Marble Blast Stop Initial Release - Version 1.0.2

Marble Blast STOP; after hiding the development project with my Game Development Team; a SevereGame Productions for two years or so, is now released.
Travel through a game full of red octagons and new opportunities for your fingers!
MBS is released for WINDOWS and MAC users!!

The game about skill; finger strength; and reflex.
Roll your Stop Sign Marble from the StartPoint to the EndPoint.
Avoid dangerous Hazards; combine useful Powerups; and aim for the fastest time.
The new reboot to Marble Blast. All over again.
Skill. Reflex. Speed.
Let your fingers learn.

Get it here [ Windows ]
marbleblast.com/index.php/downloads/modi...17-marble-blast-stop

Get it here [ Mac ]
marbleblast.com/index.php/downloads/modi...arble-blast-stop-mac

MBS 1.0.2 Changelog
GRAPHICS
Graphics Buttons don’t look like MBP’s anymore. [ I sorta just went lazy on this one intentionally. ]
Ball is shinier.
LEVELS
Fixed Intermediate Level 16: Perilous Pink Path. Qualify Time Updated. (It’s easier!)
Fixed STOP Time on Advanced Level 24: Purple Treasure. Accidentally set to 03.75 Seconds. The new STOP Time is 50 Seconds.
Added Time Modifiers in Int. 16 and Adv. 24 as well
Diamond and Fan changed on Intermediate Level 50.
Out of Bounds Trigger is now LAVA on Open House Revision.
HelpTrigger spacing issues fixed in beginner levels
Wine/CrossOver Users: Fixed a Window Error with ALT+TAB Switch
IN-GAME
The Clock and Gem Counter is a more brutal color. It is the color RED!
“You didn’t beat the Par Time” message replaced with the classic old “You’ve failed to qualify!”
John/’s Rainbow Field — the / is removed.
grind_song removed (Too repetitive for me to handle now)

(-) Removed DeathMarble X-1.

[ CHANGES THAT WILL HAPPEN IN MBS 1.0.3 ]
- Tia Rockers Blurb Updates
- Wine/Crossover Users: Fixed Advanced Level “Graveyard Mansion”.
- D.L.C PACKET - A new packet named “D.L.C” will arise! [ MAYBE. ] This will contain 8 REVAMPED Classic CLA Custom Levels! Suggestions are wanted! I am currently about to get together with a SevereGame Productions to discuss their top 8 C.L.A MBG Custom Levels! Currently, I’ll give you guys a sneak peek of the two D.L.C Levels. They are… 1. BOXED IN and 2. Octopus!

Can you please upload an installer-less version? I don't see any reason why I should have to install a Marble Blast mod, and this installer doesn't let me choose the install location. I have multiple drives on my computer and would not like to put it on my boot drive.

Marble Blast STOP won't have an installer-less version to prevent more forms of cheating. Sorry!

About where you want to select to put it on, I'll have that uploaded on a future release.

You know you could use "Uninstall Marble Blast STOP" when you installed it. Once you installed it, there should be a "Uninstall Marble Blast STOP" File in your Start Menu.

Jiquor wrote: Marble Blast STOP won't have an installer-less version to prevent more forms of cheating. Sorry!

Okay so, basically I'm a fan of having an installer letting you install anywhere because I don't want root HDD either.

Regarding the cheating, you're uh, wrong.

From what I gather you removed the console/LE. Not going to be helpful because:
- You can grab the DSOs from MBG and then execute via main.cs (which you can't stop without the engine mods, which only MBP has)
- You can legit execute anything you want via the mission file, including scripts... and you guessed it, the console/LE.
- You can also modify the missions in the script (yeah less fun but we know people will do this)
- You can revert whatever changed if you have source cs/gui.
- You can use the cheat engine (looking at a few people here)
SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME EDIT FOR A SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME FRIEND:
HiGuy: "You can open prefs.cs and set qualify level to whatever number you want. You have no checks for that."

----
Installing on a different hard drive has no effect on cheating at all because all the installer does is just where it drops your mod on the computer. Nothing else.


MBP is secure thanks to multiple defenses set up by jeff, higuy and dierking. Until one of the first two people screws up the CRC or forgets the letter 'm', and the third is too lazy to make the next version of things.


Also if you wanna know how stopping cheating works, look at marble blast emerald. No one likes the anti-cheater thing because it broke the game more than it tried to help. You will probably end up in the same route too. Anyone even remembers MBEmerald? No? Exactly.

To finish on a lighter note, here's a 512x512 marble skin I made in 5 hours of work in Paint.

