Congratulations on your first jam! The first one is the hardest, so it'll get better with the next :) As you wrote, there are a few issues such as spawning with not enough time to react to an enemy/spikes/gap and the gravity feels like the character is just moving down, not being drawn by a force, but I know: No time for that! ;) Another thing that would have been nice to have is a score counter measuring how long/far you made it. Personally, I'd also look into offering the player some kind of "health", so that I can mess up a few times before having to restart again.
If you want to keep improving your game, I'd suggest to focus on the controls & gravity first, so that it really feels tight. Then rework your level generation algorithm a bit, so it can avoid unfair placement, especially in the beginning. My solution to this would to have the first one (or two) platforms always be at the same position in each level so as a player I can get in the flow befor having to make my first "real" jump.
Here's some "nice-to-have" stuff regarding anything that's not gamplay: Next time, please publish your game without an installer, single .exe file is best. Also, give the file some other name than "LudumDare" because the chances are high that it clashes with somebody else's game. Finally, many people like it best when the game starts in a window with a fullscreen option.
In any case: You finished a game, even with a title screen! Good job!!
In response to your last comment, no one can tell you the exact values to use, you just have to experiment ;) Also, look at what other platformers do and consider stealing a little from them. Sometimes the player moves upwards very quickly after jumping, but falls much more slowly. Sometimes (almost always) there is a limit to how fast the player can fall. There is a whole lot to dive into if you want, and I'd recommend going with what you feel is best, rather than what some random person (like me) says you should do.
That all said, I for one thought it played very nicely, and am just trying to give you ideas should you decide to develop it further. The only real problem I ran into was that sometimes it's impossible not to die at the start (consider adding a "safe platform" so the player doesn't spawn next to an obstacle).
And of course, congratulations on your first LD entry!
veralos
2017-05-17 08:42
Cool little runner game. The graphics are quite nice - I like the trail behind the main character and the effect when enemies die. The sounds are pretty simple, but they work well. Some music would be nice, though. The gameplay can be fun when you get a good rhythm going. However, the gravity feels too low so it's hard to have much control over where you land (even with the fall faster button) and the level generation can create some very difficult jumps. At the very least I think there should be a larger flat bit of ground where you start so you have more of a chance to react when the game begins.