thank you for making this! 💚 i'm glad you enjoyed it.
i'm aware there are a few ways of cheesing through the puzzle; while that's obviously not my 'intent', i'm not too bothered by it. it's out in the world and therefore out of my hands. in the context of a playable project, my intent is irrelevant; people can play it how they please.
with the newest update, i did try to make it a little less necessary to repeat segments through the use of the jawbone (instantly clears a chamber) and the fingerbones (takes you straight to the corresponding chamber), which serve as my olive branches to those who found the repetition exhausting. of course, i've had many requests to just make it a straight shot through the chambers, which would be easy to do, but i think that invalidates the point of the act and strips away the themes i'm trying to convey.
anyway, this act is the game's most divisive moment, and i understand it has left a bad taste in a lot of players' mouths. it has led me to question whether i have made a good game by prevailing definitions, as it contains something acutely intentional but fundamentally unfriendly, punishing, and by some accounts, 'unfun' to play. but that is for the community to decide. my only move is to maintain its integrity and, if i am to make changes, do so in a way that preserves the intention of the art. i wanted a puzzle that would require deciphering a small language of cryptic signifiers. writing things down; sharing strategies. i've been told that was a bad idea in this sort of single-player game that would reach so small an audience. i have taken that to heart, and likely won't be doing the same thing in future projects. but it is an important piece of Brush Burial, and i couldn't remove it in good conscience.
this is an unpopular approach to game design: arguably foolish, short sighted, self-absorbed, and unkind. but i am willing to bear such criticisms in pursuit of my own true expression.
thank you for engaging earnestly with my clumsy and harsh little game, and i hope in the future i can present something new, more artfully and tactfully expressed.