thanks for your feedback!
Yea we thought a lot about how best to unlock the creatures. At one point we had a little rhythm game and even a breeding program over there but ultimately we landed on this idle sort of game where you can speed up incubation by participating in it.
We also wanted to balance a few key points that we saw. First and foremost, we wanted to introduce the Knoblins slowly so the game could function as its own tutorial. However we also wanted to ensure that the player would have a full set of Knoblins within the first ten minutes of opening the game. Towards the end of the unlock path, we wanted a long enough time frame that it would take the average player a couple days to unlock all the creatures, however we still wanted the unlocks to be completable within a day for highly engaged players. Finally, it was important to me that the creatures are introduced in a certain order to ensure the first beats you’re making sound especially good. Ultimately, I am pretty happy where this all ended up in terms of idle based gameplay.
I do like your idea of a daily sort of stage playing its own song - I am a big fan of daily content for games. Appreciate your comment and ideas!