Shovel Jam 2025

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A jam submission

Just Start With A Helping HandView game page

Team: Me, Cadetzx, Davellama007 and chicken nurget

Submitted by Jesus loves you123

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Just Start With A Helping Hand's itch.io page

Results

Criteria	Rank	Score*	Raw Score
Presentation	#407	3.400	3.400
Overall	#633	2.756	2.756
Creativity	#696	2.600	2.600
Fun	#728	2.267	2.267

Ranked from 15 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.

Preferred Name
Game: Restart
Team members: Cadet, Rex, Manmeet, Dave.

Newbie?

Newbie

Yes - I'm new to game jams!

How does your game fit the theme?
The theme is getting started and this game is well... About getting started with life again... Sometimes we get exhausted from the responsibilities of adulthood... This game attempts to explore those frustrations and even starting again with life after a little break...

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Comments

Double Crescent ProductionsSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Good art style, the controls really need refinement if you want to have precision platforming. The inertia feels good and it encourages forward momentum, but the level design doesn't support you holding right and precision timing your jumps. If you want to keep the control scheme the level design needs refinement. If you want to keep the level design, the controls need to be more responsive.

The story and vibe are good. All in all a good first game with only some of the problems you would expect in a first game.

Submitted

Flight of Fancy

TheYellowraptorSubmitted1 year ago

I really liked the art style! Aside from the controls issues, this is a pretty good first game!

Submitted

My (newly acquired) Dungeon

three_flaresSubmitted1 year ago

This looks like the start of a really nice atmospheric game, well done! The controls do feel "wonky" at first but, and I don't know if this was intended or not, when you stop going carefully and just GO for it, the experience of flying through the level is quite fun :D

Submitted

IgnCloudiSubmitted1 year ago

Congrats on your first submission!!! :D

I think you already know most of the stuff im gonna say. I agree with most of the others on the part that controls were a bit slippery and the art and animations were beautiful af

But to go in more depth:
U said the pixels were jittery, im not 100% sure but maybe u turned on snap to pixels in the project setting of the game? I dont exactly know what happened but it probly wont be that hard to fix!

Some suggestions for the jump:
- Make it so we can change the direction
- Make the landing less slippery. Just setting velocity to 0 when the player lands can be a solution
- Coyote time, when a player starts to fall, give them a few more frames where they can still jump even when they are off the ground. It makes a platformer much more satisfying to play!

But I need to say this.. You did a PHENOMENAL job with this as your first game! It already looks AMAZING + also already has most things done, just needs a few more tweaks in the jump.

Not to mention the story and dialouge system! I think I first approached a dialouge system in like my 10th jam xD
And you already are making your way towards that part in your first!

My first game was literally just throwing a fish on a plate until you died xD

You are doing great rn, Dont take these criticisms the wrong way, take the feedback, learn from it and get even better!

Hope to see you again in more jams :D

Submitted

Jesus loves you123Developer1 year ago

thanks, btw i already added coyote timing, and input buffering too

SasuchiSubmitted1 year ago

Congratulations on you first jam submission!

The pixel art looks gorgeous.

As others mentioned already, the player controller / jump or level design need some adjustments. Either larger platforms or more precision, e.g. being able to control the character mid-air, would largely improve the feel and flow of the game.

Oh and also - i liked the part where the story telling was on the dark background, which towards the second half changed, obviously due to gaps in the map. Maybe the text deserves an extra panel or could be up in the sky.

Nevertheless solid submission, especially for the first one.

Submitted

BiteySubmitted1 year ago

The art looks really good. There are some improvements I'd recommend. The jumping feels a bit unnatural, would be great if you could control the directions if you already jumped from the standing still positions. There was also a bug maybe?... The character was sliding for a bit after every jump, if it's momentum, I'd say that it's not needed for a precise platformer. But it could be just a web build bug. Still a really nice game!

Submitted

Feathers and roasting

Jesus loves you123Developer1 year ago(+1)

can’t change it now lol. Thanks for the recommendation though, will make sure to do that in my next platformer.

cosminqfSubmitted1 year ago

Visually, the game looks really good, but I found some bugs here and there.

Submitted

Jesus loves you123Developer1 year ago

What are the bugs?

cosminqfSubmitted1 year ago

it seems like the character kind of slides after jumping? but maybe it is just me lol

cosminqfSubmitted1 year ago

the collision sometimes feels off also, enjoyed playing it tho

TheCrabBadgerSubmitted1 year ago

It still needs some work but I see the vision, polish it up a bit and it will be a fine game

Submitted

Jesus loves you123Developer1 year ago

it’s too late now lol. Can’t edit the game after submitting…

TheCrabBadgerSubmitted1 year ago

Oh I meant polishing it after the jam is over, or maybe even giving the concept another try

Gamedev is all about not quitting

TheCrabBadgerSubmitted1 year ago

It still needs some work but I see the vision, polish it up a bit and it will be a fine game

Submitted

RazuthSubmitted1 year ago

Cool pixel graphics and I love the sprites and all the animations. As someone who makes spritesheets and 2d characters myself I appreciate all the effort that goes into making these.

NGL I got stuck, the platforming is a little tricky. I think either the platforms needed to be bigger or he has to have a higher jump.

Regardless, solid game - well done guys!

Submitted

Jesus loves you123Developer1 year ago

were you stuck due to lack of skill or some bug? Please let us know.

RazuthSubmitted1 year ago

Bad choice of word on my part.

I couldn't progress due to lack of skill not because of a bug. I do stand by my original comment however, I think the game would benefit from bigger platforms or a higher jump for the player.

philmakesgarbageSubmitted1 year ago

When Jake found the ranger............... then what happened? The words stayed on the screen the whole time, and that was distracting. The art was pretty good, I liked the style, but there was not much gameplay aside from some tricky platforming. Wish I had something that I could have punched haha

Submitted

Clean your room (if you feel like it)

Cadetzx1 year ago(+1)

Oh... Man this game was supposed to have a bear boss fight in the end... The end bug is likely something i never knew... Thanks for the review... I will check your one

Cadetzx1 year ago (1 edit)

In case you are wondering... Basically ranger was looking for his son and jake set out to find him... And then he finds a bear next to the boy's unconscious body (worry not he is alive) jake beats up the bear with bare fists and rescues the son... This little journey helps him overcome the stress he had. I wish we had executed this better ;(

philmakesgarbageSubmitted1 year ago(+1)

Ahhh well that does make a more satisfying ending. Maybe I ran past the ranger text trigger too fast or something? I'm sorry it didn't quite work, but I guess that's the life of game jams.. getting something submitted is half the battle :D

Jesus loves you123Developer1 year ago

did you reach the ranger? Text was meant to continue when Jake meets the ranger.

philmakesgarbageSubmitted1 year ago

I came back and looked at it again, it looks like if you just keep going past the ranger, the text doesn't continue. If you fall off again and respawn, that's when the text continues. I didn't see it the first time because I did not fall off after the ranger.

philmakesgarbageSubmitted1 year ago

I actually like the way the character controls for the most part after going back to it again, it's snappy and fun to move around... The jump feels a little clunky is all. You could even take it out entirely and do something more Kingdom-like, it could still have a strong story focus without needing to worry about platforming level design. Idk, just an idea :) Glad I got to see the rest of the text though!