Pretty fun, but it would be nice if you had more time to fight the enemies.

The concept is great but I felt quite restricted not being able to shoot the enemies dead whilst the arena changes size. Either everything should be frozen whilst it gets smaller or everything remain in motion.

Also noticed that there's actually more time waiting for the levels to change than there is for time to shoot enemies. Should definitely be the other way around (more time in the arena with more enemies to give justification for the longer time period and less time transitioning).

Also, as a personal preference, I prefer keyboard based shooting (up down left right) so if you could add that in as an extra option (so I wouldn't need to fumble the trackpad) that would be great.

Love the fat bullets, but think it could do with different weapon variations, especially as the enemies grow in number.

Love the look of the main character - reminds me of Flash Gordon.

With a bit of tweaking and refining, I think this could be super awesome.

Nice idea, but I do agree that the transitions took too long. They did look really nice though. Unfortunately, on later levels, it seemed almost impossible to dodge all the enemy bullets, and the timer would run out in under a second. Still, nice graphics, and really cool concept!

I enjoyed it fairly! I think more could be done with the mechanics, but, that being said it was very well communicated and exectuted! ^_^

I liked the compression, but not so much the transitions. Cool graphics!

Nice job! I think maybe it was a bit too fast paced, but cool concept and the style is nice

Really like the rescaling arena, even if the transitions are overly long. Gameplay didn't work for me, though... I didn't really feel like I had any control over how quickly I took damage or knocked down opponents, beyond holding down the buttons.

Really interesting gameplay! I had to stop playing and let myself die to fully grasp what was going on, but once I figured it out I was really impressed!

Loved it! Kinda wish the player wasn't so slide-ey though.

Really cool. It seems like the game gets harder the more you lose, which usually isn't good.

Good design and effects. Totally great.

65395 .. is this a good score? :)

It's really not enough room to escape the enemy lasers.
I must admit I didn't completly get what was going on and the room was becoming small really fast :)

Cool idea, I wonder, does the enemy fire do anything?
Besides that I like the thought you put into the theme and the execution is well done.

Really fun! Gameplay looks really solid. Falls flat on music though.

Simple game, but beautiful graphics and nice gameplay. Well done. I Included it in part 1 of my Ludum Dare 31 compilation video series, if you would like to check it out :) http://youtu.be/v6qOf-i7cO4

On its own, having the enemy shots reduce the timer seems fair. Surrounding you with enemies also seems fair. Doing both in an arena so small that you can't really move around makes this game almost impossible to progress through. I went back and forth between two levels until it glitched out and spawned a double batch of enemies, and on the third expansion I had 18 enemies shooting me at once.

The concept is good, but the implementation of that concept leaves a lot to be desired. If the arena started larger, or if you didn't start surrounded each time, it might feel like you at least have a chance at making it to the next level. As it is, it's just too punishing to really get into.

Great use of theme, and very stylish.

Awesome game, doesn't give a huge amount of time between rounds but I do like the art style and the music!

Neat mechanic with the walls closing in. Well done. :)

Really interesting concept! Would be cool if the transitions were shorter or if they froze everyone. Animations when the arena changed were cool too!

fun game but the timer goes way to fast. cool idea with the collapsing arean - great job

Simple game, nice graphics too!. With all these explosions i thought Michael Bay designed this :p. Nice entry!

Nice concept!

Pretty cool idea, my only problem was that it's insanely difficult, you are constantly surrounded by enemies and when they all shoot you it's almost impossible to dodge all the bullets, and it only gets harder when the arena becomes smaller, I think you should let the enemies be able get shot when the arena is changing.

Claustrophobia simulation with red skeletons. I like it :)

Nice battle arena! A score tab would have been awesome though!

I'm gunna give you 5 stars for Theme.

[shameless plug] I actually used a Game Border mechanic in my LD31 game too (http://ludumdare.com/compo/ludum-dare-31/?action=preview&uid=45908) - however in mine you need to expand the border fully to exit the level.

I really like your contracting border crushing the player idea. This game does need some refinement but you've got a solid concept to run with. Good stuff.

You nailed it with the concept, amazing work there. Also the graphic style is awesome.

However, I do wish that the controls were a little more responsive for the movement of the hero. That, or let me run through enemies and remove the drag on the wall. As it currently is, I just felt doomed to be swarmed with bullets immediately.

As others have said, it would be nice to avoid the pauses in between level shrinkage some how. Maybe if the level was constantly always shrinking for that round, but then you could also always be shooting enemies.

Overall, amazing game. Great work and lots of polish.

Innovation 5/5: I really innovative game!!!!

Fun 4/5: It's fun, but too difficult.

Theme 5/5: Great use of the theme!!

Graphics 5/5: I really like them!!

Audio 4/5: I liked the music!!

Humor n/a: I can't rate that category...

Mood 4/5: While playing, I felt good.

Overall 5/5: My only 5/5 for the moment!!! One of my fav.

I loved the art and the concept of a constantly resizing arena. The echo some other people here, I was frustrated that it seemed near impossible to beat even the first room in time because there's simply no room to dodge enemy attacks. If you tweak the players' ability to hold onto their precious time I can see myself really getting hooked on this game.

Thaat was crazy :D It felt bit too random shooting, but... I did like that the arena size changes. I think that's an excellent game mechanism and could be further expanded.

If arena would have more things (gaps, pits, trees, whatnot) and those would change according to damage you get...

To me this was bit too difficult currently.

The timing for the game is a bit challenging, but the base concept is brilliant and shows a lot of potential for your post-compo version! :) I hope development goes well for you.

Very well made game. Nice artstyle and good fast-paced combat.

It would be really neat if you started out in a fairly large arena, and really give the player time to build up a sense of urgency as the room starts shrinking down. Either or, give them a better means to dodge/block incoming fire, as well. I found that the room got really small really quickly simply because it was pretty tough to dodge all the bullet hell.

Whenever the room changed size, all movement and interaction in the arena would stop, which really broke up the flow of activity, which was really decent otherwise. The screen shaking and the timer countdown in the back really gave a good sense of needing to hurry, but I think it could be ramped up quite well just by starting in a larger arena, and giving more for the player to invest in before the walls start closing in.

The graphics were good, the music was decent. :) More content might be good in this game, too. More/different types of monsters? Boss fight? More weapons? This is a solid start!

Hi there. Like the infinite zooming, manic action. Good job!

clever and fast paced gameplay!
It gets a little bit chaotic as the play area shrinks though.

Great arcade fun all on one screen. Good job.

The shrinking and expanding arena is a great gameplay idea. But player movement is so sluggish that it's pretty much impossible to dodge enemy shots, in turn making it impossible to reliably beat levels within the time frame. Thus the player feels like he has hardly any influence on how successful he is in the game, which is frustrating.

Cool concept but definitely could use some balance work on the gameplay. If you screw up early, it quickly becomes impossible to dodge and then it's just a slow death after that. Slower firing rates for the enemies & smaller hitboxes (ie just easier to dodge shots in general) would probably help here. Definitely has potential though, would love to see a proper postcompo version. Nice work.