Thank you for your reports and suggestions! It seems that levels without a shop placed down yet will cause this bugged behavior in customers :/ (I'll do more extensive testing to check how they like behaving).
I'll check again if rating is bugged, but last I extensively test after debugging it worked properly. I could have done something to atmoRefactor(), as placing lots of objects with the same theme but are different should raise the atmosphere level.
When you say "game speed" are you referring to it's fps being sluggish or just that the game loop seems slowish? How the game is currently designed, it's based on a fixed populace chance, meaning if a character levels after gaining weight then the numbers shift so that it's a higher chance for the next customer to spawn to be heavier. Weight gain gets a bonus if your rating is high, so they'll stick around and gain weight when maxed rating. (Try placing a bunch of Venus Googly Traps if you want to see if rating will rise ;3 besides obtaining all the set bonuses you can)
I'm planning on doing a big renovation on the characters such that sizes are more noticable (and larger), they'll slow down more when at these larger levels, have more customization, and with that customization I'll add in "celebrity" characters that can be someone's OC (or close to it). I'd also add a feature that would permit the player to star an RNG character and label them to be a "regular" which would permit them to have their information saved and have a chance for them to come back later. Regulars would come more frequently with a higher rating, while celebrities will only come when you have a high enough rating and have met their taste requirements (needing certain objects placed down, a high enough theme rating, serving certain foods, etc). Would be interesting to create some celebrities that will only come if your rating is deliberately low enough :3c
Characters are unfortunately low on the development block, feedback has been clear that the player doesn't get to DO much besides getting the place as pretty as they can and watching the characters go about their lives. If you haven't already, find the Easter Egg for a preview of what characters weight levels may come to look like. (Hint: it's been in the game since the jam version, so it'll be in the level that the jam initially has ;3 ) Otherwise, development has been pretty smooth with only a few bumps in the road that smoothed out quickly (Fences update correctly now, finally... >.> ) So a character revamp should be coming within a few snapshots (not the next one, I'm working on changing how walls work, giving more free agency to the players for customization, and hopefully allow colors to be more vibrant, if not also figuring out a save and research system).
Again, thank you for your comment and time, have a great, safe, and fun day!