Incredibly frustrating

[Dare Wreck]

I'm on level 11, playing with my kid, and there is a cave-in section right above where the blueprint is on the ground. We cannot for the life of us get it exposed without more sand falling down on it, and I can't tell you how incredibly frustrating this is. I did eventually find a single brace in the level that protects part of the blueprint, but it wasn't big enough to cover the entire thing. I tried hitting it to see if I could deactivate it to pick it up and reposition it, but it only served to destroy it! Now it seems like it's impossible to beat this level. Am I missing something? I'm about ready to throw my controller in disgust, but my young kid keeps wanting to play this game.

I can't tell you how frustrated I am with many of the design decisions in this game, which I picked up via itch.io. The cave-ins are incredibly annoying and tedious, collecting money is a chore and *very* easy to lose (my kid keeps running off a ledge or getting hit by a cave-in, losing any coins we've gained), and now we're at a seemingly impossible level. This really, really could use a "relaxing" or kid-friendly mode where you simply have to uncover dinosaur bones and reassemble them.

[Dare Wreck]

Oh, and is the game coded to only allow a single large skull bone to appear in a level at one time? I spent a good 15 minutes desperately trying to find one to finish a blueprint, while fending off the little black critters, only to suddenly remember that I partially uncovered one near the elevator. I then went back and had to drag it all the way over to where the blueprint was. That was incredibly frustrating too, since I couldn't understand why I kept digging and digging but couldn't find the last bone I needed.

[Dare Wreck]

*Sigh* I just realized that a little further to the right and up from the blueprint on that level was the next vendor, who sells braces. I could have sworn that I explored the entire level, looking for additional braces to use, but apparently didn't do a good job of it. Still, I was under the assumption that I simply had to deal with the cave-ins as-is, since the game trained me to do just that around level 3 or 4 or so, where it kept dumping sand on the blueprint, annoying me to no end until my kid and I finally managed to get all the fossils in place before the next cave-in happened.

I don't remember where I did find the one brace in level 11, though I want to say it seemed to be out of the way (in fact, it was probably just off to the side of the vendor that I missed). I kind of wish the game had a little hint system (maybe a character thought bubble or something?) that would gently suggest what you are supposed to do next if you're floundering for 15+ minutes on a level. I know many would say "get gud" and that you should be able to figure it out on your own (I'm a huge Dark Souls fan, as it were), but this is by no means designed to be a hardcore game.

[giovanni]

i had this issue as well
i think the thing here is that the lone building block is situated near the start of that level and since a player does not already know what it does, is highly likely to use it immediately.
the other is that the blueprint is situated at the mid-level and the vendor is at the back of the level.

so a player would try fruitlessly to clear the blueprint without knowing the existence of a solution

i thinka good trick to teach the player would be to have a least one building block near the blue print (maybe move the existant one near it?) but since it is insuficcent to cover it all, it would incitate the player to go look for more

[RyanMiller]

Hey Dare! Sorry you had such a frustrating time. We've noted this issue (and appreciate the proposed solutions from you & giovanni). We've been brainstorming design changes to make the game more accessible for a while now and this is an important one for us to address. Hope you're back up and running now!

[Dare Wreck]

Thanks, appreciate the reply! I've been able to get a fair bit further after my posts above. As giovanni's suggestion implies, it probably would have helped a great deal if it was more apparent that you're not actually supposed to suffer through endless cave collapses at that point. :)

Maybe the vendor could be moved a tad bit closer to the blueprint in that level to aid in his discovery by the player, or maybe even a literal sign post nearby could point to his location?