Space is Key
March 21, 2012 10:47 AM   Subscribe

Space is Key: An evil little flash game. Press space to jump. That's it.
posted by rouftop (58 comments total) 13 users marked this as a favorite
 
Fun! This looks like the kind of game that Compute's Gazette use to have printed in the back, in their wierdo numerical code that was supposed to guarantee error-free entry.
posted by jquinby at 10:52 AM on March 21, 2012 [2 favorites]


Yep, pretty evil. Addicting though.
posted by ghharr at 10:54 AM on March 21, 2012


It's like the most frustrating parts of Battletoads, right here in my browser!
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 10:56 AM on March 21, 2012 [5 favorites]


could not get past the commercial
posted by parmanparman at 10:56 AM on March 21, 2012 [12 favorites]


(The evil part is the music, right?)
posted by crunchland at 10:58 AM on March 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Not sure whats up with all those annoying commercials at jayisgames.

You can play it directly at armorgames.
posted by vacapinta at 10:58 AM on March 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


I was laughing so hard on that last triple jump, when I hit some sort of mental rut and hit the back of the first block about 50 times in a row. That was really fun. I'd love to see this ported to something that doesn't show ads like, the C64 or an old machine like that.
posted by circular at 10:59 AM on March 21, 2012


Aaaargh.
posted by MartinWisse at 11:00 AM on March 21, 2012 [1 favorite]


Madness! Gave up on lvl 9. Hell?
posted by hot_monster at 11:04 AM on March 21, 2012


This is evil. How could you do this to me, rouftop? I have shit to do today.
posted by brundlefly at 11:04 AM on March 21, 2012 [4 favorites]


Oh my god. Evil evil evil.
posted by rich at 11:10 AM on March 21, 2012


Oh, and of course I heard all the narration in the merger burger guy voice.
posted by circular at 11:11 AM on March 21, 2012


What am I supposed to do with my computer now I have smashed it to pieces in frustration?
posted by unSane at 11:15 AM on March 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


That was awesomely addictive. The music is great. Also, I finished it: 1040. I imagine that's pretty bad, but at least I got to the end.
posted by koeselitz at 11:18 AM on March 21, 2012


Leave messages on Metafilter telepathically.
posted by crunchland at 11:18 AM on March 21, 2012


That was fun. I got 569, though I really should double that as a penalty because I had gotten to level 12 before I figured out that could make that ad in the lower left go away.
posted by Kattullus at 11:25 AM on March 21, 2012


I was thinking, this isn't so bad, it's fun! Then SPEED UPGRADE.

I actually made this face: D:
posted by adamdschneider at 11:31 AM on March 21, 2012


I have never been so displeased to receive an upgrade in all my gaming life.
posted by adamdschneider at 11:31 AM on March 21, 2012 [8 favorites]


There was agony and ecstasy, no hoax.
posted by Beardman at 11:35 AM on March 21, 2012


Liked the color schemes, disliked the hints/taunts that were really hard to read without crashing.
posted by obscurator at 11:39 AM on March 21, 2012


Awesome game. But man, 2 minutes of ads up front? Plus 20 seconds of credits? Yech.
posted by asavage at 11:46 AM on March 21, 2012


oddly addicting.

the music will certainly get you fired from work or at least a reprimand!
posted by lampshade at 11:54 AM on March 21, 2012


Yes JayIsGames seriously needs to re-consider their monetizing plan. *total turnoff*

Riffing on circular's comment I would love to get an old CRT monitor hooked up to some low powered mini pc with an old school Atari joystick and just have a bunch of these simple one button type games loaded on it. That would be keen!
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:58 AM on March 21, 2012


549 lives

That was fun, and I don't think I need to play it again.
posted by carsonb at 11:59 AM on March 21, 2012


Ah, Manic Miner, you were twice as unforgiving. I'll never forget the deadly water closet.
posted by hat_eater at 12:06 PM on March 21, 2012


982
posted by unSane at 12:15 PM on March 21, 2012


Well, that's 1218 lives I'm never getting back!

Worst score in the thread, yay me!

This game would be so so so much easier if it waited to spawn you some time that synced to the music or something. Or even just if it made a noise when you died.
posted by aubilenon at 12:26 PM on March 21, 2012


Finished after 786 lives, or roughly 88 cats.
posted by I Havent Killed Anybody Since 1984 at 12:40 PM on March 21, 2012 [3 favorites]


parmanparman: "could not get past the commercial"

I couldn't at first either -- and thought it was triggered by the space bar, and thought that was the game and couldn't figure out why the mods were letting the post stand.

After playing it frustratingly, I think I might have preferred that version.

