My game Green Screen is a puzzle game where you need to remember nodes to find them among other ones. Initially there was 3 categories: signal, frequency, data. Each category contained value that player had to remember and find. Difficulty was the problem. Frequency could be greater or less than a random value, Data contained 2 possible values to remember, Signal had 1.

When my friends tried this game for the first time, they had hard time remembering everything and finding it among 20 nodes + the more values categories had, the more often weird bugs occured.

I didn't want to frustrate player with excessive difficulty and extra bugs, so I decided to simplify the game by reducing possible category values. It helped and bugs disappeared, game became easier. So much easier that there is barely any challenge in it now.

The question is, do I really need to make challenging game for the jam, or 3-4 minutes of light gameplay without too many variables to remember would be enough? What is more precious: lack of frustrating bugs or more interesting complex puzzle for the jam? Would be glad to discuss it with anybody

My game - https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/59/green-screen

This is my first Ludum Dare ever and I just want to say that atmosphere here is so cool and chill! I love how everyone supports each other and discusses all this beautiful games together. And the games are REALLY good! You guys made masterpieces in 48 hours, it's mind blowing! I have already played 20 games, most of them were gems, and I've got 10 more saved that felt like good ones. I've been spending time here so nice, it feels like I belong here. Love you so much guys!<3