Thanks for the feedback, I've already been addressing almost all of these points. You can rightclick in build mode to switch between the possible panel orientations but I've noticed people still struggling with it, so I'm planning on adding some AI that can predict where you would want to build you next panel. I've been also thinking about ways to encourage building unorthodox shapes - I might drop the "build a complete solid to get access to resources" completely and think of other ways how building styles affect the growth and behavior of the population.
The villagers are all running for the same faraway tree because they don't consider walking distance and other villagers already occupying the space - basically lazy AI. I have some plans on how to make it more organic, including a revamped resource system not tied to the player, but to the buildings instead. Thanks for the tip about enabling run in background, I very much want it to be a game you can have going in the back so that will be important.