You find a ball to merge with in the second part of the first level i.e. after you reach the flag. I did want the player to infact fall off; that is why I made it very difficult to get on the platform. Yes the ball is very difficult to control. I will consider adding a few more basic levels in a closed enviroment like you suggested.
I was not finding the ball floating in the second part of the first level. The ball just drops from a small height maybe and then you can move. Maybe my controls are too sensitive. There is supposed to be very little friction in an icy enviroment. Be sure to adjust your camera using mouse/trackpad before moving because the controls are aligned accordingly.
Thank you very much for your feedback. It really helped. I wish you good luck on your game development endeavors.