Will give the volume a look (hear). The resolution part is... well, my first web game on itch, so that tells you everything there is to know :) Top of my list.
For the slower start I was thinking about maybe starting the decay of the progress bar at the top only AFTER the player presses SPACE for the first time. Otherwise, yeah, I'm dropping a fresh player straight into a fail state with UI flashing red!
Thank you for the comment!