Yes, I 100 percent agree. Have been in discussion with another level designer about this. We were also thinking that if we rewarded the player for trying and failing that the negative feedback loop might still work. One of the design choices we made was to force the player to decide when to quit (up to a point.) But what I am hearing is that it just feels too bad? What do you think, would some positive reinforcement help soften the blow of the feedback loop or is it just too punishing all together? One thing I have discovered is that our game is not that accessible because of this. really hard core platform players love the punishment, while the rest of us find it daunting (myself included lol.)
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Mhmm yeah I getcha. I'm not a hard core platform player myself either, although I think even for more experienced users it might feel too punishing since it might feel detracting from the game loop and feel more like a "bug" or accidental gameplay element; I can see how it is a creative idea though!
Personally, I would only leave some classic health depletion as a way to make players decide if risking & advancing, or taking it safe and restarting. With the rust making you slow, it doesn't really give the player a sense of risky challenge / reward if they wanna gamble and advance, rather it makes it clear immediately you wouldn't be able to advance after the point is reached, so it's a mechanic that is sudden and out of their control, and doesn't depend on their skill.
That's my two cents at least!