PlatinumQuest Demo - Feedback topic

I am loving the PQ Demo!! I have a few other general suggestions as well answers to the questions, but I will try to keep my answer concise (although I am notorious for doing the exact opposite) as there is a heck of a lot of information on here already.

1) Overall, how do you find the PlatinumQuest demo so far? Try to sum it in a few words.

The best word I can use is 'fun'. It takes the sleeker look of Platinum, and combines new interesting gameplay elements for a much more fun experience.

2) PlatinumQuest aims for some of the best level design seen yet in terms of gameplay and scenery. What's your opinion so far on these values?

I am LOVING the feel of the levels - the creativity with scenery is amazing, and I would really especially like to point out that the 'brown wall' texture is being used less in PQ much to my delight - it felt in some MBP levels like a sea of brown but here it is just right. The trees look really great, and the flowers and grass are also lovely. Coupled with the mud texture it can look rather wonderful. It also opens up opportunity for more creative level design.

The gameplay is very interesting. I feel like the simplicity of how gameplay elements are combined allows the player to more easily go about pathfinding and get better times. I also like the gameplay just for the gameplay, although with the gravity point triggers in Training Wheels, it doesn't really like it if you move the camera around whilst moving along the slope.

3) What do you think about the overall level difficulty presented in the demo, and whether the levels presented match the difficulty category they were set in?

I feel that the levels overall matched the difficulty well. Considering that this is supposed to be easier the MBP but harder than MBG, I think the difficulties seem just right.

I am very pleased with the difficulty level here. For me, getting UTs on MBP felt like a LOT of work, but here it feels a bit easier, and therefore PQ is definitely more suited to 'casual' gamers in this respect. While it is easier, there is still some suitable level of challenge presented, especially in the different modes.

4) What is your opinion on the difficulty presented in the form of Par, Platinum and Ultimate times/scores? Take note PlatinumQuest aims for more casual-player (easier than MBP).

Par times are fine. For me, the PT/UTs do seem a bit hard to achieve for some casual gamers, especially since they may not be fluent with using diagonal movement and some corner-cutting, which really are required here. It might be better to lower them a little (as in increase the time).

5) How do Terrace Tundra and Vibrancy Grounds work for you as Hunt-based levels? Compare them if you can to the current Ultra and Custom hunt levels you have had experience with (I understand there is no versus mode here, yet).

I'm assuming these levels will be single-player in the actual version, and if they are, I would be really happy. I think they work really nicely alongside the other 'normal' levels as another game mode. Multiplayer hunt levels would still be great as well though.

6) What's your opinion on the following: Cannons, Bubble Powerup, Quota Mode, Haste/Consistency modes.

Cannons are great. I just love 'em. (Especially the instant-fire ones ) I think they work well, and although all of the colours are sort of hard to remember with association they will become more recognisable. The bubble powerup is very interesting and unique, although at times a bit hard to control (I kept hitting the marble's head on the ceiling in Into the Deep), but I would suggest keeping it that way. Quota Mode could be used effectively only when a level has lots of gems and it is not based around following a particular path. But it really does not have much of a point in short(er) levels like Triple Action. Haste mode is very creative. And also annoying!! Good for developing patience. Consistency mode is also interesting, although it might be best to rename it, as it sounds a bit generic at the moment. Although it would still have to be one word. Something along the lines of 'pace' or 'pacing' might work better perhaps??

7) PlatinumQuest aims for Fun and Replayable levels first, with Originality and Creativity second. Do you think we met this goal in the levels presented in the demo?

In all honesty, I think the levels presented in the demo met both of these exceptionally well. I feel personally as though the levels do not need to be excessively original as the gameplay elements are creative in themselves. The levels are exceedingly fun and replayable; I almost can't get enough of them. The replayability is definitely marked by shorter levels with a sense of purpose; neither of these things were necessarily present in MBP which made a few levels hardly even touched by me. Credits to the level designers, especially for attention to minute detail, and I look forward to seeing the rest of the levels when the whole thing comes out.

8 ) PlatinumQuest introduces a new concept for User Interface, part of which is seen in the Main Menu and Level Select screen. Can you give feedback/your opinion about it so far?

The UI is looking great - I haven't exactly analysed it in great detail, but I think it looks clean and smart. I also love the fonts used, especially the 'Light' version of the font used for Platinum. Please don't change anything, it looks just right.

