2020 Predictions - Right or Wrong?

2020 was a clusterfuck to say the least. Nonetheless we have had THREE World Record Rampages and another 2 massive compilations (Xelna & Doomblah), lots of new faces, a MBG Web Port and so much more!

We can now check the previous year's predictions. Discuss HERE only 2020's predictions, be it your own or others and whether they were right or wrong.

Your previous predictions can be found here.

Woohoo another year has passed, lets see what I predicted
Green Highlight = Correct
Orange Highlight = Semi Correct
Red Highlight = Wrong
N/A

I will add some comments in bold text as well.

Marble Blast Predictions:
- I'll get a coloured username. Got it in March.
- I'll squeeze into the top 50 in general ranking. Lol, I'm sitting at 25th in general rating at the moment.
- I'll pass 70 million rating in general. I'm currently sitting at 96 million rating which is way more than I predicted.
- My AT/S count will exceed 50 in PQ. Barely, I'm sitting at 51 xD
- I'll get a WR in a non-custom level. Lol nope
- Me or someone else will grab the Despair wr fuck this stupid level
- 3-4 WRR's will come out. I'm actually surprised that I predicted this!
- PQ will have a popularity boost at some stage.
- PQ will reach update 2.4.0 It did not, we are at update 2.3.44
- Mazik becomes a god and reaches the top 10 in general ranking. He did become a god, but he's only 26th
- I will improve the Tube Terror WR down to a 10.5xx. I'm most likely never playing this level again
- Exceed 500 hours in playtime on the lb's. *cough cough 500 hour rrecs*
- Get some of my friends to start playing PQ. One of my friends is now in the top 125 and has a colored username!
- Some sort of cheating scandal will occur again. I don't think there was

IRL Predictions:
- Achieve merit endorsement in NCEA Level 2 (2nd year doing NCEA), Merit endorsement involves getting 50 merits out of the total of 110-140 you can obtain throughout the year. Can't find out until later
- I get some sort of award during the school year. I got an excellence award in statistics!
- Possibly put myself forward for more school groups. Joined like one more group but then stopped going
- Make myself as positive as possible. I definitely went for this, but my year has been rough
- Motivate my friends to be more positive and more open about themselves, allowing them to show their personalities like I have done so in the past year. I have successfully done this and I'm proud of it and I'm proud of all of my friends who have bettered themselves this year

MISC Predictions:
- Nintendo announces a new classic edition console.
- Actually grow a small audience on Youtube, with osu and mb content most likely. Not really
- My donation amount will exceed $50 on the MB website I'll try as hard as I can for this lol. I did donate more but I didn't exceed the $50
- Geometry Dash 2.2 comes out. Lol nope
- Get 5kpp on osu! standard and 1.5kpp on osu!mania. I hit 1.5kpp on osu!mania, I stopped caring for standard pp
- Pass Image Material, Solace of Oblivion, Fallen 9* (osu). I passed on Image Material

I did better than last year, so that's something

Green = 11
Orange = 4
Red = 9
Gray = 1

Today on "ran out of things to do at 4am" you have decided to finally write your time capsule entry. Good job.

Haha dont look at the time right now

- Forget to bury the time capsule until the day after

Freebie (+0)

- PQ updates are still as sporadic as ever, probably 1 or 2 large ones but nothing else

We went from 2.3.32 to 2.3.44 which is not very many. Mostly just bugfixes yet somehow the game STILL crashes for everyone. Imma say (+1)

- Packs 60-69 get started and then somehow delayed to 2021

This is a super win I'm so happy right now you don't even know how good it feels to be this right I'm giving myself (+2)

- You'll finally do something with at least one of those partially working Torque engines on your Desktop

HTV chal was one (+1)

- Community is mostly the same people (cross-ref the threads for good measure) except we'll finally ban at least a few people

We banned at least one person and who knows, maybe another will happen eventually (+1)

- At least one large staff decision happens and people get salty

There was general salt but it wasn't a really because of a large decision. I'm choosing to carefully interpret this as two separate things and say "no large staff decision but people got salty at some point" (+0.5)

- Three new mods, one releases. And updates for older mods don't count so stop trying to eke out a success

GLC4 released, HTX1 released, and at least two noobs tried to start new mods so that's a win for me (+1)

- I keep joking about PQ: Director's Cut but never actually start working on it

Literally forgot about this (+1)

- Wine 64-on-32 still isn't public because that concept is damn impossible and Mac PQ numbers are dropping

Nope, it's here and it's pretty decent. Crashes like PQ but I'll take it. (+0)

- One of Whirli's marble games goes somewhere, and one of his non-marble games goes somewhere as well

Filtration and Connect-X were the two games this referred to and yes, they have. (+1)

- That game idea with Stephen probably fails. But let's make this positive! So, assume it doesn't fail

Literally forgot about this (+0)

- Still watching 2-4 NL Isaac episodes a week (your taste is okay but you should branch out a bit)

We are up to 7 (they come out daily...) (+1)

- Find some new game to play most of the time instead of just watching LPs

Tabletop Simulator, HyperRogue, and recently Factorio. Still watching lots of LPs though. (+0.5)

- Actually make significant progress in least one Unity game

Hahahahahahahaahahaahahahahahahahahahahahahha (+0)

