These are totally valid criticisms, I agree on all fronts. You can probably tell where most of our time went; we spent days refining the character feel/control, visual feedback, splatting, tugging, stretching, etc. Finalizing our levels was pretty much the last thing we tackled. I am honestly happy we got a (mostly) functional game out at all with how down to the wire it got.
I love and appreciate the feedback! I'm so glad you had a good time with the game, despite some of the jank. And thanks for sharing your "a-ha" experience, that is the exact lightbulb moment we were hoping to strike in the player :) "Ditch the home row" is like our version of "Now you're thinking with Portals"