9) Was the demo what you hoped to see?
Better than expected!!! Really excited to see PQ in its pure, complete form. And also to see what amazing custom levels come out of it.

10) Can you give us any specific details you like/dislike about the levels?
Levels available: Training Wheels, Haphazard, Feeling Frictional, Sky High Circuit, Into the Deep, Having a Blast, Verticality, Chilled, Triple Action, Terrace Tundra, Work in Progress, Vibrancy Grounds, Scouring the Framework, Physical Activity, Polymorphism

Training Wheels is really clever with its space. It feels right for the first level, as none of the path winds around itself etc.
Sky High Circuit is just wonderful. Really beautiful and very fun once you get to about 60 or 70 mph/kph!! It's just a really neat but simple level.
Into the Deep was nice as a less fast-paced level - I hope we see a few more levels that are purely about skill with powerups and hazards and stuff like that. However, I did feel a little more scenery would be nice, as the blue gets a bit much sometimes.
Having a Blast - really liked the look of the level. Getting the 7s time travel was fun too.
Chilled - I felt the ice shards were all well placed. It seems like the level has a bit of a 'stop and start' feel however, which I don't particularly like. Maybe mixed in with the other levels using the Haste mode this wouldn't be too bad.
Work in Progress is really fun, I like the moving platforms and the way they 'appear' a few seconds before you travel on them.
Vibrancy Grounds is a really lovely-looking level. I also saw a grey gem at one point on my radar playing this level, and already found the interesting hidden bit before I needed to get to it - but the timer ran out
Physical Activity was very interesting and I really liked the range of challenges. The Anvil powerup was also interesting, and, admittedly, it took me about 6 minutes to figure out what to do with the said powerup. Felt so stupid afterwards lol. HOWEVER, the purple tiles midway through are really misplaced, it's a bit dodgy and I'd much like to be able to hit the middle than the corner or the edge.
Polymorphism was hard. But in a good way - it felt really rewarding to finish it. I love how it felt as though it was one whole platform that morphed throughout the level, and the range of challenges was very creative and progressive - a really fabulously put-together level. Levels like these make me wonder what other beauties we will discover in the full version!!

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Overall, a really lovely demo. Will be playing quite a lot to get the best times possible. Here are my other thoughts:

• Marble Colours - do they all have to have the word 'mellow' in them? Try looking on paint cans for a bit more inspiration. As well, the 'mellow orange' colour isn't very orange from the looks of it - it's far too similar to 'mellow yellow' - the orange colour should be more distinctively orange.
• I don't know how this will work in Platinum 2.0.0, but if Pianoforte was planned to be used during the Level Select of PQ, I don't think it is that suitable. Pianoforte feels too much to me like an MBP track, and either a 'remix' of sorts or a completely different (more synth-based?) track would be much better.
• The ! icons for tips when they are used in-level are abit high above the ground - they aren't visible with a fairly 'normal' camera position. Perhaps they could be moved just a little lower down?
• To select levels in the Level Select menu, I would strongly advise that the arrow keys be available for this purpose. It makes it easier to go to the next level after completing one (on this note - don't put a Next button in the screen after completing a level - it's just annoying in MBP imo) and also fits with us being able to exit a level with the return key.
• I really like the shock absorber powerup being a pillow - it's cute and fits with the slightly dreamy theme of PQ. But why a black pillow with weird neon-y stripes??? Maybe a more realistic pillow would be better - perhaps pastel blue, pastel pink (and pastel orange) stripes for example.
• Other things I like: Lovely textures, including the cream-coloured trim and the look of the hazards. Although I'm not too keen on the colours used for the bumpers, the purple is a bit too deep a purple imo but it's okay. Also, really pleased that the cannons 'remember' your launch settings after you've used them before (even if you respawn at a checkpoint!) That is really friendly to more casual players and it just really helps when you mess up.

Two more things: the number of music tracks for the game seems a bit low, although they are generally longer. I am happy to contribute another track in a similar style to those already, but I can't promise anything as don't know how busy I'd be. But my style is pretty much very similar to what is already in PQ. The tracks are really great - not fancy-schmancy or too 'airy' but not too 'serious' either - really works for the game.

