Overview

GlideRail is a fast paced arcade shooter where the player controls a Glider that gains speed by flying against walls or other surfaces at an angle (known as gliding). The player must control their Glider to eliminate all enemies on the stage in order to progress, while also ensuring they aren't hunted down themselves.

Gameplay

GlideRail has no story associated with it. All design elements are abstract and any writing is for descriptive purposes.

GlideRail consists of three modes: Campaign, Endless, and Orbit.

Campaign

In the campaign, the player must clear all enemies within a stage to progress to the next within the zone. A zone consists of a set number of stages, plus a bonus stage at the end of it. Bonus stages offer either a chance to attain more score, or a bossfight. Once the bonus stage is clear, the player progresses to the next zone. This loop continues until the player has either run out of lives, or reaches the final zone and clears the final stage. Each zone is themed around a planet within Gliderail's solar system, with 5 zones in the standard difficulty, and 8 in the hardmode difficulty. Difficulty is dependent on the Glider chosen by the player. There are currently 5 Gliders planned for the base game, with 2 being hardmode Gliders.

The hardmode Gliders and planets are planned to be exclusive to the full version of GlideRail, all other content is unlockable in standard play.

Endless

Endless follows the same gameplay loop of Campaign, with the major difference being that stages, their gimmicks, and spawn rates for enemies, powerups, or other hazards are randomized, and increase in difficulty the further the game progresses. It will also be possible for gimmicks of several zones to merge in the same stage, which does not occur in the Campaign.

Endless, as the name suggests, will continue until the player runs out of lives, with the goal being to progress as far as possible to attain a high score.

Orbit

Orbit serves as the practice / Zen mode of Gliderail for players to master their skills in a controlled manner that Endless and Campaign don't have. Orbit's gameplay depends on the type of practice that the player chooses. Options are limited to the content that the player has currently unlocked in Campaign. Some parts of Orbit are exclusive to the full version of GlideRail.

PILOT CERTIFICATION

Pilot Certification is the standard tutorial. Includes an all rounded course for basics on flight, combat, hazards, and gliding.

FLIGHT SANDBOX

REACH NETARI TO UNLOCK
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Flight Sandbox is a sandbox environment for players to focus on Glider control in hazardous environments, and to understand gliding as a whole. The player is free to fly in the track for as long as they wish. Completing a full lap will mark their fastest time, and a ghost will appear that mimics said fastest lap. This gives the player an opportunity to race against themselves, or remain in free flight to master certain maneuvers without being forced into a gameplay loop.

COMBAT SANDBOX

REACH PONGO TO UNLOCK
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Combat Sandbox is a sandbox environment for players to understand the loop of combat against multiple enemies whilst putting their flying skills to the test. No hazards beyond static walls are present, and only basic Swarm and Warriors will appear in the course. Each wave will spawn an exact number of enemies, with a new wave appearing once the previous is fully defeated. The waves end once the player is defeated, with their highest wave count being recorded at the end of the run.

ASTERA ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION.
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Astera Orbit is an endless mode with Astera's zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.

NETARI ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION. PASS ASTERA TO UNLOCK
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Netari Orbit is an endless mode with Netari's zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.

PONGO ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION. PASS NETARI TO UNLOCK
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Pongo Orbit is an endless mode with Pongo's zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.

TENRAI ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION. PASS PONGO TO UNLOCK
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Tenrai Orbit is an endless mode with Tenrai's zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.

ZARA ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION. PASS TENRAI TO UNLOCK
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Zara Orbit is an endless mode with Zara's zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.

FINALUS ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION. PASS ZARA TO UNLOCK
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Finalus Orbit is an endless mode with Finalus' zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.

MAGUMA ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION. PASS FINALUS TO UNLOCK
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Maguma Orbit is an endless mode with Maguma's zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.

THE HIVE ORBIT

REQUIRES FULL VERSION. PASS MAGUMA TO UNLOCK
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The Hive Orbit is an endless mode with The Hive's zone modifiers only. The run ends once the player returns to the main menu.