How do I play?
Destroy the castle's rings to expose the cannon in the centre, then hit the cannon to win the round. You start each game with a few ships; the cannon fires at you only when you are lined up with a gap in the rings, and sparks that break loose from the rings will chase you, so keep moving. Shooting the centre cannon earns an extra ship.
What are the controls?
Touch (iPhone and iPad): drag on the left half of the screen to steer and thrust, and touch the right half to fire. Keyboard (Mac): Z and X turn, N thrusts, M fires. Game controller: left stick or D-pad to turn and thrust, B or the right trigger to fire.
How do I pause, or change the volume?
Tap PAUSE at the bottom of the screen during a game (or press Esc or P on a keyboard, or Start on a controller). The pause menu has Sound and Music sliders and a Quit to Title option. On the title screen, tap OPTIONS for the same volume sliders.
What do Easy, Normal and Hard change?
They change how many hits each ring section takes, how many ships you start with, how fast the cannon reloads and how quickly the rings rebuild, and how many sparks come at you. Pick one on the title screen. Each level keeps its own high score and its own top-five list.
Where are my high scores stored? How do I reset them?
Scores and settings are saved only on your device. They are removed if you delete and reinstall the game. There is no online leaderboard and no account.
The game has no sound, or the controls do not respond.
Check the device's silent switch and volume, then the Sound and Music sliders in OPTIONS. If a controller is not recognized, reconnect it and press any button. If the game still misbehaves, force-quit it and open it again, and let us know your device model and iOS or macOS version.
Does AlienShield collect any data?
No. It is played offline and has no ads, purchases, analytics or account. See the privacy policy.
Still stuck?
Email mangieri@swbell.net with what you were trying to do and what happened instead — screenshots help. We'll get back to you.