Hey Mark, this is quite impressive, especially for someone's first proper game. Here are a few things I noticed:
- The visuals are appealing and clean, which help to make the different puzzle rooms readable.
- Despite that, I felt the puzzle layouts were more complex and visually busy than they needed to be. Crisscrossing wires and pulleys make the rooms more difficult to parse, making me have to spend more time thinking "how is this room setup exactly?" before I can start trying to formulate potential solutions.
- I felt like the puzzles overall weren't quite hitting that sweet spot for "eureka" moments. I didn't feel like I was uncovering fundamentals of the systems usually, just reasons why the level was laid out the way it was or why the systems work the way they do (the magnet being able to pass through the one-way platforms felt confusing to me). Said another way, none of these puzzles felt like the natural consequences of the systems, but more-so puzzles forced onto the systems.
- I had no issue with the controls, but my natural inclination with a 2D platformer is to use the D-Pad on my controller, but doing so made the aiming the magnet toss awkward. Switching to use the control stick ended up being totally fine, however.
- I was confused for a second when grabbing the key immediately ended the level; I didn't expect that for some reason. Also, replaying an already completed level won't end naturally because there isn't a key to collect. Going to the pause menu and going back to the hub works perfectly fine, but having key outline or something to collect (a la the stars in Super Mario 64) would be very nice.
- I don't think I figured out how to solve the last puzzle correctly. I solved by precisely tossing the magnet to fit under the big minus block so that it could be in the down state (and thus not blocking the way) but not pressing the button since the magnet was in the way. This did not feel like the intended method of solving the puzzle, but I wasn't seeing any other way.
- The magnet deleting tractor beam area seemed odd. I couldn't tell what it was until I tried bringing the magnet past it. I can understand the desire to have a tool in your toolbelt to prevent the magnet from going in a particular areas, but it felt more like a cudgel solution, so a more elegant solution might be out there.
Thanks so much for making this game and this excellent series. I hope this feedback is helpful~