MarbleBlast.com

A small gift

Details: Category: News; Published: Thursday, 06 October 2016 21:31; Written by IsraeliRD; Hits: 5615

I've teased for many months now about the May 2007 staff build, and now it is available for the public. You can download it for both Windows and Mac or find it on the bottom of the Downloads page. Thanks to HiGuy for helping me compile these builds. Just extract the .zip file into a new directory and you're good to go!

No bugs or mistakes will be fixed. This version is unsupported and released solely for the enjoyment of this community.

Only changes done to this build were to ensure compatibility for both Windows and Mac. Windows users can delete the Contents directory as it contains the Mac executable and data.

Known issues and additional info about this version:

- Windows users will likely crash after loading Hazardous House twice by entering the level, and quitting it and then attempting to enter it again
- Windows users will crash if The Time Modifier Race is not played first, or any level is played second after TTMR. The reason is that this level uses exactly 512 interiors, which is the hardcoded Windows interior limit.
- LSmultiplayer is a Multiplayer-based map Lonestar made which will not work on Windows as it uses more than 512 interiors.
- Windows users should avoid playing too many levels, as the 512 interior limit exists. When the game crashes, your prefs.cs doesn't save at all, unless you saved it first by quitting the game normally.
- Sanctuary is a level from Xelna which was never ported to the final version of the game. You can add it yourself to the custom directory (does the interior exist? didn't check, don't care)
- Some .recs are available. Some will work on windows, some on Mac, maybe they don't work at all. I don't know.
- The fried egg skybox exists. Best skybox in all of Marble Blast's history.
- Also the old interface. God the horrors.
- NO CHECKPOINTS as we didn't have any code for it back then
- Some levels are incomplete, such as Ultimate Tree. Except levels by Jase and Phil, the rest were made in the Level Editor. Most levels are also easier/harder than their final version counterparts.
- Note that Tarmac is easier... :)
- Ultimate/Easter Egg Guides are available, dated May 2007 as well.
- You can qualify the next level by pressing the middle of the P in the level select menu.
- Source is available for certain stuff. Have fun.

Enjoy,
Matan and HiGuy

Posts in discussion: A small gift

HiGuy replied the topic: #1 04 Sep 2017 05:01

The page linked in the top post: files.marbleblast.com/oldmbp.html

Yoshicraft224 replied the topic: #2 04 Sep 2017 03:42

What do you mean by the old downloads page?

HiGuy replied the topic: #3 26 Jul 2017 03:20

Yeah download them from the old downloads page, extract, and open. They won't work online but you can still play the levels offline.

Labor Day Madness 2016: Aftermath

Details: Category: News; Published: Monday, 05 September 2016 23:04; Written by Aayrl; Hits: 4037

Hey everyone!

I wanted to thank all of our community members who were able to participate in the 2016 Labor Day Madness event! The Marble Blast Community Staff had a great time hosting the event and were equally impressed by how stable the game servers have become!

If you were unable to make today's event, fear not! Aayrl will be hosting more community events in the near future! Keep your eyes and ears on the Forums for details!

Having so many of you community members with the time and energy to dedicate to Marble Blast is astonishing, and the turnout this year was surely something to be proud of. While I didn't nab a photo of the website homepage at the time (I got one a few minutes before, shown below...), we did reach a maximum server capacity of 29 / 32 players a few minutes after the start of the event. A huge round of applause for all of you who made this possible!

While the server was a little unhappy with 29 concurrent clients connected (and neither was my router!) it did manage to play the game at a whopping 3 FPS. After some quick setting changes on my end (and some assistance from HiGuy), I was able to bring the players back up to around 20 - 30 FPS (though, I had to spectate most of the games to accomplish this.) Overall, the majority of you had informed me the latency was "manageable", and I believe we even identified the cause of some server stress as well! Going forward, we'll certainly see if we can strive towards stable 32 player environments, as we're looking to hold similar events in the future where we expect massive turnout!

