I completely agree with just about everything you said, though I do want to try human characters first alongside more quirky ones.
I'm going to have some different level shapes like say a slightly S shaped level or long skinny level, but a hazards mode sounds really awesome too. Definitely would be a cool for variety.
I do want to make some pretty nice looking levels, too. The levels are all just simple stadiums so i think I'll be able to focus a fair bit on making the art.
Local multiplayer is definitely a must but maannn I dread the idea of having to make online multiplayer. I'll try to make it but we'll see how that goes.
Thanks so much, man! So encouraging to hear it's actually fun.
Oh and yeah the ai doesn't change, they're just all over the place. Got a lot of work to do on the weird ai.