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.

Languages files blank comment code
Marbleous Blocks
C++ 92 3575 4211 10112
C/C++ Header 98 1283 320 3641
make 4 48 14 152
DOS Batch 5 22 0 53
Windows Resource File 1 3 4 1
SUM: 200 4931 4549 13959
Pixleon Engine
C++ 97 3008 3265 6658
C/C++ Header 169 2241 1137 4923
make 13 120 53 246
DOS Batch 3 30 0 107
SUM: 282 5399 4455 11934

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.