The answer to your first question is "yes" and "no." Some puzzles are dependent upon the completion of others, some are dependent only on factors such as population, research levels, and/or villager skills. The puzzles need not be completed in order.

The only way to get to the "end" of the game is to have all of your villagers die, at which point the game is over whether or not you've completed all of the puzzles. All of LDW's games are designed to be open-ended, so you can play any given game as long as you like! The Island Events will continue to happen, which can change the way things are going for your villagers. Once you get tired of your current game, you can do like most people do and play the game again on different settings and/or try different strategies.

Is there something I need to do to the rock in the middle of the town ? I have cleared off the beach, and the stream is now cleaned up, what do I need to do next? I notice they keep going to the boulder but I can't get anything to happen . Also the ruins what do I do there?

Those are all puzzles that require certain levels of research and/or the completion of other puzzles. The best thing to do next it to keep your villagers fed and healthy, research new Village Techs, and grow your population as food supply and housing increase.

After every purchase of a new Village Tech, take one of your adult villagers "exploring" around the village to see what new things there might be to play with!

How can I find out how much beach I have left to clear? I cleaned it up on my last game, but when I lost everything,my memory went too.

The beach doesn't have a percentage cleared... your best indicator is the boards. When they
have cleared the debris, your villagers are almost done- they tend to keep cleaning a short time after the last board is gone.

I am finding that not letting my villagers bury the dead is working out just fine. I have managed to train a few of my villagers as adept doctors by dragging them onto the decomposing body. They try to heal them, and in the process gain healing experience. Although I havn't managed to raise my villagers from the dead yet, I'm working on it.

It's not a problem leaving the bodies where they are... but most people find them creepy and have the villagers bury them!

Getting the higher levels of medicine keeps your villagers healthier and helps them live longer, so effect on the early puzzles is indirect in that you'll have healthier villagers working on them.

whats the golden child?