Aw thanks for starting this topic! Nice to discuss here.
Successes:
-largest TBJ ever!
-most TBJ submissions ever! And really cool games!
-Discord really helpful
-CraftPix.net prizes were cool and a good mystery motivator
-mystery well received
-Doriencey's great art a hit
-kc00l's Picotron translations awesome, a gift to the PT community
-proud of the CODECANE idea / cart
-proud of the arranging-six-words part of the mystery!
From the Discord, Toy Box Jam suggestions / improvements:
-iron out bugs in gfx beforehand
-make sure Picotron sfx are there, tested
-make sure sound fx are NAMED (whoops)
-all puzzles should be color-blind friendly
-32x32 assets would be cool for non-retro engines
-message about launcher, playability of games on itch.io being important
-isometric tiles / sprites could be cool
-more cats, more dogs, maybe a rubber duck