- Get a job! (Not a command, this is a prediction)

Got a job! (+1)

- Moving to Florida

Did not move to Florida due to unexpected worldwide disaster (+0)

- Delay looking at apts for so long you get something crappy

N/A (+0)

- Spend as much time in Troy before that as possible though

Did this up until the last minute when shit started getting fucky (+1)

- New laptop as a result of money from said job

Typing this on it right now! (+1)

- Still don't talk to my brother much

Yes (+1)

- Switch does *not* get banned this year. Hopefully

I don't use it much anymore but technically true (+1)

- Code lots of random stuff in my free time because I have free time again

(Looks at free time) Sure we'll go with "yes" (+1)

- You have free time again

I do, thanks pandemic (+1)

- Bask in the free time

More like dwell in it (+0)

- Sleep schedule is not as bad anymore (currently you sleep 7am -> 4pm so I hope it improves)

6am -> 2pm which is TECHNICALLY an improvement (+1)

- And maybe go to the beach you vampire

I do not live near a beach yet (+0)

- HTV happens and is only sorta a mess, estimating I make 2 chals

I made exactly 2 chals, and it was a mess because nobody showed up (+1)

- Security club keeps doing it's dance of survival but you don't pay much attention anymore cause your friends graduated

Basically (+1)

- Still talk to those friends though... over fucken Slack (hissss)

Slack, Discord, and IRC: the three horsemen of the chatpocalypse (+1)

- We still don't win CSAW

We didn't even qualify for CSAW (+1)

- Overall feeling less depressed than last year due to reduced stress and more free time / money

Ha (+0)

[hr]

22/31 is pretty good. Even considering the disaster that was this year, my predictions were apparently pretty stable. So that's cool.

Reflecting on 2020

tl;dr - I got featured in all 3 rampages this year, saw an increase in skill, and garnered a lot more WRs compared to 2019

2020 has honestly been huge for me in terms of my speedrunning career in this game. The main thing being that I was featured in all 3 rampages this year (MBG, MBU, and Easter Eggs). Having the MBG rampage be the first one I ever was apart of is nothing short of amazing, even if it only was for 10 seconds it meant a lot to me, as it was my dream ever since I first saw the rampages (even if I don't remember watching them back then). While my spot on the MBG rampage was achieved moreso due to sheer luck and being at the right place at the right time, rather than skill (again, ty Nockess), the same can't be said for MBU. MBU was a similar situation, although obviously not as impactful since I never grew up with it, only MBG. For both of those rampages it was always a fight for me to just get one run in and I'm proud of myself for doing it twice. For MBU however, I had no assistance from anyone to get any of my WRs. My now former Fork in the Road WR was achieved purely due to skill, and I'm happy I was able to do this.

Easter Eggs was pretty much a guarantee that I'd be apart of, although the main struggle with this one came with maintaining my dominant spot against people like M@s and Blasted. I'll be honest here and say that fighting to keep my dominant spot with the EE WRR, while it did feel rewarding, would've felt MUCH more impactful if people like Xedron, DK, Cobalt, etc, all went as hard on Easter Eggs as me and I still made it out on top. Regardless, its still amazing how I went from only having 1 WR in the first two rampages to having nearly 1/3 of all Easter Egg WRs (that would be featured in the rampage). It was really fun coming up with all these new paths that people wouldn't normally take for eggs and if I could redo it, I definitely would. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't drained by this rampage at times tho, as it was decently difficult to get to 40 egg records again.

On a related note, the egg rampage will probably be my peak performance in any rampage I will participate in and I won't nearly have as much of an impact on any future rampages going forward. That's not to say my skill will stagnate from here, but with future rampages I def won't be seen as much (to be expected with people like Xedron to be fair). Still a cool experience to be #1 and MVP in a rampage though, I cannot deny that. Not many people in the community can say they dominated a rampage either.

Along with WRR achievements, I felt that I was getting better at the game throughout the course of 2020 as well, with a decent increase in skill sometime between May 2020 and September 2020. This has also shown through how many WRs I achieved this year compared to 2019. 2019 with regards to speedrunning offered me my very first record on Quest Ring, Chilled, and undoubtedly my best accomplishment that year, beating Nock's cheated P11 time, that was basically it (I did hold White Noise for a brief time but you all know how that went). Let's compare this to 2020 now, which saw an increase from my total WR count from 3, to 12 (currently my peak WR count as well). There are too many records to list on here but some of the most notable being Ender's Level (First Custom WR), Freeway Crossing (First MBG WR), Space Slide (2nd MBG WR), and Triple Trail, the latter of which I spent 3 weeks on to get a 207 and am very proud of. There's no doubt my skill has increased since 2019 and I'm really happy with the results .

