I greatly respect game mechanics and systems, so while it'd be easy for me to spew a list of potential ideas it'd be mostly meaningless without a means for me to test them, and given that I'm unable to program that is a no go at this point in time.
Goodness, I can't imagine you're going to have any issues finding a programmer, the artwork is certainly beautiful. The hard bit, of course, is going to be finding a programmer that you feel you can really work well/productively with, for the length of the whole game. That's tricky.
@oldblood Watership down has a tone to it that I really like, something doesn't have to be ghastly to be unsettling.
Watership Down, in certain parts of the story, conjurers a very powerful sense of foreboding, and barely-concealed terror. If anyone here hasn't read it, please do!