Thanks!
Considering this is GMTK, I tried to go for a "show-don't-tell" design, so teach the player through level design, and doing this would save me time on creating the guide as well. For the most part I think I've succeeded in this but if I expanded on this game I would definitely include some kind of guide to help remind players. :)
On the topic of saving time, the most time consuming part was testing the levels. Making sure they were at the right difficulty, and they couldn't be cheesed through some lame unforeseen method. And if they taught the player something, it should definitely teaching that player exactly what needed to be taught. Unfortunately this meant most of the level were designed on a single solution and if any other solution happened to exist, then cool, otherwise the game would not have made the 48 hours. However the final stage (stage 17) is some level design I'd pursue if I ever expanded on the game, it's a bit more open ended than the rest, and provides a good level of difficulty (from my experience testing it).
Thanks again Best of luck with your submission too! :D