Thank you so much for this detailed and encouraging feedback !
I want to give the player tools and have multiple ways to play the game, there is no real intended ways to do it, some people will minmax the game as soon as possible, some will make fun contraptions and other will do everything by hand, and I want that each player have fun while playing as they like as much as possible !
And yes, I try to add hints and reward exploration (not up to the expectations yet but I'm working on it !)
Thank you again, I'm really glad you had a great time with it !