Aww, thanks for the kind words! First platformer and first game, really, since I was a kid. (I made a small toy game for my sister's birthday recently as a gift to her.)
I'm glad the visuals landed! The lighting and shadows are great at hiding my beginner pixel art skills. 😅
I was really excited to play with the theme– I'm glad the progression felt good! There was a lot more I wanted to explore, for example growing to a size where you could walk on spikes or not be affected by predators, but I figured folks' time/focus would be limited in a jam.
Thanks again for the thoughtful comment.