What Predictions did I get Right or Wrong?
If it's red, I didn't achieve it this year, if it's blue, I did.
1. Achieve 110 Million rating overall (I feel I'll get 100 Million a little quicker than I expect, so I'll set the bar reasonably high for myself)
- I wanna take a bit of time to explain why I made this a goal for myself. Ever since I beat Nock's P11 time, up until March I got a little cocky with my skill, so I thought I could reach this goal by like August at the latest. Little did I know I wasn't as good as I thought I was back then, and I now see myself in a more realistic light. I also didn't anticipate that I'd be spending so much time on egg runs either, but there was no way I could've known that back then.
2. Get at least 90 ATs in PQ
- Nope, I'm currently at 62 ATs. The explanation I gave above is basically my reasoning behind this and why I didn't achieve it.
3. Make my Satisfying Runs series reach episode 10 (That will be when I have 88 ATs most likely, most with times I'm satisfied with)
- Currently at 7 videos with the Satisfying Runs name in it, the explanation for 1 and 2 work here as well.
4. Obtain 30 subs on Youtube
- I'm so glad I went safe with this one. I was close to 40 subs but both times I would always lose a sub (currently sitting at 38 subs). Easy clap here.
5.Participate in the Egg WRR and still be the dominant record holder by the time the deadline passes with over 20+ egg WRs
- I fucking delivered with this one with 40 egg records compared to M@s' 17 (2nd place in WR holdings for the rampage). Gunna give myself a pat on the head for that one.
6. Work on my secret MBG project (no idea when that will be done, but I think people will like it a lot)
- I'm gunna mark this one as a win in my book. My original idea for this was to do a huge compilation where I would do IL runs while not looking forward. Turns out, this is way beyond my skill level, so I scrapped the idea for that video and decided to repurpose it for a fun challenge to do on stream (twitch.tv/mazikdoestwitch btw ). I'm nearly done with it too, as of writing this I'm on Pinball Wizard right now, and will hopefully finish it in the next stream I do.
7. Have a total of 6 actual level records under my belt
- Another win in my book, sitting at 12 records currently. I'm surprised I made a very conservative prediction here considering I was a bit cocky at the time, but whatever.
8. Make at least 1 level (I have an idea that might work)
- Mazik making levels???????????

Let's seee
Red - Didn't Happen
Orange - Uncertain/Semicorrect
Green - Did happen

-I will meet up with a community member (No comment)
-I will manage to get a WR and hold it for more than a week (MPMC :DD)
-I will finally get a new and better laptop that will replace my old 2014 laptop (Didnt get a laptop, but I did get a new PC that is miles better)
-I will release the world's longest LE level (Don't even know why I put this in here lmfao)
-Packs 60-69 will be released (They didnt release in *2020*, but im pretty sure they will be released in a few weeks or so)
-I will pass the National Evaluation exam at the end of the school year and enter a good high school (9.17/10 result )
-I will stop being lazy and actually do something productive (I *did* start doing other stuff that could be considered productive, but I just fell out of them in a couple of weeks time lmao)
-I will travel overseas to new countries that i have never visited before (COVID kinda fucked that up)

Red = 4
Green = 3
Orange = 1

it is time

Did you remember to set your nickname on the PQ Discord to "2020 crashed! (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻"?
Not a prediction but yes, I did.
-I'll have my driver's permit... License maybe? Still not 100% sure on those laws.
Permit in March, license was actually only just over a week ago. First try!
-On the topic of that, I'll have a newfound hatred for my 10th grade Driver's Ed teacher.
nah he's epic
-Upi vsm dyo;; frvpfr yjod/
Tpy fuf uy qtimf/
-You'll have specifically remembered one of these predictions. Probably this one. But this one doesn't count.
no actually
-You'll have gotten obsessed with something for a while like Kemono Friends and Banjo-Kazooie this year.
I wouldn't say so. Nothing notable. I love Banjo even more, though. Don't think I'd played any of Banjo-Tooie when I predicted that last year.
-Speaking of Borneo-Kazeemanuar here, an HD remake and/or new Banjo game (and Kazooie of course... Or perhaps not?) will have been announced... Please?

-Bonus points if it's available on both Nintendo and Microsoft's hardware.
Still waiting... Gonna predict this again this year if I remember.
-I'm predicting a new Mario Kart game again. An actual one. One that's not like Mario Kart Tour. Also Mario baseball PLEASE
I'm not gonna count Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit. Also I've gained new respect for Mario Kart Tour, it's gotten much better since launch.
-Bringing back Minecraft Steve and... Maybe Waluigi again as well for Smash. Master Chief seems maybe possible as well but idk. Doomguy maybe?
I didn't think it would happen, but I'm so glad it did. Why did C418 have to be so ass about using his music, though? Come on...
-Predicting another Child's Play/Off Kilter moment again as well. What stupid shit did you find while playing with your balls this time?
i am slow boy
-Something you make will actually impress people. I was originally gonna orient this to specifically MB levels but maybe something else too? Music maybe?
Not really, but I've gotten better with music stuff I'd say. Still no actual original compositions, though. Working on a big video project for my AP Computer Science class right now, though, and I hope that turns out well.
-TF2 will receive another update and/or an official VR release
No, but it's shown more signs of life than before.
-On the topic of updates, Minecraft's caves will remain mostly if not entirely untouched. The cave update will become something Mojang purposely doesn't do.
Shame. Honestly not that hyped about sculk sensors, tinted glass and waterlogged rails are the things that got me most hyped so far lol. Also the Nether Update was entirely last year too. Blackstone honestly looks epic, as well as crimson and warped stuff together. Though that's kinda overused now.
-Another chapter for deltarune maybe?
I really thought so. But no. Maybe next year?
-Undertale will show up in another absolutely ridiculous place like Sans in Smash. May or may not count Toby Fox music depending on what it's like.
Not that I saw. The composer for Celeste made all the Minecraft 1.16 music, though.
-Another huge indie title like Undertale, DDLC, or Untitled Juice Jame
Helltaker wasn't so big I don't think, but... idk maybe? I'm not gonna count it but I won't say no.
-I wasn't gonna say anything about this, but other people were doing similar things, so... Things will advance further with my girlfriend. As to what that might mean I just hope it's legal lmao
you got it

Wow lots of these were wrong lmao
Correct: 6
Inapplicable: 1
Incorrect: 11

First time looking back, let’s go!

