- Fixed issue with gem location helper not showing
- (Hopefully) fixed an issue with score submission soft-locking the game
Lost Marbles
Small Patch - v0.3.36
Small Patch - v0.3.30
- Fixed flickering issue when leaderboard list loads
- Fixed issue with online games forcing the hosts skin to all players
- Added a kill zone to "Ramperino" and "Ramperino v2"
- Fixed incorrect sorting order in session leaderboards and liveplay score list
- Fixed issue with requesting a rival from inside of a level softlocking the game
- Fixed issue with hidden level pickups appearing for all players in multiplayer when a puzzle is completed
- Removed the ability to accidentally continue to next level upon finishing a level in liveplay
Lost Marbles Polish Update #1
The update does not have many of the new levels that I currently have in progress, so expect those to drop when they are completed soon(ish). That being said, there are some new levels in this update, just not as many as I was originally planning to drop the update with.
I have dubbed this update 'The Polish Update #1', as many of the updates within pertain to pushing the game into a more polished state. With that little intro out of the way, lets get to what has changed...
Gameplay Polish
I have made a few small changes to the gameplay visuals in order to bring the game closer to my desired 'look'. This is by no means a finished look, but its a step towards my desired look and feel for the game. Some of the assets used are placeholder for now whilst the real artwork is being created.
On top of the visual changes, a new xp and currency system has been implemented. These currently don't have a use, but they will both be used in coming updates to unlock new levels and skins.
Below is a list of the changes to gameplay:
[expand type=details]
- Gem pickup mesh size has been increased (hit box remains the same)
- Bobbing motion added to gems
- Particle effect added to gems and powerups
- A new space skybox has been added to the game
- Background asteroids have been added to the game
- Space dust particles have been added to each level
- Gem Arena maps no longer have an unlock condition
- Xp is now earned through completion of levels
- Currency is now earned through completion of levels
- 'Step Up' has been renamed to 'Highwire'
- 'Step Up (Legacy)' has been renamed to 'Step Up'
- 'Power Play (Legacy)' has been renamed to 'Powers'
- 'Old Hazard Tutorial' has been renamed to 'Hazardous Hairpins'
- 'Hazardous' has been renamed to 'Danger Ahead'
On top of these changes and additions, a few new levels have been added to the game.
[expand type=details]
- River of Ice (Time Attack)
- Frostbite Lake (Gem Arena)
- Gettin' Rinky (Legacy)
- The Fort (Legacy)
- Ramperino (Legacy)
Some levels have had visual changes made to them in an effort to bring their style in line with the more recent levels that I have release/are being made. I made sure that none of these changes affected the current record routes, but it is possible that the changes have opened up new, better routes. The levels in question are:
[expand type=details]
- Jump Around
- Charge
- Gem Hunt
- Building Blocks
- Power Play
- A Bridge Too Far
- Divided
Challenge Mode Rework
Anyone who read my 2024 post will know that I wasn't at all happy with the challenge mode in its current form, and for that reason, it has been completely overhauled. Challenge levels are now know as Remix levels, and with this name change comes a redesign of how they work. The levels themselves have not changed, but they are now permanently accessible levels within the game, as opposed to using a random selection with a daily reset. Each challenge will have a specific unlock condition which must be met to access the level. There are currently 13 remix levels to unlock and play, and this number will likely rise rapidly as I finish polishing up all of the existing old challenge levels, as well as create new ones.
The concept of a daily reset still exists in the form of 'Spotlight' levels. These spotlight levels grant additional xp and game currency upon completion, and also allows access to remix levels that the player has yet to unlock. Spotlight is not exclusive to remix levels however, so any game level (including arcade playlists) can be selected for spotlight. Spotlight levels currently reset every 4 hours, though this could change in the future.
Menu Rework
The most drastic change many existing players will notice is the menu. Honestly, this change was accidental; I did plan on updating the menu, but it wasn't meant to be yet... I was curious how the menu would look if I removed the scrolling square background to display the new skybox, and I'm gonna' be honest, I was VERY happy with the result. On top of this, I tried adding some animations to each of the main menu widgets to give it a more reactive feeling, and I think it was a huge step in the right direction.
