Game review
Space Huggers
7.6 / 10
- Developer
- Frank Force
- Publisher
- Frank Force
- Released
- 1 January 2018
- Platforms
- desktop
- Genre
- platformer
- Monetisation
- free
- Players
- false
The short version
A genuinely impressive run-and-gun platformer for its origin as a JS13K game-jam entry (13KB size limit), with procedurally generated levels, a real weapon-aiming system, and enemies to clear. Correctly shipped desktop-only, since this build predates its own engine's touch virtual-gamepad support and touch can only aim, not move or jump - confirmed by reading the source and by real WASD/mouse testing.
Biggest strengths
- WASD movement and mouse-aim both confirmed genuinely functional through real input testing - a sequence of real "D" key presses visibly panned the camera relative to the player (proving movement), and a real mouse click at a distant point visibly rotated the weapon to aim toward it
- Procedurally generated levels and enemy counts mean no two runs look identical, confirmed by re-loading the page and seeing different terrain colours, layouts, and enemy totals each time
- Impressively varied for a 13KB-limit JS13K competition entry - a title watermark, a checkpoint flag, a live enemy counter, parallax mountains, and functional physics/collision, all within that constraint
Biggest weaknesses
- Touch input only allows aiming (via tap position), not movement or jumping, because this build predates its own LittleJS engine's touch virtual-gamepad feature - correctly reflected by shipping this as desktop-only rather than as a broken mobile listing
- The "SPACE HUGGERS" title watermark renders permanently over live gameplay rather than fading away, which reads as a rough edge for a game that's otherwise polished
- Sound and presentation are functional rather than distinctive, in keeping with its game-jam origins
Who it's for: Platformer fans who want a real keyboard-and-mouse run-and-gun with procedural levels, on a PC rather than a phone.
Our recommendation: play
7.6 / 10
Opening
Space Huggers is a run-and-gun platformer originally built for JS13K, a competition where the entire game has to fit in 13 kilobytes. That constraint makes what's actually here - procedurally generated terrain, a working weapon-aim system, a checkpoint flag, and a live enemy counter - genuinely impressive, and it holds up as a real platformer rather than a tech demo.
Correctly desktop-only, and confirmed why
The candidate note flagging this game was specific: it's built on an early version of the LittleJS engine that predates the built-in touch virtual-gamepad feature, so on a touchscreen, taps only move the aim reticle - there's no way to move or jump. This was confirmed directly by reading the source, which has no touch-gamepad calls anywhere, only mouse-position-based aiming. Rather than force it onto the phone shelf where it would be unplayable, it's shipped here under the desktop-only tier, so a phone visitor is correctly steered away from a game they couldn't actually control.
Controls, confirmed on desktop
WASD movement and mouse-aim were both tested directly. A sequence of real "D" key presses produced a clearly visible camera pan relative to the player character - the world scrolled as the character walked, which only happens from genuine movement input, not a static screen. A real mouse click at a point well to the right of the player visibly rotated the character's weapon to aim toward it. Both are exactly the inputs the game expects, and both work correctly.
Final Verdict
A well-made, honestly-labelled run-and-gun platformer that makes the most of tight technical constraints. It knows what it is - a keyboard-and-mouse game - and says so on the shelf rather than pretending otherwise, with the controls to back that decision up.
Pros and cons
Pros
- WASD movement and mouse-aim both confirmed genuinely functional through real input testing - a sequence of real "D" key presses visibly panned the camera relative to the player (proving movement), and a real mouse click at a distant point visibly rotated the weapon to aim toward it
- Procedurally generated levels and enemy counts mean no two runs look identical, confirmed by re-loading the page and seeing different terrain colours, layouts, and enemy totals each time
- Impressively varied for a 13KB-limit JS13K competition entry - a title watermark, a checkpoint flag, a live enemy counter, parallax mountains, and functional physics/collision, all within that constraint
- Correctly and honestly shipped as desktop-only rather than pretending to support touch it can't deliver - confirmed by reading the source, which has no touch virtual-gamepad calls at all, only a mouse-position-based aim
- GPL-3.0 licensed, no third-party analytics found in the shipped files
Cons
- Touch input only allows aiming (via tap position), not movement or jumping, because this build predates its own LittleJS engine's touch virtual-gamepad feature - correctly reflected by shipping this as desktop-only rather than as a broken mobile listing
- The "SPACE HUGGERS" title watermark renders permanently over live gameplay rather than fading away, which reads as a rough edge for a game that's otherwise polished
- Sound and presentation are functional rather than distinctive, in keeping with its game-jam origins