Deadline hit me hard too, couldn't polish much on my game either. The pulse wasn't the confusing part, I like that mechanic. I just couldn't figure out what distinguished the contents of each crate. I noticed there were different effects and symbols (I think?) But it was just too fast paced for me to figure out the pattern during gameplay. I didn't even notice the text you just mentioned lol. Maybe it's just a skill issue though...
Oh I think I see. The text is pretty much the only thing that tells what effect came out of the box. The symbol to the right of the player is for the pulse cooldown and the ones on the left are timer bars for the duration of certain effects. We never got the chance to explain those properly, though I might be able to add something to the description for it. I had thought of some ways to add that information to the game but, again, time happened.