Some of My Negative Opinions on Fubar

So I've decided to finally creating a list on Fubar's "General Discussion" category explaining some of my opinions with Fubar that I have. These are just my opinions on what the game has to offer when it comes to the certain things I've picked out.
These are just suggestions that I hope you (talking to Aayrl) may be able to change if you want.

40 Gem Raid (Intermediate #2)
This level seems really repetitive. I can see the small amount of roleplay in here where you go into little houses and such and "steal" gems, but ther's just too much of it.

Spidermon (Intermediate #6)
Besides the fact that Spidermon's gameplay and level design is pretty "bleh" in general, the shortcut to get the Expert Time is pretty stupid. Like, seriously... Don't open spoiler if you don't know the shortcut.

The picture's also shows the level as kinda flat.

Harbringer Tower Token (Intermediate #Eight) Should say 8, but 8 with a ) after it turns into an emoticon.
Harbinger Tower's Token has been one of my favorites to find, though I don't like the fact that there's one-trim-wide spiral stairs with lava underneath, and no way to get out of the lava (not even a wall hit) if you fall in. Find the stairs annoying.
Suggest either change the trim path or make a way out of the lava.

Vengeful Catacombs (Intermediate #18)
Vengeful Catacombs is probably my least favorite level in the game, as I think that the Expert Time is really hard to achieve and it's a just a boring level overall. There's not much challenge involved.

Bail Out! (Advanced #2)
Major downside of Bail Out is that it should not be an Advanced level. Intermediate if not Beginner. Also poorly made.

Jenga (Advanced #5)
My main problem with Jenga is all the texture misalignments as well as some of the ramps inside the "box" are positions poorly.

Into the Maw of the Beast (Advanced #18)
Honestly, I think Into the Maw of the Beast is a fantastic level. The challenges are fun and replayable, the "texture rooms" idea was smart, though my only complaint is that I think the Expert Time should be raised to 1:45.000 or 2 minutes.

Rotation Hell (Professional #5)
If there is a way, I would like to see the level itself be brighter since it's hard to see where the walls/sides of the platforms are.

Blistering Sands (Professional #6)
Other than the fact that Blistering Sands is just an annoying level as it is, I think that your view could extend so you could see more than how it is right now. I only see the start pad when I'm beginning the level when the "3 2 1" countdown finishes.

The End of Time (Professional #11)
The End of Time is a fine level level (actually, it's pretty fun), but it seems really lonely and I'd like some scenery.

Exploration
I was excited to play a brand new gamemode brought to Marble Blast, but after playing it for a while, I found it kind of boring unfortunately. To me, it feels like you spawn, pick up some gems, fall out of bounds, and get XP. I'd maybe like to see some more challenge and more stuff to do in the first place.

Tasks Gui
The entire setup for the tasks gui is okay, but I think that the list of tasks could be bigger. You can only see 5 tasks at a time.

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If I come up with anything more, I'll make sure to include it in my list.
All I have for now. Cheers!

I'll take time to respond to some of these.

Rozi wrote: Spidermon ...

As far as I know, Spidermon is one of the levels that will get a complete redesign.

Rozi wrote: Jenga ...

Jenga is also one level that will get a complete redesign.

Rozi wrote: Exploration ...

I feel the same way about Exploration mode right now to be honest, but keep in mind that we only have the FIRST TWO planets currently available. Maybe they'll become more interesting and have more variety as you get to later systems? Only time (and Aayrl of course) will tell.

Although some of the levels are quite underwhelming and boring, I find that MBFubar has an even bigger problem: the scoring system. In my opinion, the fact that players can play the same level over and over just to get more points is ridiculous, as it does not show who is really the most skilled player. It would be much better if the MBF rating system was similar to that of MBP online and MBUltra, where you get an allotted score on each level based on your top time. This prevents players from camping the game to be the best on the leaderboards.

Harbringer's token is fine imo.

I would disagree about vengeful catacombs as it looks very nice. The gameplay is a bit boring but not too bad.