I put my predictions for 2020 in my forum profile because I left it too late to post here last year, so here they are:



1. Get a coloured name

Then: 100% PQ PTs and MBU GTs; 93% MBG GTs and 40% MBP PTs

Now: 100% PQ UTs (not bonus ones), 100% every other lowest challenge time

I demolished this goal, getting my coloured name early in May and continuing to grind from there, getting all UTs in PQ and all highest challenge times (HCTs) in custom pack 40-49. I’ve come such a long way since the start of last year and I’m so happy to be here!



2. Get into the top 100 players based on general rating

Then: 23.5m, #130ish?

Now: 60.6m, #60

Once again, I massively undershot my capabilities, getting about 4 times the rating I thought I could. Granted, a lot of it comes from customs (Slope Momentum ), but it’s still a great amount.



3. Unlock Puzzle 12

Then: 0/25 ATs/ASs

Now: 15/25 ATs/ASs

I still don’t like the high number, as it means I’ll actually have to get good at some levels rather than 1) getting free ATs such as Dependency and 2) relying on good luck with Hunt.

This is definitely happening this year though!



4. Reach top 50 in the PQ overall rankings

Then: 10.5m, #85ish?

Now: 17.1m, #44

I did pretty well on this one, getting there a few months before the end of the year. I’m shocked that I’m still above c0wmanglr (16.8m, #49), especially with his 62 ATs to my 15.

•••••••

Overall, I think I did pretty well on my goals for this year, but they were easy so /shrug

I’ll see you in the 2021 predictions thread!

Marble Blast predictions:
- I get back into Gem Hunt. I got back into Gem Hunt for some time.
- Packs 60-69 will exist. Nope!
- I will pass 95 million rating. I passed 101 million rating.

Non-MB predictions:
- I will clear 40 lines in Tetris in under 35 seconds. Personal best is 33.397 with 3.08 pieces per second. ch.tetr.io/u/cylinderknot
- I will make substantial progress toward becoming a Tetris grand master this time. Increased my maximum gravity skills, promoted two ranks in Tetris: The Grand Master 3
- I pick up a new game to play. I didn't say that it had to be a different genre, so Tetr.io counts.

83% correct!

- I will go overseas to at least two countries. Thanks Google for reminding me I visited Toronto's Airport, which makes 2 countries, so 1
- I will continue with the same workplace, though I will move away (a bit) from lab and into a different position. Got promoted at work! Out of the lab and 99% computer. Also COVID = Work from Home while lab folks were at work daily, which is also a big plus. +1

- Currently on a diet, lost 10kgs in 2 months. Let's get down to 80kgs, Matan! Broke the 80kgs, the 75kgs, an elusive 70kgs and even below 67.5kgs and then a ridicilous 64.5kgs, holy fucking shit!!! +2

- Nada on Hocus Pocus TAS. +1
- But let's try and have TPI speedrun happening! Game is being finnicky but it seems to want to run and not want to run. +0.5
- Will not play Borderlands 1, but might do BL2 or TPS or even Tales from the Borderlands. Finished Tales! +1
- I'll purchase, play and beat Borderlands 3. +1 0/10 storyline 20/10 gameplay
- I'll play mods for C&C Generals: Zero Hour and have fun. I watched lots of videos instead.... +0.5?

- Will continue to make levels and challenge times for Marble It Up. It happened. +1

- No girlfriend this year, but give yourself +2 if wrong because that will be awesome. +1
- Will go out with friends from work and commit to see people a bit more. COVID did stop that but I did commit (todo more) and started playing on weekends with one of them Divinity Original Sin 2 so big +1

- PQ keeps crashing, and HiGuy will complain about it. "Aaa" +1
- HiGuy will continue to update PQ but less than last year. Frightfest/Wintefest not included. +1
- I will still want to make a level to the community, but won't make one. +1
- MBG WRR #5 AND and Easter Egg WRR releases! WOW +1

- HiGuy has to eat lunch first so vc/ss later. Uh, +1?
- HiGuy has something else but he'll find time for me a bit after that. +1
- Also HiGuy will eat during our convos. +1
- I will as well. +1

- I will continue making videos (and upload them). +1
- At least three previous streams I did will be uploaded to YouTube. I did Winterfest +0.333...
- Some Multiplayer matches I recorded will also be uploaded +1
- REPLAY OF THE D.. 0
- 20k subs? 20k subs! +1

- Tsuf keeps being Tsuf +1
- Oh god the screaming it's in my ear I'm deaf +1

- I will get a surprise-reminder about the Time Capsule, and immediately tell HiGuy who will groan and be unhappy because who has the time for this? +1

- THE GAME! +1

- This still isn't cannon.cs +1

- And again Matan, since always, it's:
write whatever you want here
two
spaces
and now you can do again. You need a reminder every year! +1

28.33/30 = S Rank boys

Did pretty well, but got some stuff wrong.

