Opalfall is close to done. I’m in the polish phase now — mostly playing the game, feeling out the levels, and clearing the bugs that are left. By far the hardest part of that has been the first ten worlds.
Here’s the tension. A lot of the game opens up after you clear all ten worlds. So there’s an easy way out: make the first ten quick and gentle, and get players to the rest fast. But that’s the wrong call. If the opening ten are ten easy levels you rush through, none of what comes after feels earned — and the trip through the worlds is supposed to be the point, not a hallway to the real game.
Distinct, not just harder
So the bar is fussier than “make it a bit tougher each world.” Each of the ten has to feel different to play, and the difficulty has to build in a way that feels right rather than just ticking upward. That means a lot of playing the same worlds over and over, tuning, and asking the same question: does this one actually feel like its own place, or is it world four with a new color?
It’s slow work. It’s also the work that decides whether Opalfall is a game you travel through or a game you swipe past.
Cozy, but satisfying
The other half of the balance is tone. I want the early game to keep its cozy, casual feel — nobody should bounce off world one. But the higher worlds need a real climb, because clearing something that actually pushed you is what makes a puzzle satisfying. Cozy up front, satisfying as you go. Finding the exact curve between those two is most of what I’m doing right now.
More from the polish phase soon.
— Alex