I think I understand what you mean, but I think a lot of those things are already solved by Navigation Abilities (radars, x-ray vision, door sensing), as well as taking different exploration strategies.
in 3 runs I only found a single bedroom
Template "Baby Steps Day 1 - 3" only has one path, and 3 heart rooms connected to that path, example pic below:
The fact you say you only found one heart room in those 3 runs is actually quite amazing given how unlikely it is.
If I misunderstood you, and by
(starting with the demo day seed)
you meant, you used the cheat code I gave, then yes the dungeons were harder than last time, because the cheat code advances ingame days, which also put you on harder dungeon templates, so sorry if I wasted your time explaining the beginner template above
.
Time limit can also be increased directly by using Time Limit seals, or indirectly by using Seals that make exploration faster, easier, or narrow down where you need to go.
As for the instant game over, if running out of time was not a game over, I think the game would become too easy, and push players towards slowly collecting all coins and chests inside dungeon even after the time is up.
I still have some systems planned, which are going to change balance in future. On one hand there is going to be a skill tree, with passive upgrades to make things easier the more you play, but on the other hand I am also going to introduce many side objectives, which are going to make things harder.