Marble Blast Goals:
- PlatinumQuest World Record Rampage will come out this year, and I'll have a run or two featured in it.
Rip, that didn't happen. Wasn't even announced.
- I'll reach 120 million rating, 125m stretch goal.
Did it!
- I'll be top 100 on every level on the leaderboards.
Still a handful of custom levels I'm not this on, nearly though.
- I'll be top 20 on every level in PQ.
Did it!
- I'll achieve sub 100m total time in PQ.
Did it! Sub 98 too!
- I'll improve my time on a couple levels I refuse to play anymore.
I'd say so, I improved my Magnetic Adventure time.

I doubt many of these will happen as my real life situation is gonna make me very busy this year.

Real Life Goals:
- Start going to college.
yup
- Do well in college. (passing grades or better)
3.8 gpa so far
- Finally get my drivers license.
oof
- Get a new computer.

Of course I enumerated my predictions with en dashes. Somehow that doesn't surprise me.

– I will have 35 world records in MBG WRR #5, and will not improve my current time on King of the Mountain (3.590).
I mean I had 35 at one point but I think I'm down to like 27 now, but I kept King of the Mountain so +1
– MBG WRR #5 will come out, and both Dushine and Imperial will comment on at least one of the videos.
Yes and no, +1
– I will actually get caught up on Star Wars.
I guess? I have now watched all 9 movies anyway so that's good enough for a +1
– Doctor Who will actually be good this year.
Yes it was! +1
– My family will purchase cable TV for one month just to watch the Olympics, and that will take up a lot of my summer.
Unfortunately no, because the Olympics didn't happen. This will happen this year though. +0
– I still won't reach 90 million rating.
I know myself too well. +1
– I will play every level of PQ at least once this year because I always seem to forget how good it is.
I think so! I got back into it anyway so I'll give it a +1
– Turning 20 will make me feel weird and keep me up at night at least once this week.
I don't think this happened. +0
– Keep my 4.0 GPA hopefully?
Aaaaaagh I was so close but then kind of misjudged how I should balance my time at the end of the semester and got a 3.7 in one of the graduate math courses, and it was the easier class of the two as well. Oh well. +0
– Actually be satisfied with my piano skills.
There's always a bit of "Welllll I could be doing a lot better" so +0
– There will be at least two small things about the Marble Blast server that consistently annoy me, but I won't comment on either of them.
Definitely. +1
– There will be no new staff members.
I think this is true. +1
– I will knit a scarf.
I knitted about 8% of a scarf and then got bored and stopped, so +0
– I will keep gaining weight every time I go to college, and losing it whenever I come home, unless I decrease my meal plan, in which case I will feel very hungry at least once a day.
I actually have no idea how much I weigh right now because we don't have a scale at home apart from the Wii Balance Board which I haven't used all year, so I'm going to give this a +0
– Despite this, my friends will continue to be envious that I don't appear to ever gain weight.
Yuppppp +1
– I will obnoxiously bump the MBG New World Records Topic at some point (after WRR #5) with a long list of my top three times. Kalle will get annoyed.
I meant to do this but I forgot! Thanks past self for reminding me. +0
– I will reach some point of relative satisfaction with my MBG times, finally being happy enough with how I've done to play the game less (this will require improving a lot of MBG intermediates, plus Skyscraper and Siege).
I gave up on MBG but that's purely out of laziness. I didn't actually improve anything that I said I would. +1
– I will make at least one new consistent friend at college this year (bonus points if he's male).
I mean I at least met a couple more guys which is good, but I don't think I'd call any of them "consistent friends", more just "people who I'm friendly with". So this unfortunately gets a +0

Total: 10/20 (50%).

Marble Blast:

-MBG WRR 5 released in February/March, allows for some great rewind compilations to take place.

Great rewind compilations did take place, but somehow these things still get delayed beyond my expectations.

-PQ WRR will begin official development.

Nope.

-Somebody will find a way to beat Despair's WR.

Nope.

-I will release a level pack at one point.

To be fair I had 6 levels I was going to release from MBG at one point but I didn't have much motivation. +0

-MBG's total speedrunning time will be pushed down to 36 minutes.

No one really tried to do this. It will happen though at some point.

-Mike will quit and come back more times than I do this year.

Ok so he quit right at the start of the year and got banned. I'm counting that. +1

Sports:
-Chiefs vs. 49ers for Super Bowl, Chiefs win.

My only good prediction. Patrick Mahomes is in the GOAT conversation now.

-Bucks vs. Clippers for NBA Finals, Bucks win 4-2

This one I have the excuse that I don't care about NBA at all so I was strictly looking at records. Both these teams wouldn't even make it to the fucking conference finals, the Clippers in the more embarrassing fashion.

-Cowboys finish with a 10-6 record, but honestly I'm expecting anything at this point.

This came after an 8-8 season where plenty of coaches were fired. They somehow outdid themselves and got even worse despite hiring a Super Bowl winning coach, so welcome to 6-10 Cowboys.