And I have been thinking for some time that an integrated 'level designer' of sorts would be really useful for MBP 2.0.0, since Constructor is just a pain especially to export everything. Interiors could be auto-saved on the fly, and if combined with the level editor, it would make level designing much more logical and much less tedious. I understand this would be a lot of work, but the first version of this need not have every single feature in Constructor or Quark, but could be more purposely designed for MB levels. And it would great if we could have working spheres. That would actually be a dream come true. I am kind of put off level building a little bit because of how annoying Constructor is, but I understand if this is not doable. The game is good enough already without the luxury of custom levels!!

Ethan

TheEvoker wrote: The number of music tracks for the game seems a bit low, although they are generally longer.

Don't worry about that, the demo features 4 songs (and Pianoforte) while there are 7 more never-before-heard songs in the actual game.

First of all, congratulations on the major achievement!
I shall write more before long, but just now I encountered something that I wanted to report.
The first cannon in Having a Blast broke:

The other cannons in the level, also in other levels, worked.
The issue shown at the start of the video did not occur the first time I played the level after downloading the Demo, but is now present every time.
The second behaviour sometimes occurs after restarting, but I have not been able to reproduce it consistently.

YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO HOLD IT DOWN

Or did you..? It seems that you didn't.

Yes, the point is that the cannon instantly fires, so it cannot charge. I just restarted my computer, and the problem disappeared. I shall see if I can reproduce it.

1) Overall, how do you find the PlatinumQuest demo so far? Try to sum it in a few words.
The PQ demo is great! Looks good, has great music and the levels were fun to play.

2) PlatinumQuest aims for some of the best level design seen yet in terms of gameplay and scenery. What's your opinion so far on these values?
The new powerups and modes create a whole new addition to the gameplay. Even though in the demo we are introduced to some basic challenges that use these new items and modes, the levels were still really fun to play through and then later replay for better times. As I grew more familiar with these new aspects, the levels became very enjoyable.
As for the scenery, the new additions are great. The trees, grass and flowers look great; as well as the textures of the floors and walls. I like how the trees can be bounced off like the brown pillars in MBP.

3) What do you think about the overall level difficulty presented in the demo, and whether the levels presented match the difficulty category they were set in?
When aiming for just completion of the levels, I feel that the levels were in the correct category.

4) What is your opinion on the difficulty presented in the form of Par, Platinum and Ultimate times/scores? Take note PlatinumQuest aims for more casual-player (easier than MBP).
The par and platinum times were fine. However, I felt the ultimate times were a little too easy. While the game aims towards casual players, I feel that making the ultimate times a little faster would really test peoples execution and pathfinding. I really enjoyed going for all the UT's in MBP for this reason. Ultimate scores seemed well chosen.

5) How do Terrace Tundra and Vibrancy Grounds work for you as Hunt-based levels? Compare them if you can to the current Ultra and Custom hunt levels you have had experience with (I understand there is no versus mode here, yet).
I have not played much multiplayer at all, so it was hard to compare them to other levels. There was enough powerups to get to the next spawn of gems quickly, well placed TM's, and the moving gems and platinum gems were a great idea. The slanted edges in TT always make a level fun, and there was so much action in vibrancy grounds to make it a great level to grind for the ultimate score. However, I think that the randomness of the gem values spawned may mean that grinding for huge scores will turn into constart restarting until the player gets a platinum gem close by.

6) What's your opinion on the following: Cannons, Bubble Powerup, Quota Mode, Haste/Consistency modes.
Cannons were great, once I was used to the mechanics they were fun to use. The bubble powerup made the water level far more interesting to play.
As others have mentioned, Quota mode will add great potential for pathfinding. Haste and Consistency modes also show huge potential as they offer different ways to challenge the survival of the marble as it aims for the finish.

7) PlatinumQuest aims for Fun and Replayable levels first, with Originality and Creativity second. Do you think we met this goal in the levels presented in the demo?
The demo has definitely met this goal. The levels were replayable as it was fun playing through them again as I improved my skills and searched for shortcuts to reach the ultimate times.

8 ) PlatinumQuest introduces a new concept for User Interface, part of which is seen in the Main Menu and Level Select screen. Can you give feedback/your opinion about it so far?

The interface was well conceived. I could see all the information I needed, and the hints were useful for the tougher levels.

9) Was the demo what you hoped to see?
The demo was incredible, as it looked and sounded excellent, and as I have mentioned it is great fun to play. The 15 levels kept me entertained for a long time.

