I really appreciate your honest feedback. These are helping me to improve myself. You are right if the mechanics are too simple, visual chaos alone won't bring difficulty alone. The idea of using a preceding level to 'set the stage' for a difficulty spike is a brilliant level design tactic that I'll definitely experiment with.
Also, thank you so much for the game recommendations! I’ve heard of Relica Park and Side Effect, but I haven't played them yet. I will check them out to see how they handle the things. It's clear I have a lot to learn about 'perceived difficulty,' and your insights are helping me see my work from a much more professional perspective. I also didn't push it much because this was a homework to me for my class. Thanks for taking the time to guide me!












