Good concept. The art is very nice looking and appealing, however I think the controls can use a lot more polish. The pogo move feels a little stumpy, and in general the controls feels quite stiff. The sound of the deadly laser sticks out a lot, which is clever because it lets the player know that they're about to lose. But you're not capitalising on this enough. There's room for more risk and reward here. If the player were more often presented by a choice of path, like one risky but fast way, and another slow but safe way, they might pick which path based on the proximity of the laser.
As it stands now, there is no choice to be made except that you know that this is your last shot at moving past an obstacle once you hear the laser.
Progression also feels like a chore. The second that barrier touches you, you go all the way back to the beginning. You'll have to make your way through the same part of the level you've already done dozens of times just to get another shot at that difficult bit where you last died. And that bit might take several tries to get right. The frustration from this is also compounded by the stiff controls.
This concept seems like it was inspired by the tower from Shovel Knight: Spectre of Torment. One crucial thing you didn't bring over from that minigame was the random nature of the tower.
Now, I'm not saying that randomly generated levels would be the best solution to this game's problems, but I do think it would greatly ease that frustration of having to replay the same bits of the game over and over again. Instead it would allow the player to hone their skill by facing a larger variation of situations.
I'm focusing on the negative bits here, but that's what stands out to me the most as holding this concept back. I hope that you keep working on this game to make it the best it can be, and I'll be keeping my eye on this.
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Good concept. The art is very nice looking and appealing, however I think the controls can use a lot more polish. The pogo move feels a little stumpy, and in general the controls feels quite stiff. The sound of the deadly laser sticks out a lot, which is clever because it lets the player know that they're about to lose. But you're not capitalising on this enough. There's room for more risk and reward here. If the player were more often presented by a choice of path, like one risky but fast way, and another slow but safe way, they might pick which path based on the proximity of the laser.
As it stands now, there is no choice to be made except that you know that this is your last shot at moving past an obstacle once you hear the laser.
Progression also feels like a chore. The second that barrier touches you, you go all the way back to the beginning. You'll have to make your way through the same part of the level you've already done dozens of times just to get another shot at that difficult bit where you last died. And that bit might take several tries to get right. The frustration from this is also compounded by the stiff controls.
This concept seems like it was inspired by the tower from Shovel Knight: Spectre of Torment. One crucial thing you didn't bring over from that minigame was the random nature of the tower.
Now, I'm not saying that randomly generated levels would be the best solution to this game's problems, but I do think it would greatly ease that frustration of having to replay the same bits of the game over and over again. Instead it would allow the player to hone their skill by facing a larger variation of situations.
I'm focusing on the negative bits here, but that's what stands out to me the most as holding this concept back. I hope that you keep working on this game to make it the best it can be, and I'll be keeping my eye on this.