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Gave it a quick try. I like the idea. Execution obviously needs a lot of work but it's not a bad mechanic (it's quite similar to level 6 in Braid). Perf is a clear issue, environment is obviously very bare bones, etc..

Platforming is a problem... in that large open area with the two moving metal platforms, I frequently fell when trying to get to the exit after solving the puzzle, mostly because the holes are not visible that clearly when you're traversing the outside area.

I'm a puzzle designer myself, so I have quite a lot to say about that aspect. Many of the puzzles can be cheesed by taking gears from an earlier area along with you.  Timed elevators and moving platforms create a lot of unnecessary waiting and would be better if replaced by floor panels. Synchronizing two out-of-sync platforms is really only interesting once. The bullseye targets don't give good feedback (no sound when activated, no visual link to what they're activating... wires on the walls would be a big help). Additionally, it's not always clear which bullseye targets need to be reactivated vs which only get toggled once and then remain switched on forever. Many of the gates are "no way back" if you take a gear along with you, which will make your players feel overly cautious and regretful as they explore the area. Can you get stuck if you drop a gear on the wrong side of a gate and then run under it before it closes?

All of those execution details aside... I think the most important problem is actually that I just didn't find any of your puzzles interesting. The puzzles feel very samey and, more importantly, have a poor analysis-to-execution ratio (you instantly see the solution, never feel satisfied after solving because everything is too obvious, and spend most of your time trying to implement the solution, which just feels laborious).


Compelling puzzle design is by far the biggest differentiator when you're working on a game in this genre; your puzzles need to be interesting for their own sake! If you rely too heavily on mechanics to carry you, your product will ultimately feel shallow. Combat and exploration will always be compelling if your mechanics and audiovisuals are good, but puzzle design is a different beast. You have to give people interesting challenges that they've never had before!

Right now, you have a nice tech demo that looks good enough for screenshots and gifs. But if you *really* wanna convince me that your game will be interesting, show me a good puzzle. I would focus very hard on trying to create one good, medium difficulty puzzle that's *fun on paper*.


"Taking gears with you can help you to cheese some puzzles." 

That's true, and leads to the known issue that the player would then always carry on to a gear, because he could "need it later". We've seen this behaviour in one of our earliest gameplay tests. Without wires one of the planned solution would not fit in and the player just would think (even more than now) - "Well that was random.".

Yup, the wires are one thing we already have in the pipeline for feedback. Sound should play but probably is too quiet due to spatialization. But a sound for "puzzle solved" is already in our mind.

In the puzzle design the idea is to create one medium sized compelling puzzle is good. We didn't really focused on actual puzzle design right now and tried to explore what we can do with the limited mechanisms ( there are actually just 6 devices ) to bring them into interesting setups to give a hint where we want to go with it. Therefore I understand your argument that currently it feels more like being in kinda like mashed together puzzles (laborious).
But also more mechanism would not mean more interesting puzzles, we already know that - it just means easier variation but the player gets thrown something new on his head. And that's just how the puzzles currently feel - The player just get's introduced a new element mainly every puzzle - which destroys pacing. The level is not reflective in level & puzzle design for the final level. It's mostly a playable sandbox which allows us to show players what our idea is and see how they react.

I think the main issue is we haven't yet figured out how we want the puzzles to actually play and throw ideas of us together to see what can work and what not :)

Currently you can not really get "stuck" leaving behind a gear. As some doors open in an XOR pattern so you can access the area again but have to take the long route.

The activitation (how long does something stay active) issue we want to try to solve by actually using a more like energy system (which will be enhanced by the wires - visually) so doors actually use up energy once they open.

There is a lot missing - in terms of feedback for the player and additions to the game so we can leave players experiment alone and analysis how they play (the signs) in the game, as our intended solution will take a bit longer to create than just simple signs :)

Again, thanks for your in-depth feedback on the puzzles :)