PopularityQuest: A Community Underdog Story

Personally a fan of Marble Blast Community Edition. I think it's a more descriptive title. It gives an understanding that this is the version of MB where community scoring, multiplayer events, and easily accessible custom levels are, and it also says who maintains the game and thus where to discuss its development and more.

I did think about possible new game additions to PQ, but didn't really think it'd matter. But, hearing someone actually go out and say it, I think it makes more sense.

If we were to actually stick with "Marble Blast Community Edition"... would it be a bad idea to add a colon in there? For "Marble Blast: Community Edition"?

Also, I think going back to the shape of MBP's logo would be a potential good idea here. It's more ubiquitous to Marble Blast as a whole, while PQ's logo is more clearly, well... PQ. It's even meant to be a mix of a P and a Q. There's something to be said about the marble with the PQ logo on it in MIU But I don't think this would invalidate that at all. It can still be giving credit to PlatinumQuest (individual game) and that can be fine.

Adding on that there's some additional Discord discussion happening here for anyone looking to see the whole conversation.

Do we apologize for double posting in the big '26? Especially when it's actually important and a result of new information arising?

On second thought, I don't think "Marble Blast Ultimate Edition" is a good name and I'm the one who suggested that. It feels too commercialized and official for what's really a community mod for a game that's been abandonware ever since GarageGames lost the rights in 2011. "Marble Blast Community Edition" is more accurate to what this game is. And as Nockess already pointed out MBUE is not a good acronym.

Maybe like "ExtraMB" because it like conveys the extra stuff while having the marble blast thing (tecnically since the acronim is in the name but still) Also makes an acronim style that other MB mods never did (EMB)

Yoshicraft224 wrote:

Really stupid idea that I'm just throwing out there for lols:
OpenMBP
 

And if you shake off your P, you end up with Open Marble Blast (OMB) instead, makes it look more stupid but funnier.

NF wrote:

It would be easy to "make that change immediately" if we actually came to a consensus. How about a poll? And regarding the logo, maybe we should have a topic like the one for Discord server icon submissions  but for the actual PQ icon.

 

I don't know if we really need a poll at this point. Most of us who care about this subject agree with naming it "Marble Blast: Community Edition", unless the Discord speaks a different volume, then we can just go ahead with starting this change.

An icon submission thread would rock, that's something we could set up. We know what we wanna aim for something in the same line as MBG and MBP, that's an easy enough template to work with.

also i thought about it for a bit, and like sure it can bring in new people in the community, but it would be weird for people that already play PQ (like me) so it would be confusing to them if the name changed.

RaphaXP wrote:

also i thought about it for a bit, and like sure it can bring in new people in the community, but it would be weird for people that already play PQ (like me) so it would be confusing to them if the name changed.
 

If you're already playing PQ, then you're already in the community. You're not the intended target.

yeah, Plus you stole my idea with ExtraMB just to make a point for another suggestion >

DoxtonPink wrote:

I don't know if we really need a poll at this point. Most of us who care about this subject agree with naming it "Marble Blast: Community Edition", unless the Discord speaks a different volume, then we can just go ahead with starting this change.

 

Yeah I agree, we should go ahead with the name change. Lingering on this will only take away time that we could be spending into making the rebrand happen, and it seems like most people agree with Marble Blast: Community Edition either way, soooo...

DoxtonPink wrote:

An icon submission thread would rock, that's something we could set up. We know what we wanna aim for something in the same line as MBG and MBP, that's an easy enough template to work with.

 

Oh absolutely.

Anyways, I'm glad we're finally getting this rock rolling after countless talks about rebranding which never went anywhere. I'm really excited about this, and I'm especially excited to see what new icons people come up with for Marble Blast: Community Edition.

RaphaXP wrote:

yeah, Plus you stole my idea with ExtraMB just to make a point for another suggestion >
 

You're talking bla bla right now. Did you invent adding a word before Marble Blast? Do you have the papers to prove it? Do you even know what a legal paper is?
We're talking about community changes, so unless you have something to offer that isn't "what if we used this abbriviation that was never used", then you can fuck off.

I was thinking, when we do go ahead with the name change and give it a dedicated icon, what happens to the Discord server's icon, since that is still "PQ". I'm just assuming it'll remain the same. Just something to ponder upon.

I'm thinking the most obvious choice would be to change it to the new logo as well.

Yeah that's what I assumed what we meant by new logo, not just something for the game. Man this means we gotta sunset the seasonal logos and start making new ones for the new logo.

I know people are deciding to call it Marble Blast: Community Edition, but I would love if it was called Marble Blast Platinum. I think it feels more accurate, and I like the idea of a 2007 mod being updated to this day with the same name.

But again, it does not matter. It has been decided.

Marble Blast Platinum+. An extension to Marble Blast Platinum. Take it or leave it I guess 

For those who still desire the game to be renamed back to MBP, take a look at how visually different the games look.
This screams MBPs, because thats how you remember it looking years ago before PQ, or maybe you are a webport player.
 
This does not scream MBP even if the name was changed, it just does not look like what people remember MBP as and know it like that. Additionally, the webport utilizes the MBP user interface as well, so a rename would also cause a clash with that. 
 
Tldr: both the games have developed their own identities due to their different art styles and renaming one to the other will create confusion among players.

