Solar Explorer vs Melon Craft
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Solar Explorer
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Solar Explorer is an interactive solar system flight experience built for iPhone. Take manual control of your spacecraft and navigate between planets, moons, the Sun, and the asteroid belt using responsive arcade-style flight controls. Use the planet compass, minimap, distance readouts, and navigation cues to orient yourself across interplanetary space without relying only on autopilot. Features include: • Manual flight controls tuned for quick, nimble movement • Planet selector for fast travel and exploration • Direction and distance guidance for nearby solar system bodies • Cockpit-style navigation arc with planet labels and distances • Minimap showing your position relative to planets and the asteroid belt • Detailed planet, moon, and Sun visuals • Asteroid belt objects for added scale and depth • Proximity protection to prevent flying inside planets or moons • Optional audio with engine and alert effects • NASA/JPL Horizons data used for planetary positions when available, with fallback orbital data for offline use Solar Explorer is designed for relaxed exploration, fast manual navigation, and a sense of scale as you move through the solar system.
Melon Craft
Build, destroy, and experiment in a physics-driven sandbox. Play with ragdoll characters, weapons, and interactive objects to create chaotic simulations and unpredictable battles. Customize the world with adjustable physics parameters for dynamic gameplay.
- Physics-based ragdoll sandbox
- Interactive characters and weapons
- Realistic destruction and collapse
- Adjustable physics parameters
- Grid-based building
- Multitouch controls
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Melon Craft: Ragdoll Sandbox is a physics-based sandbox game where you can build, destroy, fight, experiment, and create your own chaotic simulations. Play with ragdoll characters, weapons, blocks, tools, explosives, and interactive objects in a fully simulated world. Every movement, collision, impact, and destruction effect is driven by physics, making each experiment feel dynamic and unpredictable. Build structures with grid-based placement, then test their strength with weapons, explosions, pressure, and falling objects. Walls, blocks, and constructions can collapse under force, break into interactive fragments, and continue reacting inside the simulation. Use melee weapons, firearms, tools, and explosives to create physics-driven battles and destruction scenarios. Projectiles, recoil, particles, impact marks, and object reactions are all part of the sandbox system. Customize the world in real time by adjusting gravity, scale, force, object behavior, and other physical parameters through an easy control panel. With full multitouch support, you can move the camera, drag objects, build, fight, and experiment more smoothly. Ragdoll characters react dynamically to damage, impacts, and environmental forces. When multiple characters are present, combat situations can emerge naturally, creating spontaneous sandbox battles. A lightweight interactive tutorial is built directly into the world. A physical tutorial object demonstrates basic controls and can be ignored, moved, or destroyed at any time. Features: • Physics-based ragdoll sandbox gameplay • Interactive characters, weapons, blocks, and tools • Realistic destruction and structure collapse • Melee weapons, firearms, projectiles, and explosives • Adjustable gravity, force, scale, and object behavior • Grid-based building and construction • Pixel-style particles, impact effects, and persistent marks • Full multitouch controls for smoother interaction • Emergent combat and unpredictable experiments • Interactive in-world tutorial object Melon Craft: Ragdoll Sandbox is a complete physics playground where every action can lead to a new result. Build something stable, destroy it with force, start a ragdoll battle, or simply experiment with the simulation. Privacy Policy: https://swell.kz/privacy_policy Terms & Conditions: https://swell.kz/terms_and_conditions
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Solar Explorer at none against Melon Craft's 1. Solar Explorer also leads on ads (none vs shown). Melon Craft's advantage is iOS requirement (15.0 vs 26.2). On price, update cadence and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Melon Craft sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $7.99 per 7 days. Solar Explorer asks for nothing beyond the download.
Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly weekly. Both last shipped on October 24, 2026.
| Parameter | Solar Explorer | Melon Craft |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | — | 4.2 (48 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | — | 55.6% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | — | 48 — better |
| Update frequency | Weekly | Weekly |
| Ads | No — better | Yes |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | — | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.2 | 15.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 32 MB | 230 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Steven Haigh | SWELL GAMES, TOO |
In-app purchases
Solar Explorer
No in-app purchases
Melon Craft
- Premium Pass$7.997 Days
Questions
Is Solar Explorer free?
Is Melon Craft free?
Do Solar Explorer or Melon Craft have ads?
Which is updated more often, Solar Explorer or Melon Craft?
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