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GarageGames is fixing some bugs in “Marble Blast Ultra”. Which ones are being addressed? Pat Wilson-I want to preface this by saying these are changes we want to make, but they are not for sure the changes that will be in the update. The two most high profile fixes are:
Pat Wilson- There are eleven new maps. [Level Designer] Alex [Swanson] really outdid himself on this batch. I won’t list them all, but we got to really play with the gameplay even though we kept the game-type the same. Playing “Spires” is very, very different than all other multiplayer levels. All the gems are at the top of high-friction covered spires and platforms, and all the powerups are on the ground. The strategy is totally different, and it requires players to improve their flying, falling, and marble control skills. Alex also crafted a multiplayer level, “Bowl”, that mimics the skiing movement that makes single player levels like “Black Diamond” so much fun. “Blast Club” is another level in the style of “King of the Marble” but with a larger, more varying playing surface, and a different central conflict point.
Will this be a free update or will this cost the gamers Microsoft Points?
Pat Wilson-Free. We have heard the cry for downloadable content. Not including it, however, was a decision we made very early in development. I think that any future games we do for Arcade we will plan on supporting with downloadable content.
This interview is maybe a day or two old. But for those that do not know it here is the full interview
http://thrillskilla.wordpress.com/2006/08/28/dev-interview-marble-blast-ultra/
It is nice to know that there is FINALLY an UPDATE coming soon & with new multiplayer maps & over at the xbox.com forums it was posted that the new maps & fixes are done & they just have to pick a day to release them
GarageGames is fixing some bugs in “Marble Blast Ultra”. Which ones are being addressed? Pat Wilson-I want to preface this by saying these are changes we want to make, but they are not for sure the changes that will be in the update. The two most high profile fixes are:
- Friends Leaderboard bug: This was reported very early on and will be fixed.
- Crash exploit: There is a way to crash a server on several maps. This will be fixed.
- Removing the advantage of dropping during a multiplayer game to protect your rating. This is very destructive behavior for the game because it breaks up servers. It also allows the host to unfairly effect the game for all other people in the server should they decide to kick the server back to the lobby to prevent a stat hit. We brainstormed many solutions to this and discussed it quite a bit, because we don’t want to provide a bad play experience for people who want to leave a server for other reasons. The implementation we chose, I feel, strikes a good balance, and I think it will have a positive effect on the game.
- When you re-spawn in a multiplayer game, you should be facing the gems.
- The HUD should inform everyone of voice activity so that abusive players can be identified by the host and kicked from the game.
- Shadowing on the text for the scoreboard on the HUD to make it more readable on all levels.
Pat Wilson- There are eleven new maps. [Level Designer] Alex [Swanson] really outdid himself on this batch. I won’t list them all, but we got to really play with the gameplay even though we kept the game-type the same. Playing “Spires” is very, very different than all other multiplayer levels. All the gems are at the top of high-friction covered spires and platforms, and all the powerups are on the ground. The strategy is totally different, and it requires players to improve their flying, falling, and marble control skills. Alex also crafted a multiplayer level, “Bowl”, that mimics the skiing movement that makes single player levels like “Black Diamond” so much fun. “Blast Club” is another level in the style of “King of the Marble” but with a larger, more varying playing surface, and a different central conflict point.
Will this be a free update or will this cost the gamers Microsoft Points?
Pat Wilson-Free. We have heard the cry for downloadable content. Not including it, however, was a decision we made very early in development. I think that any future games we do for Arcade we will plan on supporting with downloadable content.
This interview is maybe a day or two old. But for those that do not know it here is the full interview
http://thrillskilla.wordpress.com/2006/08/28/dev-interview-marble-blast-ultra/
It is nice to know that there is FINALLY an UPDATE coming soon & with new multiplayer maps & over at the xbox.com forums it was posted that the new maps & fixes are done & they just have to pick a day to release them
