Haha, thanks! We threw out a ton of ideas before eventually deciding on tackling a single screen metroidvania for the design challenge of it!
Yeah, we didn't have time to display the player's health. I don't mind the death being punishing, because once you know where everything is, you can just blitz through the whole game in about 90-120 seconds. And I think the insta-kill from the fire heightens the anxiety when the dragon heads your way.
Thank you so much for the feedback though! We're actually continuing to iterate on the game and I'll post a new build once the contest is over! I'd really love to see your thoughts with the new stuff!
Cool, I'll try to remember to revisit it after the jam! One more thing: the area affected by the dragon isn't always entirely clear. For example when he hits the floor where the torch is, you can hide in the place where the jump is found. That kinda makes sense since it's just below the floor, but the fire animation actually extends to that area so it looks like you should get hit.