Beta release

After total silence for a few months I am happy to announce that there is a playable “early beta” version of Marbleous Blocks available here. At the time of writing there are 12 puzzles available but hopefully the number of puzzles will increase quite a bit before the summer.

So what have I been spending time on since December? A lot of different things actually, but here is an overview:

• Extending the level editor with various features.
• Experimenting with different game mechanics to improve variation.
  • Catapults.
  • Falling blocks.
• Support for three marbles with different abilities.
  • Normal.
  • Lightweight.
  • Anti-gravity.
• Support for Save/Load progress.
  • Support for auto save.
• Improving the menu system.
  • Show credits.
  • Save slots.
• Upgrading C++ version along with different libs.
• Redesigning world piece placement.
• Finding suitable game music.
• Looking over licenses for assets.
• Improving first impression and robustness by:
  • Installing C++ redistributable package if necessary.
  • Showing a custom program icon.
  • Solving the notorious dll loading problem.
  • Giving hints to the player how to interact with the game.
• Reworking color palette.
• Polishing of graphics. Shaders, 3D-models and materials.
• Creating an automatic script for packaging the game.
• Debugging various problems.

If you have any feedback concerning the “early beta” version of Marbleous Blocks I would be very happy to hear from you. Please send me an email.

Here is some geek stats gathered by using cloc.

My next step is to create more interesting levels along with a short trailer to showcase the game. In the meantime I hope you enjoy the beta.