2024 Predictions - Right or Wrong?

Were your 2024 predictions correct? They were not
Since you haven't seen them for a year, here are your 2024 predictions . Check how well you did and tell us about it!
 

Well, maybe not my favourite year ever, but 2023 was kinda hard to compete with so mayhaps I went into this year with too high expectations. That being said it wasn't an objectively awful year, despite some rather glaring problems I'm facing. 

Marble Blast: 
- Marble Blast Gold World Record Rampage #6 will release. Easy money
- Despair will remain unbeaten. Easy money
- I will get 5 new PBs. Ouch, not even one. 
- Let's be ambitious again. One of those 5 PBs will be a World Record. No PBs means no WR PBs either

Personal:
- I will read more than 12 books (one per month). Bonus points for more than last year, 18. 26 books! Lets goooo!!!
- Reverse psychology! I will NOT get my driver's license this year! I was not supposed to get this one right
- I will graduate from Oregon State University in June. Magna Cum Laude too
- I will get accepted to graduate school for a Masters' in Counseling Psychology program. I care not where all that much (I do, but not for this prediction). This one hurt the most to get wrong. 

Results
MB - 2/4
Personal - 3/4 + Bonus Points
Overall - 5/8 + Bonus Points
Last year - 72.14%
This year - 62.5% + Bonus Points

Well, not my best year of predictions, but I didn't really try that hard tbh. This year I'll do better! 

Marble Blast:
- Significantly less time playing, possibly to an extent where I can consider myself finishing with the game. (+0.5)
I'm sure less than I played in 2023, but I did play more than I thought I would. I think half a point is fair.

- ... but still getting through the video projects I want to get done. (+1)
I've been grinding away at customs since like February, and I'm ten levels away from my goal of 144 to round out my MBCL series. Full point for effort.

- I would be surprised if I release more than one level. (+0)
I did!! A whole two levels!! And one of them was Pants-Off Dance-Off.

- Continue to write the Constructor guide, maybe even to the point where I can consider it effectively complete. (+0)
Nope lol, almost recorded a moving platform video guide though, but that turned into Luminascent. Not unreasonable to say that I won't return to this with the attention that Trenchbroom and Blender are getting. And @Keppy

- Something revolutionary comes up on the development side of things that either brings a fascinating new feature or wonderfully cleans up a bunch of the near-broken code. (+1)
OpenPQ absolutely counts. +5 if I could.

Personal:
- Continuing to learn and study Italian autonomously, skip first-year classes and start on the second-year track in the fall. (+1)
Didn't full-on skip it, but the goal was to start second-year and I did. I'm surprised at how good my Italian is at this point.

- Way too much spent on apartment decor. (+0.5)
I don't think it was too bad actually? Helps to not have lived in one for half the year.

- Never find the urge to start regularly going to the gym, but still not in horribly bad shape. (+0.5)
I think there were three times I went a bunch for two weeks or so, but travelling ruined everything. Still in alright shape though.

- Cooking skills get drastically better, eating habits do not. (+0.5)
Not drastically, but I'm most proud of knowing how to make carbonara. I snack less too.

- Have a healthy and consistent sleep schedule. (+1)
For the most part, yeah. Pretty proud of this.

- Put in the effort to improve my handwriting. Might even brave cursive over print? (+1)
I taught myself cursive again!! It's even become priority over print.

- Write and produce more music since I'm actually taking classes to hone in those skills. (+0)
Absolutely nothing, and doubtful for next year, but 2026 is hopeful.

- After at least five years of never picking up and finishing a book, I'll read ten by the end of December. (+0.5)
Four books instead of ten: Six of Crows, A Court of Thorns and Roses, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and Little Women. Started on the Sherlock series.

- Toning down on frequency of being inebriated in both common manners; far less in social settings and very limited to private company. (+1)
I have not been lifted in over half a year, and some friends took me out for drinks for my birthday. Just about nailed this one.

- Exploring the outdoors far more through my girlfriend's family, and taking a lot of really nice pictures to store memories. Getting really good at that too. (+1)
Exploring the outdoors turned into exploring Italy. Pictures-taking gone wild.

Marble Blast: 2.5/5
Personal: 7/10
Pretty decent year, considering that it started pretty badly, to be frank. 2025 might be pretty cool though.

Red = No (0 points)
Amber = Sorta (0.5 points)
Green = Yes (1 point)

Marble Blast Predictions (not gonna be ambitious):
- MBG WRR6 releases
- I won't be in the Top 20 in general ranking || Managed to play just enough this year
- Despair New WR
- Get a new WR || Marble Decker improvement thanks to performance update
- I'll release MBC 10 || Nope, started planning for it though
- Complete Pack 8 || Still haven't completed a few levels
- 140 mil general rating || Currently at 137,068,096 rating as I am writing this

IRL Predictions:
- Relationship ||  
- Move out
- Either new job or position || I got promoted which was really awesome.
- Feeling more confident under my own skin (haven't been able to express true self for the past few years) || I felt pretty good for most of the year
- Keep at regular bike riding, gives a sense of freedom some days || I did bike for like a few months, so technically I did for a little bit. But I did do daily walks during winter instead of biking.

