Untitled Magnet Game

I'm no good when it comes to constructive  criticism, especially when it comes to video games, but I'll give it a shot anyways;

First off, massive step up from the MVP.  Our robot hero has a much better visual appeal, and the magnet has a lot more character attached to it. Each level presents a new challenge for the player, where they make use of their environment in different ways every time. 

Every time I completed a level, I always got frustrated at myself for not realizing that I should have won the level in that particular method. I am no game design expert, but I think that putting the player in a spot where they have no-one to blame but themselves is really effective in terms of engagement and motivation. 

One point I could make is that sometimes, the player has solved the puzzle, but has to apply their platforming skills to win the level. This merge of genres may hinder motivation of some players. 

Another thing is that a lot of the times, I found myself restarting levels a lot for say, falling in pits too deep to get out. Unless this is intended, this could be changed in some way to remove the fatality of small mistakes. Whenever it is intended, add spikes so the process is quicker.

I also suggest some minor UI improvements, like for the metal bars that aren't attracted by the magnet, but are attracted by magnetic bars of opposite polarity. I see that you have indicated this by showing a metal outline surrounding the polarity mark, but maybe an arrow showing which way it will attract or different colours may help.

As a few others have pointed out, the beam that destroys magnets definitely needs a visual change. The smiley face will almost certainly confuse players for the first time, especially the colour, which they may mistake for polarity. Another symbol, like an X would do I suppose. However, it is a clever mechanic and something you must include in future levels.

My final point is that on the final level, where the solution is to get the metal box stuck between the levers, I think that it should be made a bit more clear that this is the way to do it. Maybe a player might notice this, but I definitely did not see this as a possibility when I first tried the level. But using mechanics as physically manipulatable objects in levels is quite clever and encourages the player to treat the levels and their objects in another manner.

I'm intrigued to see where you take the game next. I'd love to see you scatter gameplay ideas experimented here in the full release. I also want to know what parts of the game you want to tackle next; when you get to that point, how will you incorporate a story based around your game. How can the music influence the gameplay?

Although this wasn't very comprehensive or informative, I hope it helps in some way in terms of player feedback, and that you see where I'm making my judgement abouts.

I REALLY LIKED THIS VERSION OF THE GAME

I played this demo on a Windows 10 laptop with trackpad and keyboard.

Most satisfying level to beat: 1-4.

Level I skipped: 1-7.

Since I wasn't familiar with the mechanic, it took me a while to figure out how to open a door. I thought I was aiming close enough for the magnet to "catch" the field of the chute, or that there was some other trick like jumping or pressing an interaction button, until I realized you have to stand directly under it and throw the magnet directly up. This was tricky with my trackpad. I did not like opening doors. I also found the hub to be clunky.

The low-sensitivity mode helped with my aiming issues but did not fully alleviate them: sometimes the trackpad would completely lock up while aiming.
I thought the aim toggle might help as well, but is there something I'm missing about it or does the toggle not allow precision aiming? All the throws seem equally weak when it's on (I couldn't start a level with it because I couldn't throw the magnet into the chute) and I don't feel like I can aim correctly.
Another commenter said they wish throwing worked like Angry Birds, which I would also like, but mostly I wish I could control the entire game with keyboard alone.

I was a little disappointed to find out that throwing the magnet into the chute in normal levels does not return you to the hub.

Sometimes I'd get separated from my magnet when it locked onto something and I was trying to go with it (usually the angle doors), which was jarring.

I was confused by the keybindings not mentioning that the arrow keys are also assigned to motion, as my movement preference is arrows over WASD. Also, for reference, a common Windows accessibility setting is to make a circle around the cursor when pressing Ctrl. If pressed repeatedly, it darkens the entire screen except the cursor. This happened to me a lot trying to reset before I messed with the keybindings, as I didn't understand why pressing Ctrl once wasn't working.

For further a11y options, may I suggest a higher contrast/reduced motion mode? I honestly skipped the last level because it was dizzying to look at and I couldn't follow what was going on.

The demo is pretty good! I'll admit that it's not perfect, but I liked it.

The controls feel okay, although there were some places that made me have to use all of the jump to reach which felt weird.

But the one thing that this demo shines at are the puzzles, funnily enough.

I know this will sound biased (and I guess it kinda' is) but this is no joke the first time in a puzzle game where I feel rewarded for beating a puzzle.

Most puzzle games I play usually make me feel like I finally can get the hell along when I finish a puzzle, because of how abstract the puzzle laws are.

