JusTiCe8 Glad you had some fun with it π
For short jumps down you should decide in advance if you're gonna go with a parachute and activate it immediately (like a double tap down). On long falls you can wait until the last moment to open a chute so you get down faster if need be.
Game's spatial relations are kept from the original prototype which had very tiny sprites. The new ones are about x2 bigger. It doesn't look realistic but imho still works well from gameplay standpoint. I didn't want to touch the original "geometry" of the map because the play rhythm you get from it was quite satisfying.
The initial version I released back in the day was somewhat of a minor underground hit, especially loved by people who do game design, but the indie climate was different back then. There was quite a bit of discussion on things you mentioned (auto parachutes, cross-layer collisions...) and I tried many of suggested alternatives but none worked for the better so I kept the initial design for the most part.
For example, limiting collisions with enemies only to the same layer sounds reasonable in theory but in practice, due to very fast pace, it can result in many confusing situations where you die "suddenly" because it's wasn't apparent that a layer transition took place during a jump. Bringing all collisions into a single plane regardless of the layer, proved to work best from player's perspective. Also, distancing the layers vertically so that enemies don't "stick" above would impede the perception of obvious safe roundabout paths.
Most interventions that novice players tend to suggest would actually dilute the main three-option choice in the short term gameplay loop:
- do I go via safe roundabout path (spending more time, and more mental effort to "calculate" the path)
- do I go on direct but more dangerous path
- should I use resources to make the path safer/faster
Game's design intentionally breaks some of the common platformer tropes. If you jump into it expecting a standard platformer behavior, you'll immediately want to issue an objection π But stick with it some more until those expectations evaporate and you may enter a very pleasant zone. Some people find it quite addictive.
Btw, level 5 is still in the beginner ballpark. My wife who doesn't know what WASD means and only plays match 3 and hidden object games could reach level 10 after some practice π