In the middle of Just finished playing this now. This is a really nice beginner hold -- there are very few holds at this difficulty level that are well-designed and fun to play, but this hits that sweet spot.
Comments and suggestions:
Level 1 4E: Checkpoint(s).
Level 2 exit: Because the room can be entered before dropping the blue door, and is empty, it will create a save at that time, and not when re-entered at the end of the level. Therefore, it should have a checkpoint just for the benefit of players who like being able to see the complete level in the Restore screen (as well as going back to look for secrets, though it doesn't appear there are secret rooms in the levels so far). Level 1 doesn't urgently need a checkpoint in its exit room because the room can only be entered after dropping the blue door, but it's good to get into the habit of having a checkpoint in your level exits.
Level 3 The Entrance: Unintended solution. The room can be exited (by the stairs) even if the pressure plate is hit.
Level 3 1N2E: Checkpoints at (22,22) and (11,7).
Level 3 1N3E: Consider using another floor type. Force arrows don't show up very well.
Level 3 3E: At least one checkpoint would be nice.
Level 3 1S1E: See earlier comments about force arrows and checkpoints.
Level 4 2N: This is the first room I didn't really like. It doesn't show anything new, since the freezing beam was already shown, and turning your sword to block the beams is repetitive. A checkpoint would be nice in case the player messes up the second bit (even though it's easy, politeness never hurts
)
Level 4 1N3E: Checkpoint.
Level 5 1N1W: Checkpoint in the first area. It takes quite a bit of pushing to get all five opals to the right spots, and it's easy to make a slip and have to restart.
Level 5 2N3W: Checkpoints!
Level 6 1N: A little underwhelming for a final room. How about making the player fight a few rock giants instead of just one?
Finished the hold. That was really fun
The opals are a very nice puzzle element -- they are similar to mirrors, of course, but mirrors can be pushed with the sword, and taking this away made several of the puzzles require a bit more thought. I liked the way you restricted yourself to a small palette of elements, but included timeclones -- you made some very nice puzzles with these that were satisfying to solve but would still be accessible to beginners.
My favourite rooms in the hold were 3:2S2E, 4:2N1E, and 5:2N3W.
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50th Skywatcher
[Last edited by Nuntar at 06-02-2016 10:50 PM]
. From today on I'll leave this hold open for public beta testing for 2 weeks or so. I'm open for any feedback. Let me know what you think too if you play this.
