This is a good basic platformer. The jump-and-shoot routine reminds me of Mega Man - since I'm a longtime veteran of that series, I felt right at home!
Here are my critical points (many of which others have already stated):
- Making the indestructible damaging object a red hexagon isn't very intuitive. I mean, the red color is fine because that does communicate danger of some sort, but it needs spikes or something to more clearly communicate what it does.
- The horizontal-moving platforms don't carry Nena with them. I could see this being a gimmick somewhere, but it's not very intuitive design.
- The backgrounds are as basic as it gets - pure shape and color, no texture. It's OK for a jam game and ensures the characters don't get lost in the scenery, but it's also doesn't make me feel like I'm in the character's world.
- This game could really use some background music
- The jump is a little floaty. There even seems to be a slight double-jump if the jump key is held down.
- The boss battle is basically a bigger version of the other enemies and has a projectile slash like Nena, but due to the boss' size those attacks tend to go over her head, so it's not a very challenging fight. I suppose it could be OK if this were the first battle in a longer game, but a little more threat and variety in attack patterns would be a significant improvement.
I do have some positive points too:
- The challenges are on the easy side but not completely devoid of challenge - the enemies frequently approach from an angle, so you have to jump and otherwise maneuver to attack them if you don't want to get hit.
- The sword attack has a decent amount of range. It doesn't span the whole screen, so there's still some positioning challenge in using it. Enemies die in a reasonable amount of hits to it.
- No crazy precise jumps
- There was a point where I thought I was stuck, but with a little backtracking I could see the solution.
- As mentioned earlier, the characters were easy to see
- Character hitboxes make sense
Overall, this felt like a good first game. Maybe not amazing, but by no means a failure either. I hope you continue to improve your skills.