/Oh, why thank you for prefacing your review by stating my work has almost no redeemable qualities./ I knew it wasn't the best; being around two years old now, and essentially a patchwork of different programming styles, but c'mon, seriously? The least you could have done is provide a solution to the many problems you bring up.
===== END PS =====
Believe it or not, I made this before I knew of the likes of Super Meat Boy, Ink, or Super Pig. Zero inspiration was drawn from those sources.

As for the challenge of the game, the later levels don't rely as much on feeling around as the earlier levels do; besides this, the core philosophy behind the mechanic is that an area the player struggles with would be made easier for them with each iteration.

The tediousness I'm fixing for the sequel; which will rely much less on the invisibility mechanic (which will still be present), and introduce much more things such as enemies and moving platforms.

Most of the music was written by me. A couple songs were used either from CC or with friend's permission. As for the artwork, I spent quite a long time on that; guess that's what happens when a programmer moves out of their comfiest zone.

And yes, effort was put into this. A few months of hard work followed by two years of off and on work.

===== LATER MESSAGES =====

At 1 hour ago, netnuker wrote:

I have no fucking clue how to reply to your comment, so here I am. The simple fact is, I didn't enjoy the game. Opinions ultimately fuel the outcome of a review, and that's how I felt about it. But you do have a point, I simply gave your game a harsh critique without actually offering an alternative for improvement, so I'll give you some constructive criticism. I feel the core mechanic can be kept as a part of the game, but needs to not be made the focus. I think a game designed to be difficult with tough jumps, deadly enemies, AND invisible obstacles with the added mechanic of a death revealing some of the level would improve this game. Imagine a straight shot level, left to right, with some small platform jumps to make, and shooting enemy near the end who's projectiles harass you from the start of the level, he can jump and shoot, all the good stuff, and as you make your way through the screen, you make a jump, land on the first half of the platform, and WHOOPS, invisible spikes, but your blood just covered them so now you can see them, it isn't exactly telegraphed, but it's less ambiguous than what you have going on now.

As for everything else, the art isn't ugly, it's just simple, a few shades and textures here and there and I think it would look nicer. The music is nice, so just make more tunes I guess. And I think the jump should be more contextual to how long you hold the jump button, but much less sensitive so the player can react accordingly.

I don't try and deter people from making games, it keeps the community alive, so forgive the crass review, was the first one I've done in a while.

Hope to see the sequel soon

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^^ okay, thanks, that is a much better review! All of that is stuff I feel like I can fix. I'll have to do a bit of experimentation on how to base jump height on press length, but other than that: everything is within my skill level.
Theta II will be a better game in practically every aspect. Right now it's being written in java, but if I can make it in JS without lagging everything to death, I'll be able to do that- allowing it to be posted here.
Thanks for taking the time to type that out!

The scrolling I can fix with *a* line of code. Kinda just forgot it because I did most of the testing on a page where the game filled the page. The loading speed I *might* be able to do something about, but I'm not so sure. Background images and music, however, I'm at a loss on how to fix.
----- EDIT OCT 24TH -----
I fixed the arrow key scrolling. *grumbles "when it's not loading, anyway"*