Heya!
Due to holidays, I almost missed one version of Delivery Pilot. So I haven't played verson 0.6 yet, but I'm looking forward to it.
I hope you will only take a break from the game, and not completely abandon it. It has reached the state of "almost finished". When the VIP scenes and the higher level obligations are written, everything else that might come feels like bonus.
About your future project:
- I cannot say much about the UI. You have to play it to see how it feels. However, I have one point that I didn't like in the Delivery Pilot UI, and you could avoid it in your next game. The doll view (where you want to look) and the control area (lower right, where you have to look) are too far from each other. Maybe place the doll view closer to the buttons.
-Another thing you could learn from Delivery Pilot: you spent a lot of time for refactoring. Of course, you will always need refactoring, as a lot of things have to be tested by playing. However, you often refactored well working things just because you weren't 100% happy about how they looked. I normally keep this perfectionism for the fine tuning when the main features are done. Without rewriting some of the scenes, you might already have a first version of all scenes.
- Consider keeping the GUI and the data / game logic apart. If done right, you can replace the GUI by a simple AI, which can help a lot during game balancing.
- About permadeath: I'm a big fan, but most people do not like it. If you remove it, you should have a clear idea of how to replace it. Either your missions become harder over time, so that you can reach the point where you will fail all your missions if your strategy was wrong and you did not keep up the pace. It is a kind of game over, but not as harsh as permadeath where some unlucky dice roll can finish a well going run. The other option is that the missions get harder as you get stronger. That is, with a bad strategy, you have to grind a lot on the easier missions before you can go on more difficult missions and unlock more content. With enough patience, you will see everything in the end. Both approaches are valid, but I think you should decide which one you want for your game.