Misc Predictions:
- Top 1 NZ in osu!ctb || Other players are too good, in 3rd currently
- Participate in 3 osu! tournaments || I participated in 3 tournaments (currently in another one), World Cup, Australian Open, osu!std NZ Open, currently competing in Convert Cup
- osu! sees new Top 1 player || Shoutouts to Accolibed who took number one for a tiny bit, mrekk is too op
- Stream more often as well working on the Auroenia channel (daily MB vids) || The Auroenia channel was kept alive until August where I had burn't out. No streams though, so I'm counting it as a half point
- Try a new speed game, can't stick with MB forever || Nope
- Build a custom keyboard, current one is crying out for help || Still being cheap asf

Points tally: 10 / 3 / 5

6.5 / 18 points

Another crap year for me in the books, it's just general life stuff atm. Plus I've had a dreadful December.

Hope you all had a lovely holiday season.

happer new year

MB Predictions:
- I will actually release my Fusion Expansion Pack this year hopefully. (lol no)
- Assuming we get new MP levels this year, Duplex will be picked against me and I will lose that specific match because of it. (nope because the new MP levels were not adopted this year)
- I will make more levels, specifically more LE levels. (uh... yes?? I didn't make that many LE levels but I made some?)
- Let's up the heat regarding tournaments: I will make it into the finals this year. (funny)
- At least one old New Team PQ developer will become active again this year. (Daniel became relatively active again, so I'm marking this one)
- A big name returns to the community this year. (I was so optimistic)

Real-life Predictions:
- I will pass my Baccalaureate exam with at least an 8.5 overall grade. (9.45!)
- Subsequently, I will manage to enter the University of Bucharest, in the Faculty of Geography.
- I will get into at least one relationship irl this year. (I'm half-marking this because I technically did get into something this year, just not a long-term relationship)
- I will join a political party in Romania (I'm half-marking this because, while I'm not an active member, I did some activism for one party) - bonus point if it's USR. (lol no)
- The party and candidates I will vote for in this year's elections will end up getting a better-than-expected result. (Half-marking this since one of the candidates that I voted for did better than expected, until they cancelled the entire fucking thing wahoo)

Unrealistic Predictions (Marb + IRL):
- We will manage to get the rights to the Marble Blast Franchise. (too optimistic, I was)
- Matan decides to visit the Community Server to see what we've been up to.
- I will get on HRT either as soon as I move to Bucharest or after a few months of moving to Bucharest. (I was too lazy to consult any NGOs to help me actually get on track for this, but this year will be the year most likely)
- Subsequently, I will change my legal name to Connie. (the above comment applies)
- I will meet an MB Community Member. (I actually got *suuuper* close this year only to be fucked by schedules and planes)
- Marble Blast Fubar comes back online. (Seems like this one will unfortunately never happen. F)
- Subsequently, it will be managed by the current PQ Team.

Huh. I think I aimed a bit too high for these predictions. Anyway,
Rolling
- “I will get 100 million rating without getting all the UTs in MBP.” Well, actually, the exact opposite happened, where I completed all of the Ultimate Times in MBP without getting 100 million, though I was pretty damn close.
- “I will finish all the PQ awesome times.” I got up to the last stretch of Expert, but unfortunately I did not succeed. Plus I have most of Bonus yet to do.
- “I’ll get a few world records” Well, in April I got the Vice and Versa world records, although they’re now both 2nd place. I got a really good time on Ultra’s SOTF, however this was also just after the outage and there had been a better time done offline which was never added to the leaderboards, so that was rather anticlimactic..
- “I’ll get a top 10 time on around half of all the leaderboards custom levels.” Not even close lol, I hardly touched Customs this year, not to mention the outage and my unreliable schedule.
- “MBG WRR6 will come out and a new MBU rampage will be announced.” WRR6 did in fact come out but the MBU rampage hasn’t been announced, though it’s pretty obvious it’s going to be announced, and some people have already started playing the levels. So I’m calling this correct.
- “Half Pipe Elite (MBU) will remain tied.” Well, what can you expect… not even the engine change helped us in this aspect, but I haven’t tried too hard with that yet so there might still be some hope.
No Rolling
- “I’ll complete Cataclysm in Geometry Dash.” I got 90% in February. Still trying though.
- “I’ll get decent at the game Celeste.” I mean, I beat it, so I guess that counts, but I’m still missing a lot of stuff.
- “Play lots of new platformers and Just Cause 3.” I didn’t really branch out to that much new games this year, as per usual. I played Just Cause 3 once but I didn’t find it that fun.
- ”Play and finish Black Mesa.” Nope and I no longer have any will to do so. I was contemplating buying that game over the Winter sale but never did. 
- “I’ll write some music and publish it.” I worked very hard on this, and I even published a cover of a song onto my YouTube account, but never released anything of my own.
- “I might write a novel.” The use of the word ‘might’ indicates that there is possibility of it happening, but there’s also a decent chance it won’t happen. So I get this point either way. I never wrote any novel but I scored a high grade on my English mock exams so I guess that’s the next best thing.
“MLG humour will return in an ironic form.” 😢 Well, you know, sometimes things don’t go quite as planned. But that’s okay! I just need a.. moment.. I’ll be fine. Everything is okay. 



