Wow. Downloading.
It looks awesome btw. Though rushed story bit sounds a bit scary...
EDIT: OK, played it..
- Need a bigger resolution. The pixel shader looks cool and all but personally, I would have enjoyed cleaner graphics here (cause I wouldn't buy a game which came with such shader). I guess it's fine if you are being stylish for a freeware game and all (though I don't see why good graphics should be butchered like this).
Anyways, bigger resolution because fullscreen makes it look even more ugly. Need a bit of sharpness because the woman (?) selling clothes at first looked like a cactus to me.. still I talked to her. Yes, I talked to a cactus..
- You need to show controls in popup when player start. I figured them out right there but before using Arrow keys (which should be WASD) I moved my mouse, clicked everywhere.. tried WASD and then went to the arrow keys. Annoying.
Oh and there is a chest in opening area but you give a tip about opening/interacting in next area. I instinctively pressed space near chest when I started but most people will never come back to the first area and look for that chest mostly cause of pixel graphics you end up missing such details.
I thought it was hilarious how a chest gave you only one gold coin.
- Need some transparency in object covering the hero (though I have seen even commercial games without that feature..).
- Most of the dialogue didn't make any sense but then again, you DID say you rushed that part.
- REALLY need an option to turn off the shader and increase resolution. Lowering the music volume will help (and throwing in some ambiance sounds, or even just footsteps sound). Marketplace should have a lot of noise.
But again, you said it was the deadline so I hope you keep refining it after competition. This looks fun (personally I think it can easily be turned into a commercial game).
EDIT 2: Haha, missed the "retro competition" part. I guess, pixel look is fine then.