Thank you for taking the time to share such detailed feedback! I really appreciate it, and I’m glad you enjoyed the core gameplay. I’m already working on improving the login flow, as well as the visual feedback during the jump-charging process, for an upcoming update. I’ll also make sure the game clearly includes a link to the Privacy Policy, so players can easily review it before signing in.
Sorry for the frustration around the login experience. My original goal was to have a shared, global leaderboard so players could feel a sense of connection beyond a single play session. To make that possible, the game uses a small cloud backend. Since it’s running on a very limited free tier, I try to be careful about spam and resource usage, which is why logging in is encouraged (even guest play still consumes backend resources).
That said, I do think login has a couple of upsides. Linking an account gives you a persistent personal placement history, so your rankings are kept as a permanent record rather than being lost between sessions. It also enables a free form of self-promotion for players: logged-in players can set a custom display name, for example using their itch.io username or display name. When they appear on the leaderboard, that name is visible to players around the world, with higher placements naturally getting more visibility. To keep this meaningful and prevent abuse, that functionality is limited to logged-in users.
Thanks again for playing, for the high score, and for pointing out areas that can be clearer or more polished. Feedback like this really helps shape the next steps for the game!