But this game is pretty genius! Because it's based off of physics and magnets, I can understand that, I can understand how these objects work instantly, it's just about figuring out how they work together, and it made me feel super rewarded for beating it.

I got all 7 keys and I feel like Einstein.

Maybe just make some of the places where you jump slightly lower, because as a game developer, I wouldn't worry, but as a gamer, I think I would get irritated.

Cool experience!

I did a stupid thing and started with the last puzzle. This was pretty challenging and it felt great to solve it. However, it made the other puzzles seem really easy and/or simple. 

A system where you have to at least try the first puzzle to unlock the second one and so forth could give the progression a bit more structure, while still not be punishing to players who gets stuck on a puzzle.

Otherwise a fun demo, the character felt great to control, it was easy to understand all the mechanics and so on. The lack of sound felt a bit awkward. 

Keep up the good work.

To me, it would have felt more natural to control the aiming Angry-Birds style, where you pull back to aim, rather than put your cursor where you want the magnet to go.

Also, there was at least one level where the magnet spawns behind where your player starts. Just a little thing, but it was annoying every time I restarted, I'd have to go backwards a bit just to grab the magnet.

Overall, I think you're off to a good start! Definitely love the visuals! The gates were especially fun to play around with!

Hey there,

Did not play the first demo, so no comparisons to the prior version. Liked what I saw so far. A breakdown of what i think follows:

1. Movement
   
   1.  Feels fine/good. I like the animations.
   2. Initially I felt like the jump was a little short in terms of overall height, but the floatiness while holding is interesting. It allows for further jumps horizontally while still limiting you vertically. If that was intentional, then it works perfect. I got used to it quickly.
   3. Magnet pushing me off a ledge while aiming caught me off guard
2. The design elements of the game worked great for me. The only things I can think of that could use attention:
   1. I'm not sure, but weren't the arrow directions of the attractor/repulsor fields changing when switching polarity? Wasn't really an issue.
   2. The tilted switch was weird to interact with. It felt a bit fumbly. It works very well as a visual though!
   3. At one occurrence I felt the option to drop down through the "pass through floors", through which you currently can only traverse upwards, was missing. But only because I was expecting it. Not, because it was particularly necessary.
3. Level Design (I assume this is supposed to be a puzzle game and judge it as that)
   1. Level difficulty was easy. Which I don't consider a problem: They felt like typical starter levels and maybe one of the reasons why they felt so easy was because of a very clean design language that just clicked and a very distilled level design. I liked that a lot.
   2. One or two levels were a little bit flawed from the logistical perspective, requiring me to do retries though I already knew in my head how to solve them.
   3. The level where the half-square-switch-doorway-thingy did not require a magnet was probably the weirdest. I was thinking for a moment whether something did not work as intended because it basically solved itself just by moving after the first half.
   4. Level 6. Well,... how to start? I feel the need to explain how I solved it, because I'm not sure it was the right answer. That's already a big alarm bell for me. I threw the magnet in the stream, switched polarity in the right moment so that it was flung onto the switch and jumped over the gap in the right moment. I really did not like that. It was probably the easiest level in a weird way but was hard to pull of. And because it was the last level and I expected it to be harder, I was doubting myself all the time: Is *that* really the solution? It felt random, inelegant :(

Luckily I started with level 6 just for fun and after that the other levels were way nicer to tackle, though not a particular thinking challenge, except maybe one for one or two moments.

Just to put this into perspective: I'm not super intelligent and on top lack patience and get frustated easily. I managed to play through games like The Witness and Braid, but had a hard time with them and did not 100% them even remotely. So I am probably pretty average.

Loved the demo, but this review will be pretty critical despite that

The throwing felt a little weird because you can jump but not move left and right, which isn't terrible on it's own, but with slants on the floor and ceiling you can slide down the slants during it, and jump into stuff on the ceiling to move as well.

This could very well just not be what you intend for the game but I'd love some momentum mechanics with the magnet, and maybe another speed to build up to kind of like max speed in Super Mario 3D World

The jump I think could use a little bit more springiness, when you hold it you kind of just end up floating up slowly for a bit, which feels slightly off

You probably already have this on your to-do list, but I think the menus should probably be themed in the pixel art style the rest of the game in. Although, the settings tabs need no changes, they're already beautiful

I think a visual cooldown for the magnet would be helpful if instantly switching it back in forth isn't something you want to ad

Adding multiple magnets could be a very fun mechanic, but would require testing

Great start! I found a couple hitches listed below:

1. If I hold (instead of tap) X to pick up the magnet, I do not expect the throw action to begin. I think it would be more intuitive for the throw preparation state to only be activated after the X button has been released and re-pressed.

