More Forum Changes!

Hello Marble Blasters!

While performing some routine maintenance this evening, HiGuy and I have also gone through the Forums layout templates and made some slight adjustments based on user feedback over the past few months. Some of these were pending issues from the original release of the latest forum platform, and I apologize for not having these necessary changes in place sooner.

If you have any additional suggestions, comments or remarks for the forum layout, certainly let us know in the comments section below so we can investigate any issues further.

Here are a list of changes that went live tonight:

  • Website Security Updates
  • Users may now update their Avatar once again.
  • Changed the Forum username links to redirect to a member's Marble Blast profile instead of their Forum Profile. A link to the Forum Profile is now listed on their Marble Blast profile for ease of access.
  • Changed the "Quote" styles - The quoted member name is now bold and underlined, and a noticeable quote style and border has been added to the quote block to make them more obvious.
  • Changed the "Last Edited By" informational text styles to be smaller and less distracting.
  • Changed the behavior of "Staff Member" or "Blue Posts" - Staff member posts will now only show with a blue background at the discretion of the staff member posting them.
  • Slightly adjusted the display position of member signatures on forum post messages to prevent crowding of post content.
  • Fixed an issue with Avatar images being resized incorrectly on certain browser sizes.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the "Recent Topics" and "My Subscriptions" views to be disproportional on certain browser sizes.
  • Fixed an issue which caused user details on a message post to scale incorrectly on certain browser sizes.
  • Fixed an issue that caused the "Attachments" button to overlap other elements when uploading images to a new post or post reply.
  • Fixed an issue with the "Forum" breadcrumb link which would erroneously send users to the "Recent Topics" section instead of the Forum Index.
  • Fixed an issue where certain Avatars would cause the web server to timeout unexpectedly. Special thanks to Weather for reporting this issue.

Please Note: Some changes will not be visible until your browser cache refreshes.

Thank you,
~Aayrl

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HiGuy's Avatar
HiGuy replied the topic: #1 30 Apr 2017 16:51
We changed around some parts of the CSS and you may have an outdated version in your cache. Try force refreshing (Ctrl + Shift R on Windows, Cmd + Shift R on Mac) and it should pull the new stylesheet. Or if you wait a few days your browser will sort itself out automatically.
Evokrypt's Avatar
Evokrypt replied the topic: #2 30 Apr 2017 13:47
This is good to see, BUT I have noticed this kind of message on every single post:

"Aayrl created the topic: More Forum Changes!" ... for example.

Is this intentional? Or is it even necessary? Seems a bit cluttery to me. And I find it hard to find the start of the post as well.

Forum Changes!

Hello everyone,

I am pleased to announce after several weeks of evaluation, we have decided to upgrade our Forum infrastructure to its latest stable version. Our previous forum software had reached its end of life, so it was necessary from a security point of view to complete the upgrade before the end of 2017.

With the new Forum infrastructure comes some exciting enhancements that we hope will make the forums easier to navigate and participate in! Below are some of the most important changes you'll notice:

  • An all new Forum Template and Layout!



  • All staff member posts now have a light blue background color in order to assist members with identifying official responses from the Marble Blast Community Staff!

  • The Marble Blast Community Staff now also have the power to flag community posts as "Helpful", indicated by a light-green color!



  • We've cleaned up how News Article replies look on the Home Page to keep our front doors super clean! Don't worry, you'll still be able to comment if you head over to the News Feed or Forums!

We're excited to hear your feedback and suggestions for improvements or changes to this new system. Please feel free to leave a comment and we'll do our best to address any issues you may encounter!

Enjoy!

~Aayrl

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Aayrl's Avatar
Aayrl replied the topic: #1 12 Jan 2017 01:13
Makes sense.

I'll add this to our list.

Thanks,
~Aayrl
Robert's Avatar
Robert replied the topic: #2 10 Jan 2017 09:50

Aayrl wrote:
What do you mean by a button that links the forum profile to the actual profile? A link under the avatar on the forums, perhaps?


Yes, I think that would work too. What I meant is that whenever you click someone's name from a forum post it gets you to his forum profile (marbleblast.com/index.php/forum/user/17582-el-robert). I was thinking about having a button there (under the avatar, sure, why not) that upon clicking would take you to his "actual profile" (marbleblast.com/index.php/profile?disp=browse&user=17582), the one with game statistics, achievements etc. At the moment, in order to see that profile, we need to search the user in the Scores section of the site.
HiGuy's Avatar
HiGuy replied the topic: #3 10 Jan 2017 03:18
The issue with the attachments button is actually because the picture settings options are supposed to be a modal... Somehow jQuery doesn't have the modal plugin enabled.

