KESTREL

Drone Gate Slalom — Desert Canyon

WASD / arrows to fly • Shift to boost

Touch: drag to steer • tap & hold for boost

Learning course — wide, forgiving

How to Play Kestrel

Kestrel is a 3D drone gate slalom set in a desert canyon at golden hour. You pilot a racing drone through a ribbon of torus gates strung along a winding canyon — the drone flies forward automatically, so your only job is to steer: left/right for yaw and up/down for pitch. Gate number and elapsed time are shown in the HUD. Nothing ends a run early — miss a gate and you simply fly on, +2 seconds heavier on the clock. When you pass the final gate the run ends and your time is submitted to that course's leaderboard. Set a personal best on a course and the run is saved as a ghost: on your next attempt at that course, a translucent drone flies your best line beside you, sampled every tenth of a second, so you can see exactly where you are gaining or losing time.

Desktop: WASD or arrow keys to steer; Shift (hold) to boost. Mobile: drag anywhere on the view — horizontal for yaw, vertical for pitch; start the drag in the bottom-right corner, within about a thumb's width of both edges, to hold boost at the same time. No virtual stick, no camera control. The chase camera is authored and spring-lags the drone so acceleration is felt as the drone pulling away from the viewer.

Boost widens your field of view from 68° to 80° and increases speed. The orange boost meter at the bottom-left refills automatically when you release. Save boost for straight sections where you can hold your line, not for tight gate approaches where extra speed costs you accuracy.

Tips for Faster Times

Frequently Asked Questions

How do the controls work in Kestrel?
On desktop, use WASD or arrow keys — left/right for yaw, up/down for pitch. Hold Shift to boost. On mobile, drag anywhere on the view — the whole canvas is the touch surface; horizontal drag yaws the drone, vertical drag pitches it. Start the touch in the bottom-right corner, within roughly a thumb's width of both edges, to hold boost: the corner test runs when your finger lands, so sliding into the corner mid-drag will not arm it, and the same thumb keeps steering while boost is held. There is no virtual stick and no camera control — the chase camera is authored, spring-lagging the drone so you feel acceleration rather than fighting a camera.
What happens if I miss a gate?
Missing a gate adds +2 seconds to your elapsed time rather than ending the run. You can still finish and post a time even after a miss. The HUD counts the gates you actually flew through while you fly; the finish screen shows the run's elapsed time and your best time on that course. One miss on an otherwise clean Wash run typically costs you the leaderboard top spot, but two or three misses on Narrows or Spire may still be competitive if the rest of your line was fast.
How is the leaderboard score calculated?
Your run submits your elapsed time itself, and the board shows it in seconds to three decimals — a 42.5-second run appears as 42.500s. Miss penalties are baked into that time, so every gate you skip adds 2 seconds to it and a clean run always posts lower. Each course keeps its own board, and the board can be read All-Time or filtered to This Week.
Does Kestrel work on mobile and tablets?
Yes — the controls were designed for mobile first. One-thumb drag steering means the game is fully playable on a smartphone without a physical controller. The canvas scales responsively to the device, and the HUD and boost bar are sized for touch screens. WebGL is required; if your browser does not support it, a fallback message is shown instead of the canvas.
What does the boost do exactly?
Boost increases forward speed and widens the field of view from 68° to 80°, eased smoothly. The orange boost meter at the bottom-left drains while you hold boost and refills automatically when you release. Boost is most effective on straight gate sequences where you can hold your line at higher speed. In tight sections, extra speed costs accuracy, so use it sparingly before sharp turns.
How many courses are in Kestrel?
Kestrel ships with three courses — Wash (12 gates, wide and forgiving), Narrows (18 gates, pinch points and vertical stacking), and Spire (22 gates, tight sequential reversals). Each course has its own leaderboard. Wash is the learning course; Narrows is where speed reveals itself; Spire is the skill ceiling. All three share the same golden-hour canyon setting.