Hi there, thank you so much for playing our game and taking your time to write this comment, it really means a lot to us. As this was our first time finishing and releasing a game, we underestimated the importance of onboarding and player tutorials and thought it was an area we can skimp out on in lieu of the time constraints, which is really a huge mistake on our part and this decision literally gatekept most players from the better part of the game.
Regarding the play testing, there was actually three people who played it before release, and one of them actually completed the game without any help, who gave us the confidence on the tutorial system. However, due to the small sample size, what we failed to realise was that for every one science nerd who figured the game out and completed the game, there’s probably ten other players who could not figure the game out at all. It was only after release and more players playing that we realised that the player can only effective play by themselves after physical handholding past the second level.
Once again, thank you for giving our game a chance and allowing us to learn from this opportunity ❤️