A couple of us devs loved Mouthwashing so that's a huge compliment! I'd say our most direct inspiration was Signalis - would recommend it if you liked Mouthwashing.
Yeah, unfortunately, it took us a long while to get a working, testable gameplay loop in so we never got around to adding a tutorial or an "ease in" period. I'd suggest reading over the tutorial section on our Itch page - hint: look south on Day 1.