A list of all changes in the menu can be found below:
[expand type=details]
- The scrolling square background has been removed
- The menu bar at the bottom of the window has been recoloured from purple to blue to match the new skybox backdrop
- Fade in animation added to various main menu widgets
- 'Global Ratings' option changed to 'Leaderboards' and now displays various combined leaderboards that were accessible via the mode select menu (they still are accessible here also)
- New leaderboard for player level/xp has been added
- Challenge level select has been removed from extra modes widget
- Spotlight levels added to extra modes widget
- Remix levels added to extra modes widget
- A short description has been added when selecting a mode in the various mode select widgets.
- Level select widgets have new level entry widgets
Game Server Overhaul
On top of the updates to the game client, the server has also seen some love. The back end has been completely re-written, and whilst this won't be noticeable by any of you guys, it was done to make my life a lot easier. It allows me to more easily add new features which I was previously putting off due to the backend mess that I created a number of years ago now...
This is what allowed me to easily add the new xp and currency systems into the game, as well as easily adding new leaderboards such as the new player level/xp leaderboard. Doing this has also indirectly fixed the issue with certain leaderboards not loading correctly without me having to actually diagnose the problem... :)
Regarding The Demo
In a final piece of news, I have decided that I do want to keep the demo around, but it will require a little work to bring it up to date with a standard that I'm happy to show off. For this reason, the demo will be disabled for a little while, and will return once I have made the necessary changes.
Additional change notes
[expand type=details]
- The player now always spawns (and respawns) facing the gem cluster in Gem Arenas
- You can now move to the next level from the end level screen without having to return to level select
- Session leaderboard scores no longer wipe when leaving a level and instead persist for the entire game session
- Session leaderboards are now available for arcade playlists
- A platinum score is now required to upload a replay to the server
- Secret level pickups are now a white gem
- Gem arena leaderboard submissions should now be working as intended
- Some systems have been rewritten to improve performance and development workflow
- 'Black Magic' achievement is now available to earn
- A gold medal is no longer required to view replays via the leaderboards
- A few new marbles skins have been added to the customisation menu
- Leaderboards now return the top 50 entries instead of the top 100
- Various level images updated
- New achievement - 'In The Lime Light'
- New achievement - 'On The Rebuild'
That is all for this update, so if you made it this far, thanks for reading! We aren't done yet though, part two of the polish update will be coming in the near future, and will contain a lot more content than just visual polish for people to get their hands on!
Server Maintenance - 11/03/24
All information on the coming game update will be posted once it has gone live on the 11th, so stay tunes for that!
Happy New Year!
I'll be honest though, 2023 didn't exactly go as planned with regards to the development of Lost Marbles. Various real life event ate up a lot of my free time, which was a good thing for me, but not so much for my free time, which is when I get to work on the game... Because of this, I feel like I underdelivered in updates, which is something I fully intend to make up for in 2024!
My goal for 2024 is simple; to leave early access and release as a "complete" game on Steam. Obviously this is a lot easier said than done, as this will require the delivery of a number key game updates. Lets talk a little about about each of these updates now...
Challenge Mode
I'm sure most of you reading this will know at this point that challenge mode was supposed to be a big update in 2023. It is very clear that I missed the mark big time with this update, and for that I can only apologise. I missed the target level goal set out in an earlier dev post quite significantly, and I did not update any of the UI to accurately reflect the mode. Then to make matters worse, a recent bug forced me to temporarily remove all Gem Arena maps from rotation whilst I investigate the issue.
I do very much still believe in the concept for challenge mode, so expect to see many improvements to complete the game mode in 2024. I wont say any more about this, as I think my previous dev posts still fairly accurately describe my intentions for the mode.
A Complete Level Set
This one pretty much goes without saying, but the game needs its full selection of base game levels. My goal for this is roughly 10 levels per difficulty, though some difficulties may see a few more depending on where boundary levels land during difficulty rating.
My goal for Gem Arena maps is around the 10-12 mark, and I'm hoping to add a little more diversity into these levels compared to what is currently available.
Finally, a complete level set will allow me to finalize the difficulty and full game arcade playlists.
As mentioned in my previous anniversary post, I have chosen to save levels for larger content drops as opposed to drip-feeding levels into the game. This allows me to build more hype around each update, and prevents me constantly dragging players back to a game for only a small amount of content.
