Hi, thanks for the detailed feedback! If you’re curious about the animation process, it was a combined effort between our artist (@Hypercandychan) and myself. She did a great job establishing the visual style and creating the base character actions. I helped guide how the animations would function in-game and enhanced them to make the movement feel more fluid and responsive.
To save time during the jam, I used a few “shortcut” techniques, such as duplicating frames and primarily adjusting the major body parts rather than redrawing everything from the sprite sheets. Much of the process was guided by the "12 Principles of Animation", especially squash and stretch, anticipation, and careful frame timing.
Thanks again for the thoughtful review!