This game feels very polished, love the visual and audio feedback on everything! The sound effects changing when upgrading abilities is a really nice subtle touch. I went back for multiple runs to focus on different upgrades and had a good time.
Some feedback from me: For my first run I didn't know there were upgrades, and this game is really difficult prior to your first upgrade. You do so little damage in such a small area at first living to 20 currency and getting to a corner is a gauntlet. Most of my runs I got down to 1 HP in this stage and after my first upgrade had to do a no-hit run. I think this game becomes a lot more fun after your first upgrade! For a jam, I think I would have made the easy difficulty the default, and potentially even start the player with a free upgrade at the start! If you give them an upgrade at the start you can teach them the mechanic exists, give them a goal to get to the corners, and start the game off with a fun choice of how to shape your run.
Awesome job!
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Hi Matt, thanks for playing my game and sharing your feedback! It's especially good to hear that the more subtle aspects of the delivery being noticed and appreciated.
Your analysis and recommendation are spot on.
I'm planning to add a UI element that pops up once the player has collected the first 20 gems that flashes "upgrade!" with an arrow pointing to the closest upgrade location, in a post-jam patch.