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- Written by: IsraeliRD
- Category: News
- Hits: 3293
After half a year in the works, The Platinum Team is proud to announce the release of the next patch to Marble Blast Platinum, version 1.60. This patch contains cumulative updates since 1.51's release as well as plenty of new content and bugfixes. Highlights include:
- Co-Op mode: Replay all the Singleplayer levels in Co-Op mode (accessible via Multiplayer) as well as Custom levels. Major thanks to Regislian and Kalle29 for working on all new Gold, Platinum and Ultimate Times for all 281 levels.
- PlatinumQuest features: Collecting gems online will now display their point value above the marble, added Moving Objects system, Instant/IContinueToTime to Moving Platforms which allows to instantly restart them, coloring of path nodes in the Level Editor and lastly a Gravity Trigger with a new custom level on Multiplayer (Sphere Plates) to go with it.
- Level Rating: Upvote, Downvote or remain Neutral to every level online!
- Marble Blast Ultra and Gem Hunt levels are now playable offline. This includes Blast, Ultra Blast and Mega Marble support offline.
- Major engine rework means faster radar (radar mode 3 no longer lags), lots of synchronization to help smooth the Multiplayer experience and more fixes to bugs and crashes.
- Organization of the Level Select screen for Offline and Online Singleplayer for easier browsing between games and difficulties. Organization of the Server Settings screen adds new options and removes unused ones. For example, no more Fast Mode, but adds Disable Taunts.
- Level changes:
-> The Tale of the Tall Skyscraper, Frictional Ascent, Space Station and Speed Attack: Instant/IContinueToTime to problematic Moving Platforms to instantly come back.
-> The Tale of the Tall Skyscraper: Decreased Ultimate Time from 6:40 -> 5:30
-> Monster Speedway Qualifying, To The Moon and Block Party: no longer look for missing textures
-> Ultimate Tree: Checkpoints added
-> Moving Platform Monster Course (Level Packs 30-39, Level #26): Bumper and Technostick sections are fixed
-> Ring (Multiplayer, Advanced Level #11): Level problems fixed and it is fully playable. We expect to see it in Tournaments.
- Dozens of fixes relating to Online experience, some of which include but are not limited to: Spectators, Handicaps, Dedicated Servers unable to play levels with Moving Platforms, Particles crashing the game and Teams Mode not working properly
- Removed a lot of unused code and leftover images
In accordance to the Marble Blast Development Timeline, we will continue actively working on future updates to Marble Blast Platinum for another three months, and release updates more frequently. There are still numerous items on our TODO list and it is unlikely we will accept further requests from the community at this point.
If you want to help out, we are currently accepting levels for the following current and upcoming game modes:
- Co-Op, Gem Hunt, Collection, King of the Hill, Race / Singleplayer Customs, Hide and Seek, Tag
Additionally, we will accept levels for Multiplayer for this year's Xmas Event and next year's Summer Fun event.
We wish you all happy Marble Blasting,
- The Platinum Team
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- Written by: IsraeliRD
- Category: News
- Hits: 2354
Hi everyone,
For quite a while now we have known that Mac users who play Marble Blast Gold are at an advantage over Windows users when it comes to 'Internal Clock' levels. The reason behind it, to quote HiGuy: "...the Mac engine was already unlocked, without any modification. For some reason (probably a bug on GG's part), the Mac engine does not lock FPS to 60 by default. On Windows, this bug is the opposite, where you cannot unlock the framerate."
We recently discussed the matter and came up with a solution: to use Derpking's Framerate Unlocker mod, which allows MBG to reach 1000fps. By regular SDA rules this is forbidden as this modifies original game code. However I discussed it with them and as the game behvarior does not change in any other way, it can be accepted for use.
These are the new standards for World Records and all players of this community are expected to follow them:
- Marble Blast Gold (Vanilla): Framerate Unlocker is recommended to be used by default. It is up to a player's discretion whether to use it or not for any level.
- Marble Blast Gold (Vanilla): Unlocker does not break the .recs, thus you must submit in .rec format your World Records. Restart-Screenshot glitch WRs must use Video Proof (.avi,.mp4) and CAN use the Framerate Unlocker mod. See WRR4 rules for video submission.
In addition to that, the following applies:
- Marble Blast Platinum: Internal Clock WRs will not be removed from the Leaderboards
- Marble Blast Platinum: the previously announced 60fps timer won't be implemented, instead the timer will continue to be unlocked as its current state.
Download the Framerate Unlocker mod for Marble Blast Gold: Windows version, Macintosh version. Instructions are provided in the download description.
Framerate Unlocker and Marble Blast Extender is by Derpking and we thank him for creating it for us. It is used in Marble Blast Platinum and extended further to allow even more engine modifications.