10) Can you give us any specific details you like/dislike about the levels?
Levels available: Training Wheels, Haphazard, Feeling Frictional, Sky High Circuit, Into the Deep, Having a Blast, Verticality, Chilled, Triple Action, Terrace Tundra, Work in Progress, Vibrancy Grounds, Scouring the Framework, Physical Activity, Polymorphism

Sky High Circuit: Speeding around this circuit at a speed of 80 (others have probably gone higher) made this an incredibly fun and replayable level to play.
Triple Action: This was the only level I did not enjoy speedrunning for the UT. Throughout the level I have to deal with about 5 things at once (ice and other frictions, downhill curves, fans, heaps of bumpers, and collecting TM's and gems). This felt too much for me and it was very hard to have much control of the marble. However, the checkpoints made it somewhat better, and I did like the shortcuts.
Scouring the Framework: This level tested my ability of using cannons and air movement, and was great finding the shortcuts to get a fast time.
Physical Activity: For some reason I really like the anvil powerup, I'm keen to see more of it in the full game.

Great jobs guys, keep it up!

My game won't launch because it failed to find main.cs. How do I install this?

I actually had the exact same problem.

I agree with much of everything mentioned above. I have some suggestions, the first two being from other versions of Marble Blast:
1. Whirligig's Marble Blast Powered Up (MBPU) adds an indicator which shows how long the Time Travel powerup is in effect (when a Time Travel is collected, a counting-down 'mini-timer' appears below the regular timer). This can be helpful if you're collecting multiple Time Travels.
2. Marble Blast XP gave the marble the ability to 'talk' (i.e. when the marble hits the ground from a high altitude it says 'Ow!' and stars appear surrounding it). If this is possible, can other 'expressions' be used as well?
[strike]3. New sounds for the Level Completion and Super Bounce. The current one doesn't sound 'celebratory'. The Super Bounce sound is supposed to be a loop.[/strike] Okay, since some of us already prefer the current sounds as they are, this becomes moot. In fact, one can easily modify the sound files to his/her heart's content.
4. A better name for the 'No Friction' surface. 'Space' doesn't seem like a real surface, and though I understand there's no gravity, hence no friction, in space, it seems kinda weird. Oil (if you remember the Oil Slicks in MBG) should be slippery enough (think of a ten-pin bowling lane), but it'd be hard to create a texture that looks like oil.
5. Replace Water walls (such as the one in the beginning of Having a Blast) with Rug/Carpet (in real life carpet is soft, and it can also be fitting since the Shock Absorber's model is a pillow). In my opinion having 'water' as a surface seems weird, and we don't want to confuse it with the actual "field-you-can-swim-in" water.
The last [strike]three[/strike] two may seem unnecessary, but thanks anyway.

Josep_Nollette wrote: New sounds for the Level Completion

No. Just no. Please don't listen to him. MBP's Level Completion sound is the best sound in the whole game.

In fact, MBP's sounds are good in general, so if I were you, I wouldn't change the existing ones.

Fine then. I guess we'll have to make do with what they are now.
EDIT: I meant the sounds. I have yet to read the developers' opinions on the other four suggestions.

Oh, looks like it's time to answer those questions!
Okay so, I'll try to make this not too long to read (you know I'm lying when saying that )

1) Overall, PlatinumQuest Demo is truly THE most beautiful marble (not only Marble Blast) game demo I've ever played, and that makes my hype for the full version even bigger.

2) I think the different level builders has made very brilliant job detailing all the levels. I wish I had such level building skills. About the gameplay, I enjoyed the diversity of the gameplay more than expected. Seconding NatureFreak, it would be greater to add some splash and underwater sounds, like they did in Marble Blast Super.
I hope it won't be hard to implement for HiGuy. And also try adding some background sounds. Marble Blast Fubar can inspire you.
Speaking about sounds, I think they can be ameliorated. In fact, I find the quality of the sounds a bit poor. That disturbed me a bit while playing, since that affects the realism of the game. Try remastering them! I made those sound upgrades in my personal PQ demo, and its realism has greatly improved (for example, I added "complementary sounds" such as a litlle bubbling for the Super Bounce, an electric activity for the Shock Absorber, changed the tornado and the fans' sounds and so on...). I have already talked about the voices, and I hope you keep that in mind.

