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.