Dev Interview-Marble Blast Ultra

 I wanted to get some information on this new update that GarageGames is releasing for “Marble Blast Ultra”. Bug fixes, New Multiplayer Maps(11! say again 11!) and other goodies. So here is my interview with “Marble Blast Ultra” lead programmer Pat Wilson.

1-Tell us briefly about GarageGames

Pat Wilson-GarageGames was founded by four guys who left the increasingly corporate game development structure of Dynamix (at that point a studio for Sierra/Vivendi/Universal) with the vision of creating truly original and exciting games on their own terms, and empowering other aspiring game developers to do the same.
 

2-“Marble Blast Ultra” has been a hit on Xbox Live Arcade. Your thoughts?

Pat Wilson-When we joyously kicked Marble Blast Ultra out the door, we knew it was fun. We wouldn’t have shipped it if we didn’t think it was fun. It never really occurred to us, or to me at least, that it would be so successful. All of the sudden people were playing the game all the time, and I’d see it as the last played game on peoples Gamercards. When we made the top 10 most played games on Xbox Live one week I knew it was serious, and we started wishing we had more levels for people to play on the multiplayer side.
 

3-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.
  

The other fixes on the table:

• 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.
  

4-Tell us about the new Multiplayer Maps

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.

5-Other than the bug fixes and new maps will anything else be addressed?

Pat Wilson-Just the improvements I listed above.

6-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.
 

7-When can we expect all this new content?

Pat Wilson-At the moment, I do not know. It is really important to us that this update does nothing but improve the experience people have with Marble Blast Ultra. Testing these fixes is of the utmost importance and is something we are taking very seriously.
 

8-“Marble Blast Ultra” fans have been wanting some gamerpics and themes. Any plans to release some, to the Xbox Live Marketplace?

Pat Wilson- Yes, though I am not certain of the time line. The gamerpics are looking great. Alex, once again, has done a fantastic job at capturing Marble Blast in his art.
 

9-Is GarageGames working on another title for Xbox Live Arcade?

Pat Wilson- We are in the pre-production phase of our next game targeted at the Live Arcade channel, but it’s too early to talk about it in detail.

10-Any final words to gamers/MBU fans?

Pat Wilson-You bet:Marble it up!

Thank you to Pat Wilson and Eric Fritz! And for future developer interviews keep checking out my blog TheXboxDomain