2. When holding the magnet, it's collision can be troublesome. First, I got stuck underneath a platform because the magnet jammed against the ceiling. Second, I was pushed off a ledge while aiming because the magnet went too far back. I think it would make sense to cheat the collision or reduce the radius as the magnet collides while being aimed.

3. Needing to restart and re-progress through a puzzle start is demoralizing. As an ultimate challenge this feels like a great way to turn up the heat, but when introducing new mechanics, I would appreciate if it was harder to get stuck.

4. Exiting a level to the hub world from the door (or out the pipe) of the level would put me closer to my next level and would feel more continuous. traversing the hub world started to feel like a chore as it got farther. Though it was great that it was super obvious which levels I had completed

Thanks for the demo and your great series!

Didn't play the first demo. Movement felt OK, but I was really struggling to gauge how far I was going to be able to jump, and it felt kind of clunky that I could throw while jumping but not moving. Couldn't beat the last two levels of the first hub world and gave up. Having to restart because of how easy it was to get stuck was a pain - I wished I could just call my magnet back to me tbh!

Oh and in the hub, I totally expected that I would go into the tube and do a Mario - didn't even occur to me to throw the magnet until I did it by accident.

Note: I did not play the first demo. Movement is feeling snappy. The dotted lines for throwing are helpful. Other visual aids are good too.

Puzzles are a bit too brainy for me while feeling casual, like I just want to run around and be more platform-y. Got up to Level 3 and it looked more overwhelming than I was feeling like doing. Not a knock on the design, more a matter of my managing expectations.

Didn't like that I could get myself stuck and have to restart, right there on Level 1. Having the ability to recall the magnet like you had previously wanted to do would have fixed that. Having to hit restart is an enthusiasm killer.

However, if players want more of a thinker of a game, this might be headed in the right direction.

Hey Mark,  

Great game. A big improvement over V1.2. Feels very polished to play and it's nice to move around. Also, the slight shaking effect that occurs when rotating the switch is really nice. 

I just have a few things to address:

1. Hub traversal and throwing the magnet to enter a level can get tedious after a while once you've completed most of the levels.

2. In the accessibility options, when changing the magnet colour, I thought there was a bug at first when I was trying to change one of the magnets from blue to red. After a while, I realised that it was because the 2 magnets couldn't be the same colour. Perhaps if there was some sort of highlight around one of the magnet colours to clarify which one you can't change to yet, would be easier to understand.

I'm really inspired by your game dev series so far and learning a lot from your game development experience. 

Good Luck with the rest of the development and keep up the great work! :-)

Loved the new demo! I think the game currently has a solid foundation to expand upon.

I think one piece of criticism I could bring up regarding the 2.0 demo is about that one fizzler that kills the magnet. I don't think its current design is all that great for its intended purpose.

Firstly, the symbol at the top looks like a smiley face, which is very confusing. I would recommend swapping that for something like the No Waiting road sign.

Secondly, the effect on the fizzler looks too much like the magnetic beams, which adds to the confusion. I'm not sure what solution could be used here, but perhaps it would help to use particles that look like the No Waiting sign.

And lastly, does it even need to be a fizzler that kills the magnet? In that one level where the fizzler appears, its purpose is preventing the player from bringing the magnet to the left. Well, you previously introduced those platforms that the player can stand on, but the magnet passes right through. Why won't you simply introduce a platform that does the opposite, i.e. the magnet can stand on it and be blocked by it, but the player passes right through? That would probably have more puzzle-oriented applications than a fizzler.

I never played v1.2 before playing this V2.0, and I have been watching the whole video series up to this point. I am playing on the windows version. Here are my thoughts; I hope they are helpful.

1. I was confused on the first level on how to get back, and if I had actually solved the puzzle or not.

1.1. I kept trying to use the tube in the level to open up the door to go back just like I did to get to the level. Eventually I just pulled up the pause menu and saw the option to go back to the hub. If they was a in-level way to do that I never found it. 

1.2. After the key moved up after capturing it, I wasn't sure that I was done. I kept trying to figure out a way to get to it. Throw the magnet at it, jump at it, jump from a ledge, etc. Eventually I figured out that the key going up meant I had captured it but that was only after going back to the hub and seeing the sign changed.