3) It is definitely more easier than MBP levels. For me, expert levels were as easy as intermediate or first-advanced levels! That makes the game not too frustrating to complete and enjoyable without excessive efforts.

4) Knowing myself as the worst Platinum/Ultimate Time estimator ever (you can judge it on my levels), I will not comment on this.

5) Well, I don't have the required knowledge on multiplayer levels, but they are pretty fine. Nothing to complain about.

6)
Cannons : Excellent feature, a lot of mechanisms can be built with it. The little cannon reaction before the checkpoint in Scouring the Framework can confirm it.

Bubble Powerup : Nice powerup. My new forcefield.wav fits perfectly with it.

Quota Mode : Wise feature, will be strongly appreciated by the speedrunners that hate cogitating too much about a path to get all the gems (I'm sure Xelna agrees with me ) That will make their job much easier to execute.

Haste and Consistency Modes : Made me directly think about racing games such as Crash Team Racing, Gran Turismo, Moto Racer, and such. Great idea, but are you sure it's not going to kill the interests to play Monster Speedway Qualifying, Monster Speedway and Moto Marblecross?

And you forgot to list the Anvil PowerUp...

7) To be honest, I never had so much fun in a demo like this, and some levels makes me play them again and again, so I can say the replayability and the fun of the levels are totally respected. About the design, the trees, the vegetation, and the textures makes the atmosphere incredibly relaxing, albeit unconventional at some points (vegetation in space, tho...). As a texture maker, the agencement of the textures are beautiful, but please make a new fan skin and a new tornado skin!
Oh, because I'm a nice guy, here's a example of a fan skin I made using textures I downloaded and rearranged :



I love the design of the guis, and I adore the fly-bys of the levels. However, try adding some acceleration to the camera's movement, if possible. It'll make the fly-bys smoother.

9) This demo really satisfied me and I enjoyed (and still enjoy) it a lot. The Platinum Team should be extremely proud of what they done so far.

10) I find all those levels excellent and with no drawbacks. (Threefolder really impressed me with the falling platform in Physical Activity)

Whew! I'm finally done. Hope this helps making PQ a kickbutt game anyone in the world will enjoy playing. Oh, and I shared it with my friends so they can also have their opinions.
Thanks for reading!

Ralph wrote: Seconding NatureFreak, it would be greater to add some splash and underwater sounds, like they did in Marble Blast Super.

We currently don't have any active SoundFX artists so there are no guarantees on this matter. Fun fact: some of the current (and previous) sounds were placeholders of me saying stuff. I can see the placeholders happening as me saying "Splashy Splash!" and making some crappy attempts at underwater sounds. While we do aim for good looking, we don't aim for Fubar-style realism.

Ralph wrote: please make a new fan skin and a new tornado skin!

If our shape-dev was to actually do things we would have new shapes for those altogether at this point...

1) Awesome. Will definitely be looking forward to the full release.

2) I think the level design is definitely very creative. Love the new gameplay elements. The levels also look distinctively different from MBG, MBP and MBU levels, so well done there.

3) I think the overall difficulty is pretty balanced. Definitely easier than MBP but still provides a fair, decent and fun challenge.

4) I think the times are good. Maybe a tad too easy though? But that's probably just me since I'm more on the hardcore side. There are some levels in which I can pretty much destroy the Ultimate time. And I'm no pro like Xelna IMO, though, the times are perfectly suited for new players and fun to tackle for experienced players.

5) As single-player Gem Hunt levels, I think they're fun! The addition of Time Travels definitely helps. I've never been a fan of Gem Hunt levels tbh (I like the traditional Time Attack levels better), but these new Gem Hunt levels probably make me more interested in Gem Hunt.

6) Haste/Consistency mode is extremely fun! It's especially very fun running through laps to record best times per lap. The rest are certainly great additions (although Quota Mode doesn't seem useful to me at least for Triple Action in the demo. If you're aiming to design alternate paths for Quota Mode levels, then you've got to make those paths equally rewarding so that either one can lead you to best times. Unfortunately, that's not the case for Triple Action).

7) I think the two are pretty much balanced, to be honest. Not so much of which are first and which are second. Which is a good thing. So yeah, I would say you've definitely met the goals as of this demo.

