I'm gonna remake this first post so someone would bother tohelp us.
Marble Blast Elite, the next generation of Marble Blast.
This mod will be as futuristic as possible. It will feature many never before seen stuff. If you would like to take part in this mod, PM me or E-Mail Nihahhat@aol.com.
We are currently in need of the following: Level Maker: Will take as many as possible. DTS: We are planning on having 100% new DTS, so we might need 1 or 2. Graphics: We are mainly in need of friction textures, but any textures will do. Music: Futuristic, up-beat music is needed.
We've encountered a few problems, but we predict the release date of MBE will be late 2012- Early 2013. If we can regain our pace it might even be earlier.
We will get some preview-pics or maybe even a trailer as soon as possible.
We appreciate any help you can offer. If you are busy, you can help us greatly by just spreading the word or by making a basic level, as all levels submitted will be considered.
Re: MBE (Marble Blast Elite) « Reply #2 on Jan 18, 2011, 5:37am »
We are looking for help because we haven't made many textures/levels yet. We will post a pic asap. Also our two leaders are very talented with scripting and Constructor.
Pablo Global Moderator PQ Map Engineer[ss:Default Skin] member is offline
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Re: MBE (marble blast Elite) « Reply #12 on Jan 21, 2011, 7:19am »
No thank you. I devote all of my marbling energies to PlatinumQuest. I think MBE has an almost-100% chance of dying, so I'm not going to waste my time contributing. I'd love to be proven wrong though.
I see nothing that differentiates your mod from the other dozens that have died.
No thank you. I devote all of my marbling energies to PlatinumQuest. I think MBE has an almost-100% chance of dying, so I'm not going to waste my time contributing. I'd love to be proven wrong though.
I see nothing that differentiates your mod from the other dozens that have died.
[off topic]this time is really short.
I think do another texture, that one looks really similar to MBFuture textures.
You've given me no evidence to show you're following any of that advice. That's why I'm a skeptic. Perhaps you are following it and I'm wrong; it's just more likely the other way around.
nobody Respected Marbler nobody in particular[ss:Blue Groove] member is offline
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Re: MBE (marble blast Elite) « Reply #16 on Jan 21, 2011, 12:57pm »
Look bro, if you're gonna start the mod by creating textures, it's probably not gonna actually turn out well. Start off with a lot of planning. What are each of the levels going to be like? Are you going to modify the powerups/GUI, and do you have coders? Do you need specific people for specific jobs, such as coders or level designers? Once you have every level and detail planned to some degree, even if it's just a list of levels and then a small sub-list of the challenges in them, that's ok.
THEN, I'd go with rationing off the work to your minions staff, and you're gonna need a bunch of them, I'd recommend anywhere from 5-15. MOST of the work done on the mod will be in designing new and original levels (we all hate tightropes, just, don't even start) and other gameplay-related things. Second most important is gonna be the coding aspect: besides your levels, what makes your mod YOURS? New powerups and other functions always make a mod better. About as important as this, is probably gonna be your original graphics/textures/GUI.
When you have most/all of the levels built, and they're good (all have to be done in Constructor/QuArK, no level editor!), then you've gotten farther than any non-staff mod has ever gone before. But if you do, then, you want to start making textures, reworking the GUI, designing buttons, and other stuff like that. If you can do all of this successfully, then you have a very good mod, and a lot of people are going to want to test it. However, if any of the parts, especially the levels, are slopped through, it's easy to tell.
Pablo Global Moderator PQ Map Engineer[ss:Default Skin] member is offline
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Re: MBE (marble blast Elite) « Reply #17 on Jan 21, 2011, 1:02pm »
Great post, "nobody." I agree with you that the levels are by far the most important part of the mod. However, I don't recommend leaving textures until the end. Textures play a big role in creating the "feel" of the mod, which I think makes or breaks it. I'd put the flow of a mod like this: Feel > textures, graphics, sounds > levels (lengthiest step) > testing, fine-tuning
Very few mods even establish a feel before they die. MBA did, but it kind of failed on the levels. MBF might have, but after a year and a half with no updates I'm forced to conclude it's dead (Aayrl's protests notwithstanding). MBP and PQ were/will be such successes because they created an almost-tangible feel and stuck with it throughout development. Dozens of noob mods didn't, and therefore failed. I don't want yours to be added to that list, but I fear it will be.
