So many who teach game design focus on this idea of teaching the rules to the player through mechanics rather than just telling us, so to having telling us be part of the mechanics got a laugh out of me and is quite and effective method.

In short, I really like this game. This is such a clever way of using programming to solve the puzzles. However, there's too many things wrong with it for me to give it the 5 stars.

For starters, some things are a little confusing. Colour is used both used for showing what type something is (action or conditional) as well as if it's locked or not, which confused me early on and made the UI a bit of a pain to work with.Perhaps having some have lock symbols or dotted outlines or something would be better, even no outline could work for those locked in place, then have every conditional be the same colour locked or not.

My second issue is the red herrings. One room in particular had a bunch of leftover elements, when I just had to change one thing. This was a good joke, I think. The problem is this comes across as "was that a glitch". Perhaps making it more extreme would fix it? What confuses me more so is the next level, not a joke, had an unused yellow guy. I think I get what you're going for with leftover pieces but it feels really unsatisfying not having all the pieces come together.

My biggest issue however is that this game has some really fantastic puzzles but they're spread really thinly. Gimmicks such as the falling ceiling or button (which really should not have been introduced with the and mechanic which made it very confusing) are introduced once and thrown away when some cool puzzle that builds on the existing could have been done instead. Then there's the gimmicky parts where I have to align Mr potato and the player which doesn't really build on the core mechanics so much as it does build on a side effects of the mechanics instead. Same can be said of the platforming, there's lots of it early on despite the fact that half the time it doesn't build on the core or work with the puzzles but rather replaces it.

Couple of other gripes such as how the potatoes won't kill you if dead, yet they can still move you which I get but it feels inconsistent. But for as much as I've complained, I still can't overstate how much I did enjoy the game. There were so many puzzles that really clicked in my head and I absolutely loved them, I just wish that the game was all to this quality. The platforming does have it's merits but it doesn't blend well and I wouldn't say it's enough to justify sacrificing puzzles. All in all, I know I've complained a lot but it's not because the games bad, it's simply that this game at it's peaks is amazing and to see that consistently with some polish would certainly be a 5 star game.

Also totally not a criticism but please make the credits screen beatable Jesus Christ THE FLAG IS RIGHT THERE! (JK....but also not)