Thanks for the feedback! I really tried to make the game and the puzzles a bit more challenging (for the later levels), but since the rooms were so small I ended up without any ideas, so I just kept things as simple as possible. Also, I should start using configurable controls, that would probably help a lot XD.
Viewing post in Prison of the Masks jam comments
I know the feeling, trust me. It happened to me too. Two game jams ago, I went for a puzzle platformer (that was when I realized I needed to change my type of games), and I found myself really constricted by the options. It looks like a big space, but the rooms tend to be around 12x18 tiles, so there’s only so much you can do with them, you run out of ideas quickly. Here’s the game if you want to play it; it’s short, only 13 easy levels.
https://wiredpixels.itch.io/of-gold-and-blood
Now, what I was pointing out is that my game was ALSO a basic puzzle platformer, but I added a twist. Instead of solving puzzles like every other puzzle platformer, you’d use the bodies of your dead enemies to do it. It sounds creepy, but the theme of the jam was “Death is an Opportunity,” so I used the bodies as an opportunity to solve the levels instead of the classic “push the box, get the key, escape” puzzles.
I hope that helps for your next jam, because you clearly have the talent to make something visually very pleasing and the technical skills to make a platformer, it just needs that clever twist to make it stand out. Good luck!