Cute game! Some feedback/suggestions:
Controls:
- When I rotated, I often found areas I was interested would fly off the screen. I think the pivot point is too low on the screen, and it would be better near the centre of the screen.
- With the mouse rotate, you could try pivoting about the point where the mouse drag started from. This would give the player fine control about what stays in view.
- Right-click on a tile could rotate the current tile clockwise. (Perhaps Shift-click for counter-clockwise.) Currently tile rotation is done with mouse wheel, but I would like the wheel to stay consistent, and zoom at all times.
- Another option could be to have modal tiles: the first left-click places the tile, then right-click rotates it, then a second left-click finalises the placement.
- Carcassonne also does it modally, but with simpler controls: left-click places the tile, and then left-click rotates the tile. There is a separate button, a big tick button in the corner of the screen, to confirm the placement.
- When zooming with mouse wheel, zoom into the point where the mouse is focused. (Like Google Maps!)
- Lots of games put panning on middle-mouse-drag. You could do that too (without necessarily removing it from left-mouse-drag).
- (My mouse wheel is digital rather than analog. As a result, the zoom jumps are really large. The map is either tiny, or huge! Configuration for the zoom rate could help with this. However, this might only be a problem with my desktop setup.)
Gameplay:
- If this is a casual game, why not add an undo button? Then I can experiment with making the scene just how I like it.
- Alternatively, give the player 3 pickup cards. At any point in the game, they can consume a card to pick up an existing tile. The tile could go to the top of the stack, forcing them to place it elsewhere. The empty space would then be free for another tile to be placed.
Multiplay:
- (I know multiplay is a lot of extra work. But it might not hurt to plan for the future...)
- Mode 1: Deck is hidden, except for the next card. Players place tiles in turn, and gain points for placing the final tile in a quest.
- Mode 2: Or, all players play alone, but with the same starting deck, to see who can fulfil the most quests with that deck. (This one might be easier to implement. It could even be played asynchronously, e.g. by email.)
- Based on mode 2, each day could seed a new deck for everyone in the community to play and compete.
I hope this nice game will receive the success it deserves.