8 ) I think this is pretty neat! It's definitely a lot better than having to scroll through levels one by one (there's the Search function, but that only displays the level name and not everyone can remember a level just by its name). I think the Main Menu could use a better presentation, though. Since it's after all the Main Menu, it's supposed to be eye-catching and not be too similar in design to the Level Select screen. Perhaps you guys can actually design PlatinumQuest logo to be displayed on the Main Menu. Truth be told, the MBP logo doesn't strike out as much as the MBG logo, and while I like the font for the PlatinumQuest logo, I think more could be done to the logo If anything, I think you can try incorporating the Demo logo (without the word Demo) with the PlatinumQuest logo?

9) Yes, definitely. I expect more!

10) All the levels are creative, fun and original in their own way. I enjoy them a lot. No comments about each of them in particular
Favorite levels in particular though are Having a Blast and Sky Blue Circuit (I like the adrenaline rush out of racing. More of levels like this!)

Keep up the good work!

IsraeliRD wrote: Fun fact: some of the current (and previous) sounds were placeholders of me saying stuff. I can see the placeholders happening as me saying "Splashy Splash!" and making some crappy attempts at underwater sounds.

Well, I have to give you props for those sounds you added to the game for April Fools' Day 2015. Unfortunately, I didn't actually play the game during that time, so all I have to know what it was like was a video uploaded by Kalle29. I wish you had done something like that this year. Hopefully next year for AFD, you'll have something even more hilarious.

I know that's kind of off-topic, but it would still be pretty funny if you added sounds like that to the game as an option (perhaps hidden somewhere).

At last, PQ HERe!

...okay. That joke is 4 years old now. Nevertheless, I am very excited to see the demo being released! I downloaded it and played through all the levels, but all that it has done is get me extremely hyped for the full game.

Now, onto the questions!

