Suggested PlatinumQuest Leaderboards Rearrangements and Additions
A few ideas that I feel would improve organization or the PlatinumQuest Leaderboards.
1) Addition of Bonus Pack for Marble Blast Gold XBOX exclusive levels. Relocation and Re-texturing of Hypercube.
While I feel that adding Hypercube to the online leaderboards in 1.50 was a great idea, I feel it's a bit out of place in Marble Blast Ultra. It's the only MBU level that's played with MBG rules (standard marble size, no ultra-blasting), and it gives the Advanced section an odd twenty-first level. I also think the other nine exclusive levels (which Whirligig extracted in Marble Blast Powered Up) are worthy of being added to the online leaderboards, as several of them have challenges which were removed in the MBU conversions, such as the tornado in Timely Ascent, and the muddy slope in Mountaintop Retreat. Thus I suggest creating a new level pack including Hypercube (with textures reverted to the original edition) and the other nine levels which are exclusive to MBG XBOX. For further unification, the Ultimate Time of 15 seconds should be removed, but added as an achievement so players who finish in under 15 seconds are still recognized and rewarded. Golden Finale will remain an achievement, though the icon should be replaced with an MBG textured image. Other achievements could also potentially be added for low times on the other MBG Xbox exclusives. Or other noteworthy challenges.
An issue to debate is whether they should be added as a Bonus sector for MBG, or a new Custom Levels pack. If they are added to MBG as a fourth category, it would interfere with the calculation of total game time/score, and inactive/retired players would fall down the leaderboards and the scoreboards would become less representative of players' overall skill. Besides, those levels were not included in any official computer-based Marble Blast games, so I think MBG total time should be kept as the original 100 levels. Thus I believe adding to custom would be a better idea, as due to addition of new level packs, custom rating is already skewed toward recently active players by default, so adding MBG Bonus here would not be too harmful. However, if people prefer adding as a bonus section for Gold, I would recommend adding LB filters for including/excluding Bonus levels from total time/score. A similar filter could also be added for PQ as well, and possibly one for MBP + DC.
2) Addition of 12 Easter Eggs from MBG XBOX.
To further include MBG XBOX features here, addition of the Easter Eggs that appeared in that game would be an interesting idea. Also with the recent rise in community interest in egg speedruns I'm sure some people would enjoy this. And it wouldn't hurt to further modify the levels, as this wouldn't interfere with records in any way, and these levels may have already undergone minor modifications since their original editions.
3) Addition of a new level to Level Packs 30-39 to replace Powerup Facility.
For further uniformity in the leaderboards, a new level could be added to 30-39 so that like the other custom level packs it contains an even 50 levels. I would recommend another Buzzmusic level without strange unfixable glitches (maybe Jumping Philosophy, Grass Castle or Viridescent Construction?) though I'm sure other people would have better ideas on that. I would suggest adding a replacement for Trapeze of the Future in 40-49 as well but that pack had an odd 51 levels anyway.
4) Addition of Rube Goldberg Course (from May 2007 edition of MBP) to Director's Cut.
It's a fun level, and it was a level that didn't make it into the final version of MBP. I think it's worthy of inclusion on this leaderboard.
So what do you think of these ideas? Or do you have any other suggestions along these lines? I'd be down to discuss this with the rest of the community.
1) Addition of Bonus Pack for Marble Blast Gold XBOX exclusive levels. Relocation and Re-texturing of Hypercube.
While I feel that adding Hypercube to the online leaderboards in 1.50 was a great idea, I feel it's a bit out of place in Marble Blast Ultra. It's the only MBU level that's played with MBG rules (standard marble size, no ultra-blasting), and it gives the Advanced section an odd twenty-first level. I also think the other nine exclusive levels (which Whirligig extracted in Marble Blast Powered Up) are worthy of being added to the online leaderboards, as several of them have challenges which were removed in the MBU conversions, such as the tornado in Timely Ascent, and the muddy slope in Mountaintop Retreat. Thus I suggest creating a new level pack including Hypercube (with textures reverted to the original edition) and the other nine levels which are exclusive to MBG XBOX. For further unification, the Ultimate Time of 15 seconds should be removed, but added as an achievement so players who finish in under 15 seconds are still recognized and rewarded. Golden Finale will remain an achievement, though the icon should be replaced with an MBG textured image. Other achievements could also potentially be added for low times on the other MBG Xbox exclusives. Or other noteworthy challenges.
An issue to debate is whether they should be added as a Bonus sector for MBG, or a new Custom Levels pack. If they are added to MBG as a fourth category, it would interfere with the calculation of total game time/score, and inactive/retired players would fall down the leaderboards and the scoreboards would become less representative of players' overall skill. Besides, those levels were not included in any official computer-based Marble Blast games, so I think MBG total time should be kept as the original 100 levels. Thus I believe adding to custom would be a better idea, as due to addition of new level packs, custom rating is already skewed toward recently active players by default, so adding MBG Bonus here would not be too harmful. However, if people prefer adding as a bonus section for Gold, I would recommend adding LB filters for including/excluding Bonus levels from total time/score. A similar filter could also be added for PQ as well, and possibly one for MBP + DC.
2) Addition of 12 Easter Eggs from MBG XBOX.
To further include MBG XBOX features here, addition of the Easter Eggs that appeared in that game would be an interesting idea. Also with the recent rise in community interest in egg speedruns I'm sure some people would enjoy this. And it wouldn't hurt to further modify the levels, as this wouldn't interfere with records in any way, and these levels may have already undergone minor modifications since their original editions.
3) Addition of a new level to Level Packs 30-39 to replace Powerup Facility.
For further uniformity in the leaderboards, a new level could be added to 30-39 so that like the other custom level packs it contains an even 50 levels. I would recommend another Buzzmusic level without strange unfixable glitches (maybe Jumping Philosophy, Grass Castle or Viridescent Construction?) though I'm sure other people would have better ideas on that. I would suggest adding a replacement for Trapeze of the Future in 40-49 as well but that pack had an odd 51 levels anyway.
4) Addition of Rube Goldberg Course (from May 2007 edition of MBP) to Director's Cut.
It's a fun level, and it was a level that didn't make it into the final version of MBP. I think it's worthy of inclusion on this leaderboard.
So what do you think of these ideas? Or do you have any other suggestions along these lines? I'd be down to discuss this with the rest of the community.