Thank you for the comment and I'm glad you had fun with your daughter. I play a lot with my daughter as well (forced tester lol).
Unlike Towerfall, MWG isn't really about effectively killing your opponent. It's about being the last monkey alive. The two games have a similar feel but the goals are a bit different to me.
The hearts giving a lot of health and dying to the spikes more often is actually intentional. Through a lot of demoing/testing I have found that rounds that end before the spikes are a bit underwhelming for most players. I'm going for more of a party game that anyone can have a chance of winning, not just the player with the most skill at these types of games.
That is the reason for the short timer and excess health. The winner is the player that can survive the 30 sec free for all and maneuver themselves well enough to not be killed by the spikes/other players during "sudden death".
I will say the new update that will be coming soon really makes the movement more important as the monkeys can bump into and jump off of each other. That may help with being able to force opponents in different directions.
I really appreciate you taking the time to play and to go even further to leave a well thought out comment. Thank you again and I hope you enjoy future updates!