-Have at least a 1500 blitz rating in Chess (Chess is technically a sport so lol)

Nope. I lost interest. It would be funny to play Regi or hPerks at one point though.

Miscellaneous:
-I will try to do some speedrunning outside of Marble Blast

I don't know why I thought this would happen, because I have never been interested in full game speedruns as much as individual accomplishments, so clearly this didn't occur. I did get a world record on N++ though.

-At least 5 people will road rage at me

Driving is easy as fuck. I think maybe two people got mad in total but both of them were in the wrong, fuck you losers.

-I won't buy a new phone.

Freebie.

-Fortnite will still be popular, but will be replaced by another (probably worse) game in popularity.

Among us is most definitely worse than Fortnite.

-Become able to do 80 pushups non-stop.

Basically a hypothetical prediction. This never happened, but I got closer than I thought. I stopped putting the effort around 50 or so.

I won't count up the grade but you can see that I was absolutely atrocious this year.

Marble Blast / Marble It Up!

At least one staff member leaves the community or gets demodded.

I don't think this happened +0

Someone will get unbanned.

Depends on if it counts if it's a reversed non-perma ban +0.5

Custom Packs 60-69 releases.

Getting really close +0

PQ stops updating for real this time, save for seasonal updates and level packs.

*looks at HiGuy* +0

I won't make any PQ levels, but I'll make 2-3 MIU workshop levels.

I made 0 PQ levels and 7 MIU workshop levels +1

MIU will get a big boost in popularity after the Mayhem/Multiplayer update releases on PC and Switch.

Hasn't even been released yet so... +0

At least two more old community members will join the MIU Discord and become active in it.

I wouldn't necessarily say "active" but I've seen a few old members around there a fair amount recently +1

Something really big will happen for Marble Blast and/or Marble It Up as a whole.

Uhh... not really +0



Other Stuff

I'll get all A's in my classes this spring and fall.

Didn't end up taking classes in the fall but I did get all A's in the spring so +1

Something will go wrong with my new computer and I'll have to replace a part.

Thankfully no +0

I'll meet up in person with at least one long-distance friend.

Wanna give a huuuuge special shoutout to COVID-19 +0

I'll be happy with who I end up voting for in the election.

+0

Minecraft is still going to be popular, but it will start to become more niche (like it was between 2014 and 2017) again.

It's actually way more popular now than it was last year +0

I'll put at least 200 hours into the new Animal Crossing game.

289 hours according to my Switch profile +1

I'll play at least five new puzzle games. None of them will be better than The Witness.

Played exactly 5 games that are distinctly puzzle games, none of them were better than The Witness
(unless I can somehow convince myself that Outer Wilds is a puzzle game) +1

I'll finally stop playing Fortnite

Thank fucking god honestly +1




Total: 6.5/16

Man, I can't even recall posting my predictions last year...
Anyways, here I'll sum every prediction/goal I made last time, but with some rephrasing.

Marble Blast

• Complete every single Leaderboards level with a Gold/Ultimate time.
  Didn't happen.


• Maintain the WR count at at least 50 until the end of the year.
  Regular WR count dropped to 44. Though when I count Easter Eggs, I'm well in the clear at around 60.


• Achieve/maintain 3 MBG WRs until the end of the year.
  Ended up with none.


• Improve rating to 100 million (125 million as a stretch goal).
• Achieve rank 10 in General (#10 in everything as a stretch goal).
  Neither goal was realized as that did not become my priority.


• Help organizing events and tournaments by hosting a backup server for Tsuf (for people in Europe).
• Achieve 1st/2nd place in a tournament.
I can't even recall any tournament that was hosted this year. Was there any?


• Release a couple custom levels to the public.
  I have posted screenshots of some of the custom levels I created a while back, but ultimately, nothing was released publicly.


• Dushine will show up briefly and maybe join the Discord server.
  Nope. Technostick did, though!


• I will have a rivalry with someone other than DKman00.
  Didn't compete enough in regular speedrunning, but during the Easter Egg WRR there were Mazik, August, and Blasted.

Overall, I have mixed feelings about this. I could definitely have done more work towards the rating grinds especially because I already made some progress there. Easter Egg WRR was a success in my book, but more often than not the competition there was my only reason to continue playing... which kind of led to burnout. My priorities have not really changed, I still mainly push for World Records whenever I feel like.

Other stuff

• Meet up with at least one community member.
  Does 2020 need any explanation? tl;dr COVID-19


• Switch my PC's CPU from Intel's model to one of AMD's.
  Not needed just yet. Still very content with my setup.


• Try streaming some time.
  I streamed a run on the Discord server once, but that was it. My connection has been very slow for half a year at this point and I'm not sure how much longer this will last.


• Consider trying out more games.
  Marble Race and osu! happened. Speedrunning the former was fun, but its level selection is still very limited. The latter as been a somewhat regular activity for me since March, and I'm still having fun there!


• Do a face reveal at some point (may not be counted).
  Not something I actually wanted to do, so I didn't.


• Do a voice reveal at some point.
  I did want to do that but didn't push myself out of the comfort zone.

I'll keep this short. My mental health took what feels like a plunge last year (hence my decrease in activity and lack of interest in gaming), so about time I work on it once I have the opportunity to do so. I'm hoping this year will be a rebound, and that I will finally accomplish some things I truly feel are worth going for (likely beyond just Marble Blast).