Customisation Rework
customisation in Lost Marbles is currently severely lacking, with only a hand full of skins to choose from, and my inability to create and release seasonal cosmetics on time (I still have not made the Christmas 2022 skin yet).
My goal is to completely rework the customisation portion of the game, and to create a large number of skins for players to choose from. This will include significantly more base marble skins, as well as the various unlockable skins hidden throughout the levels and achievements (they aren't in game yet, so don't bother looking ;)).
The Level Editor
This was initially a pipe dream update for me, and certainly not something I ever thought I would be looking to include as a requirement for leaving Early Access. A lot of my early work for challenge mode really opened this up as a viable update though, which is very exciting.
I have already put a decent amount of work into the update during the final months of 2023, and as I promised in my 1 year anniversary post, I will be posting a dedicated dev blog for this progress soon(ish).
To give a quick overview of the update though, it is basically an in-game level editor (duh) that allows players to share their creations online. The sharing will also be done in-game, allowing for potential cross-platform sharing in the future, should that become necessary.
The update is a fairly huge undertaking for a solo developer, so I will refrain from giving any release windows, but I am confident that it can be done within this next year along side everything else listed here. I do plan various beta tests for this feature, so stay tuned for when those are coming if it is something that sounds interesting to you.
Menu Rework
This one isn't essential, but I would love to modernize the current menu for the game, because I cant help but feel the menu is a little dated and bland.
This would also put me in a position to finally finish the missing pages in the 'Player Profile' portion of the menu, such as a proper stats page etc.
Game Polish
Similar to the menu, much of the gameplay lacks the polish of a finished game. This includes the small things like sound effects and particle effects. I don't have a huge amount to say about these, but expect to see these appear along side content drops.
Additional Game Modes
Anyone who has been playing for a while (Pre-public release) may remember the two asynchronous multiplayer modes that existed in a previous version of the game; Scavenger Hunt and Capture the Flag.
I would really love to bring these two game modes back, but this is not essential for the full game release. The two game modes heavily rely on having a somewhat active player base, so this will likely be the determining factor on if I devote any time to re-implementing these modes.
Marketing and Communication
Not so much a game mode, but still two very important things that I have to start taking seriously if I want to shift more than the 100 units I have managed so far.
Going forward, I will be taking a much more active approach to marketing and advertising each update as and when they drop. This will also include proper patch notes for every update.
The Demo
As a piece of final news, it is with regret that I have decided to remove the demo from the store. It is no longer viable to maintain, and it appears to serve very little purpose in its ability to convince players to pick up the full game. the vast majority of players who purchase the game do so without even trying the demo, and a large number of demo users either play once, or continue to play the demo with seemingly no desire to upgrade.
Because the demo contains many of the server-side features of the full game (leaderboards, online multiplayer, etc.), it requires constant updating to remain in working order. I hope you will agree with me when I say I feel my time is better spent working on the updates listed above instead of having to dedicate time to a demo that serves very little purpose.
I will look into the possibility of a stripped down version of the demo in the future.
I think that just about covers everything I have planned for 2024. Hopefully I have not bitten off more than I can chew... :)
I hope everyone has an amazing 2024!
Lost Marbles Anniversary
First off, let me just thank everyone who has taken the time to play the game, and give a huge shout out to those who join in the discussion to help make the game better. You know who you are, so thank you! <3
With that out of the way, id like to apologise for the lack of communication over the past several months. It has been too long, and this is something I would like to rectify, starting today! There are various reasons for my absence, but rest assured, though I have been silent, I have been working hard on some juicy updates for the game...
Be sure to fire up the game over the coming weeks to score the time-limited anniversary marble, as well as the Christmas marble in a few weeks time. These marble skins are available on both the full game and the demo!
- The Anniversary marble is available 13th Nov - 30th November
- The Christmas marble is available 11th Dec 23 - 5th Jan 24
*The marble skins will be released in the coming weeks, but opening the game will secure the skin once it releases.
