Version 0.3

Hi! Great game, solid concept. My best current time is 38 in the first level. Anyway, I've played through the new levels (V0.3) but I thought (as a game designer) It'd be nice to share some thoughts regarding your level design. Just some friendly ideas.

I think that your level design could be explored in more different ways. I believe that your base mechanics offer enough variety, so why not expand upon those with the usage of on-point level design (whereas later new attributes like falling blocks, fans and the such like could be introduced).

I love that you are able to flatten your speed by bouncing on the middle part of your stick whilst keeping momentum. That is a great gameplay aspect that I feel is underused in your level design. Why not expand on that by creating small obstacles (for example white dots/blocks) where the player is challenged to use this 'hopping' technique in more varied ways instead of the occational 'what a save' bump?

Finally, I think that the ceiling 'bullet' technique is fairly awesome (wall jumping from the ceiling diagonally). Would be great if the levels would give the player more options through their design to explore this gameplay technique, rewarding their pin-point accuracy with shortcuts and the such like (little gaps like in the first level).

You could make one simple single room for every technique so that players will learn the possibilities of the gameplay.

Additonally any form of slide would be sick, whereas you should keep the stick flattened in order to build momentum, balancing it until a ramp appears. The slide I guess would be diagonal (or curved, however I could see that bugging out).

Your levels are based on single screens which is great for clarity. You are able to go back and forth between rooms, so why not include ramps that launch you to different 'entrances' in the next room based on your momentum, and thus, height? Would be rewarding to the player whilst offering variety. EDIT: I see that you already use a similar aprroach regarding different routes, nice. Note that when using different routes, the player does (initially) not know what exit leads to the correct route, which can work confusing and ends you up going into the wrong direction. Maybe use arrows in the background (or UI) as a guide?

I reckon that every level should feature a 'perfect' line based on your maximum momentum. In the new levels this momentum feels a bit off.  Where I like the idea of the fans, I do feel that they are a bit overused which stagnates the momentum a little. Every room should be a new iteration within the flow of that level, keeping the variety there, mixing up various gameplay techniques that the player needs to master in an increasingly difficulty order.

I like the rotation speed just how it is, definitely keep it on the slower side instead of the faster side. Adds more weight to it and you need to 'calculate' your moves just a little more which gives the game more 'oompf'.

One final idea, however this one could suck or maybe you already fiddled around with this during your development and found that it works confusing. Yet maybe it would be nice to be able to influence your direction (left, right) very slightly by spinning into that direction. The more you spin, the more momentum you build (again, very slightly).  Risk reward kind of thing (where every successful swing adds momentum, so spinning full circles would be required).  Another method would be to make the player's spinning speed gradually increase (and thus the spinning itself too) by holding down a single direction. Again, maybe this is not a good idea because it would have a big influence on the base gameplay and thus your level design.

Anyway, great prototype, just trying to give you some constructive feedback. Hope to see more of this little gem!

Goodluck!
Tobias (Tweetal Studios)

PS: why not include a visible timer while doing a run, and why not make a single button for resetting instead of P + Enter? Cheers!