8 hours, section 1 rework.
The idea that floor drops in and out can be very confusing, intimidating, and honestly doesn't make a whole lot of sense in the grander scheme of my player experience goals (although it does at least generate a counter point). So, I am placing all phases that benefit from the reduced play space in section 1, and organizing section 1 such that the play field reduces one time, and only expands from then on.
This means a careful reordering and re-tuning of the phases so that the player still encounters elements in a digestible order, but also an order in which we are always expanding the place space.
It's also nice to be providing a short term goal in section 1, rebuild the platform, since the ultimate goal is so far away.
The portal no longer corrupts in front of the player during launch. Once the platform starts to fade out completely the portal drains into the portal (accompanied by a notification). The HUD then requests power to further expand the platform and renders a bar on screen that fills as pick ups enter the platform. In section 1 all collected pick ups are platform bound. At the start of phases where the platform expands, there is a check. If the platform has been supplied power from all the pick ups in prior phases, the expansion happens right away. If not, there is HUD chiding and a delay. This way we quickly introduce the core mechanic.
This is not fully implemented, but we are getting there.
Cleaned up the conditions for what is shown in the primary HUD text box. It can be simpler now that I'm handling it more directly. The delay explainer "Awaiting system stability" that appears after a phase when the player is hurt (Considering dropping this functionality entirely), saves and re-implements the HUD text that it replaces.