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(ENGLISH BELOW) Leider habe ich hier etwas Kritik anzubringen, aber auch Gutes:

* Die Steuerung kommt leider direkt aus der Hölle. Steuerung ist schwammig, Eingaben mit dem Feuerknopf haben eine Verzögerung, so das aus "Setzte einen Stein" eine "Bewege dich nach XYZ" wird. Gerade bei zeitkritischen Dingen, wie z.B. das "Einsperren von herrumfliegenden Gegner", kann dies schnell Nerven kosten und frustierend sein, jeglich "Das muss so sein, weil HART!" mal hier irgnoriert. Auch den Tipp (den ich leider erst nach dem Kauf des Spieles gelesen habe), man solle doch anstatt des Joysticks, Keybindings verwenden und mit der Tastatur spielen, nimmt nicht nur das "Klassische Spielegefühl" weg, sondern bringt überhaupt nichts, wegen der so oder so schwammigen Steuerung und der Verzögerung. Die positiven Auswirkungen sind hier eher maginal.

* Weiterhin finde ich es eher suboptimal, dass Gegner diagonal Steinblöcke durchqueren können. Ansich könnte man sich darauf einrichten, jedoch gilt hier wohl leider nicht die Regelung für die Monster "Eintrittswinkel gleich Austrittswinkel", sondern diese können einfach mal Spontan die Orientierung ändern, so dass man keine Chance hat, sich auf Bewegungsmuster einzustellen und clever einen Schritt vorzuplanen (z.B. "Moster mit Blöcken einsperren").

* Positiv zu bewerten sind:
  * Soundeffekte
  * Grafik richtig toll
  * Highscore wird gespeichert (mit LANGEN Namen!)
  * Der Levelfortschritt wird mitgespeichert (anstatt Passwörter o.Ä.)
  * Das Spielprinzip ist schnell zu erlernen
  * Es wurde keine KI/LLM verwendet (riesen Bonus!)
  * Der Preis ist völlig OK!
  * Handbuch in zwei Sprachen
  * Erhätlich auf mehreren Plattformen, in einem Kauf

* Mein Vorschlag/Wunsch:
Unbedingt die Steuerung richten. Hier sollte man sich UNBEDINGT an spielen wie "Solomon's Key" oder "Spherical" orientieren(!).

ENGLISH COMMENT:

Unfortunately, I have some criticisms to make here, but there are positives too:

* The controls are, sadly, a nightmare. They’re unresponsive, and there’s a delay when pressing the fire button, so that ‘place a stone’ turns into ‘move to XYZ’. Especially with time-sensitive tasks, such as ‘trapping flying enemies’, this can quickly get on your nerves and be frustrating – so let’s ignore any claims that ‘it has to be this way because it’s HARD!’ Even the tip (which I unfortunately only read after buying the game) that you should use keybindings and play with the keyboard instead of the joystick not only takes away the ‘classic gaming feel’, but achieves absolutely nothing, due to the controls being imprecise anyway and the lag. The positive effects here are rather marginal.

* Furthermore, I find it rather suboptimal that enemies can pass through stone blocks diagonally. In theory, you could adapt to this, but unfortunately the rule for monsters that ‘the angle of entry equals the angle of exit’ doesn’t seem to apply here; instead, they can simply change direction on the spur of the moment, so you have no chance to adjust to their movement patterns and plan your next move cleverly (e.g. ‘trap monsters with blocks’).

* The positives are:
  * Sound effects
  * Really great graphics
  * High scores are saved (even with LONG names!)
  * Progress through the levels is saved (instead of passwords or similar)
  * The gameplay is easy to pick up
  * No AI/LLM was used (huge bonus!)
  * The price is absolutely fine!
  * Manual in two languages
  * Available on multiple platforms, in a single purchase

* My suggestion/request:
The controls absolutely must be sorted out. Here, you should DEFINITELY take your cue from games like ‘Solomon's Key’ or ‘Spherical’ (!).

(ENGLISH BELOW) Kleiner Nachtrag:

Wie es scheint, existiert die Eingabeverzögerung auch bereits schon im Auswahlmenü. Weiterhin heißen die "Level" im Auswahlmenü "Stage", anstatt "Level"... Was stimmt nun? ;-)



ENGLISH:

A quick update:

It seems the input delay is already present in the selection menu. Also, the “Levels” in the selection menu are labelled “Stage” instead of “Level”... So which is correct? ;-)

(+1)

The controls don’t come straight from hell — maybe they took a detour through hell. That might be true. But the controls in https://natthrafn.itch.io/blocknbubble come straight from hell. You really have to experience that 😉

Because I’ve been testing the game constantly, I’m so used to it that it doesn’t really feel sluggish to me. I’ve tweaked it a bit, and maybe it plays better now. Version 4.0 is now available for download. Give that one a try. It may also help to change the game speed with the G key. That might help.

I don’t actually own a joystick, so this is basically a blind flight for me. However, since many C64 players prefer using a joystick, I added that feature. Personally, I moved on from joysticks more than 30 years ago… but it was a tough withdrawal back then hahaha

The bubbles’ movement is now deterministic and no longer randomly bouncing around. I didn’t really mind either way. In general, I actually think the game turned out far too easy… you can almost play through it in one go.
The Mac/Win/Linux version in particular has become quite easy. But maybe that’s because I’m used to playing with the keyboard.

Stages and/or levels is confusing, that’s true. I hadn’t really noticed it. It has now been changed to “Level” throughout.

Thanks a lot as well for the positive criticism!

Try to have some fun with the game anyway and let me know if it's more playable for you now.

(+1)

P.S. your gameplay looks not too bad!