Jiquor wrote: Marble Blast STOP won't have an installer-less version to prevent more forms of cheating. Sorry!

Sorry, I have a SSD with limited space and I refuse to install this without letting me put it where I want to on my array of drives. From my professional advice, I will tell you that you choosing what harddrive this gets allowed to be installed on will have a 0% improvement factor on anti-cheat capabilities. Also, who cares if someone cheats, it's a single player game.

First thing that came to my mind.


Enough with the jokes, lets get to business.

I am genuinely impressed by how much you've done on your own with 0 feedback from community. You've gotten way further than 95% mods have with not the worst results. Mod has it's pitfalls but it also has parts were it stands out. Ill break few of them here.

Things I loved/liked or just considered executed correctly:

1.First of all gameplay in intermediate and advanced categories, it wasn't stale, it wasn't repetitive and most importantly it wasn't generic (part were most mods loose charm in my eyes), it was short, simple and fun (for about 70% of levels in those specific categories). I was dashing through levels like madman and i didn't felt like game was punishing me for not knowing the ''makers way of finishing level''.
2.Some of level remakes are interesting (I see you open house revision), some are good exact analogs, nice work on that
3.The name and style: this mod stands out, no doubt.
4.Just in general effort put into this, mod needs lot of polishing, but at current state it is car that actually runs reasonably fine.

Issues and pitfalls of the mod:

1.In a way it was good that you didn't shared this with community but it also had negative impact on mod and you may had chance to avoid some common mistakes. Your level building method was interesting. Some levels felt like you made interior and then year later decided to add items to it, it's like you had forgotten what you wanted your level to be. What I mean by that is that items were placed in places were they should've not been or platforms were too far/ too close for helicopter powerup and you were too lazy to fix it so that it would be right distance away.
2.I think you already knew this yourself but music quality is bad, i could get better quality audio using old cassette player. If you are trying to rip audio use cable like this:

plug one end in device you want to record from (for example pc audio jack) and other end into your microphone port. Then use program like audacity to record it and save it.
3. Expert category is a mess, every 2nd level includes tightropes, trust me they are not fun, they give no challenge and they add nothing but annoyance to level. If you can, avoid those at all costs. I lost interest at 4th expert level because of this.
4.Ordering of intermediate levels is odd, some begginerish levels are last on the list and some hard ones are at start, was a bit confused there.
5.Last thing i would suggest: stop limiting people, you don't want people to cheat so bad that you go crazy ways and remove most fun out of the game. I understand you want to get rid of ''unlock all levels button'' and it's fine but when you remove ''key bindings'' tab from options menu then it just starts to become madness. I personally use different bindings and I use freelook camera, I can't deal with your key bindings . Of course I figured button doesn't have texture but it is still there and I rebinded my keys, so currently I have no issues, then again, worth rethinking about that menu.
Also check MBG learning to roll, there was code that automatically displayed your currently binded keys


The condition of mod is good, you still need to improve it for it to reach it's full potential but for now I'm impressed. Looking forward to future updates and If you need feedback on levels as any staff member.

Intermediate Section:

I won't be re-ordering the levels (just yet or not at all). It seems that some "easy" levels require easing into a smoother; more relaxing ending so you can actually get to the story of the game better. If you pay attention to the story and know why some developers let "relaxing" happen after a series of tough levels, obstacles, etcetera -- then you will see what I mean.

Again, thanks for the feedback!

Alright. I've been playing MBStop for maybe 10 minutes now, and I'll say, some of these level's aren't bad. They have decent replayablility, some of the shortcuts that I found are fun to perform, and a couple others.
This post is basically for the negative parts of the mod, and unfortunately there's quite a few of them.

First off (and I'll make this short and sweet), we don't need tutorial levels!
Yes, I understand this was started quite some time ago, but with Marble Blast Gold, Platinum, Fubar (kinda doesn't count), and other mods like Emerald and Future, I've learned more than 5 times how to jump and use a PowerUp. I don't want to learn. I know how to play the game.
I can 99.999% guarantee you beginners will learn the Marble Blast skills through either Gold or Platinum.

Second of all, I can't open the console. I've tried the tilda key, I've tried F10, I've tried everything. I want to open the console so I can look around and do stuff. I know you said that you don't want people cheating...

Marble Blast STOP won't have an installer-less version to prevent more forms of cheating. Sorry!

But that's kind of a bad thing. People will want to look around, fiddle with the interiors through the level editor, and basically everything else you can do with the console, and I see absolutely no point in trying to prevent ways to cheat. It's an offline singleplayer game.

Third, I have some complaints about some texturing. See these two images .
I know that texturing isn't a huge deal as it's basically has no affect on gameplay, but it just looks pretty ugly.

