🎮 Flying with a Gamepad

Besides keyboard and touch, you can fly your ship directly with a gamepad (controller). Connect any standard gamepad — Xbox, PlayStation, Steam Deck — over USB or Bluetooth. It uses the browser's built-in Gamepad API, so nothing to install and nothing to configure. Once connected, just nudge a stick and you drop straight into manual flight — the nose follows.

Your two hands split the work. The sticks always fly the ship, and the D-pad always drives the cockpit (moving between the six monitors and pressing buttons). The right trigger is your throttle — so one hand flies while the other works the cockpit.
Gamepad button layout The left stick flies (yaw and pitch), the right stick rolls, the right trigger (RT) is throttle, the D-pad moves around the cockpit, A executes, and X opens the tablet. LT RT LB RB Y A X B ⧉ ☰ Left stick · Fly yaw · pitch D-pad · Cockpit Right stick · Roll Execute · Tablet Throttle
A standard gamepad layout — your left hand (left stick · D-pad) flies and drives the cockpit; your right hand (RT · buttons) handles throttle and execute. On a PlayStation pad, A=✕, B=○, X=□, Y=△.

Flight — fly directly with the sticks

Tilt a stick and the ship rotates continuously in that direction (proportional to how far you push, not the keyboard's fixed ±1 step). The moment you first move a stick you drop into manual flight automatically — no separate step to disengage the autopilot. A small dead zone ignores stick jitter.

InputActionNotes
Left stick ↔Yaw (turn left/right)Swings the nose left and right.
Left stick ↕Pitch (nose up/down)Raises/lowers the nose. Invert in ⚙️ Settings.
Right stick ↔RollRolls the ship about its forward axis.
RT (right trigger)ThrottlePull depth is thrust — a light pull is gentle, full pull is max.
B (○)Throttle cutDrops thrust to 0 instantly; stops the burn.
☰ StartToggle manual flightTurns manual mode on/off (moving a stick also enters it).

Cockpit — drive the screens with the D-pad

Even while flying, the D-pad lets you move across the cockpit's six monitors and press buttons — exactly what a finger tap does, done from the controller. The focused item is shown with a cyan highlight.

InputActionNotes
LB / RB (bumpers)Cycle monitorsMove focus to the previous/next of the six panels.
D-pad ↑↓Move cursorSteps up/down between buttons and list rows on a screen.
D-pad ←→Page the listPages through long lists (e.g. destinations).
A (✕)Execute / selectPresses the button under the cursor (same as a tap).
X (□)Virtual iPadSummons/dismisses the handheld tablet (same as T).
The cursor reaches only visible rows. For long lists like destinations, scroll with D-pad ↑↓ or page with ←→ to reach items off-screen. What each cockpit panel does → The 6 Panels.

Settings & tips

  • Invert pitch. Prefer flight-sim style? Turn on pitch invert in the ⚙️ Settings tab (your choice is saved).
  • Mix freely. Gamepad, keyboard, and touch all work at once — fly on the pad and still tap the screen with a finger.
  • Dead zone. Tiny wobble at stick center is ignored, so rotation stops when you let go.
  • Auto-detect. Open the game, connect the pad, then press a button or move a stick and the browser picks it up. There's no pairing screen.
One hand flies, one hand works the cockpit. The natural grip: left thumb on the left stick (fly), right index on RT (throttle), and when you need the cockpit, move your left thumb to the D-pad and your right thumb to A. The full keyboard/touch controls → Cockpit Controls.