Play game
Everything starts small's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Creativity | #41 | 4.295 | 4.295 |
| Overall | #44 | 4.133 | 4.133 |
| Presentation | #54 | 4.381 | 4.381 |
| Fun | #138 | 3.724 | 3.724 |
Ranked from 105 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Preferred Name
Khaled
Newbie?
Newbie
Yes - I'm new to game jams!
How does your game fit the theme?
The game represents the journey of a beginner game developer. The player starts as a small snowball that grows in size when rolling forward—symbolizing learning and growth. When idle, the snowball shrinks, reflecting how progress slows without action. A snowman character acts as a mentor, teaching the snowball mechanics and tools (representing coding and development skills). By the end of the game, the snowball transforms into a snowman—signifying the transition from beginner to experienced developer.
Leave a comment
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
Comments
Wow, great game!!
It is challenging but fun! The art and sounds are great)) And loved how you compared to game dev life))
thanks for playing, glad you liked how the game story connects with beginners game dev.
Really amazing game and idea! I LOVE the growing ball, so cool (and cold cause... snow lol!) But yeah this is amazing, great great amazing wonderful fantastical job! It was a little difficult at times is all, but overall still very doable with some patience haha!
Thanks for playing and for your kind words i really appreciate it.
Actually an insane game. Love the parallax layers, the art is top notch. Everything about this game is great! Amazing job!
This game is juicy as hell! The movement feels good, the gimmick is fun, and the message is beautiful. Wonderful job dude. I love the gameplay and message <3.
Thank you so much for playing and for your kind words i really appreciate it, glat to hear you loved the movement and the message of the game :).
absolutely fantastic, level 2 was miserable, wonderful game. nice little message too
Thanks for playing and for your feedback.
Overall, a really fun game! The gimmick was fun to play with, and the platforming felt very good. As well, the game itself just looks super polished, and the messaging behind the game is super well thought out, I think you did an amazing job with it. My only gripe is the golems, in the sense they just felt super inconsistent and really hard to play around (especially with the bullets). Sometimes when I felt i was big enough (and saw the stress particles) I'd still die when rolling over them, or the golem would rapidly start firing giving very little chance to grow enough to guarantee it. I do like the idea of the golem and for what it's worth, it does add difficulty to the game and fits in, I just think it's very hard to play around with it especially with the growing and melting
Thanks for playing and for your feedback i really appreciate it, the golems yes needs a rework to make it easier and more consistent and more predictable.
Thanks for playing and for your feedback, yea the ice golems can be super annoying if you dont know how to deal with them and when they start sweating and shaking you can crush them but you should keep moving because you melt so fast.
This has some really nice gameplay with a creative core mechanic, I like it. It's also super well presented, well done!
Thanks for playing, im glad to hear that you liked the gameplay and core mechanic and the game art i really appreciate it.
Super interesting mechanic! 🤯
I like the grow and melt mechanic, it's a really solid choice for a puzzle game, tho I would suggest making the ice golems a bit easier, doesn't really feel fair if I am force to jump whenever it attacks, and I also die if I touch while I'm small, really consider the players perspective on how they tackle a challenge, it was quite confusing cause the solution was to get big but yet I am forced to jump constantly and keep my distance. I did enjoy the puzzle aspect of it! very clever indeed. As a fellow newbie, congratulation on finishing your first game! 🎉
Thank you for playing and for your feedback, yes indeed the ice golem needs a nerf on its attack or probably the snowball a buff in its heal so instead of getting one shot it would melt after getting hit by an ice bullet or colliding with the ice golem, glad you liked the puzzle side of it :).
Amazing game. 10/10. The grow and melt mechanic is awesome! And I love the message!
Thank you so much for playing, im really glad to hear that you loved the mechanic and the story lore.
Super cool game! The snowball mechanic is really clever; the particles and sound effects changing for different snowball sizes is so well done. The game is pretty punishing, but I think checkpoints, or maybe a health system, could help with this. Maybe the large snowball could tank more hits?
Really awesome game, great work!
Thanks for your feedback, yea the game lacks a checkpoint system which it was the most common criticism i got from this game, but anyways thanks for playing.
really fun game! the visual feedbacks are pretty nice, like the jumping when you're big enough.
really good submission, keep it up!
Really creative entry! the main mechanic is super fun, and i like the fact that the ice golems start crying to indicate that i‘m big enough to CRUSH them. very cool made me feel like a snowball
Thank you so much for playing im really glad to hear you liked the mechanic and the feedback of the ice golems when you are big enough to crush them.
Wow, amazing game! I love the visuals, and the game feels a lot like Celeste! Maybe you could add a little bit of acceleration and/or deceleration to make the gameplay feel even more realistic.
Glad you liked the visuals and that it kind of gives celeste vibes, about acceleration personally im against that in this type of games because it becomes really hard to control which can affect player experience in a bad way, but anyways thanks for playing.
Really great fun. The difficulty is a tad harsh in places, but causing a little frustration is obviously intentional to fit with the story. The mechanic is cool, the art is nice, and the dialogue is inspiring. Top stuff, well done.
Thanks for playing and for your feedback, glad you liked the mechanic and the art and the story lore.
Absolutely amazing game with an amazing concept :)
this is probably the best way you could've taken the theme :)
Really glad you liked the concept and think it fits the theme very well, thanks for playing.
I like how polished this is. The size change concept is cool, feels like it should have been in last years GMTK jam. The dialog system is impressive for ten days. Only suggestion is to add some bg music.
Thanks for playing i really appreciate it, for you suggestion i already have wind as a bg music i though adding some weird action music would affect the ambient in a bad way.
also im glad you think my game should have been in the GMTK game jam from last year a lot of people mention that it would fit the theme and would most probably win.
That was really really clean, with a nice thought game design, and a really creative idea of a mechanic, it is simple, but everything works around it and it doesn't feel gimmicky! Also I don't know if it was on purpose, but I saw a great message in that mechanic too: sometime in life you have to work on your own growth first before committing into a seemingly harsh task, as sometime you have to wait to be in the right state (of mind hehe). it's ok to take some step back, it's ok to wait for the right time 🦾
thank you for passing by my rating section, I'm happy I had the chance to discover your game!
Thanks for playing and for your feedback, i cant say a 100% that i intended that message but i can surely say that my goal on the story lore was to encourage and cheer up new game devs that are just getting started which is basically the goal of shovel and the game jam theme.
So good, especially for a first game! I would love some more checkpoints cause it's pretty annoying to have to run thru the whole level before you can continue.
Overall fun game with good art!
Thanks for playing and you are 100% right on the game lacking checkpoints, anyways thanks for playing.
Wow, what an incredible entry, and a first time game jam entry also! The mechanics of the game were very unique with the rolling to grow and the jumping to shrink and I love how they work together seamlessly to not take away from the gameplay. The art is also incredible and I loved the dialogue/story moments throughout the entire game. I can definitely see this game expanding into something more and I hope you spend more time adding onto it in the future!
Thanks for your compliments and for your feedback i appreciate it.