I do enjoy this game quite a bit, but man does it frustrate me at times with how rude it can be in it's level generation. especially in the cheese layer with those milk boats.
are there any plans for some sort of meta progression? or will the game remain as is with just bug fixing and what is mentioned in the patch notes about future plans? a way to make runs just a little more forgiving over time as you play more runs would be fitting for a roguelike such as this
as it is currently, there doesn't seem to be much of a reason to take the shortcuts outside of making things much more difficult for yourself.
Viewing post in Doughball Descent: Full Course comments
I have plans to swap the level gen system from specific sets of hazard per level to picking from a random suite of presets; I think an interesting caveat to that system would be choosing between 2 presets, say a pirate-heavy level or spiller-heavy level, to allow players who struggle with specific obstacles to see them less often
Shortcuts are something I intend to revisit, moving the unlock for a shortcut to finishing the area as opposed to first seeing it to avoid players approaching progression with grinding. As a countermeasure to the difficulty inherent in starting in a later area with fewer resources, I can guarantee that you will start with additional HP starting in later areas, and potentially an item draft if that can be done seamlessly
Metaprogression is not something I like in most games, I find it misused more often than not, gating off essential mechanics or trivializing the game. While I plan to add unlockable items tied to achievements ingame I'm hesitant to add metaprogression in the form of permanent and innate upgrades