MANTIS

You are a praying mantis.

MANTIS is a short and free side-view physics platformer in which you play as a praying mantis. I was watching a praying mantis on my porch, and it was just fascinating watching it move and climb about. What would it feel like to be a mantis?? So I built this game for fun. I hope you enjoy being a praying mantis too!

I leaned heavy into the physics, so he will climb and grip onto things like a real praying mantis. Also, plants, wind, and the environments are all simulated in the engine, so nothing is pre-scripted. When you land on a plant, you can use its momentum (spring) to launch yourself further.

Attacking a bug mid-air propels you onward, allowing you to chain strikes together to "swing" across a level. While falling, hold jump to briefly deploy your wings and glide. Fun fact: not all praying mantises can fly!! Something I learned.

There are 5 levels: a moonlit meadow, a marsh at sunset, a spore moon with half gravity, a prehistoric volcano, and a pirate cove. Did you know praying mantises are prehistoric creatures? I learned that too!!

Four worlds to play

• The Meadow. Race through a moonlit meadow, jumping the puddles, rebounding off broad leaves and vaulting off tall blades of grass.
• The Marsh. Enjoy a beautiful sunset while you leap from lily pad to lily pad and swing through the reeds. Watch out for the fish.
• The Spore Moon. Mantis visits a moon with half gravity, spore geysers and floating jellies. Watch out for the acid.
• The Volcano. Is Mantis prehistoric? Actually, yes: mantises were around in the age of the dinosaurs. So leap over lava, dodge the eruptions, battle pterosaurs, climb a sauropod, and escape a T. rex.

Controls

Keyboard

• Move, climb, aim: arrow keys or WASD
• Jump (hold to go higher, hold while falling to glide): Space, Z or J
• Strike, lunge, grab (hold to swing): X or K
• Pause: P or Esc. Retry from the checkpoint: hold R. Sound: M

Gamepad

• Left stick to move, A to jump, X, B or a right shoulder to strike, Start to pause, hold Back to retry

Phone or tablet

• Your left thumb anywhere on the left half is the stick (how far you push sets the pace), with JUMP and a strike button on the right. The pause button is top right.