Yeah, I agree that the 'Countdown' mechanic didn't come through strong enough in the main gameplay , because it rely mostly on dialogue definitely wasn't as convincing.
The story also turned out a bit too complex. I sent the game to a few other playtesters, and half of them were pretty ConFuSEd by the narrative as well!
As for the jump button... one of my friend said the exact same thing to me! XD
Thanks again for the great feedback and bug reports, really appreciate it!