itch.io

I do kind of agree about the level design from the perspective of a level creator; I note that a few paths both start and terminate in an enemy, meaning you are, in fact, forced to kill both - but a big thing that I've been trying to internalize as a designer is that a simple puzzle/setup/etc. is far more complex to someone who doesn't know how all the parts come together. A player who fails once can take that information forward into a successful run and feel like they've "learned" the game. Perhaps a player will prioritize the mace now that they know it exists, and they'll prioritize zombies that they know will be in their path. This seems simplistic, and like there's a single "obvious" solution, but it's obfuscated at the start, which goes a long ways to providing the sketch with a sense of depth. I think I've mentioned this before, but that's part of the magic of these sketches - their setups are all so different that the joy and added complexity of learning a new set of rules balances out the more shallow parts that you're forced to accept due to the time constraint. Perhaps this is smoke and mirrors in a sense, but also, so is almost everything else we do :v