Thanks,
Matan
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- Written by: Jeff
- Category: News
- Hits: 2123
Hey all,
The Platinum Team is proud to announce that Threefolder has been added as a level designer for PlatinumQuest. Threefolder has been making custom levels for quite some time, and his work has exponentially increased in quality over the past six months. With the Marble Blast Timeline released in the previous update, it should show you that we are working really hard in delivering on time, so we felt that adding Threefolder would give us that boost in both quality and quantity of levels for PlatinumQuest.
Welcome, Threefolder, to The Platinum Team!
- Jeff & The Platinum Team
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- Written by: IsraeliRD
- Category: News
- Hits: 3398
Hello all,
Our entire Marble Blast Community Staff have been meeting monthly to ensure the continuity and development of this wonderful and inspiring community, and without you, the community, none of us would be here today. Even today we're seeing some of the most impressive additions to the game with help from our core developers, HiGuy and Jeff, the extremely talented Dierking, the marvelous Whirligig, and so many others. Finally, we've been receiving a lot of questions from members of the community regarding future content updates and releases of anticipated titles such as Marble Blast Fubar and PlatinumQuest. After much discussion from the Marble Blast Community Staff, we've decided to release this news update to provide a more transient look into the future of the Marble Blast Community.
Let's start off with the more sensitive subject; the longevity of Marble Blast. Due to recent discussions among the current Marble Blast Community Staff, it's clear that a majority of our current leaders and developers will not be continuing to maintain the community beyond the next few years. While we respect, cherish, and enjoy the community we've spent so many years contributing to and supporting, all good things eventually come to an end and as some of our veteran members move on to larger projects and bigger life events, the time for Marble Blast must also end for them. It is our expectation that you, The Community, will continue to support and further expand the lifespan of our beloved Marble Blast, and we will actively search for our respective replacements as we look towards retirement from Marble Blast. You will always have a several week notice before any member of the current Marble Blast Community Staff plans on departing. At this point in time, all of our current staff members are expected to remain for the next 6 months.
With that being said, all further development beyond the next major release of Marble Blast Platinum has halted, and all further development beyond the currently planned features for PlatinumQuest have ceased.
All updates to Marble Blast Platinum will cease beyond the 1st of January, 2016, with some exceptions. Due to time constraints, 1.60 will have a "rolling release", where new features will release over the course of a few months. This was ultimately decided to ensure development maintained strict deadlines and you, The Community, are able to enjoy some of the new features without having to wait for everything to be finished in one update package.
Additionally, the new Shader Engine and PlatinumQuest will see a guaranteed release in 2017. After PlatinumQuest releases, the game will no longer be updated with the exception of Seasonal Events and Custom Levels and critical hotfixes or security patches, which includes general support in both the forums and in-game chat.
Furthermore, Marble Blast Fubar will be open to the public for beta testing before the end of 2015, and with a full release in the first few months of 2016. Marble Blast Fubar will see periodic content updates over the course of 2016 through mid 2017, with all development and support ending by January 2018.
Finally, we are officially confirming a series of Seasonal Events, some of which will release later this year and early next year, that will continue to make a re-appearance during their respective timeframes each year going forward for the online client of Marble Blast. We can't spoil the details now, but you'll hear about the next event Soon™.
To provide you with a more clear development path, we've officially released the Marble Blast Development Timeline document for your viewing pleasure. We will do our best to stick to the deadlines provided in this document within a 60-day window, but please keep in mind Development Timelines (especially those that project several years in the future) are subject to change and the proposed release dates demonstrated by this document are subject to change pending development progress in the future.
So while we are planning for the end, our entire team is motivated to strive for the absolute best work for you, The Community of Marble Blast. It has been and will continue to be a great ride for all of us as we extract what we've learned from the development and participation in this game and apply it to our future endeavors.
We would like to thank this fantastic community for their support, as well as all those who have helped us on development of both Marble Blast Platinum and PlatinumQuest over the past 8 years. It has truly been an honor to work and speak with each and every member of the team and the community, and we hope you will all continue to support and maintain our creations for many years to come.
Best regards,
- The Marble Blast Community Staff
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- Written by: Aayrl
- Category: News
- Hits: 2110
Greetings folks!
First off, let me say we had a phenomenal turnout this year and I hope everyone that was able to attend had a great time! There were a few hiccups here and there and tons of cherisable memories that I am sure we will continue to hear about for many months to come.
If you were unable to attend the event this past Monday, don't worry, we have several more events coming in the next few weeks just for you!
Here are some of our favorite highlights from Monday.
Our first game on Aayrl's "Three Minute Madness" proved quite challenging!
We had enough players to sit on all of the spawns of the community favorite level "King of the Marble".
We shattered the record books once again!
Things started to get a little out of hand when we had a 16-player match of "Ramps Reloaded"
A 20 player "Teams" mode match on "Sprawl", followed by massive latency spikes..
Yes, we eventually managed to crash the server with our 21-player match on "Horizon"...
And we couldn't leave you without our favorite community submission from Threefolder! Later, HiGuy!
Thank you to all of those who made this event possible! We'll see you at the next event, and certainly next Labor Day!
~Aayrl
Marble Blast Community Manager