Awesome, this is great, thank you for writing all this out!
Everyone seems to like the tone and the writing style, it so funny to me because so very much of it is just the first thing i thought of, I've barely had to change it at all.
I'm glad the visuals work, and that I've gotten rid of almost all the quality of life problems as well.
Things I'm taking
I was hoping I wouldn't need to fix that dashing hit box problem. but sounds like I need to.
I also like the idea of disabling jumps in barriers.
Another sign explaining the hold forward mechanic for the second jump is a good idea, i explain everything else after all.
The difficulty curve problem: I'll give the player a few breaks where they can make progress easier. I can't really take away any of the challenge, as if i don't have it they definitely will not be prepared for later, but i will try to give them more breaks.
Fan-art (I mean...you know...if you draw it)
Things I have Questions on
I'm very unsure about how i'm going to add indicators for jumps you have left that don't look horrible, any suggestions?
Why another zoom level? right now the zoom out lets you see as far as you can jump horizontally and vertically.
Questions about your experience
did you find ANY shortcuts? because if you didn't, then i can see how things would have gotten way to frustrating at the end. Doing the caves over and over would not be very fun.
have you explored much? (ie. found the mysterious hatted kew statues? or the Noe A. Tablets?)
how long did you play?
Again, thank you so much for writing all that out, it's so very helpful!
p.s. The down dash is new.