Thanks for following up!
-1: Bombs are a risk-reward mechanic. If you go out of your way to destroy enemies, make combos and risk dying in the process, you gain a shield. This shield will defend you from a single bullet hit and clears all bullets on screen so you don't get hit multiple times. It will not make the game easier by much, but it will favor those that have more active playstyles. I'm also thinking of weapon loadouts but they won't be in the next update.
0: It will definitely be explained to the player :)
1: This may have something to do with the old rendering system. Waker will be using a new rendering system soon, that is more solid and consistent with colors. More vibrant and flexible too!
2: My priority is on the gameplay - however, the story part is also very important. I have a plan in mind to merge these two components together, so I won't spoil your discovery of it :)
For audio i'm thinking of something to the style of Teleglitch - ambient machine noise punctuated by beeps and boops. Bosses may have erratic BGM though.
Thanks for your kind comment! As of yet the procedural generation is quite fickle, so hard yet fair patterns may just be you (and me) being lucky. This will be the first game I'm selling commercially so I want to be sure it's something I can be proud of.
Have fun!
- akirassasin