Marble Blast Rising [In Development]

(Cruddy mock up logo till I can figure something out)

No, this is not a parody of Metal Gear Rising in MBG, this is a new mod for MBG with the intention of making it dark, making it look less like a kid's cartoon and more like a Crysis texture pack, but better. It's going to have multiplayer features, not only normal MBG multiplayer (like collecting all the gems by a timer) but also other game modes like Jousting and more. It will have realistic textures, comparable to games like Battlefield, Crysis, or Half-Life. It will also attempt to add better shaders, kind of like how Blockland started with cruddy graphics with the Torque Engine, but then with some clever programming, got HD shaders in it, and since MBG can only run at 640x480, my plan is to attempt to upscale it to the almighty 4K Resoultion (3840 × 2160), and will also have a built in chat room. Another Idea I had in the game was to include a downloader, so if you want custom marble textures, levels, or game modes, you can do so. The game is not trying to rip any other mod off (e.g. PlatinumQuest). I'm trying to keep it as original as possiable, but if you guys have any ideas, post it here.

DEV LIST:
- Start Mod [COMPLETE]
- Change Sounds [COMPLETE]
- Try to create new levels [SOON]
- Change Textures [POSTPONED BUT 10% DONE]
- Add New Music
- Add Multiplayer
- Add Chatroom
- Add Shaders
- Add settings to allow it to go at 4K
- Add Game Modes
- Add Downloader
- Polish it up
- Release

I must confess. I'm trying extremely hard to resist the whole "Make custom levels before starting a mod.", but I want to actually give some encouragement this time around. I seriously admire your confidence, and I'm excited to see where this goes. Good luck with everything!

- Add Multiplayer
- Add Chatroom

Oh, the temptation..

I'm not going to resist at all. Make custom levels first. As the most important part of a mod, nothing else will matter if your levels are not fun to play. Only after you have complete confidence in your skills should you ever think of attempting a mod. Judging by "Try to create new levels," I see that you have very little.

Sounds like a lot of work! What's your timeline for how long this will take? Just realize you'll probably have to do most of it yourself as most people here aren't looking to join new mod projects.

Im not going to sugarcoat my response but I doubt your mod would make it if your main motive is to replicate triple A graphics specially in an engine like Torque. Im not an expert when it comes to making a mod but Im pretty sure what made PQ great is its levels that introduced new powerups, concepts and hazards.

Its proper to develope a proper knowledge to Marble Blast specially in level creating and brainstorming new ideas to make your mod seem fresh before starting a mod with little to no grasp on the fun part of Marble Blast. Its not a cake walk.

Nice! I can help with the marbles and possibly textures.

HiGuy wrote: Sounds like a lot of work! What's your timeline for how long this will take? Just realize you'll probably have to do most of it yourself as most people here aren't looking to join new mod projects.

I don't know actually. My predicted release date is Fall 2018, but that depends on time and patience. I'm going to take my time on this mod, no rushing, going slow as i can, just making sure not to pressurize myself.

blazerman2001 wrote: I don't know actually. My predicted release date is Fall 2018, but that depends on time and patience. I'm going to take my time on this mod, no rushing, going slow as i can, just making sure not to pressurize myself.

If you're planning on doing this in one year then I suggest you limit the scope of the project. I know it sounds exciting and you want to make a great experience but you should make sure you are able to finish it. Here's a rough estimate of how long things will take:

- Change Sounds - You say this is done already, good start
- Change Textures - The more time you spend on this the better your game will look.
- Add New Music - Are you a composer? I'd expect at least a few weeks per song. If you just get them off Newgrounds you'll have some difficulty matching the theme but it'll be faster.
- Try to create new levels - This should be happening all the time; can't exactly have a game without any content. You'll probably find towards the end that your quality has improved and maybe you want to redo the first levels you made. Just remember that quality takes time.

- Add Game Modes - If you have good knowledge of scripting these are pretty quick to make. If not, each will probably take a month ish. Also realize that designing levels to fit new game modes will probably require lots of testing.
- Add Downloader - Not sure how useful this would be unless you plan on having regular updates. A zip download takes 5 minutes to make and works just as well.
- Add Shaders - Your best bet is something like ReShade, just note that will limit you to windows only.
- Add settings to allow it to go at 4K - setResolution will do this, just most graphics will be upscaled and the game doesn't support loading textures > 1K without some engine modification.
- Add Chatroom - An old friend of mine made an IRC chatroom for MB, I don't know how long it took him, but you should know that anything involving networking will be complicated and time-consuming.
- Add Multiplayer - Jeff and I have worked in this in PQ for at least a few years now and it's still nowhere near perfect. I'd recommend you skip this entirely unless you already have good knowledge of the Torque engine.
- Polish it up - From experience, this step takes way longer than you expect. Use the 80-80 rule: 80% of stuff takes 80% of the time, the last 20% takes the other 80% of the time. Yes that adds up to 160%

The key thing to remember in all of this is to have fun; that will probably be the only source of motivation you get. Nothing kills a project faster than hitting a roadblock and losing motivation (which will happen eventually), so be sure to stay within your limits. Looking forward to seeing what you make, just giving you a heads-up to start small.