Oh, ok, I was trying to figure out whether it was speed-based and even if I had to hit them with the things (hearts?) around the player, but I discarded that theory pretty fast. Guess I overthought it too far 🤣 Maybe you could turn the center circle gray after the first hit or add other visual feedback to make it 100% clear how many hits are left.
I played it again and got to the end. I agree with other comments that an invulnerability window would be nice, and, personally, I think it would feel better if projectiles impacting at the same time only cost one life.
Still... what's with the babies?🧐 (I got -4848 saved ;-;)
Anyway, I mean what I said in the previous comment, the game feels neat.