First of all, I'd like to mention that I've played up to level 7 in one sitting. I actually had a hard time getting into the game, but stuck with it since I knew Takahashi san was involved (I'm a fan of his games). I've enjoyed the game thus far except for some frustrations, mainly ramping up. Perhaps many of these points were covered early on, but hey - I believe any feedback is good feedback in the gaming industry so here it goes!
Overall I enjoyed the world of Glitch, especially the swampy areas that looked like they designed by Meomi. The music is also fitting/quirky and reminded me of Katamari or Earthbound at times. I find platformers on PC difficult at times when the player controls directions using the left hand (if you think console, the D pad is normally on the right with the left hand controlling jump - I had the same problems with the original Cave Story for certain jumps.) Thankfully there aren't enough tricky jumps in this game but it makes me wonder if younger kids have a hard time with that.
The following are issues I found in the game that can possibly be resolved via a better tutorial area:
the world is too big:
I wasn't used to looking at the map and was often lost. One of the early quests for me was to find salt but I couldn't find out how to obtain it. Stumped, I ended up having to looking up info on a Glitch Wiki only to find that I had wandered very far away from any spice trees. I didn't really enjoy having to trek through screens and screens just to find the groves. I'd like to suggest the dev team consider a larger gated tutorial area that requires players to play within that field for a while, until they get used to the basics (AKA they can wander throughout a few screens but cannot proceed until they fufill a series of tasks). Players can be limited in their interactions within the area and must learn certain skills before proceeding into the world.
too many skills without a good explanation of how it impacts gameplay:
The skill system feels pretty hardcore for a game that comes off as targeted towards younger audiences. (target age feels low, mainly due to the fact that there is no combat and the interactions in the game are "safe". The art style also contributes to a younger feel - not that it's a bad thing!) A lot of times I felt confused, since I would be choosing to upgrade a skill I really didn't understand (like alchemy or penpersonship) and wasn't really sure if I was making the best decisions. Most games solve this problem by having players choose jobs/classes so that they have an understanding that all skills that they are likely to learn are beneficial to the style of gameplay that is appealing to them. If skills were automatically unlocked based on player habits the game would have been much simpler as well. (ex. if I mine all the time my mining skills can rise and would auto unlock related skills to it.) I understand that it's too late to change the system but at least it be nice to at least have better skill explanations up front and how it overall will impact my experience.
item overload:
Most games scale the number of items accessible to the player based on how much they have progressed through the game. Due to the open nature of the game, Glitch is a bit overwhelming for newcomers with the sheer amount of accessible items. A lot of times I found my bags full and had to let go of items I wasn't sure if I was supposed to keep, only to find out later that I had to backtrack 15 minutes to certain areas to farm those items in order to fufill a quest. It would be nice if the player is able to upgrade to a bigger bag earlier in the game or have limited access to items early on.
OK, this is likely not just me but I feel disturbed when I have to rub lotion onto butterflies for them to produce milk. On the site items info page it even says "Remember: butterflies chafe easily, but they still like it pretty hard." Nibbling on the pigs is pretty creepy as well, and I'm Japanese - I should be used to weird stuff like this. LOL
Keep up the good work! It seems like you guys are having fun and it's nice to see that you guys are always asking for player feedback (that's why I posted). Oh, and also I'd like to recommend implementation of micro-transactions. ;)