Thanks for your suggestions. Do you have anything specific in mind regarding the difficulty curve? I could lower the pace in general if that helps.
Viewing post in Sam Can II - Valley of Flying Rocks jam comments
I understand, thanks. Initially I had symbols in mind, but I didn't have enough time to make some, so the numbers I used during development stayed. So instead of just slowing down the game I could tweak the rate at which new islands spawn and increase it over time, or maybe add some islands with just two portals for a start.