definitely a good start. The main thing that feels like it needs adjusted is the current leveling speed, which takes an abnormal amount of time, especially since the game asks if you want the item every time you scavenge. Given enemy encounter rate, staying at the start and spam searching is the only semi reliable way to level. At this time, I'd recommend multiples of 6 to 8 to make it a bit more reasonable at this time
As for the map problem, have you considered setting direction/location buttons on the left side? I don't know if that would fix the bug, or if there's a way to force refresh the map between saving or playing.