Marble blast rip off?

#1 Not really, no.

#2 Nah, but there are a lot of marble games out there... marble blast isn't the only one :)

#3 Nah, doesn't look like the same gameplay as MB. There are indeed a lot of Marble based games out there... Marble Blast itself certainly owes much to the venerable Marble Madness.

#4 Yes. Absolutely.

#5 Nope, and so what if it does

#6 Anyone else think playing marble blast is a stupid waste of time?

#7 Sebas, you are at the wrong forum to ask this question. Of course, everyone here loves (not loathes) marbleblast here.

#8 I think people here should realise that it really isn't worth all the love that you guys seem to give it. There are plenty of other fun activies out there that provide great mental and / or physical stimulation. Marble Blast provides neither.

#9 Sebas,

Of course, we all have a life besides playing MarbleBlast. It's notan obsession with us. You've read a few post and made an incorrect assumption. Try to get to know us and find out the truth about us. For instance, Bob is very active in his school's band(one of the largest bands in the country). I like to oil paint when I'm not going to school myself. This forum is as much an outlet and a way to fraternalise as it is a way to express our "love" for MarbleBlast.

BTW, welcome to the forum and we respect your opinion. Hope you grow to "love" MarbleBlast as much as we do.

Alex Swanson, a GarageGames employee, is moderator here. Say "Hello" to him also.

solo.

#10 That is true,
I also enjoy fishing, skiing, and other outdoor activities.
Marble Blast is definitely not all I do.

Bob

#11 Well, that's good to know. I think that Solo should concentrate on oil painting, it sounds like a great hobby. MB is probably harming your creativity and numbing your brain without you realising it. Just think what a great artist you could be if you stopped playing silly computer games.

Same for Bob, you should concentrate more on fishing and skiing, far more worthwhile.

I did read somewhere on this site that there is someone whose "world revolves around games and making them". If that isn't obsession I don't know what is.

I don't think I'll ever grow to love marble blast as much as you guys. It's surely impossible to love a computer game that much.

Hello Alex.

#12 One comment to add though.
Marble Blast has really brought out my artistic side.
I am now doing 3D modeling. It has also improved my geometry skills.
Btw, I respect your opinion, and welcome to the forums!

Bob

#13 I am really confused by this. Microsoft thought the game was good enough that they wanted to have it made into an Xbox game. Apple thinks the game is good enough to ship with every new iMac and iBook. Yet someone comes in here to the core group of fans who consistantly are creating new levels and says it not "worth the love" that they give it?

You must not be a gamer. The people on this forum have a very healthy level of fandom for a computer game. They are, in no way, even close to the obcession that people had for EverQuest, Diablo 2, etc. If you think Marble Blast isn't worth your time, that is fine, but leave the other guys out of it.

Quote:
MB is probably harming your creativity and numbing your brain without you realising it. Just think what a great artist you could be if you stopped playing silly computer games.

That is some of the worst advice I have ever heard on these forums.

#14 Ok, so a few tech heads said it was a good game. But it's just a game, nothing more! I think level design should be left to the people who get paid to do it, because they are the ones who know the game best.

If the level of fandom I see on this site is "healthy" then I'm worried. I think that people should stop playing on computer games so much.
I know for a fact that they have harmed my own imagination and creativity, and I know people who have become addicted and struggle to do things like socialising (in real life, not online!) as a result of playing them, so I don't think my advice is so bad.

However, I can see your point of view because you are an employee, so you won't want me putting off potential customers.

#15 @Sebas: You think that spending time mocking the things people enjoy is a more useful pastime than playing video games? Really, what is the point of this? Go post on the forums for some hugely popular best selling game like World of Warcraft or Halflife 2 if your goal is really to have people "stop playing on computer games so much"

Video games aren't the only things that can rot your mind. I know for a fact that having to respond to inane but vaguely insulting threads on internet forums numbs my brain and harms my creativity.

Now, starting an informed discussion about the effect that playing video games has on people might actually be interesting, but we have other forums for that, a good place to start would be Development Community General Discussion.

#16

Quote:
I think level design should be left to the people who get paid to do it, because they are the ones who know the game best.

Just out of curiosity, how did the people who get paid to make levels learn how to make levels? Alex is damn good at making Marble Blast levels (and you guys haven't seen the new ones on the Xbox even), he's so good it got him hired a few years ago, but he's not just randomly good at it. All aspects of game development are, to some degree, artistic. Real programming is a very creative and artistic endevor, design of a game is very creative and abstract, and art is, of course, artistic. You will not find a single person at GarageGames who will tell you not to do things like ski or do a little oil-on-canvas (Watch the fumes though. Lots of oil paint is not good for your brain, seriously.) but Marble Blast is successful for two reasons: Mark F. is really, really good at nailing the 'feel' of a game, and Alex has a twisted mind when it comes to level design. Both of these reasons are highly dependent on both of them playing a lot of games. You get good at making games by playing games. All kinds of games. Everyone here plays computer games, board games, card games, pen & paper games, outdoor games, indoor games.

My point of view isn't because I'm an employee who thinks you'll put off potential customers, I just think you are wrong.
I also disagree about your 'computer game' advice. By your logic, nobody should ever drink alcohol, or have sex, or gamble, or get on any kind of medication because some people abuse and/or become addicted to it. Obsessive and unhealthy behavior is obsessive and unhealthy behavior, regardless of the medium it chooses to manifest itself.

#17 I'm somewhat surprised to see Sebas post a complaint about computer games ruining his creativity on this forum though.

I mean Marble blast is one of the games which dared to be abstract and leave a lot to the user and creator of levels to think up.

Let's take a game like Half life 2, or Hidden and dangerous 2, or Chrome, or Far Cry, or GTA or Hitman or.....

One thing most games released today have one thing in common. They're not very imaginative. The story might vary but noone's gone to the lengths of defining an abstract reality. They're based on our world, our set of rules for physics and gravity and so on. You don't just find blocks hanging in the air, or needing you to run up walls or change gravity, or otherwise do stuff which is completely impossible in the real world. You did once see a lot of games stretching the "world" back in the days of C64 and so on. But now a days most developers seem to not have any imagination at all. They base it all on something that exists because they can't think of something else to do (or their publisher might not let them because they can't wrap their mind around something new).

Just found it funny that this complaint about destruction of imagination is posted on a forum dedicated to one of the few games of the last couple of years which do in fact show imagination by going beyond the scope of normal world... even if it's not vastly redefined it's still way more thought up than half life, or GTA, or FIFA (now there's a waste of time, and money if you have to buy the same game every year for the new names and slightly updated graphics)

#18 It is also interesting that his post is on a website devoted to MAKING COMPUTER GAMES. He's telling us that we're wasting our time with computer
games while he spends his time browsing websites devoted to their development and production. Who's wasting more time?

#19 Tee hee hee

#20 Ever played Super Monkey Ball for Gamecube? Balls rolling around on stange surfaces is basically the same concept. (Ooh, that sounded wrong)