you don't need to be so complex like using 'coma' or alike..., even a stupid excuse to do the course is enough -give up-, -just one level-, etc.
Infinite lives, too easy achieve the goal, not a 'reward' at all, too short, etc. >>> boring..., you were right man..., you need help...
A 1 button maze. Hmm.
So, UnknownGuardian since you seem to be taking suggestions:
"A. What are lives? Most games I play, its like you have x number, either fixed or you have the ability to gain more. So I wanted to change it up and make lives more "continuous". Hardly a stop between them. The original plan of leaving up the tombs across every level play (and never removing them) was a bit unfeasible, however."
My answer to this is jumps. Implement a max jumps (stamina?) and fade out if you use them up. I do like the infinite jump system for this game.
"B. Hooray! I knew difficulty on this would be interesting with the whole lives setup. Just pressing jump whenever you get stuck should get you across the level, so I tried to build up difficulty through making the point not to die, but to balance achievements and death. The lack of levels also didn't help to much with lack of difficulty. Its called **mini**Passage for a reason :) I did leave the ability for a future version to have custom levels added real easily (or user shared levels), so it could be a possibility."
So, you need a seed system that loops and someone can submit their score (perhaps total/levels).
C: Yep! The original miniPassage 2 is actually a mobile game. I ported it to this web version in a few hours actually. The very first mobile prototype had too many controls (up, down, left, right, jump) and it just became a distraction. So I just removed everything except jump and made it a "on-rails" game. Continuing making forward. Check out miniPassage (1) for a similar style game with more control over the player.
The on-rails mechanic is unique. So, my suggestion for #3 is to jump left or right, on rails. This would allow for 8 way movement with 2 buttons. You could truly make a maze instead of just SMB.
D: Oh man. I've done short stories before games before but never anything massive. You are definitely right when no self-loving guy would choose to go into such a place as this to die a ton of times just for fun. :D If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them."
One of the most cliche web things is trying to wake up from a dream or coma, to make this work here for a story run, have the character slowly reveal reality from the alien world, like texture replacements and stuff.
There are a ton of other popular games that use this style. Don't give it up!
It glitched
Yeah only 3 paths to take and they are all extremely short and can be done in less than 30 seconds.... i think this game's main problem is the amount of content... which is pretty disappointing
nice concept. however there is practically no challenge at all.
Instead of lives however, make it so that you have only 1 life. you die then you're dead.
Also i think the paths should be a bit longer. each one takes what, like a minute? More paths would also be nice.
Anyways i want to feel pissed at the game, and when i finally survive a path, i want to feel happy.