A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build
A grid-based puzzle game about building snowmen in a hedge maze.
A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build is a puzzle video game from 2015, created by developers Alan Hazelden and Benjamin Davis and released under the Draknek label. In the game, players guide a featureless monster through grid-based rooms, constructing snowmen by stacking three snowballs of progressively smaller sizes. Snowballs can be enlarged by rolling small or medium ones across snowy ground. Completing all snowmen in a room unlocks the next area, with the entire game set within a hedge maze. Players can undo a single move or reset an entire room. The game originated as a 2014 prototype built in Puzzlescript, an open-source HTML5 puzzle engine. The commercial version was developed using Haxe and OpenFL, launching for Linux, OS X, and Windows on February 25, 2015, followed by Android and iOS releases on December 9, 2015. A Nintendo Switch version arrived on September 2, 2021. For its tenth anniversary in 2025, the Itch.io version adopted a "Pay What The Temperature Is" model: the price is set at $1 per degree Celsius in London, updated hourly via OpenWeatherMap. If London's temperature drops below freezing, the game becomes free. Critics gave the game "universal acclaim" according to Metacritic. It also won the "Best Character Design" award at Intel Level Up 2014.
Quick Facts
- Title
- A Good Snowman Is Hard To Build
- Designer
- Benjamin David · Alan Hazelden
- Engine
- OpenFL
- Platforms
- Linux, OS X, Windows, Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch
- Released
- Linux, OS X, Windows · 25 February 2015 · Android, iOS · 9 December 2015 · Nintendo Switch · 2 September 2021
- Genre
- Puzzle
- Modes
- Single-player
- Publisher
- Draknek
- Developer
- Benjamin Davis · Alan Hazelden
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build was created by UK-based independent developers Alan Hazelden and Benjamin Davis. Its prototype was developed using Puzzlescript, an open-source HTML5 puzzle game engine, in 2014. The commercial release was written in Haxe and OpenFL and released for Linux, OS X, and Windows-based personal computers on 25 February 2015. A version for Android and iOS mobile devices was released on 9 December 2015. A Nintendo Switch version released on 2 September 2021. Gameplay involves rolling small or medium-sized snowballs over snowy ground to increase their size, then stacking three snowballs of decreasing size to build a snowman. Building all snowmen in a room unlocks adjacent rooms, which are all part of a hedge maze. Players can undo one move at a time or reset a room. For the game's 10th anniversary in 2025, the Itch.io release permanently moved to a 'Pay What The Temperature Is' pricing model, where the price would be $1 for every degree Celsius it is in London according to OpenWeatherMap's tracking, updated every hour. If the temperature in London drops below freezing the game becomes freeware.
Reader's Guide
A Good Snowman Is Hard to Build received 'universal acclaim' from professional critics, according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. It won the award for 'Best Character Design' at Intel Level Up 2014. The game's significance lies in its elegant puzzle design, where players manipulate snowball sizes through rolling, and its unique hedge-maze progression system. The 2025 pricing model, based on London's temperature, reflects the developers' creative approach to distribution. The game's availability across multiple platforms, including mobile devices, helped it reach a wide audience. Its legacy includes being a well-regarded example of independent puzzle game design from the mid-2010s, with a distinctive visual and mechanical concept centered on building snowmen.
Did You Know?
- The game's prototype was developed using the open-source HTML5 puzzle game engine Puzzlescript in 2014.
- A Nintendo Switch version was released on 2 September 2021.
- For the 10th anniversary in 2025, the Itch.io release adopted a 'Pay What The Temperature Is' pricing model based on London's temperature.
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