 

Posting this on behalf of Jiquor, who has left the community back in September 2024 and appointed me to post the prediction results in his stead.
Here is the post as follows.

Marble Communities
Despair's World Record is not beaten on Marble Blast Platinum. (Freebie +1)

The first World Record Rampage for STOP DeluXe releases. +1 more if it's before Summer 2024 ends (Northern Hemisphere). (Yep, this worked well. +1)

STOP DeluXe continues to get more recognition alongside OpenMBU and MBG's Web Port. (+0.5 due to more popularity in terms of Marble Blast traffic, but not in terms of total recognition.)

No big new cheaters in speed running are found/exposed. (There was a suspect in early September, but he was cleared(?) +1)

A new and complete modification releases this year. (Mine, STOP I Redux! +1)

The source code for the MBG engine is still undiscovered. (Absolute freebie. +1)

A new moderator is appointed (Dom and Thearst3rd don't count). (No. +0)

This web site breaks again. (The whole web site was exploited, resulting in the death of Marble Blast Platinum Quest and the entire web site itself. +2 for the death of both and not just one.)

Nobody here makes predictions about other mods (or edits their posts to make any), while still only talking about the official games and the de-facto fan mods MBP/PQ (At least a few people did! +0)

Pack #9 gets released. (No. +0)

Bowl-O-Rama is found and re-released. (Within a week of writing these predictions! +1)

Someone finds a way to really break a Marble Blast game (not just for them, but for everybody else) through custom code. (Looking at you, SummerArmy. +1)

Five new colored names in the main server. Five new colored names in the STOPX server. (There were 8 new names in MBPQ before I quit for good, and 5 in STOPX. +1)

The forums are still not revived/used frequently as they should be. (I am correct. +1)

I only come back (after leaving on January 4) in Summer 2024, before moving onto broader horizons after the BEST Time Rampage for STOP DeluXe is released. (Coming back in 2025 to figure out if my predictions are right are wrong do not count - but I also still remember to not make a new capsule post in 2025.) (Came back Summer 2024, left in late October 2024 and haven’t been back since. Pretty close. +0.5)

c0wmanglr continues to be the only prominent speed runner who still consistently plays STOP DeluXe (He quit playing in general and there are more now +0)

Myself
I sell every single part from my parts Corvette fully (Work and school took up a lot of my time. All the exterior parts are gone though. +0.5)

I am still working as an event host at my church (I got promoted! +1. Also +1 for getting the promotion)

After a long, willing hiatus from dating, I restore my IRL confidence and mingle with new people. (Summer was great, but it’s not a good time for me to commit to anything long term right now. I ended up rejecting three people. +1)

I decide to supercharge my C6 Grand Sport **AND** put the exhaust system from the parts car onto my C6 GS (Getting a Celeritech in 2025 instead +0)

...But not before making a major repair to my C6. I suspect my ECBM/Steering Rack connections/the actual modules have gone bad. Dreading the possibility of replacing all of that first. (Yep, about 1.5k after labor +1)

I put away, sell, and never take out any of my video games again except for PoGO, STOPX, and Mario Sunshine II (see “Misc”) (Ended up happening, except I picked up a new game, Stardew Valley, due to a friend. +0.5)

Pokémon GO is the ONLY game I play frequently/the most as of 2024 (so other games cannot be more than 1 week, just to give balance) (Guess who quit on April 1, 2024? Niantic sucks. Never been back. +0)

I read a whole bunch of books. Let's say 40 this year (last year it was 20, so I'm getting better at reading consistently again!) (I read 43 books this year. +1)

Biking, ping-pong, pickleball are the three outside activities I do most outside of PoGO, and I lose weight/regain a good build from all that. (While true on activities, I quit PoGO and I have revived awful eating habits while doing too much office work. +0.5)

My nephew says his first word in April 2024. My nephew learns to walk in September 2024. (I was right about his first word. He learned to walk much earlier. +0.5)
I repaint and redesign my office. (Redesigned, but not repainted. +0.5)

I get a summer internship somewhere relating to applied behavior analysis or psychology. (My local church! +1)

I continue to keep my 3.5 overall in University. (Barely. Hopefully 2025 isn’t as much of a nightmare as I think it’ll be. +1)

I successfully learn Spanish and American Sign Language in one whole year. (I’m just getting started. +0)

Apply and get accepted to study abroad in Sussex. (Deciding to next year. +0)

Nobody I know dies this year. (Thank God. +1)

I further advertise my small business in landscaping/gardening, and it actually goes somewhere. (Strictly locally but it’s working +1)

I start a very small business - EITHER - involving cleaning houses, making cheese sandwiches, or detailing cars. (Disassembling cars, but cleaning the parts still technically counts. +0.5)

