Played it on kong, pretty fun.

Love the graphics, and the gameplay is really fun.

I really loved pretty much everything about the game, but I'm just not sure where the theme ties in. In the final version, you aren't really using the enemies against each other at all, you just don a random disguise.
My only other complaint was that some of the jumps in the game were a little too hard to pull off when you're being chased.
The characters were really cute though. I love how their legs move.

A lot of fun to play

Like the graphics, but web site doesn't answer, so I can't play.

The website should be back up. Sorry for that little hiccup.

This was a great entry. The graphics were very polished. The difficulty was perfect, so you could go through the game without worrying to much if you just wanted to complete it, but also it was quite a challenge if you wanted to perfect each level. The pace of the game was maybe slightly too fast. The music was great!

Some of the comments on the Kongregate site say to make it so that R resets the current screen, not the whole level. Don't do this, I like it how it is now :), although maybe you could give the player lives so that you can reset the current screen a couple of times.

I like this! A nice mechanic. Good music, though I got a bit tired of the one song. I found needing to press down + X really annoying; I'd have much preferred just X for all three actions.

This is a great, well polished entry!

I have to agree with TheLastBanana that it doesn't really fit the theme though...

Some of the jumps are harder than they need to be. There are a few places requiring you to jump three squares horizontally and it just seems impossible. Possibly a framerate issue?

Music is nice and fitting: did you record it yourself?

@hamburger: For the actual release on Kongregate, I've made just that change. It's now only Z and X.

@Draknek: I used a fixed-rate timestep, so all the jumps *should* be possible. The updated version on Kongregate is more forgiving, with updated physics and ladder interactions, so if you're looking to play it for fun, I'd go there.

All the music was just me and my ol' six-string, recorded in ten minutes, fifteen minutes before the competition ended. I'm glad you liked it! :D

@Jerm: I am definately *not* allowing people to restart levels. It's a skill run system. I've noticed that Kongregate has a lot of casual players. This isn't a problem, they're just not used to seeing a game they can't just brute-force and max out. You can't please everyone, and I'd rather stay true to the game.

Nice, very nicely made (graphics, tutorial, animations, a lot of content though maybe not always very interesting, the map/progression).

I think the music was a bit too subtle, and the jump too fast.

For me it wasn't fun enough to keep me playing (I merely unlocked the 2nd city), but I don't have any suggestion for improvements... Or maybe tweaking it to be more of an action game (improved jump, not "dying" at the first touch of an enemy, ability to jump off ladders...), or on the contrary turn it more into a reflection game (you *have* to get at least "x" gold to go to the next level, more difficult to find the right path). Or maybe both :). Or none.

Oh and of course this has nothing to do with the theme, as far as I can see.

I love the bandito-themed music! The controls were a little frustrating. Sometimes I was behind the dumpster, but it wouldn't register my Down+X, and there are some incredibly hard jumps. I'm in the Windy City on the lower level, and there is one jump I can't make even though I've been trying for some time.

Great work oveall!

Haha, good stuff. I like the high-speed thieving :P Cute graphics/animations too.

Haha, good stuff. I like the high-speed thieving :P Cute graphics/animations too. When a mark steals back from you, he should be re-robbable, and also not chase you anymore (why would he?)

Money thieves... those are the worst kind of thieves.

Platforming was a bit frustrating at parts where you needed to be very precise, and quickly, because the marks were after you.

I didn't see what this had to do with the theme. I know you lay it out in the description there, but I'm not really buying it. Enemies don't become weapons here, NPC's become enemies. I think it's a stretch in any case, but at least the game was fun, which is the important part. :-)

By the way, did you play the guitar yourself?

Wow, I'm totally impressed by how much you got done within the time limit. This is pretty fun, too. In terms of feedback, the main thing I'd recommend improving is the level design. I think it could be denser and more full of interesting situations.

All in all, though, this is a really great Ludum Dare entry! Nice job.

This is really, really impressive given the time constraints. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have anything to do with the theme and I fear it's only fair to award a slightly reduced overall score for that reason.

I didn't mind the difficult jumps, although I probably would have increased the jump distance just the tiniest bit -- about enough to give you an extra one or two pixels leeway in the last jump in your shot4.png above.

Other than that I'm going to agree with everything said by the other commenters above.

I want to thank everyone for their kind words and suggestions! If you visit the game on Kongregate, you'll notice that I've made many of the improvements mentioned here, including better controls, easier jumping, better ladder mechanics, and a bit tighter gameplay! Thanks again for everyone's critiques and for making my first LD so much fun!