Firstly mate, your art is fantastic and the game is giving some older LibraHeart vibes which I fucking love.
Unfortunately, there are a few things that tell me you’ve been developing in a vacuum for too long. Firstly is the difficulty, if this is supposed to be a quick vertical slice of your game in order to secure funding like you posted in your extras, then it needs to be a vertical slice that can widely be completed. Otherwise people are going to get an even smaller impression of your game and move on. I’ve been following your Youtube for a while since it’s the only social I share with you but I looked through your Tumblr and watched your posts, especially concerning past products being axed for lack of interest. With your artwork I don’t think interest in the game is the issue. You have to get out with your games in as many places as you can. Not just for customers, but so you can collect data on what’s working and what isn’t.
Which brings me to the next point, your art is fantastic, and the overall game design works incredibly well with the artwork. But the level design needs work, and that’s okay! EVERYONE sucks at making levels. Even people who have been making levels for years need to tweak them as time and more information is collected. This is a perfect time to do so, you’ve gone so far as to remove one of the enemies to make 1-3 a bit easier. However, it seems since that tweak, you’re coming off as a bit condescending and quite a bit dismissive to others complaining about 1-3. This is a killer for indies. It’s hard to see people not immediately love everything about our games, but you will not get to see those babies live long enough to be loved if you are not seeking every piece of data your customers are willing to share with you about their experiences. Good and Bad, you have to be willing to at least acknowledge the criticism, watch the trends and ask yourself questions about what is causing them to have these negative experiences. Please don’t take anything I said as a personal attack, I sincerely hope to see more of your work in the future.