We actually started out at the very beginning with limiting it to 8 directions, and the idea was that levels would be puzzles where bombs don't respawn at all, you just get one shot to position everything and combo it into the goal. Someone pointed out that's not how golf works, and having to do the same thing over and over again just because you messed up one would be frustrating, and we should allow getting closer and closer to the goal like actual golf. Once we decided on chaos over precision, the 8 directions thing didn't make as much sense.
I think a puzzle mode could still work, but you'd have to position the bombs with the mouse, and when you retry it keeps them in the same position so you can tweak, instead of needing to reposition.
On pausing, this was originally intended as a way for people to stop and think, and not require them to be perfect with their button inputs, but I set the pause speed to be 5% so you still have a LITTLE pressure to make a decision, but it's less intense. After playing for a while, I discovered it was useful as well for that kind of precision shot, so increased the default pause time to 10% to make that more viable. I think SLOW rather than PAUSE makes more sense as a way to express this is intended, but also I quite like the idea of people discovering it themselves and feeling like they've come up with their own strategy.