itch.io

Now I had some more time playing it alone, and have some thoughts. I think i got to level 9 or 10 where the spikes start raising and lowering( a level counter would be nice). If you want the player to do such a big leap in thinking it might be a good idea to force them to do it. Remove walking altogether, leaving no room for misunderstandings. I do believe the game is too good to be this punishing. A reduction in spike hitboxes, and a reduction in the green ball speed. Also making the green ball direction visible at all times would do wonders (having an arrow at the edge of the screen show where the ball is coming from, or increasing the amount of the level visible. A really small thing as well would be always starting the player opposite the direction they should go so they can continue holding the right trigger when they died. This should help with creating level cycles, and making sure every player starts in largely the same way. Lastly the feel of the game isn't so much a platformer, but more of a rhythm game. The dynamic of standing still and zooming is really interesting and where most of the fun for me comes from.

Very fun, just played it at the game jam. I have thought about that left trigger and right trigger suggestion but i don't think that is the right direction. The game as it is has a very good and interesting feel to it, but that feel comes at the cost of a lot of gaming habits. It is a hard task to communicate something to the player that goes against their instincts, especially if what you are trying to communicate is a leap. I feel like at the start of the game you expect people to make too big of a leap/jump(both figuratively and literally). Maybe easing them into the experience (game The Witness has a really pronounced way of communicating with the player slowly and really getting the point across), would be a better start. The biggest hurdle in my opinion the players have to overcome is holding the move button when they wish to move. Putting in a giant blinking red light or an overheating meter when holding it for too long would do wonders I believe.