Bit Pilot

 

In Bit Pilot, the player controls a spaceship and must avoid incoming lasers and asteroids.^[1][2] The player can control the speed and direction of the spaceship by swiping on the screen.^[3][4] As the game progresses, the asteroids gradually increase in size.^[1][5] When the player comes in contact with an obstacle, they lose one surrounding shield from their spaceship; hitting an asteroid without any shields or touching a laser triggers a game over.^[6] Pill-shaped power-ups occasionally spawn and give the player bonus points or an additional shield.^[1] Gaining enough points will unlock new modes, music, and themes.^[6]

The game has two modes of gameplay: Super Massive and Tunnels. In Super Massive mode, asteroids are smaller and faster,^[7] but power-ups spawn more frequently and increase the player's size when collected.^[1][8] while in Tunnels mode, the player must evade larger asteroids.^[8] Additionally, the player may select one of two difficulty modes—Easy or Normal—that change the number of asteroids in the game.^[9]

Bit Pilot was developed by Zach Gage, a New York City-based indie developer. While developing the game, Gage optimized the asteroids' collision checking.^[10] Bit Pilot's soundtrack was composed by Sabrepulse, and the leaderboards were run by OpenFeint.^[6] The game was released for iOS on March 4, 2010.^[4] In June 2011, Game Center support and two game modes—Super Massive and Tunnels—were added.^[8] Bit Pilot was showcased at the Austin Film Festival in September 2011 and the Hayden Planetarium in January 2012.^[11][12]

On Metacritic, Bit Pilot has a "generally favorable" score of 78 based on nine critics.^[13]

Bit Pilot's gameplay had received mixed opinions. Most reviewers praised the game as exciting and noticed its likeness to retro video games.^{[5][6][9][15][16]} However, critics felt that including rewards after collecting enough points did not add to the game's replay value,^[6][14] and others commented on its lack of variety.^[9][17]

The game's controls had mixed opinions. Although some reviewers thought the swiping mechanic was unique and precise,^[4][6][14] others criticized how the controls were unresponsive and complicated to learn.^[4][6] Chris Reed of Slide to Play stated that he preferred for Bit Pilot to have a single movement stick,^[15] while Andrew Hayward of GamesRadar+ described them as "the most responsive [they had] experienced to date".^[7]

Critics praised Bit Pilot's graphics and soundtrack;^{[2][4][6][17]} some felt that they complemented the game's retro theme,^[4][9][17] while a reviewer from The A.V. Club stated the graphics "[belied] the atrocious challenge at hand".^[5] Reed praised unlocking soundtracks as a reward, writing that they were "far more pleasing" than a leaderboard ranking.^[15]

• Official website (archived)