No but actually I'm just suggesting a name for the name change and I currently don't know whether or not I favor with Marble Blast: Community Edition. But yeah I support this name a little bit, for now

Marble Blast: Community Edition is the only real option there should be no debate

Well no because im a bad person

That makes sense.

I think it should be called Marble Blast: Community Edition, then.

RandomityGuy wrote: This does not scream MBP even if the name was changed, it just does not look like what people remember MBP as and know it like that. Additionally, the webport utilizes the MBP user interface as well, so a rename would also cause a clash with that.

MBP 1.50 also has a much different look from older versions of MBP. One that seems to transition pretty smoothly from older MBP to PQ. I think the only reason PQ's UI style doesn't seem like it fits MBP is just because it isn't MBP. I feel like it would fit just fine. As for Webport, it would look like an older version of MBP because it is an older version of MBP. If Vani doesn't want Webport to mimic an older version of MBP, then that's on him.

Actually, that makes sense.

In that case, I definitely vote for it to be named Marble Blast Platinum. It seems to be the most fitting.

Bro Nockess just explained that it doesnt work!

RaphaXP wrote:

Well no because im a bad person

 

Time for my two cents, I guess. Go with "Marble Blast Community Edition". It's descriptive and has a decent, unique abbreviation. Omit the colon, which slows down your reading and feels like it interrupts the flow when the name is placed in a sentence.

"Ultimate Edition" is terrible. It suggests that nothing better will surpass this mod. If something does, the name won't age well.

Saying "Edition" is corny enough as it is, anyway. Edition of what? Marble Blast would seem to be a franchise. MBCE may be an edition of the game/mod called MBP/PQ/MBCE, or perhaps an edition of the base game Marble Blast along with the other derivatives (particularly MBG, MBU, and MBO). Finally, "Edition" implies something like a claim to the franchise, but, well, it's basically ours anyway.

I think adding a word to the beginning of "Marble Blast" warrants more consideration. "Open Marble Blast" is kind of weird because, if I'm not mistaken, there are at least two other open-source recreations of a Marble Blast game. It's not even that "open", is it?

A note on the logo. It would benefit from something more than a one-round contest. Suppose I have an idea for a particular style that takes a long time to get just right, or that 80% of the work on a project can be for the last 20% of the result. If I have five ideas that I want to get fair consideration, do I have to do all that work just so they don't lose for lack of polish? Or what if one person has a good idea but another person has better skill to execute it? Possibly do away with the competition altogether and let the logo be community-made, hmm?

Weather wrote: Omit the colon, which slows down your reading and feels like it interrupts the flow when the name is placed in a sentence.

I think the name is super duper weird without the colon, which is why I was pushing for just going back to "Marble Blast Platinum" so hard, but, since putting the colon there, I've warmed up to it much much more.

I talked about all this in the Discord conversation linked above, but the crux of the issue is that "Community Edition" isn't really, like... part of the actual title part of the title, if that makes sense. Well... putting it that way, I guess simply enough, it seems more like a subtitle, which is something that would be a little weird to include in the same line. Kinda like "Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker" vs. "Captain Toad Treasure Tracker", or, more relevantly, "Minecraft: Pocket Edition" vs. "Minecraft Pocket Edition".

I also compared this to the other names in the series like "Marble Blast Gold" and "Marble Blast Platinum". The name "Marble Blast Community Edition" basically aims to replace the suffixes of "Gold", "Ultra", and "Platinum" with "Community Edition", which... is not the same sort of thing. And naming the game just "Marble Blast Community" would be inconceivably retarded. And I make this comparison just to give a better example of what I'm talking about. If the precedent of naming games "Marble Blast x" wasn't already there, I imagine my opinion on this proposed name would still remain largely the same, if not moreso. I think the only thing that gives omitting the colon any credence at all is the fact that other games in the series have already had similar naming schemes. But, to compare more directly, and to give an idea of my subjective feelings on the matter... "Marble Blast Community Edition" without the colon gives me exactly the same sort of ick as seeing "Marble Blast: Platinum" or something of the sort.

I would also comment on your third paragraph about "Edition" being corny, but it seems like you've already pointed out everything I was going to say yourself. But, yes, I imagine it's just an edition of... the "Marble Blast" game concept as a whole. Though, I guess this would make it a little weird that Marble Blast Platinum and especially PlatinumQuest don't really exist on their own outside of the "Community Edition" collection.

Weather wrote:

A note on the logo. It would benefit from something more than a one-round contest. Suppose I have an idea for a particular style that takes a long time to get just right, or that 80% of the work on a project can be for the last 20% of the result. If I have five ideas that I want to get fair consideration, do I have to do all that work just so they don't lose for lack of polish? Or what if one person has a good idea but another person has better skill to execute it? Possibly do away with the competition altogether and let the logo be community-made, hmm?

Yes? That's the point of the icon submission thread, I don't know where you got any idea of a competition from. I hope none of you thought we'd compete for an icon, that'd be retarded.
Im envisioning this thread to be treated more as a discussion rather than a competition, I've kept the rules intentionally lax, there's no limit on how many drafts you can offer or if you're allowed to do collaborative work, maybe it's my fault for not making this clear.

Yeah! Maybe we can do a MB mod-like name since PQ is a mod (Kinda)

Late to the party but I agree a name change would be preferable as well as reducing friction for new players getting into the game. On a similar note, have we considered putting the launcher/game on Steam or other platforms? It would really improve discoverability since people could find it on the store looking for other marble games, and also see via their friends being in game.