@SolarLune, ah is it really too bright? I kept it a bit bright to keep some contrast where it appears in the game, though I suppose it could go darker:



@Damian, Thanks a lot!

Mineshaft!

oh, that looks nice! Keep up the good work.

The more I see of this game, the more I want to play it! When you get a key or item, is there any way to check if you have it or not? I assume there might be a menu or inventory, since health is the only thing shown on the HUD.

I just "play it by ear" and use what I learned from studying old sprites and graphics, really. If it doesn't look right I fix it until it does. Same goes for when I make music.

A cluster is a group of pixels of the same color, that you arrange into larger shapes. You can think of clusters as brush strokes while painting.

Oh wow, I had no idea about any of this. thanks!

It's a gigantic tree!

Ooh, this has potential to be something really impressive! I saw the screenshot in the screenshot saturday thread and immediately came here to see more about the game.

@Neo, thanks! I'm not sure what you're referring to with "clusters" though.

it bothers the shit out of me when I see a pixel art game with 'actual' particles.

Amen to that!

Thank you! I appreciate it!

I appreciate your vagueness in your answer, TheMightyDefault. No spoilers on how to solve any of the puzzles or anything, please.

In other news, the cave stages needed more bat enemies, so I sketched out some new concept art for some today:

gunna make sum stickerx

holy cow, Delko- that is so 80s, I love it!

Asked my pal to draw me up some flowers with faces on them, and I've been translating them to pixels all day today

Thank you! I didn't know about that doorway bug, and I'll get it fixed right away! Just another oversight I didn't take into account. That second bug seems to be that I simply forgot to place a wall on that side of the stage. Fixing that asap.

As for your question, those sparkles are significant, that's all I'll say.

Thank you for the feedback and compliments!

Thanks, Ito. I really appreciate the compliments!
And Connor, the demo download is on the very first page of this thread in red text near the top, and it's for pc.

Interesting... I wonder what caused it not to work on godsavant's copy, then. Also thanks, even though the fish only stopped once, it's worth at least looking into to make sure it doesn't bug again.

[The first door in the level is bugged]

The first door in the level is bugged.

Oh my. I had no idea! I've looked into it, and that was just the result of a huge oversight on my part where I apparently removed the switch to open the doors on accident. I'll get this fixed and update the demo asap! I'll announce when I update the demo, and anyone who's already downloaded it, I would ask to please re-download it after that if they want to play past the starship stage.

• On Vantage Point (as previously mentioned), a rocket midway through the level triggers as Jack jumps below it and sends its shrapnel right onto the platform you have to land on.
  

Ah, I must have forgotten to fix this one! My apologies. I'll move or delete that rocket now.

• A Drill demon on the rightmost part of Ascension has too short of a patrol. He previously got hunt up on one edge of the platform, but even now, the platform is too narrow, making it nigh impossible to jump over him without taking damage.

Ah, I didn't know about that one, I'll fiddle with that specific enemy to see why he's getting caught on the edge there.

• The new fish enemy is a welcome stand-in for those damn homing flies, but their projectiles seem to be bugged, and remain stuck to the side of platforms on certain stages (the screenshot below was taken in Onward and Upwards).

woops! I'll make sure they pop on impact like they're supposed to. It's something to do with the jump-through-able platforms.

Thank you once again for the extensive feedback, godsavant. I always look forward to your helpful criticism.

I used shield+gun and everything worked correctly. Basic weapon works too.

You could get past that stage in this new demo?

The only bug I found was in "Methuselah". One of those fishes was stuck in the platform and don't move.

Ah, I'll find whichever one in that stage intersects with a platform and see if I can get it fixed.

Thank you too, ashpd, I appreciate it.

Thanks! I'm not sure what "nearest neighbour scaling" is, sadly.
If you play past the third stage, I think you might find that it's not as simple as you think. I would not say this game is aimed at a younger demographic at all, actually.
Thanks for the compliments, though!