2. The physicality of the magnet and the fact that it moves around felt a little janky. I was on a narrow ledge and started aiming the magnet, but then the magnet pushed me off the edge (i.e. the magnet extended out toward the wall pushing me off).

3. The the "thanks for playing" level some the block looking elements flash as the character moves. 

4. I was a little let down by the "thanks for playing" level as I was expecting a final puzzle that would be a test of everything that I had learned thus far. 

5. In the final puzzle, I got stuck (could walk out) from behind the switch in the top right corner. The switch was facing me, so I could in theory walk over it, but I had the jump to get out of that space. This felt like unintentional and not great. 

6. This was a fun little 15 minutes! I really enjoyed it. It's really amazing the amount of work that goes into making even a little gem like this game.

Amazed by the last level. I thought I need to throw the magnet to the right button by changing the color in the middle air.  And use the gap between the blue huge magnet drop down and the heavy obstacle fall.  It turns out the solution is not about timing. But still, feel fun that the button can be thrown so far by flipping the color in the middle air. 

The game is fun! Movement is good. Readability is good. The swinging doors(grey/uncolored) are a little bit buggy and the player can have a weird interaction where the door wont open unless your player stops touching the door. its a little strange and clunky.

This series inspired me to start working on my own game and I made a lot of progress. Thanks for doing all of this.

Puzzle 6 was the only puzzle I stumbled on, but I also found a little secondary way to solve this puzzle. Probably not intended..

UMG Level 6 Cheat

Amazing. 10/10. Helps me procrastinate.

A lot of good things.  The character's movement, and the animation of the different elements in the game all feel pretty solid.  

The puzzle designs were good, with room for a good bit of refinement.  I found myself getting soft-locked several times where it felt like I shouldn't have. The last stage was like this, getting stuck multiple times just past the swiveling gate.  If you don't have the magnet, you cant jump up to the upper level anymore.  

I don't think I got the intended solution for puzzle 5.  I quickly hit the final switch, and jumped back on the rising platform as it bounced back down slightly, making it possible for me to go back down.  Still not sure how I was supposed to do it, but that didn't feel right.

The vertical semi-solids work as one-way walls... but that's not immediately intuitive.  Maybe a different design for the vertical semi-solids is in order.  It's also not very apparent that magnets can go through these one-way walls.

In level 1, you can do a sort of "Super Jump" up against the one-way wall, if you stand on the swivel platform next to the one-way wall with the red magnet and jump.  There's no practical value in doing it in this level, but I'm just mentioning it for future levels.

Would really like to aim the magnet while walking.  if you're concerned that this will make it difficult to stand still and aim on tight platforms, I'd suggest implementing a button to lock the character's movement for the specific instances where it's necessary.  I've played games with a similar aiming mechanic, allowing free movement while aiming, until a button is pushed (maybe L or R?), which allows the character to continue aiming while standing still. (maybe you get full throwing range while standing still?)  I think this would be worth the trouble, as it would make the more "routine" map traversal MUCH more pleasant, while still allowing for more precision when needed.

I feel like the ceiling pipes that suck up the magnet should be set to a "universal" polarity, so that they enter the pipe regardless of color.  Several times I had to sit there for a second to figure out if my magnet was the right color, just to enter a door.

What happens if I throw my magnet into the wrong door pipe?  The magnet is gone, and I'm just stuck outside the door, forced to go in, even if I don't want to.

Last small thing.  The magnet-dissolving field with the little smiley face stop sign on it took me a while to understand.  Maybe instead of a smile face, there could be a more intuitive graphic (a magnet with a crossed-out null symbol over it?)

The improvements to the core gameplay is amazing to see, but there's loads of stuff throwing me off.

- The character movement is really smooth, but I can't help but feel like movement should be allowed when aiming the magnet. 

- I immediately started using left click to pick up the magnet and tried to switch polarity with right click. I feel like that should be at least one of the suggested alternative controls.

- Visually, the (+) symbols in the blue field were threw me off every single time I glanced at them. It felt more intuitive for the (-) symbols to be moving towards the blue. The association of red with (+), and (-) with blue helps greatly with intuitiveness.

- I'm sure you've thought about it already, but it having the same symbols repel feels like it should be present just as strongly as attraction is.

