Marble Blast STOP II has 25 out of the 100 Intermediates done

IsraeliRD wrote:

Emerald Marble wrote: Not this again............

And you're not being helpful because it is not happening again.

What is being told is that the mod's "credibility" (perception) is being low because they were just outted by the community for continuing for the nth time what they were told NOT to do. Something that has been happening for couple of years now.

No one here complains about the side-scrolling mode.
No one complains about the camera adjustment against the one in PQ.
Everyone complains about the level design that was shown to be identical to that in PQ.

So because I'm in a good mood for once, I'll give good helpful info for the mod.
This is the same advice I gave many other people and mods and they haven't followed through.
Maybe this time people will listen...
(not hopeful)

This pertains to what is shown to the public in terms of screenshots, videos and level design. Additional advice regarding other matters are on the bottom.

Screenshots:

- DO show off the feature you want to show. This is the centre of the screenshot. Crop if necessary.

- Make sure your screenshot's background is proper. Background is the level, the skybox, scenery, GUI etc. Crappy level being shown doesn't help. It is not something anyone want to play.

- DO hype people. If the feature is obvious then you want to explain it and perhaps PART of it's usage. Do NOT reveal all your cards. If the feature isn't very obvious, do NOT go further on it. Let people guess. It's way more fun to see them do.


Videos:
- Do NOT speedrun the level. EVER. This shows how to do the best path for the level and kills its replayability instantly.

- Do NOT show Easter Eggs. More fun if the public finds it themselves. If you DO show them, make sure they are properly hidden. PQ had several of those in the trailer/early spotlights that were revealed later on.

- Do NOT show Time Travels that are not in the way, or are harder to get, or ANY items that may produce shortcuts. We want to figure out how to get them ourselves. Hidden content is GOOD. EXAMPLE: Spotlight #5 does not show off an easy to get Time Travel. You aren't aware of its existence.

- Do NOT use ANY SHORTCUTS, small or big, UNLESS you're comfortable with them not destroying the level. Show the INTENDED route, the FULL route. Shortcuts can skip on important features.

- Go SLOW. Show it off!

- Do NOT showcase all your creative challenges or features, even in levels. You want people to be surprised!

- DO focus on the features. Either have us guess, or show them in ACTION. Do NOT show their full usage. Keep some of them to the full release. PQ Spotlight #2 demo'd the Super Jump and the Ice Shard, with the Ice Shard being the focus feature. We didn't need to show off a full level, so we created a demo level specifically to show the ice shard.

- DO focus on the levels. The levels we see should have a really high standard and are very polished. A boring or bad level will be the centre of criticism and draw away attention from features. BAD LEVELS = BAD FEATURES. GOOD FEATURE + GREAT LEVEL = SUPERB RECEPTION. See PQ Spotlight #3. Everyone wants to play it as soon as they get their hands on the mod.

- DO showcase your current progress. The further you are, the better you are off. Spotlight #5 demo'd not only a feature, but the shapes progression as well and our take on them.

- If it's bad, DO NOT SHOW IT.

- Involve the WHOLE STAFF. Every screenshot and video and every segment and what is shown must be something the whole staff discuss and agree. It will take hours but it is worth it. Make sure everyone is equally happy with the screenshot/video. Repeat recording the same segments over and over again.
PQ Trailer took roughly a week to create, review and get all staff be happy.


Level design:
- The levels MAKE the features. A feature added to a level as an afterthought, without the level even being built for this feature, is a TERRIBLE idea. Do you see a cannon in Let's Roll? no. The level is built WITH the feature(s) in mind, it is built FOR the feature(s). Cannon levels are built WITH cannons in mind the whole time.

- Do NOT purposely add shortcuts. The moment you purposely add them, the moment your level's replayability takes a dive. Let people find the shortcuts themselves.

- Careful with your scenery! In Marble Blast Emerald the scenery ended up creating the shortcuts, and this destroyed the mod's levels.

- DO create levels with shortcuts ONLY if they are intended and DO NOT break the whole level.