IsraeliRD Administrator Dragon Power Supreme[ss:Default Skin] member is offline
Controlling Marble Blast with my mind
Joined: Oct 2006 Gender: Male Posts: 12,666 Location: Lung Fung Tower, Chang Yang
Re: MBE (marble blast Elite) « Reply #18 on Jan 21, 2011, 3:03pm »
PQ doesn't go in the same route as anything. As a matter of fact, even MBP went on a similar route as any "n00b" mod out there. MBF is alive, Pablo doesn't want to accept it, but then again he's not on the staff list like some other people (myself included), so he doesn't know about anything.
So how did MBP go?
1) Jase, Phil and I wanted a new levels pack. 40 levels, some textures, skies and that's it. 2) It got bigger. We wanted new sounds, modify the GUI (at the time we couldn't) and wanted to give MBG a new look. 3) We hired more people to make levels. Jase and Phil did texturing, Phil made a sky at some point (the famous egg skybox) and the rest of us did levels. 4) We started coding parts of the game where we could, but the main part was: make levels. We'll get the 4th difficulty (expert) running at some point. 5) Eventually we got better and made new sounds to go with the new powerup names (mind you, all staff were always discussing, even at the very start, what we want to see in the end product), more levels and started to change the look of the GUI itself. 6) After much testing, we figured out QuArK/Constructor is a must; you have an interior limit of 512 on windows, beyond which if the 513th interior tries to load will cause an immediate crash. We tried to keep levels to 1 interior, but splicing them to 2-3 helps performance. We don't expect everyone to play MBP from Beg. Level 1 to Exp. Level 25 in 1 go, but if that happens, our interior number is <512. Moving platforms do not count towards this number. 7) We tested the game, played it thoroughly, tried to think what others would want or if they would like feature X etc and kept developing. 8) We released a demo (you don't have to) as the final teaser, but kept developing 9) Released MBP 10) Kept supporting MBP since release. We're now at 1.20.
Note that MBP never got much in terms of features by the time 1.00 came out-- most of the stuff came really late into development. As we produced new versions, we added more things, but nothing for gameplay.
How does PQ fare? 1) It started with an idea of mine I really wanted, and with Aayrl it got confirmation that it would be good and we started discussing it in detail. I talked to Phil and other staff members in a MSN group chat and we ended up changing some of its core ideas to better ones, which sounded a lot better. 2) Now that we knew what the mainstream idea was, we started to build the mod around it, and called it MBP 1.20/1.50. Seeing as I knew what I wanted in it, I made a kickass long post all about it, trying to put into writing the general idea, its specifics, how it would work and everything. 3) People started modifying the idea, and we all discussed any modifications and some parts were replaced. This still happens to this day.
Now that we have our basic plan, we started to make levels. After a few ones, Phil made some textures for us to start using and we rolled. Likewise, since we wanted things to be available from the start, we usually waited for certain features and codes to be implemented before we could create the levels. As well, sometimes we needed new ones exclusive for our levels (although others can use them), so we requested them so it could give our levels an even more unique feel.
4) We made up some skyboxes, although we know they will probably be changed or modified, but we don't have much in terms of sounds. GUI? We have little, we just took MBP's and added to it. We decided that since it works, we'll leave to fix or modify it to be better at a later stage. 5) Currently we're also doing huge changes to the game so we can start fitting in the very core ideologies that started the whole thing. It's slowly being implemented, we decided we want more to it and we're working on it. No doubt this process will take us months, but the end result is worth it. We're also bugtesting on the go with all staff; having both Windows and Mac users and having a number of stuff wanting different things allows us to further develop these features and fix bugs well ahead of time.
And therefore, unlike MBP, we implement new features during development (from the start!). As such, levels take advantage of these new features (or ask for new ones), creating much better levels than we previously could.
