Thank you for playing!
The level going down was actually part of us forgetting to set the physics correctly the first time around, so we figured why not have that happen when the timer runs out. You are the second one to mention the continue button. Sorry for the inconvenience. I think I know what is going on with it, but will have to wait until the end of the jam to address.
All of the affects are supposed to wear off when you change levels. I will test to see if I can reproduce this affect.
Thank you for the wonderful comments :)