Now, lets get to discussing the future of Lost Marbles
Future Map Content
So the decision for when to release new levels has been on my mind a fair bit over the past year. Should I release levels as they are made, or should I stash them away and do a bigger drop? My original plan was to simply release them as they were ready, and that is what I have done for the new levels which have released since launch. Going forward however, I have decided that saving several levels for a bigger content drop is the way to do it moving forward.
There are a few reasons for this decision, but the main one is that it releases the pressure from myself. Every time I drop a new level, It reignites interest from my core players, which then makes me feel pressure to continue producing and releasing new maps in a short space of time. The issue is that I have other features that id rather prioritise at the moment, so I would rather just build new maps at my own pace, and release them as a large content drop. Additionally, these larger content drops make it easier for me to promote the game, which is something I will hopefully be taking a more active role in moving forward.
Challenge Mode
I’ll be honest, the current state of challenge mode is incomplete due to my ideas for a level editor taking over as the main priority. The mode is functional, but lacks many of the features I was hoping to launch with, such as a proper menu and a much larger level pool. On top of this, I had to remove Gem arena maps from the pool of levels because there was a problem with the leaderboards.
I am hoping to get all of these issues resolved in the very near future, but as I said, my priority remains the level editor, as I feel that has the potential to add some real value to the game.
The Level Editor
As you can probably tell by now, this is where my main focus has been over the past few months of development, and I am pleased to say that good progress is being made. I wont speak too much on the topic though as I plan on writing a dedicated dev article specifically about the level editor. I will, however, say that it is coming along very nicely! :)
Thanks for reading, and more importantly, thanks for your support. I look forward to what the next year will bring to Lost Marbles, and I hope you do too!
Lost Marbles Development Blog 2
It has been a little while now since my original development blog relating to the upcoming challenge update, and I felt it was time to let you all know what I have been up to and how it has all been coming along.
I have changed my mind on a few things since that original blog where I outlined the plans for the challenge update and the possibility of an editor in the future, and I will be explaining the changed in this blog, but the overall goal for the update remains the same.
The Changes
The major change that has been made is that I will no longer be using systems designed for the level editor in the challenge mode. This includes the logic tiles I have made (although I still may use them) but more importantly, it includes the build tool. The reason for this is that it was getting fairly annoying to have to keep updating the build date when changes were made and as the number of challenge levels grew larger.
Because the editor build tool is no longer being used, it means that challenge levels will now be included in the game files, as opposed to the data being downloaded from the server when the game loads. This has some pros and cons, but I'm happy to say they are mostly pros. They are:-
Pros:
- Lower bandwidth usage which is great for me, and for you
- Replays will be available on levels that are currently not in the active list of challenges
- I plan to allow some way of permanently unlocking challenges (still undecided yet, but I will discuss some options further down this post)
- Should speed up development of levels (assuming I don't get side-tracked by working on the editor)
- Unlocking levels will allow for offline play of those levels
- Larger game size on your hard drive
- New challenges will require a game update, since the data is no longer stored on the server
Unlocking the levels to play outside of the randomly selected challenge levels is something I need to think on a little more, but one thing I know is that I want to make playing the currently active challenges play a role in unlocking them. The two possible solutions that I have came up with so far are as followed:-
- Allowing the level to be unlocked by completing the challenge time on a given level. This means they must be unlocked whilst they are an active challenge.
- The introduction of a currency system, where you would earn currency for playing the game, with a multiplier bonus for playing the active challenge levels. The currency would then be used to purchase any bonus levels, regardless of if they are currently active or not. This would also open up the possibility to add additional things for purchase such as skins etc.
I’m also open to feedback or other suggestions should anyone happen to have any, so feel free to message me in the discord or post a comment on here in the steam community!
The Progress of Development
As for the update its self, It is coming along nicely and progress is being made despite how quiet I have been as of late. The main server systems that will run the challenge update are all tested and in place ready to go. The shift to local challenge levels has also been made, so all of the original editor build tools that I was using have been stripped out and replaced.
My current work is mainly focussed on expanding the challenge level pool, which has increased significantly since my first post, and I am still confident that I can hit the 100 challenge mark with the current selection of levels that I have to work with.
Aside from continuing to create levels, which is the bulk of the remaining work, I still need to create a new level select widget for the mode, as well as decide on a method for unlocking challenges for permanent use.