1: Sum up the demo in a few words.
It did a great job showcasing the style of the game as well as the new elements.
2: Level design?
I had a great time playing the levels. Not only are they very well made, but they are absolutely beautiful. I love the new textures, and the trees and flowers are a really nice touch. It's also a huge help that PQ levels have their own aesthetic theme, which means that when I'm playing a PQ level, I know I'm playing a PQ level.
3 and 4: Level difficulty?
I'll talk about these questions together since they are pretty similar. As many others have stated, it is much easier than MBP. However, I think that's a good thing! What it means is that a casual player (such as myself) can have fun playing through all the game has to offer without getting stuck on a level (Back in Ye Olde days of 8-year-old me playing MBG, I think I was stuck on Scaffold for a good 6+ months). Meanwhile, the advanced marblers can find the shortcuts to blaze through the levels and get the UT.
5: Opinion on Hunt levels?
This is heavily biased of course, but I've never been good at sprawling gem collection levels. I just find that I don't get to enjoy the level as much since the gameplay is basically race to the gems -> collect the gems -> repeat. That said, it's a nice departure from completing a level in the fastest time, instead getting as many gems as possible before the timer hits zero.
6: Opinion on new elements?
I'll take these one at a time.
a) The cannon. These things are way harder to aim than they look. I find that when I fire out of a cannon, I never take gravity into account enough, which leads to me bouncing off the side of the platform that I was trying to land on. On the other hand, this is the first time that we've seen anything like them before in MB, so I'm confident that it'll just take some getting used to. (I may also have an idea for a level built around them... hee-hee)
b) The bubble powerup. Oh my Lord, this thing is so much fun. I love how you can turn it on and off at will instead of just activating for a set amount of time like the Gyrocopter. I definitely think it has a lot of potential for cool levels.
c) Quota mode. Originally I thought it would be used mostly in pathfinding levels, where getting individual gems is more difficult but getting to groups of gems is easier (see: Pathfinder by Marblefire). However, the way it was used in Triple Action was very clever, where it's a straightforward level but the player might miss a gem while going through the hazards. I have no doubt that we'll see pathfinding levels using it, though.
d) Haste/Consistency mode: If I'm correct, Haste is the mode that only lets you finish if you're moving fast enough. It's definitely fun in theory; while we only saw one level using it in a fairly basic way (You have to go through the level to get to a place where you can build up enough speed to finish), I'm interested in how it'll be used in the full game. Consistency mode is really cool; it definitely foils players like me who like to take levels slowly and methodically. I'm curious as to whether there's more thresholds, such as maybe you have to collect the next gem within x seconds of the previous one.
7: Were the levels fun and replayable?
I didn't enjoy the Hunt levels as much (but again, that's just my preferred playstyle), but all of the others were wonderful. I particularly enjoyed Work in Progress.
8: UI design?
It'll definitely take some getting used to. I feel like the main menu just looks a bit too plain right now. I love the animated level preview, though, and the ability to just click on the level you want to play instead of holding down the "next level" button will be an absolute godsend when the full game is released and Custom level support becomes a thing.
9: Was the demo what I had hoped to see?
Well, I haven't been very active in the MB community lately, so I'm not really sure what I hoped to see. Nevertheless, it has gotten me very excited for when the full game comes out!
10: Opinions on individual levels?
Once again, I'll take these one at a time.
a) Training Wheels. This is definitely a good level for people just starting out at the game. The only thing I would have done differently would have been to introduce the Gravity Modifiers before the trigger, to avoid confusing new players with the idea that sometimes you need an item to change gravity but sometimes you don't. Best time: 37.320
b) Haphazard. Once again, it does a very nice job of introducing all of the hazards. I just feel like it's too easy for the player to just charge through the tornado without fully realizing what it does or how it could be used to mess them up. Best time: 35.309
c) Feeling Frictional. I felt like it was sort of awkward introducing Time Modifiers at the same time as frictions, though I get what you were going for. Other than that, just like the others, it's very well designed. Best time: 33:270
d) Sky High Circuit. I had a blast (lol) on this level. Whipping around those curves at high speed is just one of the most satisfying things in the world. Best time: 46.469
e) Into the Deep. Even though I was a bit put off by the fact that marbles can breathe underwater (I guess that's what 8 years of Super Mario Galaxy does to you), this level was really fun. I especially enjoyed going around the sunken level with the bubble. Best time: 51:322, though I spent awhile awkwardly bobbing on the surface at the end.
f) Having a Blast. This is a tutorial level for the cannon, and I talked previously about cannons and my difficulties in aiming them, but I do think this level did a great job of showing the various types of cannons present in the game. Best time: 53:550
g) Verticality. I'll admit it, fade platforms were one of the things I was most excited about in the trailers, and they definitely did not disappoint. I loved the challenge of getting the bonus Time Travels while having to keep moving. Also, don't think for a second that I didn't notice the Me Gusta face under the finish pad. Best time: 38:160
h) Chilled. Here's a fun fact: You can completely cheese the first half of the level by jumping off the end pad onto the far wall and then jumping along it. Of course, it's more efficient time-wise to take the fun path. This level was excellent in that it's easy to beat it but hard to get a good time. Best time: 51.635
i) Triple Action. This one was really enjoyable for me. I loved rolling down the stairs while the duct fans were trying to push me off; it's a nice challenge without being really unfair. The launcher into the TM wall was awesome as well. Best time: 56.933
j) Terrace Tundra. Ah, this brings back memories of the level competition some 5-6 years ago. Even though my entry was bad (laughably so), I'm really glad that such an amazing level got put in. Again, I'm not super fond of Hunt levels since you more often fly over the map than roll through it, it's very well designed. Best score: 68
k) Work in Progress. This is my favourite level in the demo. I love platforming and jumping levels in general, but I love how this one had a variety of challenges instead of just "jump from platform to platform". However, I think the best part of the level is the scenery - I love the construction site theme. Best time: 1:00:911
l) Vibrancy Grounds. Again, I'm not super fond of Hunt levels, but it does look really nice. Best score: 67
m) Scouring the Framework. This one really punishes you for having bad aim with the cannons. But it's not all that long, and I found it really fun to play! I also love the aesthetic of it, especially with the sky background. Best time: 45:467
n) Physical Activity. I found this really, really easy for an Expert level. In addition, the fact that an introduction/tutorial level is in Expert makes me worried that we won't see these Physics changes in Beginner/Intermediate/Advanced. I'm still really excited for the physics modifiers in future levels, though. Best time: 53:081
o) Polymorphism. My God. This is one of the most creative levels I have ever seen. I love how it combines Morph, Platform Race, and the Survival levels so eloquently and seamlessly. Even though obviously it only works for somebody who's never played the level before, it also has the challenge of quickly reading and following the instructions. I loved it! Best time: 1:33:509

More than anything, though, I want to stress again how beautiful PQ is. All of the scenery, the flowers, and even the textures and skyboxes themselves make it so much nicer to play through than any of the other MB mods. The music is top-notch - I could listen to any one of the 4 tracks for quite awhile (which I may have to do should I aim for a WR!)

