Blueprint

Alright, this time I was able to play with the "Start Level" button! :D

I still think that the tutorial prepares for a much different game than the actual one. It is good for teaching the mechanics. But maybe it could have a last example of how an actual open-ended level looks like?

This time I managed to complete all levels! And it was satisfying. :) There was situations were I felt that I had to make strategic choices, and felt rewarded when they worked. There can be a nice synergy between the different blocks. I sometimes had to start "early" because the piece just couldn't fit anywhere. Some of them had kinda weird shape that takes a lot of rooms, and some level don't have a lot of space.

Also when the next 4 pieces don't contain pearls, I'm not sure if it's worth continuing to place them? Globally I had more fun when I had to shape the path of the level. Adding "noise" blocks that don't lead to pearls was less satisfying. Although it is also part of the challenge, but when there's only those in the pool for a while my level-design feel useless. The best times were when I'd have "interesting" pieces that had a bit of synergy between them and built up to an almost consistent level!

I'd say the game loop works. However I don't know if the scores I got were good or not (I was at between 1200 and 1900).^^' Perhaps a target score, or a system of rank/medals could give an incentive to play strategically?

another suggestion, i imagine this will come in later in some form but i dont feel like redoing the tutorial, so a way to skip it or load a save could be nice

I enjoyed the tutorial, but then the "real" game felt overwhelming. I was expecting short puzzles levels, but they are actually really large and complex. I wasn't able to complete any, because it was too hard for me to plan that much in advance. At some points I couldn't fit the pieces, or I realized I made a mistake and made an orb unreachable. I's hard to make a long-term strategy for the level-design, and tell how many blocks there will be, what the path will be, is a placement optimal or the level is doomed in advance…

UX wise, the minimalism works well in the tutorial, but becomes laborious in the more open-ended levels (unable to undo an action, to move an existing pieces, select a piece, make fast edit...). I like the very open-ended idea though, but the game might have too much constraints for it to work really well. Once again, I think the game worked better on short levels focused on a precise puzzle. The tutorial works really well to teach the mechanics, and its last level even gives a nice "ah-ha" moment. The game that comes after that is way more ambitious, but might not need to be that hard.

finished the tutorial but the levels are a bit confusing, i think i softlocked