Marble Odyssey is released!

Marble Odyssey is a speedy, action-filled, puzzle/adventure where you guide our brave protagonist Odie, the marble, as he endeavours to rescue his friends, who have been kidnapped and scattered across a chain of islands. Who would be so devilish to do such a vile deed? Play Marble Odyssey and find out!

It has been quite literally an odyssey bringing this game to life! Many adventures, pitfalls and meanders were encountered along the way, but... finally, the gates are open, many islands of adventure lie ahead of you.

Download Marble Odyssey NOW and join in the fun!

Well, the time has come (well almost) and Marble Odyssey will be released on the 23rd of September 2020 at 11pm GMT

Please forgive the pun, but it has certainly been a journey (yes, an odyssey!) reaching this point, and much development and play-testing ground has been crossed. But now we move on to a new phase, inviting in a whole new family of players to pit themselves against the foul kidnappers of innocent marbles!

We're really looking forward to seeing you all pitting your scores against others on our world Leaderboards. Even more so, we can't wait to see your gameplay videos, and your feedback so we can keep on driving on development and of course, new levels. Onwards and upwards!

So, we won't keep you any further, we'll see you at 11pm (GMT) on Wednesday, get your joypads ready, and pit yourself against 40 fun, daring and some say devilish levels of marble madness and speedy rolling heaven!

This release brings (mainly) a new GAME DEMO, which can now be downloaded from the Store Page. As well as quite a few buffs to Levels, the Settings UI and much more.

A friend of ours (an ex Bitmap Brother star coder no less!) asked, why no Demo? And he was 100% right. So, a few days later the changes were all in place to build the game with a smattering of levels (10) to give a reasonable taster of how Marble Odyssey plays.

Before this, or focus was on quality and game-play. Whilst working on improving the look of our Settings and Title Menus, a tester asked if we could add Tooltips to our Settings Panel. Well, Tooltips do not work with GamePad control. So the idea evolved to show what all the settings do with a Video. So now, not only does the Settings panel look more spiffy. But its INFO tab, now features an in-engine Video Player, with a guided tour of the settings to kick off this feature.

Further work has been carried out on some levels, with two receiving massive re-works, and others receiving visual and game-play buffs. Beyond this, there were many optimizations which we hope will make the gameplay more smoothly on your PC.

So, please, download the new DEMO and check the game out, and if you like it, buy the full game and enjoy 30 more levels!

• GAME DEMO: Much code was updated to facilitate the game being built with a sample of 10 levels. Demo build also features specific UI additions to support the Demo.
  
• TITLE MENU: Added new Title Music and Updated the nebula effect, And Added a drop-shadow to title text
  
• VIDEO PLAYER: The GENERAL Tab in Settings is now INFO. It features a Video Player, which can play various videos In-Engine. Useful for tutorials etc.
  
• ACHEIVEMENTS: Added 6 new Steam Acheivements
  
• UI: Updated Level Selector, so it now shows a ribband on each Button to show when you have acheived a medal on that level
  
• SETTINGS: Added Checkboxes, controlling ANTI-AILISING, PARTICLE EFFECTS and VOLUME LIGHTING and a Slider to control REAL-TIME REFLECTION update frequency

• LEVEL: Mezzanine - Large update, making use of new Prefabs to replace elements of its set, and game-play improved.
  
• LEVEL: Boot Camp - Completely re-worked, using new modular course elements
  
• LEVEL: The Two Winds - Replaced most of surfaces with rounder platforms.
  
• LEVEL: Bonus - Updated level mesh, added bridges.

• LEVEL: Madness ~ Big Set buff and tweaked gameplay elements
  
  
• LEVEL SELECTOR: Small tweak to ensure levels are displayed correctly based on current LevelSet.
  
• LEVEL SELECTOR: Bug Fix, small fixes to Level Selector code.
  
• SETTINGS: Added LINK and ICON for Settings Tour - AV
  
• VIDEOPLAYER: Title and InGame Music competes with Video audio. Now either music is faded OUT / IN as the Video is Played / Stopped.
  
