I know I've said this before, but I really like the graphics and the sound, as well as the general theming & world-concept! I think the part of playing I've enjoyed the most actually is visiting the other NPC fairies' turtles and hiking around there, partly because the little forest is a pleasant space to wander, and partly because it's fun to try out different loops through all the cleanup spots. And the framing of "helping" the fairies that way feels nice too. It's super chill and cheerful!
I also agree with what others have said: setting up the initial collection of 4 of buildings feels a little rough--it feels like I'm waiting to get started, and when I see the cost go up for each consecutive grass plot my brain sadly translates that into extra waiting. Once the initial cluster is set up there's kind of a fun whack-a-mole pattern that emerges with gathering the output, it just takes a little while to get there. Leaning more clicker-style with clicking-to-speed-things-up might help with the intro, as much as tweaking the initial costs. It might also be neat if a tutorial NPC gave the player "free vouchers" (or maybe just loaned out rainbows) for each initial building in series, so after you add a building you can go back for the next voucher (or rainbows) until you've built the full set. (Afterwards, maybe you could optionally pay this helpful NPC back and get a little cosmetic bonus as a surprise thank you.) I know dev-wise that might be a bit of a stretch though!
The other comment on allowing a bit of accumulation per generator would also be nice. Without any accumulation (and until there's auto-collection), it feels like my role is to be a very important cog in the machine at all times, and if I take a break then everything will grind to a halt. Allowing a bit of leeway there would make it easier to be social or explore during the early part of playing (before you can afford the tier of generators that auto-collect). Maybe the level-1 generators let you have one collection waiting and only halt production after two are waiting, and level-2 lets you have up to three waiting. Or maybe the production rate could slow down as more collections are waiting (0 = 100% generator speed, 1 = 75% generator speed, etc) and the slowdown effect reduces with each upgrade. Just a thought!
A couple more wishes/ideas:
- Scheduled downtime ("break time," "fairy holidays," day/night cycles, etc) could be a fun & chill route to explore, just to encourage exploration, being social, or just taking a break yourself.
- Foraging loose objects (finding colors floating by / landing on your turtle) could be a fun little distraction that also helps the world feel more alive.
- It'd be fun if wings could let you fly around a little!
A couple more things I enjoyed:
- Changing the cosmetics to be mushrooms and flowers and caterpillars, to make a little wilderness garden.
- The wing varieties, especially the moth-like wings option!
On the whole this is a very nice casual jam game and it feels like there are a lot of directions you could take it. (Also it makes me want to make a game about small creatures around a puddle outside.)
Good job!