Well, that would be getting to show off your game to your students AND get a bunch of valuable feedback in the process.
For example, I now know that in its current state my game is NEXT TO IMPOSSIBLE for most 2nd graders, and playable but barely for most 3rd graders. Somewhere around 4th / 5th grade is where they start to be able to really comprehend what they need to do and execute it.
…but it’s still pretty darn tough for them. Only a handful of students made it through the first stage. A select few made it through other stages. Mind you they were taking turns so the average student only got about 10-20 minutes with the game.
It did bring up an interesting question that I haven’t thought about too much yet but probably should, which is “How young of a player do I want this game to appeal to?” If I’m trying to pull a Nintendo and say the game is for “everyone”, then I definitely need to make some of the earlier stages easier, because at the moment it is certainly not for all ages. Most of the 2nd graders gave up pretty quickly.
I was sort of thinking of easing things up anyway. I tend to build my “raw” stages by cramming a bunch of stuff in first, and then pulling stuff down over time.
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.