Controls
How to play Mottle
Drag to move, release to blend, and take fireflies only when the cones give you room.
Updated 15 November 2026. The numbers match the game on this site.
The whole game is two gestures and a habit of looking up.
The loop
- Drag toward one firefly you can actually reach. While you move you are coral, and a moving player never drops below a clearly visible state.
- Release before a cone arrives. Camo fills while you are still. It does not finish the instant your finger leaves the screen.
- Take the firefly on the way, then stop again. A round you survive is worth more than a shortcut you do not.
Controls
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Drag with a mouse or one finger | You walk toward that point. You glow coral and stay easy to see. |
| Release | You stop. Camo builds, and your colour settles into the patch under you. |
| WASD or arrow keys | Same movement, from the keyboard, while the garden is the thing you are controlling. |
| Touch a firefly | You collect it. Ten points. It does not hide you. |
| Esc, P, or the pause button | The round waits. Letting go of the mouse does not. |
On a phone, lift your finger clear of the glass. A finger that is only resting still counts as a drag, so you stay revealed and cannot understand why.
What to watch
Camo answers “how well am I matching this patch?” Alert answers “how close am I to losing a life?” A full blend is not a promise that the next drag is safe. The next drag makes you visible again.
The Seekers keep moving while you are still. Stillness is camouflage, not a pause. Use the pause control if you need to look away.
A first run
Give the first round one job: move, release, and watch the colour change before you pick a second destination. On the next run, notice a cone before you step into it. After that, start counting fireflies, and stop the trip when Alert is already high.
The rules spell out scoring and the difficulty curve. The tips are about which trips are worth taking.