So where are we at? We're making levels, as that's the biggest part. However, levels also need features and new stuff, so we put it up on the list. All staff have their level listing plus ideas so we have it somewhere stored and we can shared opinions ahead of time. We also have the whole thing planned in different ways so every major aspect of the gameplay or game itself is separated from the rest. As long as levels are being produced, the main mod itself can work out; there's no doubt your #1 priority is coders. If you got none, don't bother on new features unless you or someone else on your staff is going to learn Torque ASAP. If you can't and no one else is going to do so, then don't worry about new things. MBP was going to be a "new look" to MBG before we got coders. Also, in this community, there's practically no point asking for coders as they're all busy working on other mods and really there aren't many coders in here (3-4 imo). So ignore the "new features" and go for the new look. Take MBG's gui, make it look better, make new levels, add in checkpts, eggs, textures, skyboxes etc. and who cares if you don't have new powerups? tbh, I'd much more enjoy a high quality mod with good levels even if it does not present much in the way of new features, than a half-cared about mod with new stuff. MBA was the 2nd one. MBP was the first one (1.00 didn't have much new stuff like 1.20 has atm).
Finally, learn the tools of the trade. New shapes are usually done through Blender, but you need to also code them in. New powerups = Blender + coder. Textures, Skybox, UI = Graphics designer. GUI = Coder & Graphics desinger. Level building = QuArK/Constructor & level designers (preferrably 5 or more). Also, figure out who's leading the team, who are the "top staff" and remember even if you're "top", everyone has opinion. The more you argue with each other (because you think because you're the leader THEREFORE it has to be done how you want it), the more chances Pablo's prediction that the mod dies becomes true. You all share ideas, you all talk about them, you all think of it properly. If you don't like it and the rest do, then you do it anyway because the rest wins. You don't like it and you're the leader? your problem. Learn that just because you're the leader doesn't mean it has to be done your way. PQ was going to have things I thought would be best for it, but obviously we don't have them anymore (and I agree with the decisions to drop them) or we modified them.
In conclusion, you're following MBP's steps. I suggest you go for a good mod with not much in the way of new stuff. If you go for new things, do it only after you got yourself a coder. PQ wouldn't start if we didn't have the people for it. Note that PQ staff are organised, we had to figure out a lot and learn a lot from MBP and our past mistakes. It helps us and helps you. A good mod will take a year to produce, minimum. Also, if you think >100 levels is a good idea, then you seriously need a crapload of new and original ideas. 50 excellent levels are much better than 150 levels that I'd only play once.
And if you don't want to do a mod, it's fine by us, we've seen many come and go and most indications are you're going to be no exception. I'm not saying you shouldn't, but a mod is a lot harder than it sounds; the more you want into it, the longer it will take to do. You're also non-paid and taking this as a hobby while you maintain your own life and social life. All in all? mod gets less attention.
If you're giving up (or thinking everyone's against you [although we're really pessimists and wonder how one can do different to the rest]), don't worry, making levels is always welcome around and we all love to play good levels; I'm personally a sucker for well developed levels done in the level editor.
RDs.empire Respected Marbler Silent 3D artist[ss:Phil'sEmpire Skin] member is offline
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Re: MBE (marble blast Elite) « Reply #25 on Jan 22, 2011, 6:45pm »
@Acerus texture. That thing would look better if it was in one color like blue instead of multiply colors. Now i cant look on it longer than 10 seconds.
Sim Nine Advanced Marbler Mr. Random Task[ss:Prolassic] member is offline
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Re: MBE (marble blast Elite) « Reply #26 on Jan 23, 2011, 2:15am »
Back on topic...
Lamp, I agree with IsraeliRD that mods are made by building on a much smaller idea, in this case the "level pack" that evolved into the MBP with 40k downloads as we know it today. What I mean is that you might want to start by looking at this mod simply as a MBG/MBP retexture (something I have considered doing), so that it isn't totally overwhelming (as most mods tend to be for the people that start them)
Marble of Randomness Professional Marbler Returned-to-Island Marbler[ss:Jase's skin] member is offline
New name! I'm still RM38. ;)
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Re: MBE (Marble Blast Elite) « Reply #29 on Mar 12, 2011, 12:15pm »
Wait wait.. Lamp, make sure you guys know what you are doing.. Follow Pablo, IRD and nobody because they what they are doing since they've been here since 2006. If you don't want your mod to die, follow their advice and trust me, it works.
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