This was so good, very minimalist but also super engaging. Bouncing the ball for extra height felt so good, and smashing into things - the slow down, the screen shake, the sfx - was super satisfying. I've always loved the idea of a one room Metroidvania, and using the theme so cleverly like this somehow allowed you to make a 4-in-1 room Metroidvania. Also I'm sure it's been said, but just the best Katamari vibes from this particular mechanic.
Areas where I struggled:
- the orbs to eat could be hard to see against some of the lighter backgrounds (low value contrast)
- minor nitpick, but the usage of dice pips felt super cool and playful, but I wish the four dot blocks used a standard four pip layout to more easily differentiate their shape from a three dot block.
- Not so much a struggle as a bug, I shot myself up to the top to get the final dot to eat to get to the final growth level, but from here I was able to roll off the edge of the screen which effectively ends the game. Just a collider or something at the edges of the screen will solve it.
But yeah, this was fantastic. Felt great to play, looked great with simple art but some really cool lighting and visual effects to supplement it, and just an overall simplicity that I really enjoyed. Great job!