Thanks for the feedback! We haven't played Recettear but it sounds neat.
And yeah we are aware of all the bugs, it is a downside of trying to put everything we wanted together there I guess, haha.
What do you think would make the progression in the store feel better? We are thinking on maybe locking some items up to unlock in the shooting part, for example.
If you ask me:
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Make money be an actual challenge and not just a restock cap. Recettear starts off with the main character having massive debt she has to slowly pay off in a certain number of days, for instance. The threat of bigger and stronger zombies could also be a motivator to save up money. This also ties into what you said about giving the shooting minigame more depth, as currently it feels more like a chore than an actual challenge.
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Shorten days while also making shelves smaller. Outside of the fact they get boring after a while, a shorter day also means you inherently make less money and have to think about what you purchase, why, and how much.
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Make it so there are days where it is more preferable to buy a certain product or a category of products than others. Right now you can just put whatever you want and people will just buy it. By implementing a “preferences” or “random weather” mechanic, you can encourage the player to take more risks and change up their strategy.
Good luck!