file Marble Blast: Gerson's Level Compilation 4 - RELEASED [Version 1.0.0]

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03 May 2020 12:23 - 30 May 2020 20:30 #1
Marble Blast: Gerson's Level Compilation 4

The fourth and the final sequel is finally coming



Quarantine well spent....
or I should say, thanks to quarantine?

Marble Blast: Gerson's Level Compilation (or in short Marble Blast GLC) is a modification made by me (NaCl586). It has now become a series of mod that has been released in the span of 2014-2018.

Six years ago, the first Marble Blast GLC was released in 2014, and its sequels, GLC 2 and GLC 3, were released in 2016 and 2018, respectively. Now, the fourth sequel is revealed and soon planned to be released in Summer 2020. And yes, this mod is definitely going to be the last of GLC series.

The difficulty of this mod is really aimed to be equal to GLC 1, meaning that it's time for some fun and speedrunning!

And yes, the theme of this mod is Medieval.

Special thanks for Ralph, Regislian, Marson, and Battlecube314 for helping the mod so far.

I'm just an ordinary marble blaster who like to create new and unusual things.

Creator of the Marble Blast GLC series
Check out and download my custom levels here .
Check out my original musics in this thread and in my soundcloud here .
Last edit: 30 May 2020 20:30 by NaCl586.
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03 May 2020 14:49 #2
mmm yes this means more certified poggers music

brapdoors mbg #OhBoyFreeAM!

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  • Nathan125
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04 May 2020 02:48 #3
I can't wait to play the fourth installment. :)

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06 May 2020 17:17 #4
I have to say I'm really impressed with the creative moving platform and timing-based challenges. Looking forward to the finished product.
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12 May 2020 19:58 #5
Update:



Yes.. this mod is roughly 80% complete.
I think I can imagine how moshe made Morph
Now multiply that by 30, that's how glc4 is..

I'm just an ordinary marble blaster who like to create new and unusual things.

Creator of the Marble Blast GLC series
Check out and download my custom levels here .
Check out my original musics in this thread and in my soundcloud here .

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20 May 2020 18:33 - 27 May 2020 14:00 #6
Update #2:

And yes, apart from beta testing (hmm regis and battlecube), this mod is actually completed. Now I will reveal some of the new features of Marble Blast GLC 4 (I know these are medicore, but whatever):

Perfect Indicators:


Now there are two circles near the time/gem/powerup area of the PlayGUI. These show the status of the perfects of the game (yellow indicates the status of gold perfect and white indicates the status of regular perfect). If they are gone then the respective perfect condition are not possible unless you restart the level. (Yes this is inspired by Arcaea).

Loading Screen Messages:


In GLC 4, there will be no level stats in the main menu, they are all now moved to the loading screen. Unlike in GLC 3, messages in GLC 4 are categorized whether it is a level specific message or general game message.

Apart from the two things I mentioned above, there are also some new features or fixed features from GLC 3.
List of features:
Warning: Spoiler!


And to sum everything up. I am revealing the release date:
Monday, June 1, 2020 at 12:00 AM GMT+7 (Bangkok, Hanoi, Jakarta).

Still adjusting for the most suitable the gold times while possible.

I'm just an ordinary marble blaster who like to create new and unusual things.

Creator of the Marble Blast GLC series
Check out and download my custom levels here .
Check out my original musics in this thread and in my soundcloud here .
Last edit: 27 May 2020 14:00 by NaCl586.

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30 May 2020 20:29 - 31 May 2020 23:29 #7
Finally it is released :)


Features:
  • 30+ Levels
  • New Layout for everything
  • 7+ Original Musics
  • Music Room
  • Checkpoints, Teleporter, Mega Marble
  • Statistics, Marble Selector, and Achievements
  • A surprise

List of Known Issues:
  • Mega marble and mini marble in the powerup inventory will not be saved by triggering a checkpoint.
  • The time travel bonus visual effect is a little glitched if you pick up two or more TTs in a very short amount of time (less than a second to be exact). It cannot show two texts at a same time, so the bonus time from more recent TT picked up will be overriding the bonus time from later TT.
  • Shadow reflections, especially with levels containing water or cloud layer effects on the bottom.
  • At the options menu, windowed resolution will always be set at '1280 600 32' from the list on the first time opening the options menu. The resolution will not be applied unless you click apply or restart the game.
Spoiler: Level Specific Known Issues
Warning: Spoiler!