Bail Out i certainly agree with that, i would make it beginner myself

Also agree overall about exploration, though i had some fun on the arctic earth-based level what with all the ice pits - you can get some high speeds and launch all around the map with those things. The other maps were not super fun though. It might be better to have a secret token spawn randomly in every level or something?

Excellent, this is exactly the kind of topic I wanted to see pop up. Since it is a Beta, I am looking for feedback so I can better improve the gameplay experience and the overall balance of the game itself. Thank you Rozi for being bold enough to tell me "No, it's awful!" - otherwise, how will I know to improve certain aspects of the game?

So, I guess first I want to touch on the Ranking & Leveling System as a whole, so maybe I can clarify its purpose and why I chose the ranking methodology that I did. First off, the general audience for Marble Blast Fubar was aimed at the beginner / intermediate players.

For my first few years of Marble Blast Gold, it took hours for me to figure out how to complete some of the challenges in the Advanced levels - which was fun, but at the same time extremely discouraging when I discovered some of the required techniques required a skill shot or a particular movement pattern. I'm all for a challenge, but the challenge has to be realistic.

Enter Marble Blast Platinum. The challenge was great in the Beginner / Intermediate section, and then as soon as I hit Advanced and Expert, I was extremely discouraged from completing a majority of the levels, simply due to their sheer difficulty. At the time MBP came out, I was no where near an "expert" player, so immediately I had 25-50% of the game that would be unavailable to me since I had limited skill shot abilities. Over many years of gameplay, however, I grew to understand the more advanced movement techniques and found the levels easier to complete.

To top it all off, enter the Leaderboards. I can put hundreds of hours into Marble Blast Platinum, and regardless only my BEST times would count towards my overall ranking on the leaderboards. To have a chance at the top 50, I would have to grind, not just one level, but every level, and earn a top time, in order to outrank other players. The amount of time, memorization, skill shots, and sheer luck involved was much too frustrating for myself. I decided for Marble Blast Fubar that I would steer away from this method of ranking, as to allow other players a chance to become one of the "best" Fubar players based not only on their skill level, but their time commitment as well, even if they lack the coordination to beat Pascal's top times.

So, I decided to use a Leveling system. The player's total experience gained is actually what ranks folks on the Fubar leaderboards. I also tried my best to ensure players who had the advanced Marble Blast abilities were able to progress and level-up faster than those who did not (e.g., why beating an Expert Time yields more experience, and why completing higher difficulty levels yields more experience). That way, the better players will be able to reach the highest levels faster than the other players. But, at the same time, I did not want beginner players to feel unable to compete with the rest, so I ensured someone who can play Learning: Movement a few million times would also, eventually, be able to reach Level 100 and have a chance at the top ranks. The only difference is the commitment required on their end to achieve this goal.

You'll notice in most online games these days they cater to "Casuals", e.g., a player who has (in my view) between 20 and 40 minutes of play time per day. If your game does not reach out to this market of players, you're quickly going to run out of users and your game is a cluster of the best individuals (e.g., MBP Single Player - How often do you see players grinding MBP Single Player? What is the reward for them?)

My theory was further proved correct when I started digging into the MBP Leaderboards. There are only ~150 players with more than 5 million rating (e.g., completed a majority of MBG Gold Times & MBP Platinum Times) out of the total of 1100 players who've logged in to the leaderboards. So a meager 13.6% of players are actually experiencing the majority of the game content.

Compare this to Marble Blast Fubar's Beta statistics - 150 players have reached at least level 7, which requires completion of the majority of the Tutorial Levels, out of the total 228 who have played (since January 1st, 2016). 65.8% of players have at least completed an entire tier (or the equivalent of an entire tier) of levels. To further refine these stats, I reset 78 user accounts when Build 40000 released. That means at least 78 players were above level 14 and had likely played a majority of the game content - 34.2%. I find these numbers are much more satisfying, as I assume the players are, indeed, feeling rewarded for the time they put into the game (their Level can never go down (unless I reset it! (BETA Only))) and they have a competitive sense that, with some time, they can actually reach a top tier rank.

Now, keep in mind, there are still global leaderboards for EACH level, so, yes, you competitive type can still battle over the World Records for each level. Perhaps I'll design some titles and a secondary leaderboard based on your overall times, but the generic ranking for Fubar will still be experience and level based.