As I mentioned in the previous post, if anyone has any interesting ideas for a challenge that they would like to see in the game, be sure to message me on discord or here on the steam discussion boards.
This will likely be the last blog before posting the official announcement for the challenge update, which will include all of the details surrounding the different groups, as well as the final decision made for how to unlock the challenges.
So, Is this the end for the editor?
Absolutely not. In fact, I am more eager than ever to start working on it, to the point where I may start sharing my time between the challenge stuff and setting up the framework for the editor its self. This will delay the release of the challenge update, but would move up the timeline for a possible editor release.
I truly believe that an editor would be an absolute game changer for a game like this, and I have no doubt a lot of you guys playing the game would likely agree.
That basically rounds up everything I have to say so il end it here! Thanks for taking the time to read. <3
Lost Marbles Development Blog 1
It has been a little over a month now since Lost Marbles released into Steam Early Access, and since then there have been a few small updates and bug fixes, but nothing major. Shortly after release I made the decision that it would be better to focus on less frequent, larger updates as opposed to drip feeding small content updates into the game. My thought process behind this was that it would be easier to promote large updates and thus hopefully grow a larger player base. It is much harder to create (and justify creating) promo material for small updates that only contain say one level for example.
So what will be the first major update?
My current main focus is an update that I am dubbing “The Challenge Update". Most of you that have played the game or the demo during Nextfest will likely know of the challenge mode currently in the game. It consists of existing game levels with additional or modified level and or marble parameters. My idea for the challenge update is to expand on this existing idea.
The original intent of challenges was that they would be available for a limited time and once that time was up, they would be retired and never accessible again. This will no longer be the case. The goal of the update is to release with a pool of 100-150 challenges, with 5-6 of these being available to play over a given short time period, for example 1 week. Each set of levels available at any given time will be part of a group, of which there will be around 20 - 30 of at launch.
An example of this would be that each week, a random group is chosen, and then 5-6 levels will be chosen at random from that group. Challenges can belong to more than one group, and challenges can be seen more that just once, as they will no longer be retired after a period of time. I will release a full list of the possible groups in the actual release promo material when the time comes.
You may be asking why not just release all of the challenges at once, and there are a few reasons why. Firstly, 100+ levels is massively overwhelming for the large majority of players. A lot of people initially think that having a large number of levels is a good thing, but in a game focussing around difficulty and/or speed running, less is sometimes more if you actually want your player base to enjoy all of the content. The second main reason is that is focuses the competition into a small number of levels. On top of these reasons, a side effect of having these levels baked into the game is that it would increase the games file size, so downloading the data to rebuild a small number of challenges is a good alternative.
On top of all of the new challenge levels, the update will also include an improved level select and leaderboard menu (for both challenges and the regular game levels).
As far as a release date for the update; I don't really want to speculate on it currently, as there is still a lot of work to be done.
What work does the update require, and why is it taking so long?!
I wont lie, this update requires a significant amount of work, some of which relates to a future update that I will discuss in more detail further down this blog, but most of it is related to the sheer number of levels I am aiming to produce. On top of the large workload, I am a single developer working on this game in my spare time, so I hope you keep that in mind and are able to be patient with me.
As I'm sure you would agree, a goal of over 100 levels is ambitious, and the amount of time required for a single person to think up and assemble that many levels is a lot. Some levels are simple to produce; just change a few marble parameters and your good to go… But I am far more ambitious than that, and I am looking to think outside of the box on many of the challenges, so these ones take quite a bit longer.
Before a challenge is made, I first have to rework the existing original level that the challenge is to be based on. This is because currently, a level is made up of three main objects. The main level mesh, the smaller square platform meshes and the level railings. This worked well for static game levels, but in order to create a challenge based on a game level, it is nice to have the level set up in a more modular way, so specific elements can be removed/relocated etc. . In order to achieve this, I had to rework every level by effectively cutting it up into smaller components, and this takes a significant amount of time and effort to achieve.
I have mostly just been doing this as and when I need a specific level for a challenge (in order to keep my sanity) and am happy to say that this portion of the work has almost been completed for all levels. Fortunately this process is only really an issue for all existing levels, as any new levels I make in the future will be made with the required modularity in mind from the start.
