I still think there are some levels that can work with the mechanics you currently have. like this one
Rosden Shadow
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maybe a different direction might have been, to choose a new different type of mechanic to work with like ice sliding, block swapping or a block trail. If you find the mechanics hard to work with finding new ones to work with might help. The new mechanics you decided to implement were quite similar to the old ones so they would probably have their same problems too. If you find mechanics in the future difficult to work with this might help you a bit.
Personally I think I would look into a different type of layout design for these mechanics maybe cramped spaces and cloners just make the space more cramped when you use them or the player is not just moving a block into position has to move themselves to end point to push a block as well. The majority of layouts at the moment is getting the amount of blocks you need and placing them in a section and that can easily end badly if your not careful because of the amount you have to move.
I played through the whole game I like the shapes of the levels and the story but I am a bit critical about the gameplay. Most of the puzzles are not too 'thinky' and feel more about just placing blocks in position. its not really my thing.
The puzzles didn't feel like they were getting too difficult just more complicated. I didn't feel like I was figuring out a new idea or method to think in most of the puzzles and I think you should aim for something like that.
And the new ideas that were explored were placed in levels like 14, 15, 18, 33 which are too easy. and I get that they are easy to show the new mechanic but you can show the new mechanic with the level also having a puzzle as well. You have a great example already level 16 could introduce the concept of green cloners and not level 14.
There were levels where I felt placing the blocks into position felt too much like 13, 18 and 34 (18 could of been halved down the diagonal to get the same feeling for the puzzle) and I bounced off completely from 39 and 40 because the block moving/positioning was too much.
A lot of puzzles are either too easy or a bit too complicated. The ones I liked the most were 9, 16,17, half of 18, 20, 29, 32.
You should probably post the puzzlescript play link in the #playtesting section in discord and ask for advice on the levels and their design, I'm not that great with that stuff :/
be careful big is not always better. I personally use smaller levels to force myself to find interesting ideas for puzzles. If its done wrong it can lead to levels that you understand what to do but require a lot of tedious steps to complete it.
path lines is a different beast than the copying, path lines had an interesting premise to wrap your head around whereas the copying is a lot of the time just about pushing blocks which if done wrong can lead to tedium fast.
if you are making bigger levels make them all feel interesting and have unique experiences.
I can't take your work. You should post it to your own page. After you do that you can join this discord to get some good feedback on it. https://discord.gg/5VSkECtV
Ok I have changed and fixed a few things related to your comments ;) https://www.puzzlescript.net/editor.html?hack=42d868daa29e7aa39ee0c92c9bd64f7e
Love the game. It's sounds and game feel are so satisfying . I feel all that's needed is an initial mode where you mail around 25 emails with the game slightly changing ( like the environment shifting or you own physics changing in some way) and after its over you unlock this endless mode.
I just feel its better to leave the player on a high note rather then wait for them to get 'bored' and quit the game themselves.
I love the polish and the artwork, its probably 1st in the jam. I just felt the gameplay was a bit simplistic and short. I was waiting for something more to happen to bring more variety and with the baby bots spawning regularly the game didn't feel too challenging either and I never felt I was going to fail once.
The game ended before the high of the uniqueness of the game wore off leading to the gameplay feeling overall good, but something in me makes me look at the game and say it's just clicking continuously on baby bots with not much challenge. It has a similar feel to an incremental/idle game but without new elements being introduced.
I think the overall gameplay feels great, I just don't know how to feel about the gameplay in general. It's sweet BECAUSE it is short and I don't know how to get my head around it.
Great game good work :)
Looks great and had some fun with it. I found I could attach a ball very close to you which would let you avoid obstacles easier and that when a full wall is coming up I didn't have time to attach to a new ball to get away. I think having a set minimum distance would avoid the first problem and a slow down time mechanic for the second problem would fix it.