Let me answer a bit, because you really took your time to write all this, and I appreciate it! So let me share a few things:
First, I don't know if I'm that good haha, but thanks for that! I do game jams to challenge myself and keep tuning my formula for making games. So far, I think I'm getting better at actually finishing games, but I'm still not very good at communicating things to the player. Everything you pointed out is really valuable, and I'll definitely consider some patches!
- The long jump was meant to help you move around and reach secret areas, not really to travel between islands haha.
- It's actually not a frog! It's a little stone golem wearing a frog costume. I think showing the character before and after putting on the costume would've helped communicate that. The whole double-face thing was confusing enough already, but I ran out of time and had to cut that part of the gameplay.
- I agree! Maybe just the beeping sound and the flashlight would've been enough. At first, I only had the radar, but I got greedy and wanted to add a flashlight too haha.
- I definitely agree that I should cut some things and communicate others better, like the boat. The idea behind the boat was to slow down the player's momentum a bit and encourage them to explore the environment instead of just jumping through everything.
- I actually have a team, but sadly they couldn't make it this time, and I have this personal rule of doing at least one jam every month haha. This game is pretty much the result of feedback from previous jams: navigation hints, menus, gameplay, accessibility, and so on. So feedback like yours really helps me figure out what to improve next!
And I think your main point about removing things instead of adding more is something I really need to work on. I tend to get carried away with ideas and mechanics, and sometimes forget that making them work together is more important than having more of them.
Anyway, thanks a lot for taking the time to play and write such detailed feedback! I really appreciate it, and this is exactly why I keep doing jams!
And feel free to check out some of my other games on my profile and leave some feedback there too! It really means a lot to me, and I think it's a big part of getting better at making games!