I part ways with several friends for the sake of bettering my mental health/keeping it in check. (Although it’s hard, sometimes it’s best to say goodbye if they are not good for your mental health. Some people unfortunately just suck eggs. +1)

I see three of my on-line friends in real life - Falkrim, Minty, and SayItInRed. (The first isn’t coming for a long time. Second is tough to get a hold of, we almost met up one time. Third is long gone sadly especially since I quit PoGO +0)

I actually come back to GOODBLOX for a limited time chat as I said I would back in 2023. (I forgot to do this. +0)

I get tremendously better at coding - HTML, Java, C#/C++, SQL, Python, and writing engines. More confident than I ever have been. (I’m shocked I’ve been able to put the time into this. I even felt way more helpful to RandomityGuy than last year. +1)

I start to lose/misplace items less often, in terms of short-term memory concerns. (Finally, been better at this. +1)

My obliviousness/literalness lessens considerably, and my overall mental process improves. (This is very true, and I am proud of myself for this milestone. +1)

Feeling less alone and sad, actually feeling like I am surrounded by a good caring team of people outside of family who support me for who I am, don't try to control/change me, don't put me down for minor things, and encourage me to keep on fighting. (This is true. Quality of friends are important and I’m beginning to really do a good job at finding that. +1)

Around the World
The Supreme Court of the United States allows Trump to stay on the ballots, but Trump still does not win 2024. (Half of it became true. +0.5)

There is a new medication that I discovered on the news for diabetes. It's called Ozempic. It's not going to go well - and actually, eventually, gets banned in the United States. (This did NOT happen, even if it’s not going very well otherwise. +0.5)

Putin is once again, unfortunately, re-elected and havoc continues to wreak across Russia and Ukraine. (Freebie. +1)

Elon Musk has a public meltdown, with something major happening to Twitter - whether it be a complete shutdown, a re-sell, or another revamp. Bonuses depend on how many outcomes are stacked up. (It has become a place for fascist, extremist right wing behavior, and Musk has essentially turned into a creep with his rants and recent Tweets. +1)

The Tesla Cyber Truck, despite being in production, somehow keeps failing to sell well/continues to have major problems. (Called this from a mile away. Over 15 N.H.T.S.A. safety complaints, breaks down constantly, horrible build quality, etcetera. +1)

ChatGPT/AI gets shut down. (This is unfortunate. +0)

Super Mario Sunshine 2 gets announced and/or comes out. I'm not giving up on this, even if some sort of "full-scale modification" comes out. (OH MY GOD. SUPER MARIO ECLIPSE. LET’S GO. AFTER YEARS OF WAITING. It’s a mod but I don’t care I’M GONNA PLAY. +1)=10.5pt

For whatever reason, sequels of pop culture movies come out, but they turn out to be musicals. (Nothing on my radar. +0)

Squid Game gets a sequel. It's going to be terrible, and it will not do well. (Critics and fans have shitcanned the second season. +1)

A hurricane will pass through the United States, extending beyond the East Coast. (Easy +1. The Pacific Northwest also got its strongest Bomb Cyclone in decades, so I will say another +1 for this as well. Scary!)

Tavarish finishes his McLaren project car. (Yes, the one from the Florida hurricane that got flooded.) (Moderately easy. +1)

There will be severe confrontations with China, either involving Taiwan, the United States, or both. (With the world that we live in today, I am not surprised +1)

The climate around the world continues to be dry, hot, and worse, leaving Earth more dry and warm than ever before. (Freebie +1)

Inflation continues to moderate and become less worse. (Surprising. +1)

Sniper Wolf is finally terminated from YouTube. (I despise the behavior of most corporate executives +0)

And finally, my darkest prediction: Biden falls ill, and responsibilities as president are passed to Kamala Harris for a little while. (He should’ve passed on his last few days to Kamala anyway +0)

Pokémon GO Goals and Predictions
A sound effect for encountering Shiny Pokémon finally gets implemented. (Haptics happened, but the sound effect problem still isn’t resolved. +0.5)

Rotom, Manaphy/Phione, and Arceus make their 2024 debuts. +0.1 more for each shiny released. (You can't hide them forever, Niantic!) (Just Rotom along with its shiny form. +0.25 for Rotom, +0.1 for Shiny. Total = 0.35 out of 0.75)

The overall quality of life for the game improves, and Niantic does better at listening to their community after seven years of failing to do so properly. (They have done horribly. The removal of AR Mode, the new Avatars, and so much more has really killed this game for the worst. +0)

GO Fest 2024 - Mega Mewtwo releases, and the live event occurs in St. Louis this year. (Randall’s Island Again. MM in 2026 most likely according to leaks +0)

I reach Level 50. (My friend did this for me when they played in NYC GO Fest for me after I forfeited my plane ticket due to quitting the game. +1)

I capture 300,000 Pokémon. +1 more if I capture 400,000 Pokémon. (They removed normal AR so I quit playing +0)

