i realised that somehow when i thought i fixed my autofire glitch i had going on, i also made the player uncontrollable during the ready phase at the start of each level. this is rectified now and the button doesn’t get stuck anymore to boot!
i also tweaked the enemy health bat system a bit so that the bars aren’t activated until they have actually been damaged… a nice change i am very happy about made in response to invaluable user feedback.