Marble Blast Development Timeline

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Written by: IsraeliRD

Category: News

Published: 12 September 2015

Hits: 3411

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