Thanks for the review!
The design for the icons on the sides are intentional, they're just supposed to show some nebulous new resource you're now collecting, while not actually being anything specific.
I actually ran out of time to create the "gameplay" for the circles, so with the bit of time I had left I just randomised their appearance/time, but they don't actually do anything. I wanted to add more and more red zones where you clicked, with some bonus greens appearing while scaling them down as you get to bigger areas. I then wanted to add a some sequences with creatures while you're in the starting zone, or some alien ships which would then be the blue circles.