I've chosen the current layout mostly because those letters are aligned both on QWERTY and AZERTY keyboards. Unfortunately, this isn't true for all keyboards, and it remains weird even so. An alternative I've recently considered is using 12345 instead. It should remains the same for most keyboards, and it has the mental alignment I look for (even if it's still uncommon for a game).
Glad that you enjoyed it despite the tough controls! Thank you for your feedback!