Completed it. Well done just making anything for any jam and I can tell this is sort of the start of you making games?

Suggestions:

• At least have instructions on the Itch page to tell ppl what to do. That helps and I know it’s hard to put it in game or have a tutorial as you always run out of time.
• It wasn’t clear that I had to click the item to trade? Maybe using Enter or Space would be better? Also maybe pop up a line of text telling ppl they can do that when in range of a prisoner?
• I won, but wasn’t sure which prisoner to trade with?

Anyway, good effort and you can easily build on and polish this and keep learning. You did the hard part - just making something. The rest is just small polish. I’d spend some time improving it and making it as fun as possible then move to a new game.

Keep learning and making things!

I can tell you put quite a lot of work into this. It may just be WebGL, but it seems to be too far zoomed in--most of the UI is cut off, and it's possible to run the character all the way off the screen. Here's a screencap: 

The atmosphere was great!  It was a little hard to figure out what to do with the collectibles, and the 'guard room' where the camera stops following the character takes away from the experience a little as it is unclear if you need to do something to 'open up' that area.  Reading comments here helped with that.  Cool game!

I'm amazed by the level of cinematography in this tiny 2D top-down game. The CRT effect, camera pans and zooms, and gentle camera movement as you roam around are really fun little details of polish. The music is also smooth and had me vibing as I searched for the five, er, firecrackers?

That camera I like did seem to have trouble following me in the topmost room, but as there was nothing in there anyway, it's not a problem. I think the mood and design flourishes here elevate it quite a bit, and show a lot of promise for the future. Cool stuff!

I tried playing, but I'm a bit at a loss what to do. I gathered some things (no idea what it is) and everytime I meet another square, they seem to offer something for trade, but when I click on that icon, the game is over. (even if i choose the ladder, not the key.)  To be honest, I didn't understand the game... 
Btw. when entering one room, the camera did not follow... 

Moody music, though ^^