Oh right, I have to stop overanalyzing whatever I'm trying to post (including this), it takes forever for some reason lmao

Bold = 2020 predictions
Bold + Green = correct prediction
Bold + Red = incorrect prediction
Unbold = commentary

This year is a big year for me IRL (grad school stuff), so I'm uncertain about my future level of commitment to Marble Blast. With that being said, here are my goals/predictions for 2020.

The pandemic really threw a wrench in the works, and 2020 was a tough year for me (as I know it was for many people). However, I consider myself one of the lucky ones. It was indeed a big year for me IRL, and I achieved all of my IRL goals, though I still have a lot of work to do to find my place in mathematics and the world at large. Additionally, Marble Blast became a huge part of my life. The game and the surrounding community have really kept me grounded and helped me get through the ups and downs of life, so thank you!

OK, on with the show.

My Marble Blast Goals/Predictions

- I will reach 100 million and then 105 million overall rating.
I actually reached 120 million, which was beyond my wildest dreams when the year started.
- I will get at least 40 ATs in PQ.
Looks like I underestimated myself again. I started the year with 20, so I thought 40 would be a reasonable prediction. As it turned out, I ended the year with 126 (127 if you count Puzzle 12).
- I will obtain a WR. (Egg records and records on levels with fewer than 10 completions don't count. In other words, it has to be announced.)
Yes I did! I got my first WR on The Muddy Playground, though Kasper has since beaten it. (Funnily enough, egg records started to be announced, and I got lots of those, but those don’t count.)
- I will post a video on YouTube.
Yep, I posted two videos on YouTube, both featuring custom eggs. Hopefully I’ll post higher quality stuff soon, but at least this is a start.
- I will, for some reason, decide to get a good RTA MBG run.
Never happened. Does sound fun though!

Marble Blast Community Predictions

- Level packs 60-69 will be released.
Close!
- MBG WRR 5 and the Egg WRR will be released. No other WRRs will be released.
Both MBG and Easter Eggs happened, but MBU WRR 2 was also released, so I’ll give myself 2/3 on this one.
- Zero new mods will be released.
There were two new mods by my count, GLC4 and HTX1. (I don’t think I missed any, but I apologize if I did.) There was also the MBG Web Port, but I don’t count that as a mod.
- Two new people will enter the top 10 in overall rating. (For reference, the current top 10 is Xedron, Battlecube314, Xelna, Regislian, Imperial, DKman00, MBOUltimate, Tue27, Doomblah, and hPerks.)
Hitgod and I entered the top 10 (replacing Tue27 and hPerks), so I was right on the money. Honestly I didn’t think I’d be one of the two to enter the top 10, but there you go.
- The top 50 will have at least 75 million overall rating.
Close! At the end of 2020, there were 46 players with at least 75 million and 50th place was at 70.4 million.
- New WRs will be achieved on Despair, BCF, and Manic Bounce.
I got 2/3 at least. Significant WRs were achieved on BCF (Xelna) and Manic Bounce (Doomblah and August). In fact, Xelna took BCF sub 3 minutes and August took Manic Bounce sub 1 minute. There was no new WR on Despair, but I’m actually glad I predicted one. In an attempt to make my own prediction come true, I decided to play Despair in December, and this led to me getting into the Egg WRR.

Final Score: 9 correct, 6 incorrect

I know I left but only coming back besides Update 1.4 of STOP II to make this post and the other time capsule predictions.

Marble Blast:
- STOP II, Update 1.3 releases in January 2020. March 2020. +0.5 because released
- Matan livestreams STOP II again. It almost happened. +0.5
- There are less than 250 new posts this year. Freebie lol +1
- Two new modifications come out this year. +.5pt if only one. Gerson, HappyTree +1
- Another huge cheating scandal occurs again. There was a joke about it but no +0
- The Despair World Record is beat, but not by more than one second. Had been verified the answer is no. +0
- My current love interest will become a skilled player this year. Go Thornpath! +1

Real Life:
- I will become hired at BrickPlanet as part of the Communication Engagement team. It was going to happen but then they shut down their services. Coming back this year though, I hear! +0.5
- Go camping at least twice. It happened once. +0.5
- My second friend of the opposite gender as me will come to Seattle for the summer. (Crossed fingers, I really miss her!) Damn you to hell, stupid pandemic. +0
- Maintain an overall GPA of 3.5 or above upon graduation & transfer into a four year university. Freebie (GPA 3.64) +1
- I become involved in the Copart auctioning business, doing successful things with it. I started and bought two cars: another Saturn Sky Red Line and a Honda Fit which is now gone. Progress! +1
- I take my sports car on a track. Helmets, roll cages, everything. +5 if I beat my friend on the track. The pandemic made this not happen. +0
- I purchase a new Sports Utility Vehicle to replace my current work/commuting car. Not yet +0
- I will feel confident to reconnect with one of my exes (not "the" crazy one), but an awesome one, "Adi". The past got the best of us but we did reconnect...for a week. I should've listened to friends +1
- I marathon through the entirety of the YouTube channel "Mr. Nightmare" Easy lol +1

