itch.io

Neat game and I can see how it fits the theme! A lot of people already mentioned the bugs so I won't. :P 

Some more feedback in the creation menu would make it more fun to use, like showing what block on the grid you're hovering over, some sound effects or particles when you select or place a piece, maybe tooltips that say what each piece does (though currently it's mostly obvious). 

I appreciate how you can just press play and immediately start playing the level you set up. This has a lot of potential if you decide to keep going!

Congratulations on completing your first game jam! 

Godot solidarity! 

https://itch.io/jam/shovel-jam-2025/rate/3715895

If you have time, it would be awesome to get your feedback on mine!

https://itch.io/jam/shovel-jam-2025/rate/3715895

Thanks for checking it out! 

I made pretty much nothing, asset wise, which obviously saved a LOT of time and effort. Even the buttons were made with Godot's built-in style stuff! You can find links to all the premade assets in the credits. 

Here's mine if you want to check it out! 

https://itch.io/jam/shovel-jam-2025/rate/3715895

I think it was the physics and the hitboxes mostly? The jumping and movement seem good on their own (especially the jumping, well done implementing different jumping strengths, that can be a tricky one) but you run into invisible walls sometimes and it's often unclear what exactly is safe and what will kill you.  The unfrozen blocks can also be hard to control/predict in a way that feels unintentional. Again, super easily fixable after the jam if you wanna continue with the project (or implement it in a new project some day). Tons of potential here! I replayed the first couple levels to check on what I meant and still find the freezing mechanic fun to play around with. :P 

Great concept and amazing execution! 

What audio exists is satisfying and fits well with the game, but I wish there'd been more of it. Also, I appreciate the minimalist artstyle but some more indicators of health and when you're damaging an enemy or not would've been nice. 

The vibes/environment/atmosphere are very well done and the enemy types all felt cohesive and yet surprisingly varied. I loved the arc of evolving from a single cell to a feared predator. Fantastic game! 

Always gotta upvote hating on LLMs, and I appreciate the humor. I haven't seen any other clicker games, or, surprisingly, any other games where you play as a startup so I'd call this pretty unique,  good job! 

Creative and polished game! I love the idea of only having one button and gradually adding more and more mechanics to that, and it fits the theme perfectly while not being something I've seen anyone else do. 

Minor nitpick: Not sure what the point is of the start button moving around every time you click it. Not a big deal at all, but just slightly annoying for no real reason. 

I found it interesting! Some ponderous music in the background could've helped set the mood and audience expectations. Narrative games are less common in game jams so it's cool to see something different.

Also if you wanted players to stick to the path, you should've made it more clear that it was a path. It looked more like flowers in the grass or something to me!  :P Maybe just stop them from moving off the path altogether if it's gonna break the game. 

If you'd had time, maybe a fishing minigame would've been appropriate gameplay to pair with the topic, but if a walking sim was your goal, that's totally valid. I like the vibe of just wandering the countryside thinkin about life

Congratulations on your first game! Awesome concept! I'm not sure what to do or whether the game has any end goal or if it's just a prototype of what could have been but good job submitting! 

I was too bad to finish it but a flappy bird platformer is an awesome idea. I know it's a rage game but I wish it didn't just freeze the controls the second you touch a platform, and that it didn't take a few seconds to launch back off the ground (the jumping felt kind of unresponsive in general), that all felt clunky in an unintentional way that didn't really enhance the rage-y experience but idk, I'm really bad at games so it could be a skill issue lol. This has a lot of potential and it would be awesome to see it continued and improved! Good job! 

Great concept, great voice acting, very funny and interesting! Subtitles would've been nice for such an audio heavy game but I realize it's a game jam and time is limited. Great job! 

Played yours, but wasn't able to finish it as the statue code wasn't working. It's a neat game and I'd love to finish it if I could! 

Here's mine if you wanna check it out! https://itch.io/jam/shovel-jam-2025/rate/3715895 

Cool game and cool interpretation of the theme! I wish I could finish it but it seems like the door code isn't working for me? I'll come back and finish it if I'm able to! 

The control scheme probably should have been simplified imo. Enter and spacebar could be one button, and honestly the combat could also be enter/spacebar, with you hitting in different directions based on the direction you're facing.

Overall a great entry! I can't believe this is your first game jam!  Great job!

Love this interpretation of the theme! The sprites are simple and cute, and the music is nice.

I think it could've felt more final-boss-y? Having multiple phases helped but maybe it could've had some over-the-top name instead of just "Vampire" to make it feel less like a random encounter. 

Even though I suck at the game (and the timer felt very unforgiving to me), the level mechanic kept me going, since I knew I'd eventually get better as long as I kept throwing myself at it, so that was a good call! I do think we could've gained more xp/leveled up a littleee faster. 

Fun game! 