(Note that these known issues are things beyond my control and abilities; this mod lacks of help and most of the time I did this mod by myself. I tried my best to fix or minimize the issues but due to my limitations, these are the least amount of issues that I can still give within the mod)

Thank you for downloading this mod! I hope you enjoyed the final installment of the Marble Blast GLC series. Unfortunately, the mod series is over, but I hope the fun is not. Special thanks to Regislian, Ralph, Nockess, Battlecube314, and Marson for helping this mod.

Changelog/Version History:
1.0.0 (5/31/2020)
- Initial Release, containing 30+ levels with 3 different difficulties, and 7+ musics.

Download Link: drive.google.com/file/d/1ZIi4LEu-y5Na2TOa16miySHWPWdmYpa5

If you encounter any bugs or errors that are not listed in the known issues, please send me (NaCl586) a PM in the MarbleBlast.com Forums or Discord, or just reply in the release thread.
~Gerson "NaCl586"

I'm just an ordinary marble blaster who like to create new and unusual things.

Creator of the Marble Blast GLC series
Check out and download my custom levels here .
Check out my original musics in this thread and in my soundcloud here .
Last edit: 31 May 2020 23:29 by NaCl586.

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07 Jun 2020 06:44 - 07 Jun 2020 06:53 #8
I just don't get everyone's taste here..
And now I'm not sure whether this is my fault or not.

It must be understood that all of the GLC series are very different than the traditional or conventional Marble Blast games (stressing out that it is not really meant for pathfinding). I have stated this since the beginning of the GLC1 development 6 years ago, and people were just accepting it fine. Also people's response is generally positive towards it. It wasn't the same for GLC2-4 sadly though. There was no feedback/thoughts to the mod that I can found on the respective threads, but then I discovered in another place (discord) that people dont really like GLC2-4. I remembered in the old unofficial discord that GLC 2 was bad and not really executed well (even the fact that the difficulty is very hard, even on easy mode); remember that I was just inspired by a game that even on the easy difficulty is already unfair (touhou 15). On GLC 3 I was starting to experiment with MPs as I got a lot of ideas to make levels with MP, but again, people don't really play them because it is too hard (although I already tried my best to make GLC3 easier, but ended up failing because utopia of translation is already hard). And now for GLC4, I just discovered that people ragequitted at level 4 because simply it's not speedrunable, the challenges are old and repetitive, my attempts to mimic rotating/dilating platforms are weird, and there are no pathfinding opportunity (except level 1, which Lee and HappyTreeX1 just break, tbh, incredibly as it looks fun).

Yes, since I started making levels back in 2010, I have never made a pathfinding level (except Beneath the Waterfall tho), simply because I am just unable/can do it. It's basically similar to why Regislian has never made a level. I just don't find pathfinding level fun, but rather linear styled level is more challenging and interesting to watch/play (as you get to see every sections of the level, rather than just a big arena where you have to connect the dots in as few lines as possible). I just also discovered that it can be said that I am now overusing MP in my challenges (despite me always getting new ideas for MP, let's not discuss how much time I spent to make them), and sadly, level 7 of GLC4, which is my personal most favorite level (imo also the best level I have ever made), is the worst level from GLC4. I just don't get what is your taste of levels..

Also I don't get why they are just able to easily beat UT of the most expert levels I struggled to beat PT back then when I was trying to earn a colored username (yes, mastering the marble and space station). But in the contrary, they just ragequitted at level 4 of glc4, which imo is WAYY easier than momentum/conservation of momentum. If my levels are harder than the big 5 of MBP, then no wonder I can get a colored username in 3 days...
I just seriously found my levels are way easier and fairer than most MBP expert levels (my levels just requires strategy to beat, while MBP expert requires skill). I can really imply this as you don't want to play my levels (probably because beating them does not worth anything, but beating PT of the big 5 rewards you with something that you can be proud of).

Marson said my level building skills have improved, and he said that some of GLC4 levels even are better than his levels (which gives me motivation to continue making more levels). Also Ralph, you once requested me via my instagram that I should make more levels, and I fulfilled it here in GLC4, but sadly the levels are just mediocre for others; not sure if you enjoy it or not but I can tell that the others are not. I really tried to make the levels in GLC4 fun and friendly for speedrunning, but it all useless because the levels are linear. I think the fact that I am trying to push how hard an MB level is not really a good idea after all, because everything will just be nothing if it is not fun to speedrun (yeah MB is not legend of zelda/sm3dw). You guys seem like you want to see how fast a level can be speedrunned instead of how hard a level can be made and still can be beaten.

