Agreed, perhaps it's easier on a mobile device but I found the first two levels after the tutorial way to fast using a touchpad and left a little frustrated :-(
Easing into the difficulty slower sounds like a good plan!
I was on mobile and it felt like by the time I saw what was happening I was already losing. Very little reaction time available. I thought maybe it would be easier on a desktop, but I guess not.. maybe with a mouse instead of a trackpad.
Or maybe the author is going for the flappy bird effect. Make it punishingly hard, so players celebrate hitting level 4. But I didn’t have the same intant addiction as I did with Flappy Bird. Probably due to more complex gameplay and each level having 3 ways to play it.
Yes if you don’t already know where the bubbles are gonna fall it’s very hard to get to them in time with a trackpad. Although I play with a trackpad myself and can beat most levels.
I had a friend suggest a “course preview” during the countdown screen so that users can anticipate the bubbles without memorizing them.
I replayed it some more and I improved with each go. It’s kind of like older games, where the levels have to be learned over time to get good. I think we’ve forgotten about that with the more gentle on-ramp most games give these days.
Easing into the difficulty slower sounds like a good plan!