Hey, thanks a bunch for playing!
The petting/happiness mechanic was an unfinished feature that I didn't have the time to take out. For now it's just there to make you happy. XD Map design is definitely something I struggle with a lot, so hearing that you thought it wasn't the best is not too surprising to me. If you have any extra points of feedback on them I'd be happy to hear it! I had also wanted to have more story in there, unfortunately I spent so long getting mechanics to work there was no time for me to plan or implement a more in-depth story. There was a lot of last-minute balancing in hopes to make the game more forgiving then it previously was, in which case I may have over compensated.
The game overall is missing a bunch of features I had hoped to put in, but ended up taking too much time or being out of scope. I'm happy to hear that you were still interested in the game despite its shortcomings. Thank you for your feedback! Hopefully I can improve the game in the future. :D