Thank you, this was really helpful feedback.
I think you're right, and I may have done a little too good a job hiding the evidence! Of course, to me the obvious clues seem really obvious, because I know what they are. Emphasising them a little more for the players, and minimising the red herrings, is probably a good idea.
Definitely some really good things to think about for the next one. Thank you for taking the time to play it, and to give detailed feedback!
Yeah, there's a lot going on in your game and different people think in different ways. For example, I noticed immediately that the jewels were in the wrong order but although that was odd and I knew it meant something it didn't make me think of forgery because to me a good forgery is something far more subtle and hard to discern. So my advice is use a standard game engine, while you're still starting out, which solves lots of usability and UI problems, and test with as many people as you can to observe how they approach problems and interpret the information they discover.
