Thanks for playing! I will consider these ideas in the future, but right now i would rather join other jams.
Oh, about side guns, they are pretty good because most enemies can only shoot you it you're right in front of them, so side guns allow to shoot enemies with them unable to shoot you back. I played with them a bit and i'm way more comfortable with them instead of the normal forward gun. Grace period, more splitters and differently colored bullets are definitely good ideas though