What our youngest playtesters taught us

Two young players, each on their own iPad, played on their own after the built-in tutorial. The six-year-old cleared 19 levels. The four-year-old cleared 9, mostly by trial and error.

What worked. The sling itself: a gentle sideways flick came naturally to the six-year-old from the first level. And replays: she wanted to keep almost every one, which is why the Album and Save Video exist now.

What didn't, and what we changed:

• Sol talked too much after a win. Tips queued up and spilled into the next level. Now Sol gives at most one tip per win, and the queue clears when a level starts.
• A rejected throw gave no feedback. Dropping a planet too close to the star now bounces it back with a "Too close!", and a planet let go without a flick gets a "Flick it!"
• Nobody found Guided mode. After a few losses in a row, the Guided button now pulses and Sol offers to show the path.
• A slingshot that loses speed still said "borrowed speed". It now has its own name: a Gravity Brake.
• An older iPad crashed on level 9. Fixed.

What we're still thinking about. Late crashes that wipe out minutes of good work are hard on young players. We're exploring an easier mode with more forgiving failures and a gentler throw, and a harder one for grown-ups. Neither is promised yet.