Finally (and this problem is bugging me the most), I'll ask you a question.
What is wrong with this situation?

If you don't know, check the spoiler.


That's all I really have to say for the meantime. Hopefully these can be fixed sometime in the future.

Rosalyn wrote: First off (and I'll make this short and sweet), we don't need tutorial levels!

Some users don't know how to play MarbleBlast outside of these Forums. The game currently has 111 Downloads (and counting, now 2 that there's a new version, will be updated soon).

Anyways, back to the topic, you can complain about "Tutorials" all you want, but simply I don't want to remove them because there are some people who want to learn. It's best to just play through. You remember what elementary classrooms said -- no whining allowed.

Anyways, the "texture errors" you pointed out were in the beginner levels obviously, and I was just starting to learn how to build levels around then so it makes sense.
However I don't know what's wrong with Beginner Level 6. Edges missing somewhere?

Controls are added in the new edition -- erm, well, probably just the button. But it works! You'll see a GUI when the MAC Version releases or so.

Jiquor wrote: Intermediate Section:
While my Level Building Method is interesting sometimes for the power-ups they require JUMPING. Some of the power ups require jumping, or some other method

Check Gyrocopter mayem course, at first challenge you way overshoot it, same with part with superspeed and helicopter.
I mean there wasnt whole lot of those but there were enough to be noticable. And it wasn't anything related to not using jump+SJ

Jiquor wrote: And of course, lots of Marble Blast Levels have some annoying factors. That's what makes Tightropes interesting. You have to line the marble up to do it right. That requires a good sense of balance and line skills

Don't want to push you here or something but the basic theory of game design is sometimes you have to sacrifice something in order for gameplay to be fun. Maybe for you tightropes are fun but for like 80% of community they are annoying,. Of course they are challenging and can challenge someones skill, they are just not fun to pass. 1 trim wide tightrope is like as low as you can go before it just gets plain annoying.
Also another good thing to add to mindset when you make level. Dont make level that punishes you for nothing. Hard/challenging challenges are fine because they test your skill, but when you have to spend 40x times trying to finish one challenge because maker made pathway that can be executed in super specific way, it's just bad, at that point player usually gives up because instead of feeling that the challenge was too hard, he feels like an idiot.

Jiquor wrote: Unlike some people I will update whatever I can and receive feedback. I actually listen to players. I'm one of those few; lucky people who do that.

Cheers! You got my respect allready.

Some of the Tightropes are removed in the new release. I'd check it out if I were you.

To me power up shooting really doesn't matter. It's all about if you finish the level. Sometimes it can add shortcuts to the level; which I like.

Thank you for listening to feedback! It's really appreciated, and I will be sure to try out the mod now. I will write up my thoughts when I get the chance.

Rosalyn wrote: Alright. I've been playing MBStop for maybe 10 minutes now

Rosalyn wrote: 10 minutes

pls

Rosalyn wrote: First off (and I'll make this short and sweet), we don't need tutorial levels!
Yes, I understand this was started quite some time ago, but with Marble Blast Gold, Platinum, Fubar (kinda doesn't count), and other mods like Emerald and Future, I've learned more than 5 times how to jump and use a PowerUp. I don't want to learn. I know how to play the game.
I can 99.999% guarantee you beginners will learn the Marble Blast skills through either Gold or Platinum.

Well, part of the reason why we generally discourage tutorial levels in mods around here is because mod creators tend to start with them and then get hung up trying to make a good tutorial and never actually finish their mod. This obviously isn't an issue with MBStop considering that it's actually finished. As Jiquor said, he's not entirely targeting the Marble Blast community here. If you don't need tutorial levels, then just skip them and start with Intermediate.

I've merely played the beginner levels at the time of writing. [30 minutes tops + however many minutes writing this]

On the whole these levels did their job, however there did seem to be some levels where there felt to be repetition (i.e. separate levels for each one of the frictions - although ice + water was put into one level), there were also a couple that seemed needlessly big with platforms (i.e. Diagonal Movement), and there wasn't a real consistent feel to the levels in terms of textures used (although if you were just starting to make levels that makes sense, although some kind of coherence between them all would be nice to see).
Also I did feel some of the ordering was a bit off but I would have to think further on what I would think would make a better order for the levels.

I am conflicted on whether to include beginner levels or not, but on the whole I think they are discouraged as a means to focus on the other, bigger levels that have a more important role than the easier levels. Because this is complete and features plenty of levels aside from beginner levels I don't think they are entirely wasted.