Miscellaneous:
- Rockstar Entertainment will shed light on GTA 6 release information. +1pt if a legitimate trailer comes out. Sort of. No trailer, but possible hints have been rumored by the corporation. +0.5
- An extremely huge scandal happens with ROBLOX Corporation. Yep. "Moderation of Scripts" feature. +1
- A DDoSer, "1002", will have legal trouble happen to them. Holy crap. I was right?! +1
- Trump isn't reelected. +1pt if there is a female president! Biden! +1
- I start development of some sort of short film this year. +1 if it gets finished before 2021 I started. +1
- Snowfall will hit heavily early in the year in the city I reside in. Early, but not "heavy". +0.5
- The GM brand "Saturn" is brought back to life, or regains serious attention. +1pt if Pontiac as well Not a chance. +0
- I come out of my hiatus from Pokémon GO for one month during summer 2020. Still one of my city's best players, and now the best player of my new place of residence until the pandemic is over. +1
- The "Gig Worker Law" like in California (for instance), also happens & takes effect in less than half of the U.S.A Well, not half, but some. Also, California had their law struck down in court. Really, Uber? +0.5
- Super Mario Sunshine 2 releases this year. (Trying again...AGAIN.) +.5pt if a renovation happens instead. A renovation happened - what? +0.5
- Someone I know dearly will perish in the fall. (Let's hope not.) I am sad that I got this right - my grandfather died. +1

My results:
18 out of 28. I think I did pretty well this time.
Check my newest predictions here: [ Try again later ]

Wake up earlier and more consistently.
This has honestly gotten worse, but it's been on my mind pretty much all year. I could write an entire book about my internal struggle to wake up early... half a point for a significant effort put forth. +0.5
Have at least one meaningful conversation in Chinese with a foreign exchange student.
My flatmate is from Taiwan so yeah, this happened. +1
Jeff stops being a lazy little pinhead and comes to visit me.
Jeff can indeed still be described as a lazy little pinhead, nonetheless he did come visit me when I was in West Virginia. +1
Get a tattoo.
Didn't happen. +0

Reach 165 lbs.
I did reach it at one point, currently hovering around ~160 due to not tracking calories/lack of access to a gym. +1
Cook more good food.
Awwww yeah. +1
Host a bigger and better tournament.
Was going to happen but corona +0
Make more friends.
Not really. +0
Be more confident sometimes.
Could be better. +0
Lower my Rice Purity score.
No. +0

And the new goals:

Go to China. Travel by myself whilst in China. Perform well in Chinese classes while abroad.
Was going to happen but corona +0
Learn how to deadlift properly.
Form is looking much better. +1
Become a delegate and committee member of the World Cube Association.
Committee member yes, delegate status got put off forever due to corona. +0.5
Host a cup stacking tournament.
Nope. +0
Get all three state records back and win a competition.
Just one state record, best ranking was 2nd. +0.33
Make a longer YouTube video with strong storytelling and editing.
If only. +0
Learn how to make pour over coffee.
I made pour over coffee pretty much every day last year. +1
Learn something on an instrument or music software.
Not yet, but I got a MIDI keyboard for Christmas so this will happen soon. +0
Do something with singing (make an a capella recording, etc.)
I hope that getting used to a DAW will make this more realizable. +0
Get 1st in 3x3x3 one handed.
Only competed once in one handed, got 2nd. +0
Get a big BLD success/podium.
No opportunity to do so. +0
Be 20.
yEd +1
Make a serious attempt at learning a 3rd language (probably Japanese, Cantonese, or Vietnamese.)
I'm signed up for a Cantonese class which starts in one week. I would call that a serious attempt. +1

9.33/23 = 40.5%, dang I really thought my predictions were reasonable lmao

Sports predictions:

• The San Francisco 49ers will defeat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LIV. Got the matchup right, but the result wrong.
• The Los Angeles Lakers will defeat the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2020 NBA Finals. The Lakers won the championship, but it was against the Miami Heat.
• The Vegas Golden Knights will capture their first Stanley Cup over the Boston Bruins. The Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars.
• The Atlanta Braves will win the World Series over the New York Yankees. The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays.
• Liverpool will win the Premier League. That was almost guaranteed when I made that prediction.

Personal predictions:

• I will get back into Mario games at some point. Didn't happen.
• I will be re-re-employed. Nope.
• I will eat a Philly cheesesteak for the first time. Didn't do it.
• A severe weather event will occur at or near my house. If by near you mean about 40 miles (64 km) away.
• I will visit Seattle. COVID-19 all but prevented that from happening.
• I will go to eastern Oregon for the first time. Again, thank the coronavirus.

Marble Blast predictions:

• Marble Blast Fubar will be available again (I hope). Nope. It looks like it's been shelved for good.
• Level Packs 60-69 will be released. Happened to be right after the year ended.
• I will try and fail to get a colored username. I didn't really make any honest-to-goodness attempt at it.

Election 2020 predictions:

• Both parties will retain control of their respective sides of Congress (Democrats will keep the House of Representatives, Republicans will keep the Senate) The Democrats did indeed retain control of the House, but Republicans lost the Senate.
• Trump will get voted out of office, but will not be removed before the election He's still in office as of me typing this (and should be until 3 days after the Time Capsule is buried for 2021), but he did indeed get voted out, so I was right on both counts. Joe Biden is the president-elect.