Greetings! Came over here from your FTL Captain's Edition Mod (great work on that by the way), and did I find quite the "stellar" game.
To be honest my review will be slightly biased because I don't particularly enjoy fast-paced, much rather prefer slower, more strategic experiences, and also the art style is a bit to "comic-ee" for me (I don't know how to describe it :3), but I definitely see potential in this game, is it coming along nicely!
My thoughts (take it as a grain of sand):
1. The UI is a bit difficult to understand, and so is the damage - I have my ship continuously crash into the ground because I suck at real-time movements, but it seemed that my shields took it just fine (I can't tell if it was shields or not, there is a diamond around my ship that increases/decreases depending on shield health status, from what I think, but not sure), but then I got shot a handful of time then died. Basically what I mean to say is that it may be nice to add a Health/Shield bar somewhere on the screen to more Math-y people like me can better calculate how to play in a given situation (ignore this if I'm just not understanding the UI yet O.o)
2. Game Interface - The way a player controls a game definitely has a huge impact on how the game feels, and I do indeed like the feeling which you are trying to go for, very arcade-y, but having the primary fire on the mouse seems like a step in the wrong direction. It felt awkward having the mouse do nothing except act a button, so, perhaps, would it be better to...
A: Move the main fire button move to a key, perhaps even make that fit the experience by binding keys such as changing weapons or deploying flares to let's say [Space,J,I,O,;], which will make the player have their hand interacting with the controls such as the older games. I would prefer this because it keeps the movement of the ship difficult to manage and unique unlike option B.
B: This is what the viewers on Steam Greenlight said, having X and Y movement with WASD and controlling pitch with the Mouse. This seems a bit too simple and streamlined, and I think that keeping the controls as is (Using S and D to change direction) will keep the game fast-paced and difficult.
Anywho, in conclusion:
Love the art style, very impressive for a single man, the art style is interesting (I especially love the icons which display the directions where user is being fired upon from ground-side units), and I can see this game becoming a success!
If you want to talk to me for perhaps a more in-depth review I can do that, or maybe if you would like to work with me! (I am a hobby/casual writer if you want some fun lore stuff added :3)
Anywho, have a great day, and keep up the good work!
Best regards,
David, theTurncoat.