- The one way platforms really shouldn't be letting the magnet through. It really didn't fit the way I thought things worked. They could be redesigned, or the levels should be edited so that they aren't needed in that way, such as in Level one, just making the platforms further away from each other.

- I left a lot of the levels feeling like I hadn't found the right solution. (levels 4 and 6 especially). In level 6, maybe the magnet gate could be shifted further left, covering the gap more. I initially completed the level by jumping on the magnet gate as it turned, which is obviously incorrect.

- The soft locks were super frequent, which felt really limiting. One way to solve this is, where it wouldn't cheat the level, have a button to teleport the magnet back to you, or a magnet dispenser, or a rewind button, or a checkpoint, or anything which doesn't completely remove progress.

- For the regular buttons, which are held down, and for switches (on and off) perhaps a pulsing animation could play in the wires in the direction of flow, when the button is held. This would make things super intuitive in levels have more than multiple buttons/wires. It also makes it intuitively clear that it needs to be held down. Either way, a directional indicator on the wires makes things way more readable.

- The switch / slanted button could really be visually reworked.

1)   It looks too similar to the regular button. Making it a different colour (yellow) could really help (along with the wire). This way, it's easier to spot which wire leads where. 

2)   It also doesn't have to be slanted. I find myself and the magnet sliding off of it too often. It could just be the same shape and alternate between two different colours. Every time I run over the slant I'm worrying about reactivating it on the way back. Both the button and the slanted button are too tall. It would be smoother if I could run over them both without feeling stuck. If I am not supposed to be able to run over them, it should also be made clearer.

3)   The options being light green and dark green give the sense that it's turned off, which works in some cases and not others. Perhaps the switch should be a different colour depending on the situation. When it activates a red/blue field, maybe it could be coloured red/blue, along with the wire. 

4)   Something which would really help is if the buttons pulled the magnet (no matter the polarity) towards them slightly. This helps when throwing from a distance, so that the magnet snaps to the button. It can help the action feel more intentional.

Still, the progress you've made is really amazing to see! Can't wait for the next demo.

Very nice, would like a mouse 2 polarity switch

Would love if I could throw the magnet by pulling it like an slingshoot. 

Hi there! I really enjoyed the puzzles in this, especially Weight And Pull Me and Lift Up. Most of my specific feedback notes concern game-feel-y controls things and smoothing out of gameplay hitches, but it really feels like a super strong foundation to build upon right now and it feels like you're getting really into the swing of designing puzzles for these systems. I played using mouse and keyboard.

- my first instinct in the first level is to press ctrl, as that's the only button prompt i see. put a 'wasd' or 'move' prompt.

- the spinning door thing in the first level is a little awkward - you have to walk a distance away from it then back into it if you wish to go back the other way

- it'd be nice if the aim bubbles showed up sooner, or there was some other feedback for beginning aiming

- with mouse controls, i'd like to be able to pick up magnets with mouse1, since that has the same function as E for aiming but not for picking up.

- would probably also appreciate mouse2 to change the polarity by default, to go along with the other mouse controls, rather than m2 to cancel aim.

- cancelling aim doesn't work - im still holding m1, and when i release m1 it still throws, whether or not i cancelled with m2.

- for some reason in the menu you can't set 'enter aim mode' to E with the default method, you have to click revert.

- generally 'locking' mouse1 and mouse2 into their default functions in the controls is very awkward, i'd really like to rebind them.

- have some way to leave a level after entering it when you've already got the key without having to enter the menu.

- the pickup-key to end-level feels delayed and initially i didn't notice the level ending - maybe freeze the character movement or enter a cutscene when gaining the key.

- perhaps have some 'reset' prompt if you can detect the player softlocking themself.

- in levels where the player has access to the magnet immediately, i feel like it should start already in their hands (especially the hub!)

- for keyboard controls, i do just feel like 'R' makes much more sense as a default reset key than ctrl, as it's the standard in most other puzzle games like this.

Played on a controller. cool game. i just wish that there was a way to throw the magnet with the second joystick while you walk with the first...

I enjoyed it. My biggest issue was that aiming the magnet on a controller was glitchy.  It worked fine with the mouse though.

First off thanks for putting this out! My overall experience was very very positive. I'm loving all the improvements from the previous iteration! 

