itch.io

No, avoid writing at all costs. People hate reading. You would have to come up with something graphical. So clear a wave and the ship flies to the middle of the screen and comes to a stop at a base perhaps or some sort of way station like it is parking. Would at least explain why it has access to the 'shop'. It it was changed to the Hanger Bay, where you can buy upgrades and buy repairs etc rather than auto health regeneration. You could add smoke coming off the ship to indicate damage. Then when the next level starts you fly away from the waystation again.

As for the auto shooting I think it could work. Maybe only on appropriate ammo, so the darts in the shop could clearly indicate this is not auto fire. Adding a differential to some of the ammo types.

Of course you don't want to change your game too much, I get that, but you do need something to tie the different parts together a bit more. At the moment after a level it says "Back to menu" like the game is over. If it said "Landing in Hanger" that would be better would it not?

Anyway, look forward to seeing your improvements. I thought the cards could do with being a bit more colourful with bigger images portraying the upgrades a bit better. So again I don't have to read anything! You would be amazed at how people never read anything unless they are really committed to the story. Like skipping cut scenes and dialogues. 

Lots of good things. Nice bold neon like graphics. Everything included, settings, an upgrade shop, different weapons.

Things to improve:
The game is a little dull. I don't care if I die or not, the gameplay is very repetitive, the enemies are quite dumb. I wanted to fly around the screen a bit with some vertical movement, even if you limit it to the bottom half of the screen. I found myself just holding down the mouse button so why not have firing automatic, so your ship is constantly firing. It got much better after a few upgrades, and I get you don't want to give everything for free straight away, but I think it starts too slow.

The three cards upgrading option is a bit stale too IMHO. I would drop that entirely, leave all the upgrading in the shop. Also a 'shop' does not really fit the theme, perhaps it should be your mothership. Everything has to happen faster, so first wave just bombs, second wave bombs and those white ships, third wave those two and the one that drops down etc. 

I think overall it is a good effort, but as the player you quickly get bored. Everything is so predictable. I also think you have not played with the options fully. Like what if a complete wall of mines came down. What if they fell at different speeds. What about ships coming down and going back up again, like the old school galaxians.

Finally I would suggest that the first scene is a fully powered up and upgraded ship fighting an unwinnable fight. When you lose you go back to the basic slow ship, but the player has seen and felt what could be. Now your ship is disabled or damaged and you need to collect something to get the upgrades, not earn money to spend in the shop after you have died. So you need a story of some sort, something to be achieved, something to lend some depth to the game.

The shop needs a bit of work too. Perhaps showing all the available things to buy, perhaps the ones you cannot get yet are greyed out. Also when I click on a weapon I should not have to then click 'use'. The highlighted weapon would automatically be the one I use.

Also the weapons themselves from the player should be quicker. Also pressing 1 or 2 is akward. Why not W and S? Drop the mouse input for firing, make that automatic. Ship flies up from the bottom, enemies appear, weapons start auto firing is what I would suggest.

Any way, good luck with it. I hope some of those comments helped in some way.