Great core gameplay here. 1st run got to wave 23 on normal. I wrote down some things while playing:
- Music is fitting, catchy, enjoyable. Many more tracks like that would be pleasant to listen to during gameplay.
- The gear idea is fantastic. My strategy was downshifting to a low gear to kill momentum and then kick it to highest possible to quickly change direction. Personally I would rebind gears to mousewheel, but you probably have another feature in mind for that. You allow rebinds anyways so on my next play I'll do that.
- I would reduce the frequency of stars. Especially when there are bullets on the screen, I cannot tell which are which. But when I played my stars did not look like they do on your screenshots. This might be because I was playing in 1080p. Furthermore, I would increase the size of bullets to make them easier to see too. What is your intended play resolution?
- Escape for options would be nice, as well as being able to use arrow keys in menus.
- I love the "sucking in" effect when you pick up stuff.
- I see that some people don't like mouse control but I think you should keep it in as an option, it is the control style I enjoyed most of all.
I'm interested in what you're going to do with the game, I'd enjoy the adventure mode for sure. I followed!