I get ten new Platinum medals. (I actually did this! +1)

Like Routes and Party Mode, another "big" feature releases in the game and it is a total flop/very unpopular. (Avatar upgrades are a BIG one +1)

#HearUsNiantic resumes for something completely different. (The request to put natural, default AR mode back into Pokémon GO has taken the community by storm, along with the whole avatars thing. +1)

Niantic accidentally releases two new Pokémon and take them back from players. (Some new form of Kyereum was accidentally released and taken back from players and Shiny Nymple was also released early and taken away from players. +1)

I start and consistently keep up writing a blog on current PoGO issues and bugs (every month, probably) (Would if I hadn’t quit +0)

A couple more AR features in PoGO are removed (hopefully this isn't going to happen, but they have been trigger-happy in the last couple years). (Crap. I was correct. Normal AR as a whole got removed +1)

There's a huge cheating scandal for the PVP finals of 2024, or some other big drama. (Devices could be used to measure what attacks players were going to use ahead of time as well as measuring their Pokémon. Cheating went undetected for years. No wonder why I didn’t trust the system. +1)

13 + 17 + 11 + 8.85 = 49.85
out of 15 + 23 + 15 + 12 = 65
Percentage Calculation: 76.6%
Rank: C+ (Better than most years!)

Let's run through this. You know the rules.
-Red (0)
-Yellow (+0.5)
-Green (+1)

+ MB related Predictions [2/7]

• I get back into content creating in some form, upload a few videos, make a few streams. (0) Nah. I don't think I touched my Youtube channel in any form since I made that prediction.
• Related to that, begin working on that big project, plan out my whole structure and look for sources. (0) Didn't pick or create anything. Maybe this year.
• Big hundo, nothing too ambiguous, that's related to the content creating bit. (0) You'd think I'd somehow gain 100 subs, imagine my shock.
• Return to my rightful place, 69th on the overall leaderboard. (0) Im pretty sure I went back a few placements since then. Trust, I will make it back this year.
• Create a level, not an interior stitched level, an actual level. (+1) The Dumb Series is something. It was me testing out constructor, but it's still levels.
• Maybe learn TorqueScript just to familiarise myself with PlatinumQuest? No plans to get fully on-board with that, just enough where I can understand it and somewhat contribute, contractor type shit. It would be an interesting thing to do during the summer. (0) Summer came and went, my mind is still empty. Funny cause I was just about to learn it as the year ended. 
• Still the best marbler in the world baby. (+1) Still at the top baby doobidododo Do the Bartman!

+ Real Life related Predictions [2/7]

• Continue to progress through uni, had a bump this year but I intend on trying to come back. (+1) Im STILL in, that counts for something.
• Get in shape, stay alive, pretty self-explanatory. I've been on a downhill battle with my health compared to last year, I hope I can go out of my way to be a lot more health conscious this year. (+0.5) Still alive. But I never really became as health conscious as I thought I'd be. 
• Progress through that other school Im on, potentially acquire my first gig before the start of next year. (0) You won't see me in GCW just yet, though I plan to go back to training this year. I just had to prioritise my Uni over this hobby.
• Just try to be more creative, I've had a stump with my artistic side because of uni, and I wanna try to pick up the pace there. (0) I never got to experiment with any other medium, nor did I draw as much as I did last year.
• Develop my first game? That's way too ambiguous with everything I have in front of me right now, but who knows. (0) It was too ambitious.
• Create my first song? That seems more feasible than creating a game. Hell, that would HELP me with game development if anything. (0) Somehow it wasn't.
• neutralize and kick AI's ass, get bent Sam Altman (+0.5) I'd keep my eyes on the news this year if I were you...

- PQ still here, more levels but no major features
It got a couple decent ones, RTA mode, rewrite, etc

- PQ gets a serious attempt at a rewrite by the OpenMBU guys
Happened but it was by RandomityGuy

- Play more MBU than i do PQ
I play neither these days so this is uncertain

- For that matter, play more Minecraft than any MB game
Correct

- Finish DOS2 run, start BG3 run (this is just the plan, not even a prediction)
This happened

- Don't finish the BG3 run yet
Nope actually we finished it a month ago

- Still watching NL regularly
Less regularly than previous but still sometimes

- Strongarm my landlord into not raising the rent again and still in the same place
Yes

- No covid, but still working on my health
No got covid

- DEFCON is actually just a disaster and NI fall apart
Somehow they're still going

- Work is still happening and TAs are decent but not fantastic
Free point

- Some other big work change happens
Not really? I got promoted and a few new colleagues but otherwise same old

- See jeff in person again, maybe twice
3 times!

