KNIFE=LIFE

Strangely addicting game -- the mid-air shooting mechanic is really satisfying!

Cool! The tool tips for the game were really helpful but I was running on pc so I wasn't exactly sure what I was supposed to do although there was support for keyboard which was nice. I really liked that you gave me an epilepsy warning because holy snap man that was a lot. I also really liked the way the arms moved it was a cool little bit of physics. But really how do I shoot on pc?

@tim-allen Not sure if you figured it out, but it should be left mouse button to shoot! :)

@kevin-liu Thanks!
@tim-allen, I've added mouse+keyboard at the last moment and didn't have time to add tips, sorry! I've added description for keyboard controls on itch and just added it here. Thank you for playing!

BEST GAME I'VE EVER PLAYED AT GAME JAMES!

Fast paced and addictive! Great submission :D

Cool game! I especially liked the movement controls. They felt fluid and predictable.

Cool and polished game! I wish I had a little sign to warn of the arrival of an attack on the first type of enemies. Really cool game !

Awesome mechanic and addicting gameplay, felt great to move around and shoot some knives. Now the bad thing, it's a really, really difficult game, at first I couldn't even get pass the second round of circles. It took me forever. But I was determined, also, I didn't realised that you could switch lives with knives (probably because I'm dumb) after that it was easier to get through that part. Even with more knives I could not get pass the second round of diamonds (the one with two diamonds and two circles).

@nayrahbbt yeah, the game turned out to be quite hard, unfortunately, didn't have time to change that. As for the controls and features - it's not explained that great, you're not the only one who struggled with it. I'll remember that for future projects, thank you for your feedback!

Really well-polished game. The tutorial is perfect. Controls are tight and responsive. As others have pointed out, brutally difficult. Definitely a 5-stars overall though.

Super hard, but what an amazing game!
The instructions at the start were great, the gameplay was smooth, and the art fit the mood.
I hope you do some more work on this, it is release worthy for sure!

I actually ended up playing for a little over 45 minutes! There's a special place in my heart for insanely hard platformer games, and this game scratched an itch for me that no other game I've played could reach, and its made all the more impressive by the fact that its a compo game! I had a total blast going through the game over and over until I beat the final boss (although i did wish there were checkpoints). My only other complaint is that the laser attack seemed a bit unfair at times; it wasn't always entirely clear where you needed to not be and when you needed to not be there. The general concept was fairly innovative as well, and I loved that the implementation of the theme allowed for different playstyles, like keeping low level knives but not spending your health when you didn't need to, or frequently spending your health to upgrade your knives so you could kill enemies faster. The audio was perfect- the music fit the game perfectly, and the audio provided feedback for all of your actions, making it feel that much better to play. The graphics, while minimalistic, are still good and work well for the game. Wasn't entirely sure why you opted out. The boss at the end was a great touch, too, and managed to stay at the same level of brutal balance as the rest of the game. Overall, incredible job! I give this game 5 stars!

@pixlark thanks!

@furtive-pygmy thank you, I'm determined to make it a full game in the near future!

@purrfexionator WOW, thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the game this much! I'll be sure to consider your feedback for a full game.
Checkpoints - I wanted to add checkpoints with a similar concept: so you could dismiss them entirely and it would benefit you somehow, or you could use them but have some sort of penalty because of it (probably, your score).
Laser - yeah, it can be a bit deceiving. I added a telegraph circle at the attack as well, but looks like, it wasn't enough, I'll remember that.
Concept - yay! This is what I had in mind - controllable difficulty, allowing for both safe and risky playstyles. But still ended up with a bit too hard game.
Graphics - well, I wanted to do so much more with the graphics, so when I ended up with circles and squares at the end of competition, I thought that it wasn't enough. This is the first time I did a compo game, so I wasn't sure of what to expect in terms of competition :)

Well done my friend, I really enjoyed playing your game!

Awesome game, with a lot of little things that make it feel really cool! Very difficult, but that's the way I like those games.

The polish here is incredible- you did an amazing job! :)

AWESOME. I'm amazed that you managed to do add so many features, graphics, music, animations, sound effects and balanced gameplay in under 48 hours. You even had time to add an opening cutscene, tutorial and boss level. You must've worked your butt off! Well done, sir; great job on this. I think I played for about 45 minutes, to beat my record. I'm happy with the result.

Really cool looking game! Gameplay is also very fluid and polished. Great stuff! You even got some music and sound effects running. Amazing job!

The core gameplay is also very intriguing. But I had my issues with hammering the Gamepad-Button to shoot knifes. Since the enemeies have a lot of hp even very early in the game, it got really old really fast to hit the button as fast as possible. I think there is some balancing potential there. Or maybe a different shooting mechanic like burst fire or something, where you don't have to hit button to throw a single knife. It felt like work after a short period of time already.

But enough criticism. Awesome entry! The groundwork is already astonishing.

Mike Wazowski Has A Knife.

I love this game! really funky music, simplistic undertale-battle-esque graphics, difficult gameplay. I like exploding into bones.

Very cool and fun to retry. Difficulty is high but I think it's perfect that way.

Solid presentation, and bones + knives flying everywhere! I love me some particles. Super difficult, when I realized that it was back to the beginning every time I was discouraged, but maybe I'm just old and weak, not ready for the future.

Super fun! This game has a tun of juice and I love every mechanic in it. The character sprite just looks gorgeous, and I can't even imagine how good the game would look if every sprite had the same amount of polish as the character/knives. Overall one of the best games I've played all jam.

The controls and physics are on another level. Even most big-name studio games don't have controls this good. I like how you got a very minimalist aesthetic to still look good. The sound and music were likewise very understated but were very tasteful and appropriate and all worked very well.

My main criticism is that enemies often made a wall of bullets that was essentially impossible to dodge.