Thank you for the very thoughtful feedback! Some of the things you mentioned are already on my list of planned updates, like removing shadows and making the catcher size more noticeable.
Would you mind elaborating on what is finicky about the controls? I've seen a few similar comments, but I honestly have no idea what they're referring to. If you put your left hand fingers in the standard WASD position, very little movement is required, and the catchers respond instantly to key presses. I haven't encountered any issues with the keyboard controls in my testing.