So, is it better than the old style or not? What'd I do right, and what still needs work?

I didn't play it but just judging by the screenshot the artstyle looks really good. Much better than the sprites.

Hmm. I never tried the older version, but this one feels OK. The animations are smoother than expected are the controls feels polished for such an early demo. The way walking interacts with the jet is strange, though. If you use the jet then land, you keep your midair momentum and can keep running at the same speed. I'd suggest having a max_walk_speed variable or whatnot. When the player is moving in the air or ground without using the jet, check if their speed is faster than their max_walk_speed. If it is, slowly decellerate them until they're back at max_run_speed. The effect is that after the player finishes using the jet, they'll slow down to their normal speed. Realistically speaking, they shouldn't decelerate in midair but if you do that, the player will will be tempted to use the jet once then hop around at jet speed the rest of the level. On another note: the vocalizations got very annoying after a few seconds. The sound effects for lunging, slashing and using the jet are fine, though. Stick to abstract SFX like those becuase they sound less repetitive. Also, consider changing their pitch depending on how charged the lunge was, how long you've been using the jet, etc. Lastly, the pose for latching onto big enemies looks disturbing. I don't like the way Kiku's jaw unhinges and she latches on like a plunger. As an alternative, she could grab onto enemies and repeatedly bite them before swallowing. Kind of like the Kirbies do in [url=https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51I1HnZre2L.jpg]Kirby's Mass Attack[/url]. Which is an enormous coincidence, because I happen to be listening to the OST right now. :P

[quote="DragonDePlatino"]Lastly, the pose for latching onto big enemies looks disturbing. I don't like the way Kiku's jaw unhinges and she latches on like a plunger. As an alternative, she could grab onto enemies and repeatedly bite them before swallowing. Kind of like the Kirbies do in [url=https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51I1HnZre2L.jpg]Kirby's Mass Attack[/url]. Which is an enormous coincidence, because I happen to be listening to the OST right now. :P[/quote] I suppose I could do that.

I'm thinking of starting a Wordpress blog that I can use as a sort of central hub for development news and discussion, since coordinating and updating all of these different topics and galleries and whatnot on all of these different websites is starting to feel a bit messy and inefficient. Any words of advice before I do it?