Here're some notes from my playthrough:

- the close button is missing from the options menu (I had to guess that esc closed it)

- a bit jarring and unexpected when levels abruptly end after collecting a key. I was expecting to have to go back to the entrance or accomplish something else to complete the level. Basically, it wasn't clear to me that acquiring the key is the end goal of the level. I thought they were only used to unlock levels, but not complete the current one - like a side mission or a 1-up in Mario

- I couldn't return to the hub from the entrance door of any level. I had to open the pause menu and click the "return to hub" option - overall just felt a bit unintuitive and jarring as it forcibly pulled me out of the game

- unless intended by design, it felt a bit unintuitive that I couldn't move my character while aiming at the same time - especially since you can jump while aiming or aim in the air after jumping. I found myself unconsciously trying to move and aim on multiple occasions as I tried to line up a shot

- absolutely LOVE the "choose your own order" system. I was stumped on level 2, then jumped forward to level 3. In the process of solving level 3, I had that massive AHA moment and ran back to level 2 with the solution in mind

- It wasn't immediately apparent to me that I could step on the slanted green buttons again to reverse their effects. Due to the fact that they're greyed out after initially stepping on them, I assumed they were disabled and no longer functional after the first press

- well done on making it clear to the player that certain paths definitely weren't' the solution. There were at least a couple of levels where I initially thought, "hmm, maybe if I was just a bit faster I could make it to XYZ", but after trying again it was immediately clear to me that that wasn't the solution and I didn't get stuck in that classic player loop of trying the same thing over and over believing that my timing and mechanics were the issue and not that I had the wrong solution (ex: running across the large red bridge in level 4, it's clear that the player has no chance to make it across before the bridge is raised up)

- I'm not sure I solved the 4th puzzle correctly and was left with an unsatisfied feeling after completing the level. After getting the magnet to the large red bridge, I triggered the button by throwing the magnet onto it while I was standing to the side of the bridge. It felt like a bit of a "hack" since, as the button is slanted, I assumed that it was intentionally designed to not be triggered by the button (my first attempt at this solution had the magnet sliding off of the button)

- it would be nice to give the players an option to replay a level for fun after completing it, but instead of a key at the end, have a placeholder collectable or a greyed out key. When I play puzzle games I sometimes like to go back and replay levels I solved. Usually the first play through I waddle around a lot and test. After beating it, I want to replay it in a fast and efficient way, almost like a speed runner, if that makes sense. Despite wanted to do that here, I didn't - as there wasn't anything to collect, so I didn't get that rush of feeling like I had indeed conquered the puzzle

- it wasn't clear to me until after the 5th level that the difference between the slanted and flat buttons is that the flat on needs to have something on top of it to keep it on. Maybe I subconsciously realized it, but that level made the difference to me explicit and it wasn't until I consciously made that realization that I started to include that information in my planning for future levels (i.e. the 6th level)

- I was a bit confused by the key counter. At the start of the game I thought it indicated the current number of keys I had (assuming I expended one to unlock a level) as, after completing level 1, I had 2 keys instead of 1. I assumed this was to give the player the freedom to unlock 2 levels in case they got stuck on one. So I was surprised when the count kept going up. This feeling was reinforced since after each level the key count was shown, much like showing your 1-up count or life count in a Mario game. I eventually realized it represented the total count of keys I had obtained (basically puzzles completed - kind of since it's +1), but then I couldn't tell if I had any keys available to use to unlock a different level if I got stuck on another

- movement feels solid! My only notes are that the little man moves a bit slow and I would like the jump to be ever so slightly more responsive or weighty. The levels are large and there are frequently sections that require a decent amount of movement and back to back jumping, so I found myself getting a bit annoyed at how slow the little guy rolls around or how long it takes to jump 5 times in a row, especially after a level reset or returning to the hub world (side note, I would have loved to use the high jump for the back to back jumping, but it takes so much longer to use that I never used it)

- like level 4, I wasn't sure if I solved the 6th level correctly and was left feeling a bit unsatisfied. I effectively got the block stuck on the rotating door and then raced under the falling block to get to the key before it locked me out

- I had no idea I could use the mouse click to aim and throw the magnet until I randomly discovered it by accidentally clicking on my mouse. The options page and UI instructions only listed Q and E as options so I didn't realize the mouse was an option as well. I personally found the mouse much much more intuitive to throw the magnet with as I'm also aiming with it. I suggest maybe listing both options in the options menu similar to how many games display multiple bindings for actions in their settings. Additionally, I would have loved if the right click was added as a binding to toggle the magnet polarity. After I discovered I could pick up and throw the magnet with my mouse, I intuitively found myself right clicking to swap polarity

