"I was very far from building the ark when the flood arrived, I probably should've focuse more on upgrading the buildings instead of building more of them."
Ha! That's supposed to be the challange and the replayability in one. You lose the game but you gain knowledge on how the game works. You play again and succeed, that was the idea at least (loved the challange in the king is watching demo). Learning the game should be part of the fun (but maybe it's not?).
"get some improvement on your next run after failure" That's one valid approach I'm considering for the game (*if I ever make it), either this or going full roguelike with procedurally generated maps (the bad north style).
The problem I have with this is that this usually means you have to fail on your first run because the game is too dificult without the upgrades and I personally would love to have the option to win the game/map on my first run (even if it is only theoretical).
For shortening the game loop - I guess you're right here. The idea for expanding the game would be that you have of course multiple maps. The first map would be a semi-tutorial one and it could last ~5min. Learn the basics, easy win. Then map #2 would be more hard.
Love the minimalistic design! Lots of potential :) ❤️ Thanks! Glad you like it!