Always great to hear from you!
On the title: Yeah I think Putrid Shot would have worked too, but unfortunately my illustrator is already working on a steam capsule with the logo PUTRID SHOT ULTRA, so I gotta commit to it now haha.
I've never experimented with stereo stuff and panning, I should start looking into that for music.
With respect to clutter / information: I agree, I'm working on trying to make the most important things (the player, the enemies) "pop" a bit more on screen. For now in the next patch I've just made some of the elements a little more faded so they don't create as much visual noise. All that said, I also think this is something players will get better at navigating as they do more runs.
Glad you like the active spell selection! That'll probably be the main 'replay value' for the game: trying out different active spells over different runs (I have 7 total active spells planned for the final game right now).
I'll definitely experiment with allowing moving while shooting up, I agree dealing with aerial enemies is tougher.
The high number of buttons making things complex is definitely something I've heard before about this game (and my other games too). Re-using buttons / combining things is a cool idea! One thing I like to think about with these types of designs is: How quickly can the player build 'skill expression'? In a game with a lot of buttons, sometimes just remembering to press your buttons can be an effective way of 'expressing mastery'. My idea with this game is: new players will probably just pick 1 or 2 things to focus on like you mentioned (shooting/doding, casting / dodging, jumping/shooting, etc) and as they get more experienced, they start to remember to weave in their active spell in between shots, or roll through attacks instead of just tanking them, etc. I still totally hear your feedback, something I need to think about.
Hahaha glad you liked the music. I'm really happy with the way it came out. I didn't have any specific inspirations, this track kind of just came together.
On the upgrades: The "type" of upgrade you get is hardcoded (passive spell vs stat reward vs spell upgrade), so you're guaranteed to get a passive spell after the first level, guaranteed to get an upgrade after the 2nd, and so on. The actual "contents" of the rewards are randomized a little: Passive spells are broken into tiers, where "Tier 1" are spells I think are really fun and 'playstyle-defining'. You're guaranteed to get at least 1 tier-1 spell in the first reward room, but after that the spells are entirely random.
Overscoping is basically at the top of my 'fear' list right now. The more I build for this game, the bigger my task list grows. I have a hard deadline for myself to more-or-less finish development by the end of August, but it still feels like I'm scope-creeping the hell out of this game. I like your idea of making menus and stuff "in-game" vs creating a separate menu system. The treasure chest enemies in this game are a good example of that, I kind of want to add more of that.
Thanks again for all the feedback and for playing! I'm really excited about this game (even though, statistically, it'll probably flop on steam lol)