I couldn't agree more with your feedback regarding the greater structure of the world - by the time I had built the critical path through the start of the game, through Cistern leading to the Wood Ball, and then Caldera, I had about three days until the jam deadline. Getting the Ice Ball, all of Ruins, all of Vault, and some of the interstitial pieces of Cistern were built in a feverish 72 hour sprint leading right up to the deadline and unfortunately I think the quality definitely suffered for it. Getting lost after getting Ice and Gyro has been a very common point of feedback 😅
My hope is to take the fundamentals we've built here (the marbles, the mechanics, the basic themes and vibes of the worlds) and fundamentally re-evaluate the progression and interconnection of the world, to turn this into a game I'd be proud to sell on Steam. Plus bringing some collectibles into the mix couldn't hurt either!
I also think in that process I'll take better care to scale the world down a bit - there are definitely times when the player isn't asked to do much except roll through a mostly empty expanse. But, everything is trade-offs! Spending 2/3 of the jam time exclusively on getting the marbles and their mechanics working and feeling good was definitely A Choice but it was very important to me that they all feel good to use.
Thank you so much for playing and your feedback!!
(also couldn't agree more Cammy CRUSHED this soundtrack and Vault has been stuck in my head since I first heard it!!)