Requirements
What it takes to play Orbium's games, how the graphics adapt to your machine, and what does not work yet.
View as MarkdownOrbium's games draw with WebGPU. Without it there is no game: there is no WebGL version.
Browsers
| Browser | Status |
|---|---|
| Chrome, Edge (computer) | The best choice: the games are made and tested on them |
| Chrome (Android) | Works; a phone runs warm and touch aiming is harder |
| Safari 26 | Has WebGPU; the games are not tuned for it yet |
| Firefox | Has WebGPU; the games are not tuned for it yet |
When a Hold's page opens in a browser that can't run the game, it says why and what to do for that browser (turning on the graphics card's acceleration, for example) before anything of the game is downloaded.
Graphics
There are four graphics presets: High, Medium, Low and Very low. The game picks one for your machine the first time (Auto) and you can change it in the menu (Esc, Graphics):
- High is made for a dedicated graphics card or Apple silicon.
- Low is where the game starts on integrated graphics (Intel's, not Arc), a phone or a tablet, a GPU without a desktop card's limits, or a machine with little memory or few cores.
- Very low is for a GPU drawn in software.
- Medium is the step down from High: if a World can't hold 30 frames a second, Auto steps down one preset for the next World.
Lower presets switch whole systems off (clouds, haze, caustics, the surf simulation, grass, tracks, ambient occlusion), draw at a lower resolution and use smaller shadow maps. The developers' page on the engine explains each system.
Controls
Keyboard and mouse play best. A standard gamepad works, and so does a touch screen: a joystick appears under the left thumb and the right half of the screen looks. The full list is in One Beam's controls.
Connection
A steady connection matters more than a fast one: under 150 ms to the game server plays well. Turn on fps and ping in the menu to see yours.
Download
Up to 3 MB the first time: the game, its sounds and its sky. The browser keeps them after that.
Limitations
- No WebGPU, no game.
- Phones and tablets run it, but a small screen, touch aiming and a warm phone make it harder.
- Your player lives in this browser. Another browser or device, or cleared site data, docks you as someone new.
- Sound starts with your first click or key: browsers hold it until then.
- Mouse look locks the pointer: click the game to take it, Esc to let go.
- A Hold takes up to 16 units, and a match needs 2.