About this game

Magnet Motion is a game of indirect control. You cannot touch the orb at all; you can only move a magnet and decide whether it pulls or pushes. Everything the orb does after that is the force law working itself out.

The force is inverse-square, which has one very practical consequence: a magnet parked directly on top of the orb is uncontrollable, because the force there is enormous. Good play means working from a distance, in short pulses, and spending as much effort cancelling the orb's momentum as creating it.

How to play

  1. Move the magnet with the pointer or the arrow keys.
  2. Hold to attract the orb towards the magnet. Hold Shift to push it away.
  3. Pass through the gates in order. The next gate is marked in gold.
  4. Once every gate is cleared, steer the orb into the green collector.
  5. Avoid the red disruptors. Seven levels complete the run.

Physics mechanics

Here is what the simulation is actually doing while you play.

Inverse-square attraction

Force falls off with the square of distance, so halving the distance quadruples the pull. The practical effect is that close-range control is violent and long-range control is gentle.

Softening

A softening term stops the force becoming infinite at zero distance. Without it the simulation would fling the orb off the field the moment the magnet touched it — a standard technique in any gravity or charge simulation.

Momentum management

The orb keeps whatever velocity it has. Steering is therefore as much about cancelling existing motion as about creating new motion, which is why the repel mode exists.

Elastic boundaries

The arena walls have moderate restitution, so a bounce is survivable but changes your plan. They are a tool for redirecting a fast orb when the magnet alone is not enough.

Why the field is capped

The attraction is clamped to a maximum force regardless of how close the magnet gets. Without that cap, a single frame with the magnet almost touching the orb would apply an effectively infinite impulse and the orb would leave the field entirely. Capping is standard practice in any simulation that uses an inverse-square law, and it is the reason very close control is merely difficult here rather than impossible.

Objective

Pass every gate in order, then deliver the orb to the collector, without touching a disruptor.

Scoring

  • Each gate is worth 150 points.
  • Reaching the collector awards 400 points plus a time bonus decaying at 32 points per second.
  • There is no penalty for a slow, controlled run beyond the time bonus.

Scores, favourites and play history are stored in your own browser using localStorage. There is no account, no leaderboard and no server: clearing your browser data clears them, and they do not follow you to another device.

Tips

  1. Work from a distance. Inverse-square means close is uncontrollable. Keep the magnet two or three orb-widths away for steering you can actually predict.
  2. Pulse, do not hold. Short pulls accelerate the orb gently. A continuous hold always overshoots.
  3. Use repel as a brake. Placing the magnet ahead of the orb and pushing is the cleanest way to slow it down before a gate.
  4. Line the orb up early. Gates are narrow and the orb cannot turn sharply. Get it onto the right line well before it arrives.
  5. Watch the speed readout. Anything above 55 m/s is very hard to steer through a gate. If it turns red, brake before you continue.

Difficulty

Hard. Indirect control is unfamiliar and the inverse-square falloff is unforgiving at close range. Levels one and two are wide and slow; from level four the gates narrow and disruptors are moving, which demands genuine planning ahead.

Features

  • Inverse-square attraction with a softening term
  • Attract and repel from the same field
  • Gates that must be passed in order
  • Drifting disruptors from level three
  • Live orb speed readout — momentum is the thing to manage

How accurate is this?

Physics Arcade games use simplified, tuned physics built for playability. They are not scientific simulations: forces, masses and timings are chosen because they feel good at 60 frames per second, not because they match measured values. Where a game departs from real-world behaviour in a way that matters, the game page says so.

Magnet Motion – FAQ

Why does the orb shoot off when the magnet is close?

Inverse-square force grows very fast at short range. Working from further away is not just safer, it is the intended technique.

How do I stop the orb?

Put the magnet in front of it and hold Shift to repel. That is the only brake available.

Do I have to pass the gates in order?

Yes. The next required gate is highlighted in gold and labelled NEXT; passing through a later one does nothing.

Are the disruptors avoidable?

Yes. They move at constant velocity and bounce off walls predictably, so their paths can be read a few seconds ahead.