open Fig. 06 at full size)
Fig. 06You can drag the controls anywhere on screen, and the game remembers where you put them.
Delta-V’s settings for camera zoom, steering mode, one-handed mode and sensitivity
(open Fig. 07 at full size)
Fig. 07The settings, where one-handed mode moves thrust, boost and steering into one corner.

04Stack

What it runs on

Game
  • Phaser 3
  • Vite
  • JavaScript
  • Web Audio API
Mobile
  • Capacitor
  • Kotlin
  • Android
Services
  • Firebase Firestore
  • Firebase Auth
  • Crashlytics
  • RevenueCat
  • Google AdMob
Companion site
  • Next.js 16
  • React 19
  • Tailwind CSS v4
  • Framer Motion
Commerce
  • Shopify Storefront API
  • GraphQL
  • Resend

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