That's some really good feedback!
I agree with literally everything you said and some of it I've added to my notes to address after the jam is over.
To be honest, I felt from the beginning the penalty for the barrels was too high but (as you mentioned in your "what makes the game fun section") I also noticed that the frequency of the negative score really did make ANY positive score feel like an achievement. Due to the short time frame we had to throw things together for the jam, I decided to stick with that for now and come back to it later.
Thanks again for taking the time to play the game and your well worded critique!