Phil never wanted any shortcuts in his levels and always designed them to not have those UNLESS they were INTENDED by him. I was more afraid to show him videos of my levels when I tested because he'd instantly change the level and block out the shortcuts. It was a good satisfying feeling to find any he missed or didn't know about when they were for public because he couldn't do a re-release. Pretty much almost all his levels have shortcuts in them, and most are completely unintended.


Where did Super go wrong?

- Did not SHOW OFF the features and usage. What do I have a compass at the top for? I don't need to know any direction unless it's actually important.

- What do I have a back-camera window for? Is something ever chasing me constantly?

- Is this Marble Blast Super or Marble Blast Ultra? Start pad animation, checkpoints and features shown in Ultra are identical in Super, or have slight alterations. I don't want to see Ultra, I want to see Super by itself!
Your problem is that the team that works on Super is the same one that works on Ultra and is unable to come up with distinct ideas that are unique to one of them are not the other.
This means no creativity/originality.
Learn to kill off features from Ultra before it goes out to public, otherwise Super having them is useless and no one wants to play it. Effectively you killed Super by yourself as we aren't shown anything new. If you want something in Ultra, make sure it only exists in Ultra.
Do you have water in Super? Good. Doesn't exist in Ultra.
Do you have side-scrolling in Super? Doesn't exist in Ultra.
Do you have nature scenery in Super? Doesn't exist (or completely different) in Ultra.
Do you have an awesome feature/content in Super? Doesn't exist in Ultra.


It is likely we have also seen problems laid out the in videos/screenshots/level design above. I do not remember which.

Addtional posts to reference you to:
- Aayrl's post on page 5. He is right about Fubar going through many iterations and slowly getting better. Yes, it took him 7+ years, but the mod actually reaches its original goals and above them. The levels design currently is heaps better than the original. PQ is the same.

- RC's post on page 5. Correct again. Fubar (and PQ) are in production for so long but have enough out there in terms of innovation that makes ANYONE still be hyped to them.

- Aayrl's follow-up has excellent advice for you as well. Mull it over. Read it a few times and take it in.

MBP was a success in terms of level design back in the day. Today, not really. It still has a few levels that stood the test of time. Right now it's feature heavy to the point that everyone has it because it has all the content we need.
We learned a lot from MBP and the community reception over the next few years when we started, and worked on, PQ.



Lastly I'd like you to ask yourself this:
When is Super planned for release?
Talk to the staff. All of them. How much time and dedication everyone has? Most of them are 10-14 years old? So probably a year max from now. 30+ other mods with the same range of age didn't last longer than a year.

So we have two choices:

1) If you're looking at this year (Dec 2015/Jan 2016), you may as well focus on the levels and wrap up features. Get shapes done ASAP, music/skybox, ensure gameplay is good enough and levels are polished. Consider this a learning experience and take the community reception to the levels as what you get.

2) If you're looking at next year (Jun-Jul 2016), considering revising features and making sure you get them up and properly designed. Now how many levels you have? 50? 60? 80? Kill off at least 50% which are bad and start again. Don't be afraid to delete even 66-75% of your level content.
Deleted levels may have SOME good original/creative content so take those to other levels that work with those, or re-create for the new levels properly.
The community said it many times and I'll say it again: we prefer 40 excellent levels over 100 poorly designed ones. Right now you're at the quantity part of the scale, not the quality one.

My suggestion? Less amount of levels, greater amount of polish. Consider an early next year release and take this as the experience every single one of you needs. Who knows, you might make a new mod (2+ years to produce) and this time have the experience and community feedback from Super to go on with it so that it is better.

Final tip: this is the summer's holidays. Spend most of it developing Super. You won't have this amount of free time starting September.


Best of luck,
Matan

N.B. - Some might say this is a bad move on my end, but if you're being serious for a change and take the above and really transform yourself and do the 180 degree circle we're all hoping you are, then I'll be happy to look at your level screenshots/videos walkthroughs/designs and give you feedback. I do want you to understand if I say a level's bad and should be removed, you take that advice as it's done for your own good.