Kow's space

Written 2026-06-03

Last edited 2026-06-03

Kow's space is one of those games of which I had the idea for a looong time. A 2D platformer that only used one button. The player character is basically one big & simple state machine. The state changes depending on how long you press the spacebar.

I'm really proud of this one. I wasn't at first but I very much am now. It's probably the best ideas I've ever had. I think. Maybe not.

Just like oh zxcv, I originally thought this game would go over people's heads. That they wouldn't understand the controls, that they wouldn't like the vibe of it. But I knew I had something special on my hands when people who don't really play games would say "No, no, let me try one more time" when I tried to take the game away from them. I'd send it to random friends and they'd update me on how far they got and would ask questions about certain levels. It's probably thanks to the level design that people kept pushing. I actually thought about it this time, instead of just making random things like we did in ORB inc.

It's also really interesting to see that the non-gamers weren't much worse at the game than the gamers. Probably because the controls are so weird.

Play it here!