Next I have to actually assemble the level. In some cases as mentioned above, this can be as simple as changing a few parameters on the marble, but for other levels, my goal is to completely evolve existing levels to the point they may not even be recognisable. These are the levels which will take a considerable amount of time to produce.
Finally, the levels must be tested, and a challenge time set. My opinion may be a little biased, but I do really enjoy playing the game, and so this part of development is a treat. It does however, still take time…
And on top of all of the above, every time I want to use a new object (a bumper for example), I have to rework the object with the ability to read and write build data so that it can exist within a challenge level. I have also opted out of hard-coding level logic inside of the unreal editor its self, and I am instead creating a sort of meta-programming language that can be assembled at run time. This allows for dynamic objects to work, such as moving platforms etc., since the code to run them cant be built into the level its self as an empty level is built from scratch when a challenge is loaded.
Why are you doing all of this additional work when you could simply build challenge levels the way regular game levels are made?
I know that above I mentioned in my reasoning for not releasing all challenge levels at once that including the levels in the packaged game would increase the games size, and this is true, but honestly the size would be relatively small, and who really cares if the game if a few hundred mb more than it currently is when there are so many games nowadays hitting 50gb+, right?
I actually have a very good reason for creating the challenge system in this way, and this leads me into what I very briefly mentioned above. The build tools I have created for this challenge update actually lend themselves very nicely into the development of an in-game level editor and level sharing system.
My ideas for a level editor
My idea behind a level editor is simple, and it has been a long time ambition of mine to include one in this game. The main elements of my proposed ingame level editor are as followed:
- The ability for a user to place objects at runtime
- The ability to write all relevent information from a level to a block of data to be stored in a database at runtime.
- The ability to rebuild entire levels, including level code, from data stored in a database at runtime.
Two of the three main components of a level editor have already been solved due to the way in which I am setting up the challenge system, and everything so far has been made in a way that will be super simple to extend its usecase into such a level editor.
The remaining “ability for a user to place objects at runtime” is by no means a small task, and may actually end up being the most time consuming part of a level editor build, as it includes a lot of complicated functionality, and a lot of UI elements to be made. For me personally however, the part I struggled with conceptualising was the saving and loading of level data, which I now have a solution for and is already now in use for the challenge system.
Additionally, my idea of a built in level editor also includes the ability to upload/download user levels from a centralised interface inside of the game, removing the need for such things as the steam workshop, and thus presenting the ability for cross platform level sharing should the game make it on to any other platforms in the future.
There is currently no timeline on when this will become a thing in the game, and it will absolutely be after the release of the challenge update (and not part of the challenge update), but I do want to get it out publicly that this is something that I am very interested in adding to the game.
Other Stuff
Because I am working alone, and some of the stuff I'm working on in relation to the challenge mode / level editor is quite hard for me to do non-stop without burning out, I am also working on a few small side projects to keep myself sane.
As mentioned above, the challenge update will come with some (hopefully) shiny new level select and leaderboard widgets, because currently the arcade and challenge level selects don't show even half of the information that they should. And as far as the leaderboards go, whilst I don't hate how they look, from a back-end perspective they are a nightmare to work with, so reworking those is more to help future me than creating a new public look.
On top of this, I am starting to learn how to use Unreals Niagara particle system to create some effects for the game, as there currently are non in the game (except the finish particles which kinda suck). These will likely just be added to the game once they are ready during any bug-fix updates etc, and wont be held until the main challenge update. They should hopefully add a nice layer of polish to the feel of gameplay that is currently missing.
Wrapping up
If you have made it this far, thank you for reading, and double thank you if you have already bought the game! <3 If you dont yet own the game, please tell me what I can do to change your mind and make it happen! XD
If you have any questions about anything mentioned here, or anything else related to the game, I'm always active in the discord so feel free to post them there. Alternatively, you can post on the Lost Marbles Steam discussions page or comment on this post if that is more your style!
I hope you have all had a wonderful festive time and hope that what I have shared here today about Lost Marbles in 2023 excites you as much as it does me!
Thanks! <3
Version 0.1.1.1 Mini Patch
- New Gem Arena level (Powerless)
Bug Fixes + Changes
- Fixed issue with gem count showing 0 at end of Gem Arena game