Thank you for playing and for your feedback! In the options, you can slow down the afk timer - we kept it quick so those playing didn't have to wait too long to experience a few cycles while testing a bunch of different afk games, the current speed is definitely too fast for a production game!
The email is for retrieving your saved progress/town - not typical for a jam, but a feature we decided was worthwhile for allowing people to play across browsers/devices that a simple session token wouldn't allow. We also thought there would be people that wouldn't care to sign up for a prototype so we added the guest login so player's wouldn't have to worry.
I'm glad you enjoyed the style and the start of the overall system! I hope you continue to check back in the future!
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Also note, there is a mechanic that when you log back in, the afk events that occurred while you were away are displayed to show what happened while you were away, the display of those couple events are certainly something we could polish the presentation of to not overwhelm the player, on further reflection of your comment, that's a really great feedback, thanks!