- In their current state, I'd give these puzzles a 7 / 10 overall. They were enjoyable and interesting, but the difficulty felt non-linear when completed in order and I had very little sense of "progression" in my knowledge and understanding of the game mechanics. Most of the time when I learned about a mechanic it felt accidental and not deliberate from the game. Almost like the game had forgotten to highlight something in the level or explain it before I got in. Basically, the new mechanics introduced in any particular level never felt like the focus of that level. However, there were absolutely a few superstar moments of genuine joy for me, a massive highlight was the interaction I described earlier between the 2nd and 3rd levels

Really nice overall MVP! Here are my notes:

• It could explain the control layout better from the start
• The fact that the magnet can go through the thin walls but the robot can’t is unintuitive
• The switches look more like weird buttons, it’s not immediately clear that each side activates a different state
• It would be nice if, when you go back into a level you’ve finished, you can still collect the key to end the level. Like how in Mario Odyssey, getting a Moon for the second time just gives you 10 coins.
• It would also be nice if there was a diegetic way to return to the hub (instead of just through the pause menu)
• I wish I could throw further quicker. The game has lots of speedrunning potential but having to hold the button down before throwing it (and how slowly the trajectory guide fades in) feels like it kills that potential
• I know the levels probably aren’t staying but the last two were pretty easy to get softlocked in

Super fun! This feels like a nice little puzzle game I would buy.

Here are a few notes since you asked for feedback in the video.

• The only level I didn't like was the last one, which took me like 10 minutes to figure out.
• I wish I didn't have to run past all the completed levels each time I finished a level.
• Part of me felt like I should have to  get back to the pipe after I collect the key. I wasn't expecting the levels to end the moment I got the key—like how does the little guy get out of there without his magnet?
• I really think it will start feeling great once you get some audio in there.
• I kept getting thrown off by the little + and - particles moving towards magnetic surfaces. They're always the opposite of the magnetic surface's polarity which makes it harder for me to glance quick and know if the surface's polarity is positive or negative.

Hey, loved the Developing series on the channel, it's amazing for an aspiring game dev! I did find some things in this game though, that I wanted to point out

• In the hub, the pointer that tells you where the magnet is going to be thrown goes behind the gates.
• The first tutorial level that is not accessed through the hub gives you a key so you don't need to complete all the levels to reach the end. Not sure if this is intentional or not, but just wanted to point it out.

Again, love this game and your channel, keep it up!

- I think it would be nice if you didn't have to walk past all the levels you'd already completed after each level. (maybe the magnet can drop out of the pipe you had thrown it in instead of the one at the start or the layout of the hub could have a better layout or more frequent checkpoints)

 - Is there supposed to be sound? You said something about music but I don't seem o be hearing any.

 - I like that you have to hold the reset level button for it to work but I think it would be nice if I knew how long I had been holding it already a bit better with either a progress bar or animation that was a bit more involved than just the icon growing.

 - I think that the level pipes suck up your magnet regardless of which color or icon is displaying yet, it fixes this by showing the "+" icon and the negative magnet color. I think instead you could make some third symbol for both (possibly just even having it be a striped pattern using both positive and negative colors)

Great demo, Mark! Much improved character control! 

(V2.0, played on a Mac with a PS4 controller)

Some things I liked:

• The magnet character's subtle face animations when you are picking up the magnet, throwing the magnet, etc. You must reveal his name and backstory in your completed work!
• The trail animations behind the magnet looks great! (how did you do that?)
• The fact that you can jump up beneath a level select tube and release the magnet without having to aim makes fast level progression feel quick and snappy.
• The way that the robot jumps without his wheel early on in the jump animation is whimsical and I love it (not sure if that was in the previous version or not though)

Spotted some bugs for you:

• In both fullscreen and windowed mode, when the symbols on the top and bottom of the screen (jump/polarity instruction, key count, level reset indicator, etc.) were slightly visible but halfway cut off screen. I believe the intent was to hide them fully.
• If you pause and select "Return to Hub" at the start of the game, you can skip the first area.
• If you pass through the moveable, non-magnetized "L" shaped barrier and immediately walk backwards, the door does not sense the collision once the animation of the barrier is over. Once you move away from the barrier and re-collide with it, it works as intended. Kinda feels a bit weird if you ever attempt to double back.
• If you head back into an already completed level, the key is gone so you are stuck in the level. The only way to exit the level is to use the pause menu, but I think there are other ways to bring the player back to the hub, like either activating a magnetic field in the level's Mario pipe or even including the key again in an "already collected" state (like the blue stars in Super Mario 64). The latter might even allow for some level practicing fun in case players want to try to see how fast they can complete each level or practice for a speed run of the game.
• Not sure if this one is a bug or not, but when I hold Square to throw the magnet, the character continues to move a few steps before entering the aiming state. Could just be my personal preference, but I think a snappier, more immediate transition into throwing would feel better from a gamefeel perspective. I do see how this feature is useful when first picking up the magnet, so perhaps a few lines of code can be used to enable the delay only when picking up the magnet off the ground.

