GenkiGenga
Again, thank you very much for analysing the strategy, after reading your second post I really like your ideas.
So, how about this:
The tutorial will explain the lift. It will be for authorised overseers only and you will be told to ignore it for the period of your training.
Then in-game, there will be buttons/pads/I don't know (advice anyone), and when you go over them, they trip, and you get message "ELEVATOR OVERRIDE 50%" for the first one and ELEVATOR OVERRIDE 100%. ELEVATOR ACTIVE" for the second one.
To supplement this, I implement a new scoring system in which the score rises FASTER depending on which floor you are on. Also I could add score for killing enemies. This will also help me as a kongregate statistic has to be an integer.
Oh, and shields can use energy. It makes sense, and you will think twice about running into enemies as a strategy (although, it is still there as an option ;).
This means I can also tone down the rate at which the level gets harder.
In regards to the spacebar being used as firing control, I find it very unnatural (and so would many players, I'm sure). We'll have to wait for Chrome to fix the bug... Hopefully, not long now!
Thanks for your help, I think these adjustments will really improve the game!
(P.S. I spent awhile looking for a hover sound, but since you never really stop, it caused a very irritating drone. I'd need more direction to a non-grating sound.)