Hi miracleJester!
Thanks for our playing our game, we're happy you enjoyed it and appreciate your feedback!
We definitely agree with the points you raise!
To quote a few:-
We're working on a way to change the battle layout so that the grid takes up most of the screen instead the small part of it in this prototype (we've received this critique from another player as well)
We are definitely working on the battle system to make it more unique from its inspiration. We've got some cool systems we're looking to work in to make it fresh :D
The card icons were, to put it bluntly, an easy way for me to make lots of icons fast :x we definitely want to make them bigger and more distinctive and we also want individual pictures of each card too, similar to MMBN.
I agree with the desert stage being too long too. I definitely think making it smaller would have been better. As for the maps themselves, there are lots of things we want to add to them to make them more interesting, as you can appreciate time was a big factor in this.
Sorry for the long reply but hope that lets you know that we're definitely on the same page with what you've said (and others). Again, thanks so much for playing and glad you enjoyed it! :D