In general, I love the new graphics’ current outlook. Generally, I think that the original game’s graphics are great. The core of what each block does is represented in its design, and the design itself is tight and good-looking. I think that overall, the core concepts of what makes those designs work should be kept intact (eg. the uniqueness of the rocket design or the push in-pull out wall switch, both discussed below), but when you’ve got the core concept that doesn’t make the end result the same. To explain what I’m talking about, this is the same as the Die Hard rule in film: the first Die Hard film, at its core, is about John McClane resolving a personal relationship struggle with his estranged wife, while facing physical obstacles to do so in the form of the terrorists. The second Die Hard film copies only the form elements: physical obstacles that keep the hero from achieving his goal, but the core that drives the whole plot, has been removed, resulting in a weaker film. This is true for games or any creative endeavour, if you know what made your original design (whether a plot design, a game design, or, in this case, a graphic design) work, use those core elements to create a new version, don’t just copy or remake the form as that often results in losing some or all of what made the core work.

In light of the above, here’s a few thoughts on specific graphic elements:
- The spring and marble looks great. I really love them. The rocket looks less appealing than the original, it’s more like a military rocket now while the original rocket had some unique style with it being a bit more rounded, had a bit of depth, and its animation was like it was dancing around. It was nothing like the rockets in shoot-em-ups, which had rockets more similar to the current design. So I would prefer something closer to the original design because of its uniqueness.
- I love the column, the door, the box and the purple block. I’m wondering about the brick, I liked the colour tone similarity of the two brick sprites in the original. The similarities signalled that these two have similar functions but differ in some way. The colour tone change as well as the sprite’s difference in the thickness of the material, on the other hand, helped the player further in differentiating between the two and emphasizing their functions.
- I like the gem, although for level design purposes I would like it more if there were two kinds of gems, one in the wall and one on a pedestal. I also like the gold items, and second the idea that the coin could remain static but do the twirl when you collected it. Depends on how it looks in action.
- I’m not sure about the jetpack’s red. It doesn’t feel like a jetpack. The original jetpack was outstanding in the design because of its full white colour, now it’s very close to the design of the button sprite. Also, looking at it, I didn’t know what kind of object it was. I would go for a green or blue colour, perhaps green for half tank and blue for a full tank.
- I like the teleporter pods but I wouldn’t attach those poles to it. They were better off as just pods IMO.
- The button on the floor looks good, but as others have said the wall one needs work. Again, the original wall button was really smart in the was that it actually looked like something you push in or pull out. I would return to that concept and create something new based on that.

The switches definitely aren’t done. I love those teleporters though. Also I was thinking of flashing the teleporter light at your destination teleporter, except that would ruin the lotto idea.

Also the bricks look horrible when previewed in a level right now so those will get a lot of changes.

I’m not sure on the total number of levels but we’re at about 130 good ones right now. The original Jetpack did have a lot of filler levels :/

@Denilson, yeah spinning coins would be quite distracting, I assume the animation occurs after you collect the coin?

About how many levels there should be in the game, I would say as few as possible. Quality over quantity. I’d much rather play 100 great levels, than 200 levels of varying quality. But if you can find 200 great levels, then go for it, but don’t sacrifice quality for quantity.

I would say an example of a game that valued quantity over quality was Chips Challenge (149 levels). There were some great levels in that game, but there were also many, many awful filler levels. But take Braid for example, there were only 39 levels, but each level was well thought out and contributed something importrant to the game.

6, 8, 10, 31, 33, 46, 51, 56, 58, 59, 70, 92, 95, 96

I think 10 and 31 are the only two here that were on the maybe list. My personal favorites are popcorn(95), donkey pack(33), double wormage (31 – just because it’s so cool), and chutes and ladders(8).

How many levels do you think there will be total in the game? Will it be 100 like the original, or will there be more? I think if you’re keeping 50 of the original levels, there should be 150-200 levels (well,…over 100, I guess).

Oh… And that coin? Is it going to be rotating? If that’s the case, then it will get even more attention than the gems, and the gems are the main objective of a level.

Jojo: Hopefully I’ll have time to make that customizable.