Very creative concept, possibly my favourite game this jam! I honestly love this type of game. You also explored the core mechanic very thoroughly with a lot of other ideas. It makes it very immersive that you let the gun affect everything, like yourself and the death counter.
I also noticed how the timer only starts when you move, which is a problem I had in my own game that I solved differently.
To improve, the game could be polished further in some regards; the controls for platforming could be improved, and the game could be a bit more responsive, like camera shake when you shoot, or give clearer feedback when you die because you ran out of time. (which is very understandable for a jam game)
I know someone said to consider focusing on the puzzle appeal, but I would actually argue that you could have also pushed further the other way. I enjoyed solving the puzzles the way you intended; however, I could tell that you had left further ways of saving time, eg speeding up certain walls or slowing down the death countdown, which I found weren't really necessary to complete the level with the time provided. I think it would be good to find a way to reward players who make use of all the mechanics properly. Maybe by tightening the time provided (which may have come from more playtesting), but you could also add optional goals, or anything else more creative.
The puzzle design was very good; I like that you guided the players towards solving things for themselves. I personally like to only introduce one mechanic at a time in simple levels and reduce the complexity to prevent the player from getting overwhelmed or reduce the chances of a player getting stuck on something they don't know, then put everything together later. I think it was perfectly manageable the way it was, but maybe to perfect it, I personally would consider only having the moving platforms on the first level but the death countdown on a different level, or the bouncing surfaces having their own level.
Sorry for writing so much.
Great entry, though. The game clearly has a lot of potential for both puzzles and platforming!
Viewing post in Take Your Time jam comments
Thank you deeply for taking the time to give me such detailed feedback, it really means a lot. I think you phrased it perfectly, and specifically finding fun ways to reward players that use all the mechanics will definitely be the first thing to focus on gameplay-wise. I really want to push this design to its full potential in the future, and this review is invaluable!