Aw man sorry you couldn't make it to ACM (the axoltol)! Yeah unfortunately the sink mechanic made moving sideways pretty hard especially at the bottom of the level, it was one of the things I would've liked to refine, as well as making the level longer or adding more stages, if we had more time. "Flee from the boulder" is a good way of putting it. I've always admired the pressure of "rising lava levels" for that feeling in games like Mario so I'm happy that feel landed for you in our game!
Thank you for the kind words :D