Thanks for the great feedback Dom!
I am adding the following features in the next release:
- ability to hide final items in the ribbon (items that are not ingredients in any other recipe)
- ability to hide completed items in the ribbon (items that can no longer contribute to new ideas)
That should make things a little easier in terms of searching for new combinations.
I will look into adding suggestions in the header in a future release (e.g. "How about trying to make 'Tonkotsu Ramen'?") which the player will be able to control in terms of frequency or just turn off.
I also want to figure a way to get the player to the clades screen from the main game, or suggest for them to go to the main menu so they can visit it. That screen is interesting to me, I wonder how helpful it is.
I originally had an idea to have a currency where you get more of it for creating elements and for squeezing them, and then you could use that to buy the hint ideas from the menu, but it seemed redundant after I made it so the player could just reveal them themselves. I'm not planning any other mechanics for late game, but one of the original ideas was to fill in parts of an animated scene as you progress, as a reward. That was how the clades viewer was supposed to be but there was no time to do the art, so I made it just orbit the clade members around the clade name.