Another thought -

With the current level editor that is part of MBP, I feel like it looks very outdated and could REALLY do with a makeover. One thing in particular is the movement of objects. We don't even have arrows; you can drag in 3 dimensions and hope for the best, or input the numbers in yourself. It's really quite awkward. Just a suggestion.

Continuing what TheEvoker said.

If the PQ Team is considering remaking the LE, I have a few suggestions.

1. Add rotating arrows.
Like other modeling softwares, they would make a 'rotate mode' where it would show a sphere with 3 circles (x,y,z). You can click one of the circles and drag to rotate the selected object (From Autodesk Maya by the way.)

2. Show descriptions
Sometimes, you find this new button which you don't know about. You pressed it, nothing happened. So, maybe add a feature where you hover on a button, it will pop up a small window, telling you what does this button do.

3. The GUI.
It's disgusting. Change it. Please.

I'll add more later on if I can.

We're adding more features to the Level Editor to make adding and editing PlatinumQuest features easier, but some of these may be beyond our control. We'll see!

Clarification on what Threefolder said: We're making the editor easier, but not necessarily prettier. At this point functionality is way more important than cosmetics.

In reference to wanting a better selection gizmo (translation / rotation thing), pretty much guaranteed nothing will happen with it.

LE suggestions: Maybe instead of just having the list of items, maybe have a grid with pictures of the items? Then you click it and it appears? Then you could just drag it wherever.
This is also just for levels in general, have a visible path for moving things. You could place said track using the LE. Then connect stuff to it like Super Mario Maker's tracks.

I don't have a clue what you mean. Do you mind being a bit clearer?

Yoshicraft224 wrote: LE suggestions: Maybe instead of just having the list of items, maybe have a grid with pictures of the items? Then you click it and it appears? Then you could just drag it wherever.
This is also just for levels in general, have a visible path for moving things. You could place said track using the LE. Then connect stuff to it like Super Mario Maker's tracks.

On the first part, that would clutter the LE even more (especially when you have hundreds of interiors). While this looks nice in level selection, aesthetics is not a priority for the level editor itself.

On the second point, I would like a better interface for moving objects, mainly the ability to simply add another pathnode to a group and not have to manually edit the destination every time. However, that is mainly for convenience rather than functionality.

can i ask why the demo don't suppert 1920x1080 resolution?

It does. You simply have to put it into full screen first and then select it. After that you can bring it back into windowed mode if you so desire.

hi! i've been trying out the PlatinumQuest demo a bit today. it certainly looks incredible on all aspects. the redesigned UI is beautiful and easy to use, and the level design + gameplay is jaw-dropping - like Fubar's realism mixed into the regular MBP style, with all kinds of features i thought to be impossible in MBG's old engine. i can see myself definitely enjoying the full release more than any other MB mod i've played over the last several years!

however, there is one weird bug i've found which makes it a bit difficult to actually progress through the levels - and it's about the mouse movement. i haven't seen anyone else complain about this, so it might be just my laptop, but if i move my mouse very slowly, the camera suddenly starts rotating in the mouse's direction, of its own accord - even if i stop moving my mouse altogether, it keeps going. this can often disrupt my marble's direction, without careful readjustment, and becomes very distracting in the long term.

again, there's a possibility that this has something to do with the laptop i'm using, an ASUS N550JK - i'll see if i can try the demo on a Mac and report back any differences - but the fact that this doesn't happen when i play any other Marble Blast game is pretty strange.

Do you have an xbox controller connected? Sometimes they can cause an issue similar to what you mentioned.

Additionally, try playing in fullscreen. It may be a bit cumbersome but may help as well.

Selecting fullscreen causes crash. System specs in log .

A FoV slider would be nice too. The current FoV is giving me a headache.

Thanks for the log, I'll look into it later. The options does have a FOV slider, just scroll down the first page.

This is really cool! Especially the gravity curves. The music is also really good. One thing tho, the trajectory of the cannons is sometimes really awkward, especially in the tutorial level where your collecting the time travel and 2 gems.