Keep up the good work! Love the game idea and love the Developing series! Looking forward to the basics of Unity video! Please include all of your abstraction strategies in there, as those will be super useful for new programmers!

(V2.0) The game feels way better. The improvements over the character are notorious and welcomed. Liked the accessibility features; even though I don't need them, I like being able to change colors. And the puzzles were fun and simple.

I like the idea of the hub level, but I don't like how you select the levels, maybe making it pull all the character and not just the magnet would be better. 

And just as something extra, I think you should re-add the puzzles from the first version, or at least some, would be interesting to play them again with the improved stuff (and also interesting for you to remake them with the proper tooling as a learning experience).

Overall, an improvement over the game and it's fun, even though it still have rough edges (which are understandable). Honestly wish there were more levels, this version felt short (not a complain, just wanting to play more). Congrats on your game!

GENERAL COMMENTS:

1)

The character seems needlessly slow. It's most noticeable in the tutorial, which is essentially just "hold right" for the first half, but that's not the only time it's annoying. Some of the levels require you to travel their breadth twice to complete them, and a little bit of speed would help alleviate frustration if there are multiple resets (or just make the levels smaller).

2)

When I was messing around with the settings I noticed that "E" could not be mapped to any of the keyboard controls. This is the only button on my entire keyboard (other than "ESC") to receive this treatment. Due to the specificity, I assume that this is intentional, but I can't figure out why: The button which used to be mapped to "E," Carry/Enter Aim Mode, can be remapped; there literally isn't the option of leaving the Carry option blank or unmapped; and I can think of no negative repercussions to allowing that key to be mapped as the player wishes (especially since it's permanently mapped to LMB).

3)

If you bind Carry/Enter Aim Mode to LMB, then the game reads it as two inputs every time you click. This makes it impossible to carry the magnet with you. Either you immediately throw the magnet, or you hold the button which causes you to stop and begin aiming.

4)

A down control for passing through one-way platforms you're standing on would be nice.

LEVEL SPECIFIC COMMENTS:

Level 3:

The three-by-three block to the left of the one-way platforms seems unnecessary, and it makes it annoying to get back down, if you start up the one-way platforms and then change your mind.

Level 6:

The gap under the blue magnet panel could be one or two blocks thinner. It's annoying to solve the puzzle, but then have to start over because you missed the jump.

V2.0

The vertical jump feels very stunted compared to the horizontal jump, possibly because the character moves faster than I expect.

There were some puzzles that the wrong solutions were too close to being viable, where it felt like I could maybe do it if I was better. 

There were too many opportunities to soft lock yourself, which made it feel like the levels were designed and then only correct solution was tested. 

There were a lot of jumps that were close to being something I could make but were too far, again makes the level design feel sloppy. 

The first time I got a key and it faded to black and I exited the level felt bad, I think it would be more fun if I had to leave the room with the key. 

And to expand on that, it would make the correct solution feel more correct because it would leave the room in a state I could leave so that would be more confirmation that I had done it correctly. 

I didn't like that going through the doors was automatic, it felt like it was taking away my player agency. I think jumping into the pipes with the magnet might have felt better. 

Generally wasn't a fan of the throw the magnet into the pipe as a mechanic, throwing the magnet at a magnetic button would make more sense. The pipes feel very much a case of "Well it worked in Mario"

I feel like the platforms you can jump through should have a way to go back down through them. 

I think overall I was disappointed by the game, I feel like I expected more based on the videos and it failed to deliver. I think there are a lot of great building blocks in the game, but the level design and how things interact wasn't as smooth or intuitive as I would have liked. 

The magnet appears behind many elements in the hub world (the key symbols above the doors for example) otherwise quite good

(v2.0) Plays very well! Playing it made me want to see some puzzles with swapping the magnet polarity mid-air.