Hello everyone !! Several friends and I are looking to get into game development and this was our first ever game jam! (and honestly first ever game...) We are honestly just happy that we have A GAME at all but as the person that was most focused on level design,  does anyone have advice on how to make the game look less amateur-ish and have more polished look? 

Here is the game we made https://mattdaemon78.itch.io/anabasis if you wanted to play! I'd also love to play more games so post yours and I'll be sure to rate and play it :)

This was my first game jam as well.. I've done partial games before but never got a full completed experience. I can't really talk from experience but what I would say is there are a couple of things to really focus on
1) Sound! sounds are so vital to a game and can really be the make or break difference. Everything from background music/ sounds to menu interactionsA
2) In the same vein as sound you need to add "juice" to the game. What that means is interacting with the character and the world needs to feel impactful.. You can do this through things like sound but also visual effects that indicate an interaction takes place. Finding the right sounds completely changes the game.
This is the game my friend and I made. It's pretty amateur as well, but I tried to do some of what I talk about... Its not perfect and I have a long way to go The Hamster Engine by ADKeiber, ThisGuyCaleb

Hello, I am not an expert in level design, but I can try to help with polish.  So about your game, I really like the uniqueness and the art style. 

To add more polish, first thing that would have been really nice would have been sounds. For example, the player shoots the web, hears a "THWIP", that's instant feedback for the player.

Secondly, some more animations, especially for a 2D platformer go a long way (even something as simple as the character squishing a bit when landing.

Also, a lot of developers use techniques like Coyote Time, Jump Buffer, Increasing Player's acceleration when falling downwards and so on to improve how it feels to control the player. Those topics are something you should definitely look into since they are too much to go into a comment!

Best of luck!

https://flame9x9.itch.io/top-spin-r

By the way , here is my game if you want to try it!

This is the advice of another amateur, but the presentation to the player matters a lot. There are many things you can do to add juice to the game, starting with ambient music that fits your intended mood, sound effects, visual effects like screen shake etc etc.

The aesthetics of the level are very improtant as well. Find a color pallete you like and stick to it, work on character design & animations, simple environments / backgrounds and the level will feel a lot more polished.

In addition, the player should have a sense of progress. Maybe a shift in atmosphere, an upgrade, new characters appear, the options are endless.

These are pretty general but a step in the right direction. If you're willing to try out my game it's here: https://mr-pickles-12.itch.io/king-of-the-wheel