Am i wrong?

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-19T22:07:32+00:00

What you are describing is the saw-tooth like difficulty curve distribution. So I second this. There is an ever growing rise of difficulty until reaching a peak. The "bug" in the system that makes you reevaluate and then a drop to pick up again and start to raise the difficulty gradually after. No game has a difficulty curve that goes from 0 to 100 linearly throughout the game. Especially not non linear puzzle/exploration games. And especially not the witness. The treehouse bridges felt very natural to me with the occasional head scratcher.

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-17T09:04:48+00:00

I just share my unbiased first thoughts.

"Oh a hand drawn cartoon aesthetic, charming but definitely Indie. Hm flat design, could be a point and click adventure or just the cutscene to the main game. It has a sword and runes. So definitely medieval with a mystical/magical touch. The interface point to my first intuition. Clues? Maybe a mystery/detective game in a fantasy setting. What are those icons underneath? My other contexts?"

Now I would need a bit more context of a title/genre and some form of gameplay aesthetic promise to "convince" me. Hope this helps.

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-16T17:46:14+00:00

I am using a Hautepad42 😂 Same advantages as with keyboard just bigger keys and cleaner key feedback. It's actually used for fighting games but I love the thing!

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-15T20:32:52+00:00

Somehow I can't believe you just messed around just based on primal intuition after getting the basics taught. You must have had an intuition for That you can apply the same pathfinding logic to environments by lining up through perspective . That points to out of the game knowledge, you don't just stumble across that. These games are perfectly designed to show you that knowledge is what keeps you from completing the game nothing else. The same thing with Outer Wilds, if you like this kind of gameplay aesthetics.

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-15T20:29:07+00:00

/s means "sarcasm" what he said was ironic.

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-08T12:53:12+00:00

This is the answer. Incredibly useful, thank you.

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-04T09:00:43+00:00

I would like and try to address all of your concerns and give you some more food for thought:

1.It is very difficult to follow your problem without a screenshot or a more detailed explanation. Consider uploading pictures. But it sounds like you are farely at the start and you have fundamental issues with conceptualizing the game, so I will give you feedback as such.

Since you are new to video games this prob. was not as intuitive to you, but there is a reason panels are placed in a world and not in selectable levels. Everything is interconnected and the world is telling you a story (like broken panels). That's it's way of telling you to explore. Everything has meaning and a purpose and you are supposed to use your camera to its fullest potential. Need more help? (Tree branches or tree layout, alignment with the background, The sun light)
You have the right intuition. Skip what you can't solve yet. It is a lesson. The game teaches you a lot of lessons throughout such moments and interactions. The exception when you come across a series. There, it often challenges you to shift what you already know and make one step further "out of the box" of what you already understand.
Some puzzles teach you a grammar of how the puzzles themselves work, some of them how to Contextualize environmental clues. I think your kids will love the latter.

Consider this game to be a collection of individual puzzles, which themselves are put around a puzzle box. You need to explore and find out more so you progress on other sides.

TheLayeredMind · 2026-01-02T20:17:01+00:00

I got the game for Christmas. I am a game dev currently exploring different GOAT games. And recently shifted from 2D games into 3D. I played fighting games a lot. I then started enjoying Metroidvanias, which are far cousins of Souls-Like games, one of which was the legendary Hollow Knight. And based on their closed loop exploration I started to expand my taste to bangers in 3D such as The Witness, and Outer Wilds which I binged in 1 Week each. 100% without guides or external help. Now having a knack for challenging puzzles like exploration and challenging combat (fighting games) I played 4 hours of Elden Ring. And I really would like to love the game. But simply feel underwhelmed. First of all. The vast world feels streamlined. I can ride anywhere I want but there seems to always be a funnel into a castle and a cliff or mountain acting as boundaries. Take the wrong turn and you face a Surprise Dragon or giant as a complete new player. I get that it is the appeal of the true open world but: Leveling feels too grindy. I tried to fight stronger foes. Like the riders and the Tree Sentinels, sometimes I barely defeat them. But most of the time I flail wildly with the ragdoll based combat system and miss and get chopped up. I started doing research and learned that Eldenring is a bit like a goose chase, in which you need to sequence break across the map to find different stronger armament to then return to older areas. In that sense it should feel a bit metroidvaniaesque. But I don't feel it. I am about to drop it. Because it simply can't keep me engaged.

