Hi, I see the expected problem with key release in my default linux terminal. If I add myself to the input group for kernel reading of keys as suggested, keyboard works fine.  When I use kitty, keyboard works fine.
 
Unfortunately my gamepad (a new 8bitdo) is laggy/stuttery and unusable on either! It sort of starts and stops. I could perhaps set my gamepad to send keyboard inputs viat qjoystick or something, but that is fiddly and annoying too. 

Same gamepad works perfectly on the web fwiw.

So I just wanted to let you know bc I imagine lots of people will prefer gamepad over keys. If you have any suggestions that I could try, I'd appreciate it. 

Otherwise, really cool and fun game, keep up the good work! I have already told a few friends about it. By the way I heard about it on Metafilter :)

Hmm weird, for me it works great with an xbox 360 and playstation 4 gamepad (tested both on ubuntu and the default gnome terminal).

Would be great if you can try it with one of those, just to check if it's a gamepad specific issue or still occurs regardless

I tried a PS4 controller on kitty and it technically works, but still has lag/stutter on both analog sticks. Interestingly the stutter is not as bad as on the 8bit Do, but still not really usable.  The dpads on both are very jumpy too. 

Happy to do more diagnostics or give info if it would help. I'm on Pop OS btw, so maybe its their fault?  In my understanding it's still a lot of Ubuntu underneath though. 

Thanks for the fast response! In the meantime, I'll work on my keyboard skills, or maybe experiment with pasting my save in/out of web and console versions :)

(I'll also look for my 360 controllers and update if I try them) 

Edit: Oh wait, I remembered that sometimes wireless is the problem. My PS4 controller works fine when plugged in via USB! But it's still weird that there's such a difference between bluetooth and wired. And the 8bitdo is wireless but not bluetooth, its little dongle should make it look the same as any USB to the OS (and it works fine on the web player). So I think it's not just a bluetooth issue either.

Thanks for the detailed feedback!

I will add a diagnostic mode to the game where it writes input events and how it handles them, with markers for anything suspicious.

The web version and terminal version work quite differently (the web version doesn't actually have a terminal and gets inputs from the browser, not the OS).

Steam warned me about wireless vs wired PS controllers, apparently there is some extra jank in their protocols or whatever.

Fun! Anyway, will let you know when the diagnostic mode is in

Just adding info that on Kitty terminal with a wired PS5 Duelshock controller this currently is working fine, I don't feel any lag on my setup. However I don't have a bluetooth on my pc and am on a very beefy hardware setup.