Hmn... Why I'm doing this? These tips can be mostly used in other engines. I mean, general making, not specifically PB
1.- Focus on a small and very polished project instead of a very big but also very buggy project: People normally understimate how much a game can cost to make, if your target games are 60h RPGs, maybe you can think 20h are small, but the game should be most small as possible. 1 hour could be even more than you think. First focus on fixing the bugs instead of adding new stuff, it's not that hard, and you will have always a playable version and you won't have a lot of bugs that mixes up and then it's a headache to fix them all.
2.- A level should (probably) have a centered themeInstead of creating a level with a lot of different enemies, different blocks and all. Center each level on a few enemies, exploit its possibilities and make a level thematic. For example, a level of bomb enemies, a level exploiting spring jumps, a more puzzletic level with buttons as main thing. This would make the level more unique an special.
3.- Sutile info for the player is better than nothing or very obstrusive info: Maybe your level is a little labyrinthic, and you probably want to help the player to see the way he/she should go, don't doing it probably will make the level worse. You could think adding a lot of arrows indicating where to move the player, will be a good solution but could be better. Doing that will probably make the player feel bad or like dumb. Instead, one better solution will be like mario games does, they put coins where you should go. It's sutile and also rewards the player.
3.2.- It's better a sutile tutorial than a obstrusive tutorial: If you want to initiate your player to the game mechanics, you could find useful to give a big explanation about the game, but that would stress the player a lot, instead, you can make the player go through small and simple levels/challenges that with some sutile info will be intuitive to understand and to complete, giving also the info to the player of how the game works.
4.- If you make your game for being explored, give players a need or reward for exploring: You can't make a open-world game if you won't want to search as it doesn't give anything to you.
5.- Make the player want to play again the game: A game that is a timewaste for a player, would be abandoned soon, but if the game is a timewaste but still gives you anything that feels like an advancement, he would not abandon it soon.Hope this helps to you
