[Obligatory thank you for feedback]
You have brought up some pretty good points. In terms of game design, I'm uncertain as well whether this game would scale well. I think each upgrade will have parts when they are better than others. Off the top of my head:
- attack speed is good for late game to clear more enemies, but makes the bullet harder to dodge
- ricochet is good for early game as it helps clear those stranded fast enemies, but dodging bullets becomes a nightmare later
I think the upgrades work well for the game's current stage, but probably falls flat quickly. Perhaps having different levels with different enemies is the way to go, we don't want each session to take too long. The buff/debuff idea is interesting, reminds me of Shotgun King. That might be worth considering since the player doesn't scale in any way.
Currently we don't have any plans to continue this project, but it's nice to get opinions on game design. Sometimes I forget that this jam is hosted by a game design channel lol.
Cheers!