- Hike some good mountains
Only mountain i hiked was Mont-Royal (twice) and I guess that counts

- Finally get to see my college friends again
Many times

Marble Blast:
- getting a world record on any stage
Not really a world record on a level but a world record for an egg catch, cookies 48.654

- all ultimate times on platinum and ultra
Didn't happen with marble blast ultra but it did happen with marble blast platinum

- all awesome times on platinum quest
Probably the best prediction I've made, it was an amazing way to end 2024

- making at least 10 levels throughout 2024
I've only made 4/10 levels, but feel free to play them if you want  marbleland.vaniverse.io/pack/259

- and those 10 or more levels will be in my upcoming Marble Blast game (maybe in 2025 or 2026)
Probably never going to happen lol

Not Marble Blast:
- making friends with furries online
- not just online but also in my small ahh city
- maybe getting enough money to buy a fursuit from a commissioner
- but before I do that, I have to finish my fursona!
- maybe I might go to my first furry con
Grouping all of these together because none of these happened at all lol

Marble Blast: 2.5/5
Not Marble Blast: 0/5
All predictions: 2.5/10

Marbles

1. I get 100% PQ Awesome Times this year (cmon I'm pretty close don't let me down future me!!) - I did not let past me down
2. I finish and release PQ RTA Speedrun mode, at least 3 people submit runs to speedrun.com using it - The mode is released only barely in time for this prediction, so half a point there Only one run submitted so far, hopefully more will soon (including myself)
3. I learn how to use blender and make a custom level (either for marble blast or my godot engine game) - 2025™
4. I start playing through leaderboard customs and make it through the first 3 packs - 2025™
5. The community holds two rating races (that mbu one was fun so I hope so) - Only one (MBG race in October), more to come soon 👀
6. Someone gets their first world record this year - Congrats PPGPlanet and bobirika12! There might be others too
7. OpenMBU gets leaderboards (plz!!) - lol, lmao even
8. MIUU ghosts get fixed (plz!!!) - lol, lmao even. Actually super sad

Marblesn't

1. Why not, I get some PBs in Superliminal and bonus points if I get sub 22 - ecks dee
2. I finally get the stuff needed to mod my switch and I set up SMO hide and seek with friends - forgor💀 maybe when the switch successor comes out
3. FEZ gets a level editor and people make some custom levels - There is a WIP editor but it hasn't seen much progress in a while
4. My girlfriend and I move into a different apartment. Lookin out for condos but probably not this year - Success on new apartment AND new couch!!!!!!!!!!!!! Condo will hopefully be a 2026 thing
5. Nintendo announces a new console. Would be cool - Nope. Echoes of Wisdom was cool though

Only 3.5 out of 13, kinda impressive ngl

2024 was a definite step up from 2023. Perhaps the biggest thing marble-related was finding my stride in multiplayer and proving to myself that I can compete with the best. I have msi to thank for that one, and it was definitely a surprise along with the MB site outage this year. If it weren't for the outage, I'm not sure if I would've gotten better at multiplayer. PQ64 also came out, further ensuring this game lasts longer, which I'm happy about. Personal life wise, easily better than 2023, and the main reason why 2024 was better than 2023. I'd give the year overall a B, nothing too exciting happened irl aside from going to college again and yapping with classmates, but a decent amount happened in the marble side of things to warrant a B. That aside, let's see what I got right and wrong in 2024.

Balls
1. 130M+ rating
- Haha... no. I thought I would be playing more customs this year, and while I did finally finish up the remaining pack 4 levels I held off on for years, I didn't delve too much into the pack 5 levels as much as I would've liked. Shame, but what can you do with other interests and responsibilities. 

2. 45+ Total WRs
- I'm at 42 currently, even though I gained some WRs, I also lost a fair amount too, though can't think of any I lost outside of 3FM and Stepping Stones. I think I'm just destined to stay in the 40 WRs range for a good while tbh.

3. Have 9 or more singleplayer gem hunt WRs
- Aye! I have 10 in PQ. Got more gem hunt WRs than I expected in 2024, so that's cool.

4. 35M+ PQ rating
- I hit this in September, nice. 

5. Have 5 WRs or more for MBG WRR 6
- Nah, ended up just having 3 (3FM, Stepping Stones, Tower Maze). Around the first few months of 2024, the reality of how optimized MBG is kind of hit me. I'm not sure if I'm completely done going for WRs there, as I might have some motivation randomly to go for a WR, but after the TAS revolution for that game, I now view MBG WRs like I used to before in 2019-2020; a very daunting task to try and get one. I no longer feel as if I can get any MBG WR after just a few days of grinding like I was able to in 2021-2023. We'll see what happens though, might surprise myself.

6. Finish packs 4 and 5 at least
- I finished pack 4, not pack 5. Not giving myself half credit for only beating the remaining pack 4 levels.

7. Have at least 1 WR for the Web Port Mini rampage (MBGR levels)
- I completely forgot about this since it was so small in comparison to the actual MBG rampage, but yeah, I ended up going for and keeping Grand Finale in this one

8. I try out Marble Skies
- I did at the start of the year. I forget exactly why I didn't play for longer than 40 minutes but I know the reason was infuriating enough for me to give up on it. Thank god I had this game gifted to me a few years ago

9. Make my first level
- ...

Not Balls
1. Learn to cook/make a few things for myself
- oof, not a good look for me here lol. Although on the topic of food, I ended up getting a new obsession, B.B.Q. Chicken, look it up, it's basically a fast-casual Korean restaurant. If you have one in your area you will not regret going there!