(I'm going to go back and 'finish' it -- now that I've learned you can.)
posted by MCMikeNamara at 12:45 PM on March 21, 2012


These kinds of games (like Super Meat Boy) really have figured out how to keep you coming back as it gets exceedingly more difficult (or impossible). The secret is near-immediate reiteration that allows you to keep refining your move on the fly so that you feel as if it's a skill that you are learning in a fluid process. You don't die, wait awhile, die again. You are refining your motor skills, rather than trying to do the impossible. And in this process, it gives you the impression that you really did the impossible.
posted by SpacemanStix at 12:47 PM on March 21, 2012


Evil? Evil would be if it made you start over when you missed a jump. Or at least make you start at the top of the screen. As it is, it's pretty trivial to just brute force each jump.

But addicting. It got me to do all 15 screens.
posted by straight at 12:57 PM on March 21, 2012


There comes a point when you start wondering if anything can help you get through this. In that moment I turned to The Secret..."Just SEE the jump, know you will make the jump, SEE the jump over the green, you must not really believe...you must really see yourself failing because otherwise you would HAVE this"
posted by Danila at 1:03 PM on March 21, 2012


Here on level 17, taking the time to say Hello Metafilter! Hello World! Sure is nice today!! I might be losing it a bit..
posted by Danila at 1:05 PM on March 21, 2012


YOU DID IT
posted by Danila at 1:14 PM on March 21, 2012


538, which I guess is pretty damn decent (this was on Space is Key 2, the one linked in the FPP. vacapinta linked to the first one, which seems tougher to me.)
posted by Navelgazer at 1:26 PM on March 21, 2012


truly horrible 8D
posted by Monkeymoo at 1:36 PM on March 21, 2012


Darn you, triple-jump! Darn you to heck!
posted by kamikazegopher at 2:35 PM on March 21, 2012


I decided I'd quit at 1,000 lives lost. Evil.
posted by knave at 3:15 PM on March 21, 2012


1274. That is not a great score, maybe? I got tired in the middle and let them just blow up for a while.
posted by damehex at 3:38 PM on March 21, 2012


I think I'd hit 700 lives yesterday when I got to the rotation screen and I was called away. I closed the tab rather than commit pixel genocide.
posted by Sparx at 3:55 PM on March 21, 2012


That was reasonably fun; ended with 1440 and 750. The challenges had some nasty timing windows…
posted by caphector at 4:10 PM on March 21, 2012


963 on the second. 982 on the first.
posted by unSane at 5:37 PM on March 21, 2012


> make that ad in the lower left go away

Gah, you can make that horrid thing go away? There's one level where it obscures the first block, and that nearly made me rage quit.

Got 408, and I went to play again after reading that to see if I could do better, but no, no more.
posted by lucidium at 6:30 PM on March 21, 2012


I love one-key games. 636!
posted by pemberkins at 6:39 PM on March 21, 2012


Wow, I'm thrilled to get 855 now. Super fun and I eventually had to kill the music because I kept timing my jumps to it.
posted by zix at 7:35 PM on March 21, 2012


Umm, I got 221. I'm pretty sure I played this before a while ago though.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:55 PM on March 21, 2012


Oh, I played the one on Armor Games that vacapinta linked to-- there were 15 levels. Maybe it was a different one from everyone else.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:58 PM on March 21, 2012


The one in the FPP is Part 2, Vacapinta's is Part 1... I did both.
posted by unSane at 9:43 PM on March 21, 2012


FPP: 1463. (Being able to pause would help.)
Vacapinta's: 477.
posted by Pronoiac at 9:47 PM on March 21, 2012


Oh! I did the one with 20 levels. I feel better now.

I guess my ads got blocked or something, because I sure didn't notice them.

I love one-key games
Have you tried War and Peace (mefi post)? [requires windows]
posted by aubilenon at 10:06 PM on March 21, 2012


And then it turned sideways...
posted by KMB at 12:36 AM on March 22, 2012


The one in the FPP is Part 2, Vacapinta's is Part 1... I did both.

Okay so I'm still incredibly amazing, but more believably so.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:35 AM on March 22, 2012


Brilliant little game. I normally hate games like this and am very bad at them, but this one was somehow compelling enough that I completed it and enjoyed every minute of the frustration.
posted by motty at 9:40 AM on March 22, 2012


454 on the one Vacapinta linked. And now I should probably get back to work.
posted by pemberkins at 11:19 AM on March 22, 2012


aaaaaand 395 in the one linked in the FPP.
posted by shakespeherian at 5:02 PM on March 22, 2012


749 on part 1, 1215 on part 2. Gahhh. "Hell is kind of fun," indeed.
posted by en forme de poire at 10:32 PM on March 22, 2012 [1 favorite]


Gave the FPP one another shot, got 385 this time. I may end up addicted to this, trying to beat my own score.
posted by pemberkins at 6:08 PM on March 23, 2012


586 2nd time thru the FPP - not a bad ROI.
posted by en forme de poire at 11:30 PM on March 23, 2012


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