Agree with you. When finished, I was thinking about same thing. Though this is virtually a game it must be clear who are you playing for (in virtual process lol, and by the icon with 1up on the top left corner). Thank you for feedback. 
Never was a huge fan of the palette. Figure there could be better colors. Nice mock up, my only problem is it took me awhile to pick out which one the player was. An indicator or something that really makes the player stand out would be helpful.
Small and nice.