The game reminds me of Gauntlet for the NES, but what stops that lovely nostalgia from being experienced are the damned "deadlines". The "deadlines" are VERY annoying. They are akin to a gamebreaking bug, in-game adverts, and so on. You should go ahead and make this game on its own without the Ludum Dare shit, then and only THEN will I bother to play any more of this game.
Remove the deadlines and then I'll call it a game.