Lastly, I just don't get it why people don't like the way I hide the extra levels in GLC4. It was still easy enough for you to discover it, because I actually planned a more complex way to hide it (for instance, using chipers to crack codes or gathering hints from previous level, well in short just methods to make you think). I was inspired by another game, where to unlock the hardest level in that game, you have to play another level perfectly before moving on to that hard level you want to unlock, in which you have to beat it to unlock it (without ability to restart the level), or you will just have to restart the step again. Yeah in short I tried to make things easier in GLC4, but you didn't seem to like it.

So I can conclude that the more the fun the level to speedrun, the better it is. And you guys just can't accept things that are not really in accordance with the trend of Marble Blast games (Marson confirmed this btw). Also 3f, I am right that people here are not really completing the whole game and just ragequitting at some point, without them being able to see the late levels in the game (in which imo is the best part of the glc4).

Also the fact that I made all GLC series just to make use of the music I made (which probably you play the game while muting the music) making the overall vibe/intended game atmosphere just lost immediately.

This whole thing just really reminds me in another community, where people streamed my creation and just making fun of it, played just to see how bad and broken my creation actually was, without even bothering to care that I was still very new on that field.

tl;dr:
People apparently don't like my levels because it is linear, hard, not speedrunable, and there is no pathfinding opportunity.
And I just don't get it why people want to grind for MtM and SS UT (or get them easily) but not just to beat my levels which are way easier than them.
After all, glad I'm deciding to end the GLC series on the 4th.
Not sure if later I make my own game, whether people will like it or not.

To conclude:
I just simply don't get it... even after the fourth try..
And no, I'm not mad or disappointed, I am just seriously confused..

I'm just an ordinary marble blaster who like to create new and unusual things.

Creator of the Marble Blast GLC series
Check out and download my custom levels here .
Check out my original musics in this thread and in my soundcloud here .
Last edit: 07 Jun 2020 06:53 by NaCl586.

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03 Mar 2021 01:21 #9
Hey so I'm sorry to hear about the negative reception for the newer GLCs, but I figured I could give my opinion as well after 100%ing the first 3.

GLC1 was a strong entry, and I really enjoyed the difficulty across all of the levels. However, some of the Lunatic levels were extremely frustrating, while others I was able to complete first try. For the most part, I enjoyed the level design, the only level I strongly disliked was the 3rd level.

GLC2 was probably my least favorite. It definitely was the hardest of them all, which is what I expected considering you said it was harder than GLC1. My biggest complaint was the level design, as there were several levels that I just strongly disliked. Not necessarily because of difficulty, but just because it either wasn't fun or was just unrewarding and frustrating. There was really only one level that was so hard it was infuriating, but the rest of the difficulty I thought was reasonable and very hard in a good way. It was just the level design that I didn't like.

GLC3 was just barely my favorite, over GLC1, but I would absolutely say GLC3 is a better mod than 1. It was much more pleasant to look at, not as insanely difficult, and was rewarding to complete. I was quite surprised to see that people don't like GLC3, because I thought of all of them, 3 would be the best received. The level design was really nice, I loved the nature theme, and the difficulty felt just right across the board. If anything, I wish there was a harder difficulty, but I don't necessarily think it was necessary to make the mod good.

As for GLC4, I can't play it. All of the particles on the towers makes me lag super hard on every single level, and there is no way to get around that except for manually removing them. Honestly, I'm surprised this mod was published with all of those particles still in the game, because I'd assume anyone would lag on those levels because of MBs poor optimization. I would love to play GLC4, but I just can't tolerate the lag, it's so bad. Maybe if there was an alternate version without those particles, I would give it a shot, but it's just unplayable for now.

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20 Mar 2021 17:08 - 24 Mar 2021 00:12 #10
I thought I'd make some comments on GLC 4 since I haven't really seen many people give it very much attention past the couple videos that are floating around and the conversations on Discord. I would do the same for GLC 2 and 3, but it's been too long since I've played either so I don't want to go off of memory or even just watching videos.

I just posted a video of all ten of the "official" GLC 4 levels in normal difficulty, and I'm delighted to say that I have pretty positive reactions. I must admit that I did criticize it a little at first, but I was looking for some video inspiration a couple weeks ago and thought that I should give the mod a fair chance and really put some time and effort into it. I'm glad I did that because there was quite a bit I would've been missing out on had I not spent some time with it.

