hey, Zackavelli. I had a lot of fun playing this. I watched you stream a lot of the development so I feel like my view going into it wasn't exactly unbiased as I had a lot of info I wouldn't have had as a first time player.
That said, one of the main things the sticks with me a day after playing is that I dont think there was any distinction between invasive species and native plants? I know a little bit about invasive species and native plants so I was able to distinguish but I was confused. Are these brownish plants invasive? wilting? And extending on this idea, I was unsure why I would pick garlic mustard seeds, it felt like a dirty decision. I basically always chose milkweed and was never sure if that was the intention or not.
I loved the idea for the butterfly quiz but I think like someone said in the stream there just weren't enough species to keep it interesting, however, Ill be damned if I cant identify a tiger swallowtail irl now! :p
I'm very new to game dev and always feel weird giving feedback.. I read below comment and I was definitely not as focused on the NC during my play through, hardly even noticing it, probably influenced by all my time on Idle Idol Isle. What I wanted more out of the game was more of the 'teaching elements' you talked about during stream. Could add plant ID as part of the quiz or a separate quiz altogether, and then host plant/butterfly type questions as things progress. I don't know if those things are exactly *BAM* gameplay hook sticking points, but for a player like me (or my gf who is studying restorative ecology) they would go a long way and make me remember this.