Thanks for the feedback!
Mostly agree with you on the timer, at least for the tutorial section - the speaker has some other lines when the factory expands or adds new colors of snake parts, but those are generally quicker and easier to ignore so it's probably fine to have the timer run through them. I'm glad you liked the dialog; it was certainly fun to write!
Definitely agreed on the controls front - I'd like to just add overall control remapping if I get the chance, but that would also come with an actual options menu which would take some substantial other reconfiguring. In the meantime, the next build will probably just... allow for arrow keys while I figure out the slightly more complex stuff.
I hadn't considered having a cycling preview, and I'm not sure if I should add it or not. On the face, it sounds like a good idea, but part of what would allow for skill expression within the game is knowing the order the different parts come in, and I feel like a preview might cheapen that a bit. Probably at least worth a playtest, though.
Thanks again for the feedback, and I'm glad you liked it!