MarbleBlast.com - Coming This Fall!
Introducing the New MarbleBlast.com!
Coming This Fall, 2013
What is this?
Yes, despite me posting a similar photo in the April Fools forum, this is an actual website that several of us have been working on for the past few months. This is the fabled 'Project X' you may have heard us talking about, and we're finally excited to share with you what we have in the works! Below is a list of some of the new features you'll encounter on the new site.
Website/Forum Features
- GLOBAL user accounts! Seriously, it's about time your forum account was linked directly into everything else, including Downloads, Forums, Leaderboards, and your In-Game High-Scores!
- Home Page, with Recent News linked directly to Announcement Posts on the forums! Respond directly to these news posts by clicking the 'comment' button, where you will be prompted to log in, or post your response directly to the forum thead!
- Automated Feature of the Week! All content uploaded to the website will be randomly cycled through and featured on the Home page for several days, with a direct link to download!
- Automated Polls and Quizzes! No more 50-page forum threads! Submit your feedback to polls and Quizzes directly on the home page! For Quizzes, users will be allowed a single submission every 24 hours. If the user 'wins' the quiz, their name will be displayed on the home page until the next quiz question is available, at Midnight CST. [This feature is still under heavy construction, and subject to change.]
- A brand new Forum engine! The new forums will run on a content management system with the latest version of PHP installed.
- Forum Thank-You system! Did you find someone's post helpful? Show your support by thanking their post! This user will be notified of your thanks on their profile page.
- Forum Achievements and Awards! Earn achievements and awards for being an active, supportive forum member! Some awards will also unlock bonus game content for participating mods, such as Marble Blast Fubar
- Download THOUSANDS of Custom Levels, Artwork, Interiors, Codes, and even Marble Blast Mods with our new Downloads Archive! The website will feature a Downloads section, including all submissions to the Marble Blast Development Kit. You will no longer have to dig through hundreds of threads, or years of broken links and download urls to find your Custom Level Packs. Everything will be stored on the website's host, and available 24/7.
- Upload your content DIRECTLY to the site! Upload custom levels, artwork, or tid-bits of code using our content submission system. This system is monitored by the website administrators and moderators, and must be approved by the staff before your content goes live, to ensure the files are safe, and usable. If your upload is published, it will be displayed publicly in the downloads section, with an author link directly to your website account!
- Rate content uploads! You can now provide simple 1-5 star ratings of custom levels, artwork, or code directly on the download page for that item! An extensive review option is also available, allowing users to post the traditional review format from our Level of the Month contests.
Leaderboards Features
- Direct Leaderboard Integration! With the global user accounts come direct integration with the Leaderboards! Sign in using the same credentials as your website account, and view the global leaderboard standings, as well as the local leaderboards for various mods and game modes!
- Direct Chat Integration! Chat with other players through the website interface! You can now chat with players in Marble Blast Platinum (or other participating mods) directly from the website or on your mobile devices and stay in touch from almost anywhere! (Currently, Marble Blast Fubar and PlatinumQuest are planned to have cross-platform chat integration in addition to the existing chat server for Marble Blast Platinum).
- Rise to the top of the Leaderboards with the all new CHALLENGE MODES! View your progress in these modes from in-game, or directly on the website and earn leaderboard rating in an attempt to climb to the top!
Profile Features
Note: Profile and Edit Profile windows are still under construction. Subject to change.
General Statistics
- Limit your Privacy Settings! Hide information about your account from other users, including the ability to hide your account from displaying in the leaderboards.
- Customize your Website Experience! Hate email notifications about your forum posts? Dislike our newsletters about leaderboards? Annoyed with the chat showing up on every page? Disable them using your account settings! Tired of the bland, white template? Change your website color dynamically using a color wheel!
- Set your Contact Information! Input a variety of contact information, including Facebook, Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn, and more!
- Absolute Leaderboard integration! Track your current leaderboard score and rankings directly on your profile page!
- View all of your Game Achievements, Awards, and completion status'! Track your in-game progress for supported mods, and see your overall progress in the realm of Marble Blast!
Forum Statistics
- Keep Track of Your Recent Posts! Your profile will remind you of the threads you most recently participated in, and show you the latest response by a user.
- Subscribe to Posts! You can now 'subscribe' to threads and receive email-notifications (which you can disable in your profile settings), as well as a list of your favorite threads on your user profile!
- Love a Thread? Favorite it for later! You can now 'favorite' threads, and view your list of favorites at any time from your profile page! No more digging through old threads or bookmarks to find that old, dusty level thread of yours!
- D'aw, Thanks! See who has been thanking your posts and threads, feel like a boss!
But, What happens to all of my Forum Posts?
NEVER FEAR! The MarbleBlast Forums Staff have been hard at work pruning the forums in preparation for the website migration. We hope to manually copy every thread over to the new system before launch, including all user accounts. Users will be sent a confirmation email to the email associated with their forum account in order to update their account information and synchronize with the new website. Details on this will be provided when the site is ready to launch.
WARNING! : Make sure your forum account is linked to a real, working email! A no-reply email will result in your account being locked until you contact a forum staff member!
I Want it! When is the site going Live??
If all goes according to plan (which it rarely does), we expect the new site to launch this Summer, 2013. We will update this thread as often as possible to provide you with the most up-to-date information on the progress of the site.
UPDATE: Due to limited resources and time constraints, we failed to meet our Summer 2013 deadline. The expected release date of the Website is now planned for early November, 2013.
Post your thoughts and responses here! Do you have any suggestions or ideas you'd like to see on the new site?
Enjoy!
~Aayrl, Matan, and the Marble Blast Staff.
