to recap, the idea was to use a 3d effect as in old arcades (Supersacaler), but there was a problem with volumes, since the objects are represented as a flat sprite in a 3d world. The thing is that this removes the depth of the objects, and when comparing collisions I have to either take away the depth of the objects or show their depth somehow. I decided to 'slice objects'; it looks unusual but at least when colliding with something it does not look as if the object was far away and leaves the player with a 'what did just happen' sensation
so far I feel comfortable with the speed and game pacing and gameplay, so besides of a missing element and some tweaks, I expect the final version to be close to this. Of course that is only for the mechanics, not the art (open to comments about expected final art, not the current art that is just a placeholder). I am really fond of 16 bit games and arcade cabinets before polygons, and I really like the art of things like Metal Slug, so I plan to look at those for inspiration (not to copy those, since those have already been made)