Winterfest is Here!

Hey everyone!

I am pleased to announce the annual Marble Blast Winterfest event has begun! Players will be able to partake in this years festivities from December 11th at 20:00 UTC through January 9th at 00:00 UTC.

This year, we've included some special new content for all of you:

  • NEW GAME MODE: MEGA MARBLE WAR - This game mode will be available permanently, starting with the Winterfest event! This game mode replaces King of the Hill with an improved variant we've been testing with various members of the community over the past few months. Grab your Mega Marble and knock opponent players out of bounds to score points! I'd like to thank everyone who had taken the time to try the new game mode and provide us with feedback throughout its development.
  • NEW WINTERFEST MULTIPLAYER PQ LEVELS - The PlatinumQuest team has been generous enough to provide us with two NEW PQ-winterized levels to explore this holiday season! Grab your friends and dive into some exciting new content!
  • NEW WINTERFEST MULTIPLAYER CUSTOM LEVELS - And if the PlatinumQuest levels weren't enough, we've added two brand new custom levels to the official Multiplayer Winterfest category!
  • NEW WINTERFEST ACHIEVEMENTS - Explorers rejoice! More exploration achievements have been added to the Winterfest levels!
  • And much, much more!

So sit back, relax, and compete with your friends in Marble Blast this holiday season!

Enjoy!

~Aayrl

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Connie's Avatar
Connie replied the topic: #1 12 Dec 2016 07:51
The Update made my game not work for online mode.
The error said that a file (spooky.cs.dso) was changed (CHANGED ITSELF!)
Ralph's Avatar
Ralph replied the topic: #2 11 Dec 2016 20:49
Alrighty, let's go! Thank you, devs!

Winterfest Returns Again!

Hey folks,

I'm pleased to announce the return of our annual Winterfest Event starting on December 11th, 2016! The event will run until January 9th. More details will be revealed later next week, so stay tuned for further updates regarding the start of the Winterfest event!

Additionally, the Marble Blast Advent Calendar has returned for 2016! Similar to last year, you'll be able to track theĀ Advent Calendar progress on this page. Be sure to sign in to the Marble Blast Website daily and visit your profile to claim your reward every day! You may find more hidden rewards this year as well!

Check out the Daily Advent Calendar (2016)!

Best Regards,

~Aayrl

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PacPlayer's Avatar
PacPlayer replied the topic: #1 10 Dec 2016 23:10
Fun fact: In the URL, if you change 16 to 15, you'll see the 2015 calendar. ( marbleblast.com/docs/cal16.php to marbleblast.com/docs/cal15.php )

Resignation

We all knew this was going to happen one day. Today is the day.

I am resigning from my posts as Administrator and Community Leader of this website. I want to further pursue my goals in life and need to spend more time towards them. However this is not a goodbye by any means. I will continue to work on PlatinumQuest and the various World Record Rampages, as well as other things, but will no longer take an active role in the decisions of this website.

I would like to welcome HiGuy as the main Administrator of this website. He has been with us for almost a decade and has played major role in the release of Marble Blast Emerald and lesser roles in other minor mods. His best work is inarguably for developing Marble Blast Platinum 1.50 and above, and doing the main work for PlatinumQuest (2017). He has also taken a very active role in this community and partakes in many activities that occur.

On a last note, I did ask HiGuy to leave me to be able to post news here so that I may still annoy everyone when necessary.

Until next time,
Matan

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Marblemaster1's Avatar
Marblemaster1 replied the topic: #1 05 Dec 2016 18:45
While I have found myself drifting away from the MB community because of other things in my life, I want to give a heartfelt thank you to everything you have done. Matan, you will be dearly missed.
Technostar's Avatar
Technostar replied the topic: #2 27 Oct 2016 22:33
I haven't posted on these forums in a while (I'm waiting for PQ before making more levels, Citadel Castle was my last big one before PQ is released), but I have stopped by occasionally to see how things are going. Seeing this, I am reminiscing on all the progress our community has made with Matan as the leader. We have gone from a small group running exclusively off of GarageGames's website to a fully-fledged community with several game-changing mods, one of which (MBP) that is practically a full sequel to the original game. Now, we are less than 3 months away from the release of PQ, the largest mod ever constructed for this game. I am grateful for your leadership, Matan! I hope that you find the same enjoyment in your other pursuits that you did in Marble Blast!
Blasted's Avatar
Blasted replied the topic: #3 26 Oct 2016 04:02
Thank you for everything, IsraeliRD. Needless to say, you've contributed a whole lot in this community. Whether it be World Record Rampages, PlatinumQuest, and, of course, how everything in this community started.