2. Get at least a B in every course in my first two semesters back in college
- The 2nd semester in particular was very rough for me during finals week, but I pulled through! Out of 8 classes total, only 3 of them were B's. I got A's on everything else  . Only one more semester before I graduate

3. Make a few new friends in college
- Was a good year for socializing with new people in college. I even ran into two people I knew from highschool unexpectedly, so that was sick. So far I made 2 new friends that I talked to pretty regularly, although only time will tell if they end up being friends long-term or just there because we occupy the same space. 

4. Play at least one of these games sitting in my Steam Library: Celeste, Hollow Knight, Trackmania
- Yeah didn't even have the urge to play these in 2024, sad

5. Get Silver 2 in Overwatch with the Damage role
- I lost interest in Overwatch as I got more into playing multiplayer with msi and other peeps in MBU during the outage. Safe to say I'm not going back anytime soon.

6. New phone
- Ouch, at this point it's been 7 years since I got my current phone (Samsung Galaxy S8+). A new phone is basically a luxury for me at this point with more important things I need to take care of first. 

Correct Predictions: 6/15
Wrong Predictions: 9/15
One of these years I'll have more correct than wrong predicitons  

By my standards, this turnout is pretty good.

- A scammer will call me in an attempt to get my credit card info, not realizing that they had just fallen into a scam by me, wherein I will manage to obtain access to their Starbucks account. Very easy.

- While I don’t easily succumb to peer pressure, someone “special” will successfully coerce me to attend a networking event which will turn out to be a warehouse party at a church in Skid Row. Not just an event, but an all-out party afterwards, as was predicted.

- I have zero business in Fargo, North Dakota, yet I will end up here at some point after getting fired from a project, so that I can make the most of my anticipated depression regarding said event. Never made it anywhere near North Dakota, but it was true that I had zero business there.

- Four different rabbits will accept carrots from me, however at least one of those carrots will be purple, and one of those rabbits will be high on edibles. This would have required a trip to visit said rabbits in Chicago, which did not happen.

- A stranger will invite me to a birthday party somewhere in Brazil, and I’ll go out of respect for the dancers. Dominican Republic instead.

- I will find out that someone I used to know from church youth camp is now making bank on OnlyFans by doing “missionary work” if you know what I mean. I really didn't care enough.

- My fuckery with film producers will elevate by getting one to invest in my short film off the record, then using that investment to pay for his own divorce, which will turn out to be the entire premise of the film starring his soon-to-be-ex-wife as the lead. To be honest, I didn't fuck with film producers much last year.

- Three of an estimated five expected encounters with flat-earthers will result in a one-night stand just so I can say things like “I traveled halfway around the world to see you,” or “I can’t wait to take advantage of your disabled parking permit.” This one was the most disappointing.

- For shits and giggles, I’ll hire an actor to chase me around Los Angeles dressed as a goldfish to show that fisheye lenses are to be avoided. I dressed up as too many other things last year and forgot about this one.

- I won’t know that I’ve signed up to do an adult entertainment shoot, but I also won’t say no to the paycheck when offered. One of these was right, but I don't want to say which.

- Of the three different insurance company representatives who will notice that I’m not interested in their bullshit, one of them will invite me out to dinner. More than one, in fact.

- I no longer own a car, yet somehow, I will end up involved in a high-speed police chase involving a foal and a magic wand. I'll add that the magic wand was my own, but I'll admit there was no foal.

- A brown bear will at first want to attack me, but then it will see my ex and run away as I once did. The subtext here was that I'd encounter my ex, which didn't happen, thankfully.

- I will visit a mostly burned down abandoned building and take it upon myself to finish the job. I shouldn't talk about this.

- I will successfully crash a private mansion party without getting caught. I absolutely got caught.

- I’ll beat my roommate at Exploding Kittens. This was just so unrealistic.

- I’ll make a snow angel on Mount Everest. I never saw snow last year.

MB Predictions:

-MBG WRR6 will be released. - Yes! It was released +1
-Despair will remain unbeatable. - No one grind this level frequently lol +1
-I will finish all the leaderboards custom pack and redo of my runs in the Leaderboards. I did! This made me #1 in the LBs spot. +1
-After I finish all LB Custom levels, I will reach 180M rating. Of course! I spent a lot! +1
-An old member in the community will come back. Andrew Patterson! +1
-I will get at least 30 WRs in one year - 31 different WRs in 31 different levels, even though it is beaten! +1

Life/Other Predictions:

-Stay single for the rest of my life +1
-My dad will stop drinking Coca Cola to improve his heart health +0
-I will visit at least 3 provinces in one year - Zambales, Cavite, Bulacan, Rizal, Laguna, Pampanga. That's 6! +1
-My 33 year old OFW female cousin from Singapore will get married this year - No. My cousin's work in Singapore had expired, she went to UAE to find a job along with her fiancee, she didn't get married last year.  +0
-Learn how to cook/bake again - I just chop onions and garlic just for my activity. +0.5
-I will add at least 60+ new songs from the 1950's-2000's in my list in a year - 120+ songs added! +1

