How long is too long for powerups

Now that we have put in a triple shot power up to our game, we got to go back a little and ask ourselves “How long should I have this active for?”

Playing with powerup

To me, the length of a power up should be determined based on a few factors:

1. How hard does the game feel
2. How effective is the powerup
3. How satisfying does it feel to the player and what is the line we have to walk so it’s not too overpowered vs not satisfying enough

In the current iteration of our game, the length of our powerup should be relatively short, but as our game evolves, we will be able to make different decisions about what we think is better for the feel of the game.
Maybe 5 seconds is too long for now, as our spawn rates are still relatively slow, but because we are going to be looking to possibly add new enemy types to our game along with adjusting our spawn rates to give it more of a challenge, we can stay with our 5 second time frame for the moment and look at possibly adjusting it when it is a more complete game.

As for you, what is your opinion on powerups and how long they should last. Do you feel the same as me, or do you have a different viewpoint?