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Very creative entry! I like the "the game is broken" aesthetic which subverts your expectations and starts digging into devtools and playtest notes. It works well narratively. I like the idea of reading playtest notes (i.e. someone else's bug report) to try and figure out the bugs you're meant to exploit.

I got stuck though, quite quickly, and I think in a game like this it's very hard to know what's a "bug" (i.e. a designed puzzle you're supposed to solve) and what's an actual bug, that will prevent me from proceeding. For example, I got a gold mine unlocked (after reading hints) and then could not place it adjacent to the gold mine deposit, even after exploring all the way there. I'm not sure if I'm missing something or if that was a bug. It's also frustrating that the first puzzle is clicking around randomly to find an invisible button.

I would suggest it's better to subvert expectations after you've established them a bit more: for example if you could build at least a couple of things "normally" before the developer stuff starts happening.

(+1)

Thanks for the feedback! Some other people also pointed out that the puzzles seemed a bit random, and I agree with that. Although I added a hint system, I agree that it feels a bit inadequate.

About the gold mine placement, maybe you ran out of energy or wood? It’s impossible to place a village center and another building (like a gold mine) in the same “cycle,” as the village center uses up all 3 energy. I am assuming that is what stopped you from placing the gold mine, although I will go look into it.

Again, about the invisible buttons, I agree that those were the weakest points in the puzzles. I understand that it can feel frustrating to have to randomly click everywhere, and even with the clues given, I guess it would still be hard to figure out where it was located.

As for your last comment, part of the reason I didn’t make you build more than 2 buildings before the actual puzzle gameplay started was because I didn’t think people would want to sit through 5 or so runs of the tutorial again and again. But I guess there are other ways to introduce building mechanics better.

Again, thanks for your feedback! This is my first ever puzzle game so stuff like this is really valuable!