Rank: S for Marble Blast, C for Personal Life


 

• The Baltimore Ravens will defeat the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII. While the 49ers lost, the Kansas City Chiefs, not the Baltimore Ravens, beat them.
• I will build a new gaming PC at long last. So happy to get that one out of the way.
• I will start playing STOP DeluXe. That came with building my new computer.
• The World Series will again have a different champion from last year. The 2023 champion Texas Rangers didn't even make the playoffs in 2024, let alone the World Series. The Los Angeles Dodgers won it all in 2024.
• I will get a part-time job. The job search crashed and burned.
• I will replace my aging tablet. I got a new laptop to replace it.
• I will spend some time with my extended family in California. What can I say? I'm not a fan of traveling.
• I will experience a strong thunderstorm. I'd call it strong by the standards of the Pacific Northwest.
• I will exercise more often. My leitmotif is "Inactive" by "Weird Al" Yankovic.
• I will visit Seattle. See what I said about California.
• I will visit the coast. Ditto.
• 3 Truck Simulator expansions will release this year. Greece for Euro Truck Simulator 2; Nebraska and Arkansas for American Truck Simulator.

Here goes nothing.

I don’t see myself playing nearly as much MB this year as last year, since I have other things in my life which will likely take up much of my time. I think 2024 will be a big IRL year for me. However, I don’t think I’ll stop playing anytime soon, and I still have many things I want to achieve in MB. Besides, I’ve predicted playing less in previous years and I’ve been wrong every time, so who knows.

Indeed, I did not play nearly as much MB in 2024 as I did in 2023. I spent a lot of time and energy on my new full-time job, which is going quite well, but MB remains part of my work-life balance equation.

Personal MB predictions
* I will be 5th place in overall rating at the end of the year.
Yup 1/1
* I will have at least 175 million overall rating at the end of the year.
Nope, I'm currently at 173 million (I only gained 500k this year). 0/1
* I will achieve at least one world record that I deem to be good (a sufficiently good WR on a Pack 8 level could count). Bonus point if it’s on an official level.
Sadge (although I got some "good" web port records!) 0/1
* I will post at least 4 videos on my YouTube channel.
Nope only 2, although they combine to nearly an hour of content. 0/1
* My total time online will be 4100±100 hours.
Currently I'm "only" at 3901 hours. 0/1
* I will reach top 5 in MBU and/or PQ rating. Bonus point if both.
This was ambitious, even if I grinded as much in 2024 as I did in 2023. Foolishly I was relying on nobody else rising up the PQ and MBU ranks, but then Powerjohn25, berserk, and m2k came along. 0/1
* I will maintain top 10 all categories and top 30 all levels.
Nope I lost them both. I achieved both in 2023 and then proceeded to forget about them in 2024. Top 10 all categories is gone for now, but top 30 all levels is only a couple levels away, so maybe I can get that one back with a little bit of work. 0/1

Community MB predictions
* Two people will achieve 100% Awesomeness in PQ.
Congrats Jaxx, thearst3rd, Voltage, and WiktorS! Hopefully I didn't forget anyone. 1/1
* Two people will achieve their first world records.
Congrats PPGPlanet, bobirika12, and everyone else who achieved their first WRs in 2024 whom I'm forgetting! 1/1
* MBG WRR 6 will be released. No other official rampages will be released.
Yup 1/1
* The MBGR Webport Rampage will be released. The STOPX Rampage will be released. At least one other unofficial rampage will be released.
I was correct on the first two (pretty free tbh), but I don't think there was another unofficial rampage. 2/3
* Despair WR will not be beaten. A big 5 WR will be beaten.
The Despair WR was not beaten, but also no big 5 WRs were beaten. 1/2
* Someone will beat my WR in PQ any%.
Oh wow, looks like this actually happened! However, the runner is anonymous and there's no video lol. 1/1

Non-MB predictions
* I will still be employed at the end of the year in the same job I have right now.
Nice 1/1
* I will be happy with my level of fitness at the end of the year. Bonus point if 100 mile bike ride.
I'm more happy than not with my level of fitness. I was very consistent with walking every day and going on a long bike ride every week. My longest bike ride was 40 miles, so I don't get a bonus point. 1/1
* I will visit at least one state in the USA that I haven’t visited before.
Nope, still sitting at 47 states. I will get to the last 3 states some day! 0/1
* I will devote significant time to (re-)learning an area of mathematics I haven’t truly mastered yet.
Yes, I joined a reading group at my new job to (re-)learn algebraic topology. I could definitely do a better job with this though, since there are other areas of mathematics I want to brush up on. 1/1

personal MB predictions: 1/7
community MB predictions: 7/9
non-MB predictions: 3/4
grand total: 11/20
Not bad. I didn't play that much MB this year, and consequently I ended up doing poorly on my personal MB predictions, but the rest of my predictions were quite good!