Recently added some unique-to-one-stage background objects:

Sorry for the absence.  I spent this last week dedicated to making another bonus stage that I got the idea for. I just now finished making it, and it was very fun to program and make the music/graphics for, due to the nature of it. I won't show any screenshots to avoid spoilers, this is just an update saying what I've been doing. If I can get the time, I'll scan in some of my concept art I've been drawing as well this past week, maybe at least that will be interesting for someone to see.

Those graphics are incredible! And I saw the trailer, it all looks great in motion, too! Keep up the great work on this game, I can see it becoming pretty popular!

Oh my... this is all starting to make sense now.

From the look of it, you're using screenshots (and possibly playing) from a very outdated version of the game. I can tell immediately because the atmospheric effect isn't present in the distant background in the first screenshot, and the ability icons are the old placeholder ones. Those screens don't even have the money slot on the HUD!
Here, I've gone to those two places in my current version to show you that several of these problems you're listing have already been fixed months ago:

To be fair, the inner forest background does need to be darker/saturated, I agree.

I wonder why you keep comparing the graphics to the promotional art I made, though. You can't compare an old game's graphics to its box art. If you didn't know, one of the reasons I'm making this game is as a big homage to my favorite snes games, and yes, it has been a conscious decision from the start that the foregrounds are to look like set pieces. You can see this by the fact that everything in the first 3/4 of the entire game has decorative patterns across the "front", as if they're made out of decorative plastic.
It's supposed to look like you're a cute little toy fighting across these fake-looking foregrounds, while at the same time, still present in the real world of the background. It's made to feel light-hearted and welcoming when you first play the game while still being grounded in reality.

This game's graphical style is to have no outlines at all, like many of the old games I take inspiration from had. It's interesting you bring up Pulirula, because the farther into this game you go, the more of that sort of thing actually does show up, mostly in the background objects. Not at all to the extent that Pulirula went, but some things reminiscent of that and games like Parodius (with giant human beings minding their own business in the distance and such) do appear. If I have to explain my motives, it's to literally make a disconnect, the farther you go, and the closer you get to the downed moon. Everything becomes more surreal the closer you get, something hopefully people understand is a subtle hint to the old belief that the moon caused madness, or more appropriately named "Lunacy". In this game, the real world rules of what we know about the moon are not supposed to be acknowledged, it's fiction. The dark parts on the moon's surface were once thought to be seas, so in this game, they are literal seas based on the ancient names given to each of them.

I can entertain critique of my visual style, but certainly not my artistic vision. I hope you can understand that.

[Zimonak]

Current screenshot showing how Im starting to flesh out the level.

now for replying:
@Zimonak,
I see that a few of the things you mentioned are due to the downloadable demo being severely outdated. I think the last time I updated that was last year, mostly because people weren't really giving a lot of feedback when I did. I'll have to put out a current demo sometime soon, so everyone can see all the improvements that have been made. The first tree level doesn't break anymore if you get rid of the soul, and I believe I did spell "foliage" correctly on the map, I just checked. perhaps you misread it at first? Can you explain more about this "star-like thing" that got stuck in a wall? I'm not sure what that's about.

The big enemy in that stage you're referring to is only a miniboss. Big bosses get their own stage to themselves.

Thank you for your feedback and support.

@Jad,
Can you explain what you mean? The sprites and foreground images in this game are meant to look simple and innocent (until later in the game), whereas the backgrounds are deliberately detailed and more realistic than the sprites. How are they not popping? Have you tried playing the demo? I'm sure seeing the game in motion is different from looking at the screenshots.

I do appreciate the feedback, though, and I'll continue to improve the game.
Also thank you for the compliment, I'm glad.

Already well on my way toward making the stage from the concept art I previously posted up:

Trying something different for this particular stage's background, where the higher you climb, the lower in the background you can see. Also the background is very bland right now, planning on filling in all the forest as soon as I finish the stage layout.

Thanks! I am

Concept art for a new stage I'm currently in the process of adding in.

The aurora borealis now appears at the top of one of the final stages. The sprites took hours to animate.

Thank you for the fanart!
Co-op wouldn't make much sense in this single-player game, though.

Thank you! I appreciate it!

Here's a screenshot from a stage I've been adding more parts to:

aha thank you.
And the brawler's costume was supposed to look like it was trying too hard, I went for an over-the-top design like Streets of Rage would do.
And if you thought the combat in ActRaiser was terrible, try playing ActRaiser 2.

I might as well post this here. some unused sprites from several bonus levels that I was putting in, but decided to scrap partway through for various reasons.



I hope this gives you an idea of why the Bonus stages are so time consuming, and what they might entail. Don't worry, these that have been taken out have been replaced by ones that are much better and improved.

I'm doing my best.

Nice. I like that art style.

Thank you, I appreciate the compliment

Working on a cutscene

Ah, it saddens me that so many people ask me about money regarding my game. Someone even asked me the same thing on a YouTube comment just yesterday.
No worries, though, I don't mind answering it.

It's going to be free. I will never accept any money for this game at all.
I'm making this because I want to, not for any monetary gain, and I will always keep it that way.

I would only ever accept money if I was hired to do something as part of a game, or as donations or something.