Coming This Fall, 2013
What is this?
Yes, despite me posting a similar photo in the April Fools forum, this is an actual website that several of us have been working on for the past few months. This is the fabled 'Project X' you may have heard us talking about, and we're finally excited to share with you what we have in the works! Below is a list of some of the new features you'll encounter on the new site.
Website/Forum Features
- GLOBAL user accounts! Seriously, it's about time your forum account was linked directly into everything else, including Downloads, Forums, Leaderboards, and your In-Game High-Scores!
- Home Page, with Recent News linked directly to Announcement Posts on the forums! Respond directly to these news posts by clicking the 'comment' button, where you will be prompted to log in, or post your response directly to the forum thead!
- Automated Feature of the Week! All content uploaded to the website will be randomly cycled through and featured on the Home page for several days, with a direct link to download!
- Automated Polls and Quizzes! No more 50-page forum threads! Submit your feedback to polls and Quizzes directly on the home page! For Quizzes, users will be allowed a single submission every 24 hours. If the user 'wins' the quiz, their name will be displayed on the home page until the next quiz question is available, at Midnight CST. [This feature is still under heavy construction, and subject to change.]
- A brand new Forum engine! The new forums will run on a content management system with the latest version of PHP installed.
- Forum Thank-You system! Did you find someone's post helpful? Show your support by thanking their post! This user will be notified of your thanks on their profile page.
- Forum Achievements and Awards! Earn achievements and awards for being an active, supportive forum member! Some awards will also unlock bonus game content for participating mods, such as Marble Blast Fubar
- Download THOUSANDS of Custom Levels, Artwork, Interiors, Codes, and even Marble Blast Mods with our new Downloads Archive! The website will feature a Downloads section, including all submissions to the Marble Blast Development Kit. You will no longer have to dig through hundreds of threads, or years of broken links and download urls to find your Custom Level Packs. Everything will be stored on the website's host, and available 24/7.
- Upload your content DIRECTLY to the site! Upload custom levels, artwork, or tid-bits of code using our content submission system. This system is monitored by the website administrators and moderators, and must be approved by the staff before your content goes live, to ensure the files are safe, and usable. If your upload is published, it will be displayed publicly in the downloads section, with an author link directly to your website account!
- Rate content uploads! You can now provide simple 1-5 star ratings of custom levels, artwork, or code directly on the download page for that item! An extensive review option is also available, allowing users to post the traditional review format from our Level of the Month contests.
Leaderboards Features
- Direct Leaderboard Integration! With the global user accounts come direct integration with the Leaderboards! Sign in using the same credentials as your website account, and view the global leaderboard standings, as well as the local leaderboards for various mods and game modes!
- Direct Chat Integration! Chat with other players through the website interface! You can now chat with players in Marble Blast Platinum (or other participating mods) directly from the website or on your mobile devices and stay in touch from almost anywhere! (Currently, Marble Blast Fubar and PlatinumQuest are planned to have cross-platform chat integration in addition to the existing chat server for Marble Blast Platinum).
- Rise to the top of the Leaderboards with the all new CHALLENGE MODES! View your progress in these modes from in-game, or directly on the website and earn leaderboard rating in an attempt to climb to the top!
Profile Features
Note: Profile and Edit Profile windows are still under construction. Subject to change.
General Statistics
- Limit your Privacy Settings! Hide information about your account from other users, including the ability to hide your account from displaying in the leaderboards.
- Customize your Website Experience! Hate email notifications about your forum posts? Dislike our newsletters about leaderboards? Annoyed with the chat showing up on every page? Disable them using your account settings! Tired of the bland, white template? Change your website color dynamically using a color wheel!
- Set your Contact Information! Input a variety of contact information, including Facebook, Twitter, Skype, LinkedIn, and more!
- Absolute Leaderboard integration! Track your current leaderboard score and rankings directly on your profile page!
- View all of your Game Achievements, Awards, and completion status'! Track your in-game progress for supported mods, and see your overall progress in the realm of Marble Blast!
Forum Statistics
- Keep Track of Your Recent Posts! Your profile will remind you of the threads you most recently participated in, and show you the latest response by a user.
- Subscribe to Posts! You can now 'subscribe' to threads and receive email-notifications (which you can disable in your profile settings), as well as a list of your favorite threads on your user profile!
- Love a Thread? Favorite it for later! You can now 'favorite' threads, and view your list of favorites at any time from your profile page! No more digging through old threads or bookmarks to find that old, dusty level thread of yours!
- D'aw, Thanks! See who has been thanking your posts and threads, feel like a boss!
But, What happens to all of my Forum Posts?
NEVER FEAR! The MarbleBlast Forums Staff have been hard at work pruning the forums in preparation for the website migration. We hope to manually copy every thread over to the new system before launch, including all user accounts. Users will be sent a confirmation email to the email associated with their forum account in order to update their account information and synchronize with the new website. Details on this will be provided when the site is ready to launch.
WARNING! : Make sure your forum account is linked to a real, working email! A no-reply email will result in your account being locked until you contact a forum staff member!
I Want it! When is the site going Live??
If all goes according to plan (which it rarely does), we expect the new site to launch this Summer, 2013. We will update this thread as often as possible to provide you with the most up-to-date information on the progress of the site.
UPDATE: Due to limited resources and time constraints, we failed to meet our Summer 2013 deadline. The expected release date of the Website is now planned for early November, 2013.
Post your thoughts and responses here! Do you have any suggestions or ideas you'd like to see on the new site?
Enjoy!
~Aayrl, Matan, and the Marble Blast Staff.