Additionally, during our annual "spawn-camp King of the Marble" round, El_Robert and Rozi battled (not really, they were just sitting on Yellow Gem spawns hoping the random number generator would work in their favor) to shatter the King of the Marble multiplayer record, but in the end, El_Robert prevailed with a whopping 506 points! (Rozi was not far behind with 486). Next year, I think we can aim for 750, what do you say?

Lastly, I know some of you whom participated livestreamed the event and/or recorded some of the gameplay - Please feel free to share your recording(s) in the comments section below! We'd love to see how things went from your point of view! HiGuy is currently working on a series of videos, which we'll list shortly after they're available. In the meantime, here's some of our favorite action shots captured by yours truly from this afternoon:

28 players on King of the Marble? How is this even playable?

24 Players on King of the Ring was quite fun to spectate - half of the marbles just spun around the outside the entire time, really wish I had some footage from Spectator view for all of you!

22 Players on Sprawl turned into an absolute brawl!

There were tons of campers and some fierce Mega Marbles during All Angles!

HiGuy steals the Platinum Gem to assert his lead during a round of Marbleland!

Nukesweeper, anyone? I think most of you spent the round Out of Bounds!

Three Minute Madness felt more like Three Minutes of Skillshots!

Towards the end of the event, our fellow marbles enjoy a relaxing picnic with some Fun in the Sun.

Thank you again, and we'll certainly see you next year for more Labor Day Madness!

~Aayrl
Marble Blast Community Manager

Posts in discussion: Labor Day Madness 2016: Aftermath

Aayrl replied the topic: #1 08 Sep 2016 00:33

Pokko wrote:
It was fun, but here in eastern Europe it was getting late (21.00 on my timezone when event started)

I apologize about the timeframe of the event for some of our European players. It's quite difficult as you can imagine to schedule something for the entire community to partake in when we have members all over the globe (which is great, btw!)

I'll make sure there's another event in a few weeks that Europe will have more reasonable hours to attend!

~Aayrl

Pokko replied the topic: #2 07 Sep 2016 21:32

It was fun, but here in eastern Europe it was getting late (21.00 on my timezone when event started) and the lag was horrible.

Xedron replied the topic: #3 07 Sep 2016 04:15

Despite all the awful lag (mostly at the start..) this was a pretty fun event to do! Thanks Aaryl for organizing this event.

Also, I love how in the Three Minute Madness photo, Nobody is literally covering up half the marbles playing..

"...he used Savage Brick power-up to block the view!" - Discord

Labor Day Madness 2016!

Details: Category: News; Published: Saturday, 03 September 2016 17:12; Written by Aayrl; Hits: 2404

Hello all,

The Marble Blast Community Staff will again be holding our annual Labor Day Madness event!

This year, the event will run on Monday, September 5th from 2:00 PM EST (18:00 UTC) - 5:00 PM EST (21:00 UTC). Please join us on Marble Blast Platinum Multiplayer and join Aayrl's Server at the time specified!

The event will feature several rounds of traditional gameplay and a series of special Event Custom Levels! Just look at how much excitement ensued from last year's round of King of the Marble:

Last year we had over 50 participants during the span of the event. We're hopeful that most of you will be able to attend this year again!

We'll see you online Monday!

~Aayrl
Marble Blast Community Manager

Posts in discussion: Labor Day Madness 2016!

Evokrypt replied the topic: #1 04 Sep 2016 15:09

Looks like this will be really fun!! Is this going to be from GMT 6 - 9 pm or 7 - 10 pm, cos I can't really make it any earlier than 7 pm. I can't work it out from the internet is telling me. Thanks!!

No rest for the wicked

Details: Category: News; Published: Sunday, 21 August 2016 17:27; Written by IsraeliRD; Hits: 2055

With the PlatinumQuest demo released, the Platinum Team is back to work towards the full release in 2017. There is still plenty to do, so we're hard at work!

