Thanks so much for playing!
The shield drop/active situation I'll have to revisit. I'm not sure how I'd change it to read more clearly but that definitely makes sense. When your shield is active but in reality it is just displaying 4 shield points and an asteroid deals 40 damage, the shield being active doesn't really mean anything so leeway would go far in that regard.
Initially for the UI I only had the shield indicator in the bottom left and found it was just too ridiculous so I added the shield rings around the ship. Definitely ways to improve the UI in ways that don't require you take your eyes off your ship.
Using captured asteroids offensively was absolutely intentional. I'm glad it wasn't obvious initially!
In terms of the impassable objects, I think a recolor would be enough to define them against the background. It definitely doesn't read clearly enough whether you can fly over or not.
I appreciate the feedback and I can definitely make these changes. I'm glad the style I had in my head translated into the game. When I was working on it I started getting hints of The Guardian Legend and Star Control II which made me drive hard to finish it.
Thanks for the feedback! Look forward to more in future jams!