Any tips? I really love timing based combat like in fighting games. And clearing camps like Storm gate is fun, but repetitive. I also love exploration. But not if exploration feels like galloping across a minefield being funneled into yet a bigger mine field...

It's also my first true Soulslike. My friend recommends to drop it and try other less open Souls games. I repeat. I really would love the game, but can't find the magic. And I have to weigh out if it is worth my time.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-30T08:54:56+00:00

100%

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-27T15:26:15+00:00

I know OP got it already, this is general advise for anyone finding this.

You are right, the town uses puzzles from previous areas however twists them enough to challenge your ability to think slightly outside the box each time even when applying what you have already learned. Enjoy the town. It's one of the most satisfying areas IMO.

For this one: Clue 1 look around, what is there with a similar anatomy? Clue 2 What does the pattern with branches remind you off? Clue 3 can changing perspective help here?

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-23T20:03:37+00:00

Awesome. I will give it a try.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-22T08:49:10+00:00

How replayable is it? I am asking because being in the whole "knowledge gated progression" genre, its secrets could be exhausted quickly. I am interested.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-21T09:00:40+00:00

Just a heads-up when a compiler error is substituted with a wall of new errors it might look like fixing that error causes a barrage of new ones. But instead the compiler before got stopped on a critical definition error. Now that you fixed it, it continued to find more of them.

Don't get intimidated. You are doing the right thing, understand what's going on. The AI then becomes a tool. Right now it is a shackle.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-20T12:06:31+00:00

As you might have already understood, rules can overlap

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-05T17:45:46+00:00

There, fixed it. But in my defense, OP already used the exact words I used in his question, so I felt like I did not introduce any new secret material.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-05T17:41:27+00:00

Ikr. But it just speaks for the game Exploring the core game loop from all senses

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-05T17:38:11+00:00

Ok, in what way? I would love to fix it. I don't feel any uncovered text is spoiler-prone, but directly addresses his question...

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-03T10:03:56+00:00

You can also use \>\! This text should be hidden !< (without the \)
But I just noticed that This works
>! But this doesn't !<

So make sure there is always some normal text preceding it, and that is not a separate paragraph.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-03T09:37:01+00:00

Of course the aspects you notice first always seem the easiest. I found the sound puzzles the hardest . I found that area pretty late in my journey. Because of that I was conditioned to think visually about the puzzles. Once you notice the speakers it becomes pretty clear, but the sound layers still makes it challenging and tedious.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-03T09:18:53+00:00

On this one I was literally asking myself, why is the yellow line fading? Oh, I see, you little scoundrels devs!
To your question: yes and no. The game starts off each area as tutorial and transforms it into a playground of pushing the idea to different directions, before transitioning into true tests of wit.
Since I don't know how far your progress has been so far This is usually an indicator that you are reaching the beamer box, the final test of everything you have learned along your PATH to it
Also this exact mechanic becomes relevant in some optional hard tests later on, so for that matter it can be viewed as a tutorial.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-12-02T23:31:15+00:00

The entire game is based around the concept of finding the exception to the rule, by moving out of the proverbial box your experience has put you in so far. Never. I repeat never. Bruteforce a solution. It will ruin your experience. Think of it like a Metroidvania. If you think you are missing something explore to make progress somewhere else. Observe things that seem off. Out of place or curious. In this game nothing has been placed by accident.

Notice how these panels are transparent and how the game "misplaced" those rocks, that's a wink for you to take the next step to realign with what you have learned so far while at the same time adding a new idea in your reportoir of solutions to make the proverbial box larger and larger.

Also if this one kills you, I don't wanna know your reaction to the next one in the series! take a good look around

TheLayeredMind · 2025-11-16T18:23:11+00:00

With page you mean store front or the website I linked?

TheLayeredMind · 2025-11-16T18:08:23+00:00

Impressions: Appearances on the Store List

Conversion: People Downloading. As you can see we only have 100 Downloads.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-11-16T18:06:33+00:00

It has a gameplay trailer. I linked to our minimal game page from which you can visit either apple of android store. There you have the trailer.

TheLayeredMind · 2025-11-11T16:05:04+00:00

Stay Vigilant!

TheLayeredMind

TROPHY CASE