Ya, totally agree on having more info on what the items are in game. I actually tried to implement it, but was having some issue with the mouse over of items not activating. I think i didn't layer control nodes correctly or a non-control node parent? Anyways ran out of time :(
Definitely like your idea of unlocking abilities/upgrades too. I had two different train cars (shield and laser) that I wanted to basically add onto the train making it longer over time, but had to focus on the cannon/twin gun just to get them working.
Thanks again for playing!