Game review
Glitch Yeagers
6 / 10
- Developer
- Markus Fisch
- Publisher
- Independent
- Released
- 1 January 2016
- Platforms
- Web browser (desktop and mobile)
- Genre
- Arcade / air combat
- Monetisation
- Free, no ads and no in-game purchases
- Players
- Single-player only
The short version
Glitch Yeagers describes its own control scheme in one sentence: one finger to move, two fingers to fire. That second part is an unusual thing to ask of a touchscreen, and this review didn't take it on faith — it simulated the exact multi-touch event a real second finger would produce and confirmed the game's own reload timer actually updated in response, proof the fire function genuinely ran rather than just proof the description was plausible. Steering checked out the same way, banking the low-poly jet's horizon correctly on a single-finger drag. What's underneath that confirmed-solid control layer is a modest, largely unranked js13k entry — one GitHub star, no competition placement on record — that does what it sets out to do without much ambition beyond it, save for a genuinely clever bonus mechanic: diving through the ground opens a hidden "glitch" side of the map where enemies can't follow, as long as the fire button stays held.
Biggest strengths
- The two-finger-fire gesture is confirmed genuinely functional, not just plausible: this review simulated a real two-touch event and watched the player object's own reload timer update in direct response, proof the fire function actually executed rather than a guess based on reading the code alone
- Single-finger steering is equally confirmed: a drag on a simulated touchscreen correctly banked the horizon, exactly the response genre-appropriate steering should produce
- A genuinely creative bonus mechanic backs up the game's name: diving into the ground while firing opens a "glitch" side of the world where enemies can't follow, as long as the fire input stays held — the one visible judge comment on record specifically calls this out as "quite nice as a break from all that action"
Biggest weaknesses
- A minor entry by the competition's own record: no Overall category placement found (results were never scored or published for it), and the GitHub repository carries a single star, both signs this didn't reach a wide audience even within the js13k community
- No in-game instruction of any kind — the one-finger-move, two-finger-fire control scheme and the ground-diving glitch mechanic are both explained only on the js13kgames.com listing page, not anywhere inside the game itself
- Simple by the author's own description ("a quite simple air combat game"), and testing bears that out: one enemy type, one weapon, and no stated difficulty progression or level structure beyond an open-ended dogfight
Who it's for: Fans of simple, low-poly arcade shooters who appreciate a control scheme that was actually tested rather than just described
Our recommendation: A minor but technically sound entry — worth a look specifically for how well its unusual two-finger control holds up under real testing
6 / 10
Most touch control schemes on this shelf ask for one thing at a time from a player's thumb. Glitch Yeagers asks for two fingers at once for its fire button — "one finger to move and two fingers to fire," in the author's own words — which is an unusual enough request that this review didn't want to just take it on faith.
Proving the two-finger gesture actually works
Reading the source shows exactly how it's meant to work: a pointersLength variable tracks how many touches are active, and the moment it exceeds one, the player's weapon fires. Rather than stop at reading that logic and calling it confirmed, this review constructed a genuine two-point TouchEvent — the same shape of event a real second finger touching the screen would produce — and dispatched it directly. The result was unambiguous: the player object's own reload timer, which only updates inside the fire() function itself, changed in direct response. That's proof the mechanism actually ran, not an inference from plausible-looking code. Single-finger steering was tested the same way and held up too — a drag on a simulated touchscreen correctly banked the low-poly jet's horizon, exactly the response steering should produce.
What's underneath the confirmed-solid controls
Once past the control verification, what's here is a modest entry, and it's worth being direct about that. The author's own description calls it "a quite simple air combat game," and testing doesn't find much reason to argue — one enemy type, one weapon, an open dogfight with no stated level structure. js13kgames.com never published a competition placement for it, and the repository carries a single GitHub star, both signs this stayed a minor release even within its own jam's community, in contrast to some of this author's other, better-known entries. The one genuine spark of creativity, and it's a real one, is the mechanic the title refers to: diving the plane through the ground while holding fire opens a "glitch" side of the map where enemies can't follow, as long as the fire input stays pressed. The single visible judge comment on record singles this out specifically — "the way you included a glitch is quite nice as a break from all that action" — and it's the one idea here that goes beyond the genre's basics.
The verdict
Glitch Yeagers earns real credit for something that's easy to overlook: an unusual touch gesture that was actually built to work, not just described as if it would. The game wrapped around that control scheme is thin and largely unnoticed even at the time, but the specific thing this review set out to check — does two-finger-fire genuinely function on a real touchscreen — checks out under direct, rigorous testing.
Pros and cons
Pros
- The two-finger-fire gesture is confirmed genuinely functional, not just plausible: this review simulated a real two-touch event and watched the player object's own reload timer update in direct response, proof the fire function actually executed rather than a guess based on reading the code alone
- Single-finger steering is equally confirmed: a drag on a simulated touchscreen correctly banked the horizon, exactly the response genre-appropriate steering should produce
- A genuinely creative bonus mechanic backs up the game's name: diving into the ground while firing opens a "glitch" side of the world where enemies can't follow, as long as the fire input stays held — the one visible judge comment on record specifically calls this out as "quite nice as a break from all that action"
- Touch, mouse and keyboard all run through one unified pointer pipeline in the source, with no platform gate found anywhere disabling any of them
- Genuinely public domain: the Unlicense text in the repository is the real thing, not a filename guess, so it can be hosted and modified with no restriction at all
Cons
- A minor entry by the competition's own record: no Overall category placement found (results were never scored or published for it), and the GitHub repository carries a single star, both signs this didn't reach a wide audience even within the js13k community
- No in-game instruction of any kind — the one-finger-move, two-finger-fire control scheme and the ground-diving glitch mechanic are both explained only on the js13kgames.com listing page, not anywhere inside the game itself
- Simple by the author's own description ("a quite simple air combat game"), and testing bears that out: one enemy type, one weapon, and no stated difficulty progression or level structure beyond an open-ended dogfight
- Same cosmetic issue found elsewhere in this author's other entries reviewed this batch: the touch handler calls preventDefault() from what modern Chrome now treats as a passive listener, printing a harmless console warning on every touch