For me, it lost the appeal of a farming game, but not fully made it as a chill puzzle game. The many rules are too much to keep in mind while palying and the randomness ruined the strategy element for me, because i wasn't fully in control like in chess. The high score system didn't give me enouh payoff or excitement to motivate me.
The art-style is cute and looks awesome, i dig that!
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i think first of all i would change the sprites of plants to somehow reflect their abilities to instantly remove the burden of remembering the ability-plant pairings from new players' minds. Also, i would like some visuals for the different abilities other thsn the score popup. And if i can present a more radical idea: i would add sort of side quests like: have 4 cucumbers placed next to each other. And have the revard be that they are then cleared from the map. I think this would balance the randomness and it would also add some short therm goals to keep the players engaged.
Let me know what you think of the ideas
I definitely like them, and the radical idea has some good potential, my only issue with the sprites is that they would cluster up the screen with loads of information at all times. I was suggested by another player to have the catalog 1. start open and 2. carry a GIF of some sorts showing off the crop's ability, what do you think of that?
I think it would be still something i have to hold in my head. I would do something like "vertical vines" and "cordial corns" so something that constantly reminds you if it's ability. And the sprite should subttlely reflect the ability too. Like having a vertical shape or little hands. You could also try small icons or arrows. Look at the game Into the Breach for inspiration.