I haven't made a game where players could draw before so I made it entirely for this project, but I'll probably reuse it if I ever need it again in the future.
I'm no expert so I don't know if my tips will help but I'll try.
First I try to have a theme to each level, by making each one unique (could be a new mechanic, a unique situation with the same mechanics, or even a new visual element). This helps me introducing new mechanics slowly while keeping everything fresh from the player's standpoint. Ideally it's something I can summarize in a short sentence. For instance for this game I have levels with the themes "Teach the player that someone can have 6 arms" (new mechanic), "Have more characters than before do a party" (Visual element + difficulty increase), "There are only people with 6 arms" (unique situation + remind the player that 2 same people can't hold hands more than once + funny visual situation). If a level has multiple purposes it's even better! But yeah in general if can't summarize a level with a sentence by saying what's unique about it (doesn't have to be groundbreaking), then maybe the level doesn't need to exist? I would say that is my main tip when designing levels.
Then, to go in specifics, I don't have a lot of experience in level design so I can't speak a lot from previous projects, but for this game I started designing each puzzle from an intended solution I had in mind (a graph of all the arms connection I wanted) and then chose the color, name, hats and requests of each character according to this solution, while volontarily making some information ambiguous (for instance a character requiring to hold the hand of someone with a hat is far less specific than one directly requiring the name of the specific person). But at the end of the day most puzzles of this game have several (often similar) solutions, and like you I do need to test the levels over and over to know if they are truly fun, and make corrections to improve them (or throw them away) if it doesn't.
Sorry for the long reply, I hope it answered your question and can be of some help.
Yeah I understand. Time constraints are part of jams after all, you must work with these limitations.
I understand wanting to have an intended solution. To elaborate on my process, I did try to design them with an intended solution in mind, but often when I tested them I found several other (and sometimes better) solutions. But in this case I decided it was totally fine to leave multiple solutions because it made everything less difficult and didn't remove the fun of trying to figure out which hands must hold each other. So I guess that's also why it was faster to design than levels with a single, intended solution.
But I already found your game nice, even if it's mostly a proof of concept, you're right I feel like there's a lot that could be build upon here.
Nice entry! The feedbacks on the menu were really great!
It was refreshing to see a game where you could just enter without any tutorial and immediatly understand the concept and the goal! I liked the settings of the differents rooms being screens. I really wish there were more levels because it was quite good!
I loved seeing the golden eggs come out from the screen every time :)
Thank you for the compliments! Actually it wasn't that difficult to come up with the puzzles, they were pretty quick to create. So most of them are harder to solve than they were to design.
Wow that's a really cool interpretation of the theme!
I always enjoy a good detective game, and wasn't expecting one! The format was really good, and it felt satisfying to guess which contact I had to transfer a message to. I want to see more!
I guess I didn't really get the end though, too much was happening at once haha
I really loved this one, top marks from me, well done!
I had a lot of fun with these microgames, and liked that the difficulty was something I could choose to gain more reward. However at one point no matter how many minigames I made and won, the drain per second was just too high and I just couldn't make the % go up on all four at once.
But despite that I really had fun, and began to be better and better at each of the microgames. Well done!
The gameplay loop is pretty fun, I like how the cars all have collisions so you can mess with your past selves to win the race. However, the past selves' behavior seemed to change at every race (sometimes they fell off the road, sometimes they finished) so it was always a bit unpredictable.
I had fun, especially as there were more and more cars on the track, by seeing the chaos unfold. Well done!
As other said, I found the start a bit slow and the walk to the boss at the start of every loop a bit tedious. At the very beginning of the game I was lost too on what to do and didn't know that I needed to go to the other side of the map to truly start playing.
But the gameplay loop stays fun, as it's always fun to become stronger and stronger. Well done!
The gameplay was simple to pick up and to understand too (even though I think the "rules" image was a tad confusing to me at first, because I didn't think it was as simple as merging the three base shapes to create a white circle). I do wish the game was more chaotic from the get go, since I find the beginning a bit slow, with only three shapes appearing at once.
The gameplay was also really enjoyable, the bracelets adding a simple to understand but cool twist to enhance the puzzle aspect! The difficulty is great too, a bit challenging towards the end but not too much, and still relaxing.
It was deliberate to make a little story of some sort, but it's definitively the aspect of the game I left behind the most to prioritize gameplay, so it's basically non-existant as is. But I'm glad you found it cute!
I loved the eerie atmosphere similar to horror movies. It was definitively a bit frightening.
The art was cute, I loved the intro cutscene.
The puzzle was great to figure out too! The door opening scared me more than the mirror haha. I think there could be better feedbacks for when you follow the instructions correctly (like the sound of the house going quiter or the dog wagging its tail, like in the journal). Maybe they were feedbacks but I missed them.
Overall, I enjoyed it a lot, it's a unique experience in this jam!
I like the minimalist aesthetics and the strategic aspect of planning your loops to maximize your score.
But I sometimes have trouble knowing whether or not a trip is profitable or not as the total wealth fluctuates a lot, which doesn't help me know how to improve my strategy.
But I can definitively see the potential of an expanded version, with more feedbacks and even more resources and stops. Well done!
The gameplay feeling is pretty good, once you get the hang of it, it becomes really satisfying to loop through the sky.
I also like how you progressively added complexity (like enemies that shoot laser beams, that prevent you to loop around them while the laser is active.
Maybe better visual clarity would help, as at the beginning I couldn't distinguish enemies from bonuses.
I love the aesthetics of the game, I especially liked the weird environment.
For the puzzles, I often felt like I didn't know if I finished the levels in the intended way, and often felt like I was cheating my way through, but it was enjoyable nonetheless.
It was really fun and the presentation was nice (especially audio).
The puzzles were great too, I really had to think about it sometimes (still stuck at "Up a notch"). Sometimes there were elements you could drag in that didn't feel necessary (like the Skipper which I only used from "Up a notch" but not before).
And as another commenter said I think some UX improvements could elevate the experience (being able to remove a placed element, not resetting all the elements every time you make a mistake).
The variants really add a lot to the game. I love the fact that you're forced to choose one, so you can't just stick with the same strategy all the time.
