Hey, thanks for playing our game. I agree, we should of explained the mechanics a bit better. Basically, it's a farming game with an autobattler and the ticking you heard was actually the sounds of the battle going on (it starts when the level loads but you can only see it in the pause menu). You can interact with it by opening up the 'Fight' tab in the pause menu, there you can turn the tides of the battle by using the special effects of the crops you planted.
Glad your daughter liked the cat character :D we wanted to add some charm!