Hey there BF! Nice work on a rock solid arcade game. I played it a half dozen times and never even got CLOSE to the leaderboard, but it was really fun. Haha. The sprites were adorable. The itch page was complete, inviting, and told me everything I needed to know (which is weirdly rare in jams... why don't people do that? It's so little work compared to all the coding and stuff.)
Anyway, since you seem like a super chill guy who sincerely wants a lot of feedback, I've made a few notes. Take 'em or leave 'em! ... hope something in my rambling is helpful, in no particular order. (AND YES this is an invitation to please give me absolutely any criticisms on my games so I can get better) Now, these are more about the game than the graphics... which I completely get isn't the point of this round... but anyhoo...
1) I found the score super motivating... it would cool if the score was way bigger so I can read it without taking my eyes off the action.
2) on that note, it would be cool to see the lowest score on the leaderboard displayed above my score (or maybe even a "fake" leaderboard score that tempts to try one more time) ... anything to up that sweet tension as the player gets closer to their next goal. Maybe at 10,000 points you get a new rocket or something haha I never got that far? If so it would be cool to see that goal as I'm chasing it.
3) With so much going on, it'd be interesting to knock back the background stars to 30% or 50% and see if that helps the sprites pop ('course that might actually take away some of the challenge)
4) The protag flashes (I think to indicate a period where you're invincible) but the flash is a little slow so it makes it hard to see where your rocket is while it's invisible. Might be interesting to try flashing 2-10x faster so the eye doesn't lose the rocket's location.
5) Like the score, your extra "mans" is a critical piece of info. Would be neat if that were way bigger.
6) It's a hard and frantic game, which is GOOD, but it might be nice to have a "learner wave" where the enemies don't shoot yet, so you can get your bearings before it gets really challenging.
Thanks again for your niceness and leadership on the discord! You're the best!