Multiplayer

This article is under construction by Rei, Star of Justice. Please excuse the mess!

Multiplayer is a feature included in many Marble Blast games.

In PlatinumQuest, there are also Platinum and Ultimate scores for each level, which serve as challenges for players. The Platinum and Ultimate Scores are different for Solo and Versus play. The levels are also grouped into Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Custom categories. Multiplayer mode has a rating system as well. Players start at 1500 points and win/lose points depending on their performance.

Games

• Marble Blast Ultra / Marble Blast Online / Marble Blast Mobile (Gem Hunt)
• PlatinumQuest (Gem Hunt, Collection, Mega Marble Wars, Co-Op)
• Marble It Up!: Mayhem

Game Modes

Gem Hunt

The goal of Gem Hunt is to collect the most points within the time limit. In order to score points, the player must collect gems, which appear in a group somewhere in the level. Players must then race to pick them up. Red gems are worth 1 point, yellow gems are worth 2, and blue gems are worth 5. After all the gems in a group are collected, another group appears elsewhere. This continues until the time runs out, and the player with the highest score is the winner.

Collection

In Collection, the level is full of gems of different colors. Each individual color is assigned to a player. Once the first player to collect all their gems does so, the game ends, and that player wins.

Mega Marble Wars

In Mega Marble Wars, players score points by knocking their opponents around within the time limit. In order to attack opponents, players must first race to collect the power-ups, which are scattered throughout the level. The force with which a player hits their opponent determines the number of points they are awarded. The player with the most points at the end of the match wins.

Co-Op

Co-Op mode is different from the other multiplayer gamemodes. As the name suggests, it is focused on cooperative play instead of competitive play. In co-op mode, players work together in order to finish single-player levels.

The game functions identically to single-player; however, there are a few differences that must be accounted for:

Time Trial / Gem Collection

• All gems picked up by players are added to a collective counter.
  • If a player falls out of bounds, then all the gems that player collected are returned to their original positions.
    • However, all the gems collected before the player reached a checkpoint will be kept.
• Once all the gems are collected, any player can hit the finish pad and end the level.

Gem Quota / Gem Madness

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Laps / Consistency

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Gem Hunt

• At the end of the level, each player is awarded the total number of points collected, regardless of the number of points they scored individually. This score is reflected on the leaderboards.

Special Game Rules

In PlatinumQuest, there are a few special gamerules that affect the gameplay which may be activated by the server host.

• Teams Mode: Players are assigned to one of two or more teams. The team which collects the most points wins the match.
• Quick Respawn: The player may respawn once whenever they wish. They may not use this ability again for 25 seconds.
• Steal Mode: Players may steal points from other players by knocking them around using Blast.
• Double Spawns: Two sets of gems will spawn each time on competitive Gem Hunt levels.

In addition to these, several secret game rules can be activated by the server host during Party Mode. This feature can only be accessed in games hosted by a game developer.

Removed

When PQ released in 2017, several multiplayer game rules found in MBP were removed; they are detailed below. They went largely unused during their lifespan, and as such, were deemed a waste of time to keep updated.

• Matan Mode: Once half of a Gem Hunt spawn was collected, the rest of the gems would despawn after about 0.3 seconds. This gamemode was reimplemented as MP Training.
• Glass Mode: An invisible barrier divides the map in half.

Handicaps

• Disable Blue Gems
• Disable Yellow Gems
• Disable Knocking Opponents
• Disable Diagnonal Movement
• Disable Blast
• Disable Super Jump
• Disable Super Speed
• Disable Gyrocopter
• Disable Mega Marble
• Disable Radar / Gem Beams
• Hide Opponent Marbles

History

MBP Multiplayer - Marble Movement WORKS (KotM+TM)

Spring 2007

Architecture - IsraeliRD, Phil, HiGuy and Jeff (MBP 1.50 Multiplayer)

Summer 2013

Originally, Marble Blast was intended to be a multiplayer game. The developers imagined "playing with friends, racing for hair-line finishes, ramming each other off the tracks, talking trash, and participating in many other multiplayer shenanigans". However, the team soon realized that "accounting for precise marble physics over a network began to look much more challenging than [they] originally expected". Despite this, development continued, and the Torque Game Engine's network functionality was kept in the game. When the decision to cut multiplayer was made, these critical files remained behind, hidden in the game files until after release.

The first MB game to feature any sort of online functionality was the 2005 XBOX port of Marble Blast. This game featured an online leaderboard that was integrated with XBOX Live, but the game still had no multiplayer.

However, one year later, in 2006, Marble Blast Ultra was released for the Xbox 360. Using the Xbox Live online service, multiplayer was finally possible. The only gamemode available in the game was Gem Hunt. Originally, there were 10 multiplayer levels to choose from; the level Marble it Up! was later added as free DLC, and two 5-level packs also became available for 200 Microsoft Points ($2.50 USD) each.

By the spring of 2007, the Platinum Team had already discovered Marble Blast's unused multiplayer files and begun work on adding multiplayer to their upcoming mod, Marble Blast Platinum. While the feature was not at the time described as part of the mod^{[citation needed]}, development continued behind the scenes.

In October of the same year, GarageGames demonstrated a version of Marble Blast Ultra running on PC via the InstantAction service. This was the first exhibition of what would become Marble Blast Online. The Windows version of MBO entered open beta in March of 2008; the Mac version of MBO entered open beta that October. Windows users and Mac users could play with each other.

In May 2009, Marble Blast Mobile, an iOS port of MBU, was released. The game featured multiplayer for up to four players, and had ten multiplayer maps. However, unlike MBO and MBU, MBM's multiplayer was local, requiring all players to be physically present.

InstantAction's services were terminated in November 2010; just a few months later, in February 2011, MBU was delisted from the XBLA (its multiplayer servers continued to run, however), and was then followed by MBM's delisting from the App Store. The loss of all three games in such a short period meant that multiplayer was effectively gone.

In October 2011, community members HiGuy and Jeff unveiled a new MBG mod, Project Revolution, which included multiplayer functionality. However, the project was canceled in May 2012. Despite this, the pair continued their work on the multiplayer code. Within a few months, HiGuy and Jeff had become members of the Platinum Team. They took their work on multiplayer with them and implemented it into Marble Blast Platinum; the code was fully functional by May 2013. With multiplayer finally working, the Platinum Team announced MBP 1.50 that same month. Seven months later, on January 7^th, 2014, MBP 1.50 went into open beta. Originally, crossplay between Windows and Mac was thought to be impossible; however, it was added to the game later that year. The game, now known as PlatinumQuest, continues to be maintained into the present day, and its online services continue to be its core features.

In late 2019, a multiplayer gamemode for Marble It Up!: Mayhem was confirmed to be in development for both Steam and iOS. Many beta tests have been conducted over the years, culminating in the iOS release in July 2021. Although there are intentions to bring Mayhem to Steam, it has yet to be done.