There are a good number of accidental matches. Preventing these is counterproductive though, since someone can just as easily be attempting multiple matches at once.

I think the game not only suffers from the fact that it’s hard, but also from the fact that it’s bit unclear for the player how to play the game. And even after you figure out how to play the game, the controlling of the marbles is a bit too difficult. You usually end up making as many accidental matches as you do intentional matches. Which makes the player feel like he has no control over the game.

But I’m happy I made the game.

Also I’m glad that my efforts on the graphical side didn’t go to waste. Tim Burton’s stop motion films were a big inspiration of the graphical style of Slimy Pete. I haven’t heard of Remedios Varo, but I checked the wikipedia entry and I’m already intrigued by her style. I should try to find more of her paintings.

The problem with the graphical style of Slimy Pete is that it’s not “cheap” to make. I mean takes a lot of time. I spend the better half of the development just on the characters. (The background isn’t really on the level I’d like it to be). In the end I like to spend more time with the gameplay than with the graphics.

Thanks for the artwork assembly suggestion. I’d love to that, I just have to find some better pieces of my “artwork”. I usually draw on small pieces of paper and they end up getting lost a lot of the time.

A couple suggestions:
- Maybe show one more marble so we see what’s coming below the shut-up sign.
- Don’t speed up until much later. The extra variety is hard enough, and interesting enough to keep me playing.
- Add a different sound for succeeding with a level. The little whine-noise sounded like bad news rather than good news.

I think perhaps a more basic trouble with this game is that it is not a common sort of puzzle-logic for online games. It just means that it is a hard game.

I actually keep coming back to this game. But the fact that it speeds up like it does makes me quit playing early.

Most importantly, the artwork is simply fantastic! Literally like a fantasy-land.

And as you and many others have discussed here and elsewhere, I agree with the lessons you learned; it illustrates that maxim for most every discipline: Utility before Style.

Your artwork reminded me of the Surrealist art of Remedios Varo. And also Tim Burton.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remedios_Varo

Personally, I would like to see more of this style in a future game. Or perhaps you might assemble some examples of your artwork, and illustrate your work-flow as a graphic artist.

Not that it was an impossible task, but I found that thanks to the length of the columns, I was getting matches by luck just as often (if not more so) than the ones I had pre-calculated.

I liked the style of the graphics and kinda liked the metaphorical undertones.

About gameplay considerations for Slimy Pete´s, like two previous reviewers, I felt a certain lack of control as well - But I guess a simple change would make a difference for me: Instead of simply placing the mouse over characters to make them talk/stop, clicking them with the mouse button would give me more control precision, since I often forgot to move the mouse away from them, messing all the stack…

But don´t get it wrong: I love the game!

Keep up the good work!
Chico