My favorite part is simply how GLC 4 looks. I remember back when you were showing off previews of the levels on Discord and there were a plenty of compliments from a handful of people, and for good reason. This game looks beautiful, and it's easy to appreciate how much effort went into each level. The medieval theme went very well with the textures used, and I must give some extra love to the two pagoda levels (especially Oriental Swinging Slicer) because they were so well done given that the high-standard for a "beautiful" level nowadays seems to be a super-detailed nature of construction-themed level for PQ.

The only drawback when it comes to just the visuals is the game's performances drops quite a bit, just like Invictaa said. I'm fortunate to be able to play and even record in 1080p on each level, but not everyone has the computer that I do. If I had thought about this while I was beta-testing the mod, I probably would've suggested adding some form of low-detail mode, if that's even possible. God knows PQ could use it lol

There is definitely an argument that these levels are significantly harder than the ones from the previous three mods. The first three levels are pretty mellow and forgiving, but Medieval Dash (level 4) is when things really ramp up, which is honestly okay (although having it be a speed-based level makes that harder). I didn't spend more than a couple hours on any of the levels after that, which is partially because of my skill level but partially because I was able to figure out how each level worked. I thought none of the levels were unfairly difficult to the point where it was like a kaizo level, but that doesn't mean that they do take time to beat.

The commonality in basically the entire second half of the game (so levels 6-10) is everything is based around moving platform cycles, which can make things frustrating for both casual play and speedrunning because there's so much going on all at once, and if you happen to miss a cycle, you end up having to wait a few seconds until you get another chance. I had to pull off a very difficult trick at the end of Pagoda Heights (meaning the entire third floor) because the last set of moving platforms takes (I think) ten seconds to make a full trip. My previous best was 1:02 before I got my 51-second time, and there isn't really any way to get anything in between that because of the moving platforms.

To come back to a lighter note, I hope you don't feel like you're wasting your music on these mods. Regardless of what I might've said in the past on Discord (all I remember saying as I'm writing this is that you often use arpeggios), your songs give the games a very unique charm and atmosphere and there's everything good to be said about that. I've downloaded GLC mods in the past just to listen to the music, and it wouldn't surprise me if others have as well.

Let me poke at a couple quotes:

I have never made a pathfinding level (except Beneath the Waterfall tho), simply because I am just unable/can do it.

Ya gotta start somewhere. I wish there was more to be seen of any of your attempts (beyond Beneath the Waterfall) of a non-linear level because it's difficult to give a judgement on this when there's nothing to go off of. It's not like pathfinding-based levels have to be the most complex creations ever either. Marble Playground is a perfect example; it's an incredibly simple level (two sides, two floors each, a couple linear moving platforms, some slopes, some PowerUps), but still a fantastic level to find a path for. You just need to play around a bit with how big and/or complex you want your level to be. The important part is just giving the player the freedom to do basically whatever.

You guys seem like you want to see how fast a level can be speedrunned instead of how hard a level can be made and still can be beaten.

This seems to be something that was a more common and a lot more appreciated several years ago, probably back to the days of MBP's development and maybe even before that. Levels like TTOTTS, Marble Mosaic, and MPMC all fall under this category, and they were a lot more popular a while back. It just seems like nowadays the "ideal standard" for a "fun" level is one that is easy to play casually and at a fast pace. I'm not quite sure when this shift happened, or why it even happened in the first place. I imagine that a lot of people find enjoyment in both kinds of levels, but we're just so accustomed to immediately trying to beat any level as fast as possible that the fast = better mindset took over hard = better.

But in the contrary, they just ragequitted at level 4 of glc4, which imo is WAYY easier than momentum/conservation of momentum.

You (general) tend to be better at your own levels. You know them inside and out, you're first in line to a lot of the possible tricks and strategies. I personally think the Momentum and Conservation of Momentum are much easier than Medieval Dash for a number of reasons (no moving platforms, almost everything flows very well, not as many chances to have to slow down or stop), but maybe there are some people who think differently.

[hr]
TL;DR: There are a lot of things to appreciate about GLC 4, but there are a couple of downsides. Some parts are very good, some are not as good. I understand the confusion and/or frustration that you're having, and I do think people could give the mod a chance and spend some quality time with it, but there still are completely fair arguments on why it could've been better. I had a lot of fun playing the mod, and I will hopefully make the effort to play through the other three games sometime in the future.

Here's the video I made.

Call me Chris!

Discord: nockess
YouTube: www.youtube.com/Nockess
Custom Levels: marbleland.vaniverse.io/profile/53
Last edit: 24 Mar 2021 00:12 by Nockess. Reason: Posted video back since I had to reupload it.

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