Based on the (fantastic) demo feedback and watching a few videos, we noted that people have an environment-mapping problem where the textures are quite messed up. The easiest way to solve this is to go to the Options Menu and choose the Medium or Low Quality Graphics setting. In addition, open your console and write the following (then press enter): $pref::environmentMaps = "1";

In addition to the demo releasing, we went ahead and removed the 65-achievement requirement on the four PlatinumQuest Multiplayer levels, and they are now permanently open for all users to play.

Remember that if you find an issue in the PlatinumQuest demo, you should post it on the forums on the feedback topic.

Thanks,
The Platinum Team

Posts in discussion: No rest for the wicked

HiGuy replied the topic: #1 31 Aug 2016 19:17

In response to remakes: Very few of PQ's non-bonus levels are considered "remakes" of other levels. While some levels have pretty strong references to others (in terms of design), they are completely different levels than the originals. Bonus, however, has quite a few levels that are direct references to other games.

Evokrypt replied the topic: #2 31 Aug 2016 10:08

No no, please can nobody want any sort of remakes! PQ should be original and different imo. But I would not be against a KoTM-inspired level with cannons and ice shards and stuff. Like a 'King of the Icy Mountain' type thing. I dunno.

m0nty0 replied the topic: #3 30 Aug 2016 17:33

I second Rozi's proposition for a KOTM remake.

PlatinumQuest Demo is Released!

Details: Category: News; Published: Saturday, 13 August 2016 18:58; Written by IsraeliRD; Hits: 8695

The Platinum Team is pleased to announce the release of the long-awaited PlatinumQuest Demo, just 2.5 months shy of the 7th year anniversary of PlatinumQuest's inception.

This demo contains 15 Single Player levels that range from the Tutorial to Expert difficulties, and plenty of features to boot along with a brand new User Interface. PlatinumQuest aims to be easier and more fun than Marble Blast Platinum while maintaining a higher quality of level design and new scenery.

The Platinum Team would like to extend our thanks to our Beta Testers, Kurt, hPerks, Nihahhat and [email protected] They helped us find issues, test requested items and give extremely through feedback on every possible aspect of the PlatinumQuest Demo.

This Demo is available as a compressed ZIP download which you can install and launch anywhere on your computer. It does not require Marble Blast Platinum or Marble Blast Gold installed on your computer in order to function. While it has no Multiplayer compatibilities, we are collecting data such as selected marble skins, in-game resolution and times and scores achieved on levels. As privacy is important to us, we have no way to identify who is each user unless explicitly told by that user.

You can download the PlatinumQuest Demo by clicking on these links: Windows, and Mac.

You can help us out by filling out the feedback form for the PlatinumQuest Demo on the forums right here!

Known Issues:
- When starting a level for the first time, there is slight lag due to loading of all the objects.
- Ice Shards do not emit particles, as currently we experience extreme lag with them. This should be fixed for the full version.
- On rare occurrences, entering the cannon will show you a white screen. Quitting and entering the game will "fix" this (it can return in the next sessions), but we're having issues replicating it consistently.
- Jumping on top of triangle bumpers may launch you sideways instead of straight up. This is likely a shape issue we have no control over right now.
- Gravity Modifiers like to not have any sound playing when touched. We have absolutely no idea why.

Posts in discussion: PlatinumQuest Demo is Released!

layne.danner replied the topic: #1 13 Apr 2017 19:32

it very fun

Shrekcraft replied the topic: #2 28 Aug 2016 04:54

Wow I haven't been on here for a long time.

Nockess replied the topic: #3 23 Aug 2016 15:11

Damn, so much has happened during my time away. All these videos to watch, levels to play, and the release of the PlatinumQuest Demo. I have no idea where to start.
Couldn't give enough thanks to the Platinum Team for all the work they've put in. Super excited to get started soon.

A small gift

Labor Day Madness 2016: Aftermath

Labor Day Madness 2016!

No rest for the wicked

PlatinumQuest Demo is Released!

More Articles ...