Hello all,

I've been working on a puzzle game in the style of early 90s EGA MS-DOS shareware games. It has been a rewarding and educational process. I have a demo up of the first few levels of the game. Thanks to all who take took the time to read this post and perhaps took a crack at the demo.

https://gregorytice.itch.io/horace-hagfish-demo

I made it all the way through with no hints and boy, this is awesome!

This is one of those super engaging and fun puzzle games that really get your brain going! The story is wacky and entertaining, and the concept of colors and mixing them to avoid brown is really creative. The mechanics are very simple and concise; They make sense to the story, characters, and the game in general, making it more satisfying when you end up solving a challenging puzzle. 

I actually wasn't entirely sure how the game worked until the first challenging level, which forced me to learn the mechanics and very quickly got me accustomed to them. This is an excellent example of why great level design is important; You've designed the levels to not only challenge the player, but to teach them as well. The first level, for instance, is a great way to kick off the gameplay, as it is basic enough for a beginner to grasp and figure out. The level after that introduces mixing colors, the ones after that show the consequences of making the brown color, etc. The progression is really smooth and well-designed!

Feel free to try out my game as well, I'd love to hear your thoughts: https://wasabiiii.itch.io/grass-elemental-demo-demo

Everything else, like the art and music and sounds, fit really well together to create this fun retro vibe throughout. This game is seriously great and has so much potential, keep up the excellent work!

Thank you Wasabi!

The intro levels were certainly the most difficult to design. Drafting coworkers (I work at an animal shelter) to playtest was not very fruitful (and they will never forgive me!). I'll be uploading the full game in the near future. It has 50 levels total and as you'd expect more mechanics are introduced every few levels.  I'll be checking out your games shortly.