Neat concept! I've seen games with the dying to progress type mechanic before but the freezing mechanic definitely made it stand out and I had fun with it. The movement's a little janky and something seems a bit off with the hitboxes but it's a game jam so that's to be expected and is easily fixable. Has a lot of potential! Good job! 

Thanks for the detailed feedback. A few other comments mentioned finding parts confusing but didn't go into specifics, so I was wondering (though I had some suspicion)! I totally agree about the instructions/hints. In fact, I did hastily add a hint option like 10 minutes before submitting but didn't really indicate anywhere that it existed (except mentioning a settings menu in the description), and even then they're not very good, so I'm not surprised it didn't help! 

Thanks so much for the kind words, they genuinely mean a lot! 

Played and rated your game! Not gonna embarrass myself by saying how long it took me but I wouldn't exactly call it a speedrun. :P 

https://itch.io/jam/shovel-jam-2025/rate/3715895 Here's mine if you wanna give it a try! 

I was amazed by how many mechanics you were able to fit into this, and I appreciated how well they were explained each time, although I did get a little confused during the wall glitch segment. It feels like the player moves a little too slow, but that's just a preference. Good entry!

Here's mine! https://itch.io/jam/shovel-jam-2025/rate/3715895

https://itch.io/jam/shovel-jam-2025/rate/3715895

Here's mine if you're still playing games! 

Rate Just Start the Game by Cassidy for Shovel Jam 2025 - itch.io

Here's mine if you're still looking for games to play! 

Holy crap! You clearly didn't procrastinate drawing all that amazing art!  Some more feedback on when you're mousing over/clicking something would've really tied everything together. Good job though! 

Very promising idea! It would be easier if your health and the sails and stuff were displayed more clearly. Since the controls are kind of hard to remember, maybe they could even be written on the screen somewhere so we always have a reference. Good job and congratulations on your first game! You should be proud!  

I didn't notice! I only used the spacebar and it seemed to work fine, it was just hard lol

Same idea twins! Art's really good and the minigames seem really polished! Not sure what all the skulls and eyeballs are about. Troubling...

Awesome game! I played on normal and still did terribly, but that's a skill issue. 

You wrote all the songs yourself??? In a week??? That's crazy. My favorite of the band songs was probably Noot!Noot! Truly a bop. I loved how the penguins danced to the music and appeared/disappeared based on your performance (mostly disappearing for me u_u). 

Since you asked where you can improve, here are some MINOR nitpicks but know that they are nitpicks: 

The music at the beginning seems to restart every time the scene moves forward, which is jarring and slightly annoying. 

You could also add more feedback when a note is hit (or missed), like a sound effect and/or particle effects or anything to make it feel more impactful. 

A custom style to Godot's standard buttons and menu would make them fit in with your game more. 

Overall very fun entry and an amazing first game! (Also gets extra points for all the characters being penguins) 

I thought the typing game and the dodging game made perfect sense with the development stages they represented. I didn't find the typing one hard at all but I probably got lucky with words. It did make me laugh when "Pharaoh" popped up as one of baby's first words. You absolutely should be happy with what you made!

I liked the art of the ant and the snail and the grass, they add a lot of personality to the game. 

I don't really see the point of having a health bar AND restarting from the beginning. One or the other would probably work better. 

You should be proud of submitting something! If you look at the amount of entries vs people who entered, most people didn't get that far! 

Love the interpretation on the theme. You did a great job on the art.

Did perfectly on every game until the eating one where I was stuck in dead silence for like at least 5 minutes desperately trying to satisfy the demands of the merciless narrator demanding I eat more and more. ;-; I also don't think it's as strongly connected to the actions the girl is taking compared to the other minigames.  I didn't realize there was a level skip option until after I was done playing but that's very considerate! 

Overall, good work! 

Cute and funny game. Good job!

This is a very polished entry! I love the robot sprite/animations. It's pretty difficult at times and I almost gave up on the tight wall-jumping level. I'm glad I stuck it through though and saw what came after! Very impressive! 

Hearing this made my day! Thanks for checking it out and for the kind words!

a terrifying fever dream, i'm now the greatest piano player i could be, 10/10 

(it's kind of hard to hear the piano instructor, subtitles would've helped)

Super impressive! Putting voice acting into a game jam game is somewhat unusual and impressive, and it fits the game well, although some of the dialogue might've went on a little too long (and slowly). 

The map was a little difficult to navigate and it was slightly frustrating to die, especially since it doesn't seem like you can outrun the enemies or evade them in any way once they see you and it's an instant game over when they touch you? 

The whole concept is really cool though and I love the Necropolis's personality. Would love to see it expanded. 

Super appealing art! I think some music would've really added some personality and put the whole thing together. Some more instructions on how to play would've also been nice, but I love the concept. 

Also maybe it's just me but the ingredients in the middle seemed really unresponsive compared to the ones on the ends.

Very chaotic and difficult. I like the art too! I didn't run into any bugs except not getting a gameover when I ran out of health on the first level, but I'm not gonna complain about that one. :P You should be proud!