TL:DR; I will not be changing the Ranking for Marble Blast Fubar. It's the methodology I favor and it's the one I have chosen for my mod.

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Levels:

As you have pointed out, Rozi, and as Threefolder clarified, there are still a handful of levels that are in the process of being reconstructed. They will be released as part of Build 50000 on (pending) March 1st. These levels include:

Beginner - Waterfall (Rebuild)
Beginner - Slip and Slide Winter (Slight rebuild, scenery)
Intermediate - Time is Nigh (Extension)
Intermediate - Wall Climber (Extension)
Intermediate - Spidermon (Rebuild)
Intermediate - Emberstone (Scenery, challenges)
Intermediate - Harbinger Tower (Slight rebuild, scenery)
Intermediate - IJ's Descent (Extension)
Intermediate - Vengeful Catacombs (Rebuild)
Advanced - City Jump-Hah (Rebuild)
Advanced - Bail Out (Rebuild)
Advanced - Temple of Aut-Ahl (Scenery Adjustments, Challenge adjustments)
Advanced - Jenga (Rebuild)
Advanced - Bladestorm (Scenery removal - less repetitive)
Advanced - Special-Ops Mission (Shortcut removal, scenery adjustments)
Advanced - Marble in the Clouds (Rebuild)
Advanced - Rock Climber (Extension, less repetitive)
Advanced - Into the Maw of the Beast (Texture adjustments)
Advanced - Kalimahri Pass (Scenery additions)
Professional - Halls of Time (Removal of Stairs, fix for the Purple Tower Room)
Professional - Frozen Gorge (Removal of "tightrope" sections, added challenges (removal of certain power-ups))

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Hope this clarifies a few things. Please post more feedback, It helps me tremendously!

~Aayrl

Aayrl wrote: Please post more feedback, It helps me tremendously!

Will be happy to.
Here's a couple more things I have to say.

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Hexxisle Point (Beginner #7)
In these two pictures here , the level shows that there's a couple errors with the interior (interiors?) as the different parts don't connect with each other entirely. Note about the second picture, this error shows up on almost all (and if not all) of the other "mounds".

Vexatious (Intermediate #14)
I have a bit of a problem with the PowerUp auras. As they look really cool, they're flawed in one particular way that I find annoying. Since there's a spoiler, I'll do what I should do.



Desert Blitz (Intermediate #19)
There's a few texturing issues (though they may be intentional) on Desert Blitz. Although it looks kinda cool, it's weird to see two different texturing styles.


Air Hockey Master (Advanced #6)
Another texturing complaint! Note that this happens on all four corners.


Aside from that, I think that Air Hockey Master should be move to Intermediate if not Beginner. Same with Jenga.

Rotation Hell (Professional #5)
Adding on to what I said earlier. Let me quote myself:

If there is a way, I would like to see the level itself be brighter since it's hard to see where the walls/sides of the platforms are.

Here's what I mean:


Basically my complaint it that you can only see the gui, the gems, and the marble. You can *just* barely see the interior. My computer brightness is all the way up and I'm in a dark room. I still have trouble playing this side of the level because of this.

Thanks for the the feedback!

Hexxisle Point - I've been aware of the interior misalignments but haven't had a chance to fix them. I'll be making sure this sneaks its way into Build 50000.

Vexatious (and others regarding hidden PowerUps) - The light aura giving away the hidden objects was intentional and designed to make it easier for players to find hidden objects (or at least hint at other hidden areas nearby).

Desert Blitz - This one was due to the way I made the curves for the walls of the map. I may or may not get around to fixing this. You'll also notice some of them are slightly misaligned and your marble can actually get rebounded off the edge of the wall when you stick around a curve on this map.

Air Hockey Master - Same as above, though this level is getting a facelift in Build 50000 anyway.

Rotation Hell - I'll definitely brighten this level and ones similar to it (Deathlands). It's due to the textures being incredibly dark (you'll notice similar issues on the inner cave portions of Deathlands).

Keep them coming!

~Aayrl