Some of the other complaints I have have been pretty much picked up by others [Removal of LE/Console, Installers which aren't exactly needed, some missing controls in options GUI]

Although I am impressed you have been able to fully work through and create this mod with essentially zero help from the community, and you have completed it, so irregardless of faults you have done better than most. Taking into account suggestions from us as well this can improve it further [I am very glad you are willing to take our suggestions into account, it will definitely improve this mod as most are stuck unfinished or in the "1.0" stage, where essentially no support was given once it was finished].

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I'm sure you know that there is a new installer which contains controls. Here is what the new Options Menu looks like -- however the GUI isn't fully here yet.

For the people that hate the Tutorials, you usually find them in every game. Sometimes you're going to have to get over it -- if you really don't want to play the tutorial which I don't suggest because you won't find most of the story by NOT playing the tutorial then just move on to the Intermediate Levels).

While there is no Level Editor or Console; specifically you aren't permitted to view them. If you want to "modify my hard work for two years" and cheat, be my guest, but I don't recommend it. What point is there to the story with cheats?

Nothing.
Absolutely.
Nothing.

To finish on a lighter note; here's the new Options Menu:

About the UI's, avoid using MBP buttons, that kills the personality of the mod. Design your own buttons!

its a pretty good mod but you ripped off ROBLOX Why just why

How did I rip off ROBLOX?

ROFL.

RDs.empire wrote: First thing that came to my mind.

I feel the need to post this here: higuy.me/tmp/Octagonal%20Vibe.ogg Credit to Whirligig for creating this.... masterpiece?

As for MB Stop itself... most of what I'd say has been said better by people above.

Glad you all like it. Thanks for the things that might need to be fixed

HEADS UP - MBS 1.0.2 will release when the Mac Version comes out.
That includes a revamped (sort of) Options GUI, new controls section, and more.

KK thanks for letting me know

Interesting mod. If I have the right motivation, I might make a rampage on this mod someday. It got frustrating when I got to the later Advanced levels. I haven't even got to do the Expert levels yet.

it has been 2 weeks and still no MBS for mac has came out what is taking so long?

No need to rush people, especially if they're working on a mod solo.
People have other things in life they have to (school, homework, etc.) and the activities outside of Marble Blast often doesn't give them enough time to work on something for 2 hours straight.

Be patient.

If you want to run it on Mac, you can grab Wineskin (free but confusing) or CrossOver (paid but easy) and run the exe with one of those. There are plenty of tutorials online about how to set up stuff with them so I'm not going to go into much detail here.

Ok Ok I sorry.

Hey uhh, I just want to say one thing about the mod, that is the sound effects. The sound effects seem to be delayed for about half a second. For example, when it says 'Set..' it stops for half a second, then it says 'set'. I don't know if anyone else noticed this, but I'm just saying.

Jiquor wrote: For the people that hate the Tutorials, you usually find them in every game. Sometimes you're going to have to get over it -- if you really don't want to play the tutorial which I don't suggest because you won't find most of the story by NOT playing the tutorial then just move on to the Intermediate Levels).

While there is no Level Editor or Console; specifically you aren't permitted to view them. If you want to "modify my hard work for two years" and cheat, be my guest, but I don't recommend it. What point is there to the story with cheats?

Nothing.
Absolutely.
Nothing.

Just been reading around randomly, you might want not to be so confrontational with others. Feedback is feedback, you might hold design decisions that you hold dear, but if others think something is bad or wrong in a majority, it's usually a sign you should probably change something.

Just a thought. Good work on releasing something though, it's a lot of work. I'd recommend from the pictures I've seen that you work on your graphic design for menus though, if it's not readable it's not useful.

First off, in the Options Menu, there will someday soon be a revamped Options Menu, especially for the controls. For now, you MAY re-bind your keys how you like it by clicking the hovering blue Teapot that says "CONTROLS" in the menu. There's nothing but buttons scattered everywhere -- however those are the controls. Change them how you like it

Second off, Diamonds might not exist, or they still might be around. I haven't decided for sure yet.
What I mean by this is -- is that the Diamonds might be replaced with something different, MESH/.dts wise. I haven't figured that bit out yet.

Third off, there will be some time changes as well, along with what (some of you) have been waiting for -- the Mac Version!
For now, if you want to play MBS on your Mac, you will need to get a wine-bottle based program like Wine or Crossover or whatever.

These might release sometime in May 2016.
Thanks for reading! Sorry that I've been inactive. Things have been busy for me and sometimes I feel I'm not wanted here but hey I gotta still keep the game up and running at least

Only one topic per mod please. I merged your 1.0.2 topic into this one. Thanks.

Understood. Thanks for merging it, sorry for breaking a rule