• UI: DIAGNOSTICS - Refactored all diagnostic display to be displayed by pressing CTRL + I (i for info).
• This keeps it hidden/inactive by default, but available if needed.
  
• UI: DEMO - Worked on RESET to fix issues with end screen when player presses RESTART. Now last level restarts correctly.
  
• UI: LEVEL END - Updated Text fill light, with varying intesities and colours to re-inforce players performance.
  
• UI: Changed all text to use type that receives lighting. It now has a consistent reaction to text fill lights
  
• UI: Set exposure of InGame Camera to black when level loads, removes flash of empty sky as new scene is loaded. But sadly obsucures LOADING and UNFURLING text :/
  
• UI: SETTINGS - Large improvements to appearance, added texturing, work on-going.
  
• UI: TITLE SCREEN - Has had new title music added, also tweaked load animation to be more impactfull.
  
• UI: LEADERBOARD - Updated texturing on the 10 score segments, work ongoing
  
• DEMO: Implemented separate save files for DEMO
  
• DEMO BUILD: Completed initial work on Demo build adaptations
  
• TITLE MENU: Updated Nebulous plane textures to use HDR, and adjusted to give more range to the overall effect
  
• TITLE MENU: Added drop shadows to Logo to help pull it forward from background
  
• DOF: Updated all DOF profiles to use a SMALL kernal, to improve performance, whilst keeping DOF amound consistent between quality levels
  
• VIDEO PLAYER: First working draft of Player. Appears working at this stage, bugs may arrise....
  
• VIDEO PLAYER: Reworked native controlls to work better with our full screen approach. Replaced all icons, and implemented a better Volume display.
  
• VIDEO PLAYER: Implemented Play / Pause, Stop, Forward 10 seconds, Rewind 10 seconds, VolumeUp and VolumeDown methods.
  
• CONTROLLER DETECTION: Refactored, removed repetitive methods, and added EVENT that broadcasts NEW controller type for other components to subscribe to.
  
• ICONS: Updated all icons to be colour and shape coded. Square + Black background for Keys. Rounded shapes + Purple/Blue fill for Mouse and Rounded Shapes + Cyan Blue fill for Controller.
  
• LEVELS: Tweaked completion time and medal scores required for a number of levels.
  
• ACHEIVEMENTS: Extended Medal Type based acheivements, to 20 and 40 of each type
  
• ACHEIVEMENTS: Added acheivements based on number of levels Completed.
  
• ACHEIVEMENTS: Added 6 new Steam Acheivements
  
• MEDALS: Fixed bug in Silver medal
  
• LEVEL: The Two Winds - Replaced most of surfaces with rounder platforms.
  
• LEVEL: Bonus - Updated level mesh, added bridges.
  
• BUGS: Fixed various small bugs in levels
  
• OPTIMIZATION: Optimized the size of a number of Environment Maps, textures and Audio Files.
  
• UI: Updated Mouse Cursor display. It is still forced to hidden in-game, when you have a Joypad plugged in. However, it is now displayed on the TItle and In-Game Menus, allowing faster navigation.
  
• UI: Updated Level End UI, to display NAME over level, rather than its number. This makes it consistent with other areas of the UI where name is used, rather than number.
  
• UI: Updated Level Selector, so it now shows a ribband on each Button to show when you have acheived a medal on that level
  
• OPTIMIZATION: Reduced the size of many of the games bitmaps, to remove extra large files. Also removed default use of alpha channels and mipmapping where not needed.
  
• QUALITY: Raised Bitmap size on LOW to Quarter size, rather than Eigth. This was forcing ULTRA/VERY HIGH to use very high res bitmaps, otherwise they were too pixelated in LOW qual. This has allowed maximum resolution to be reduced slightly, there are no 4k bitmaps, and many 2k were reduced to 1k (256 in LOW..)
  
• PREFS: Reduced default Realtime Reflection rate from 100% to 75%
  
• UI: Stopped Title Screen Mechanism from animating, other than when the menu is actually displayed
  Controls: Added period, to make Joypad presence check happen every 60 frames, rather than every frame.
  
• OPTIMIZATION: Minor optimizations to graphics, to enhance speed.
  
• UI: Added a Checkbox to Enable rendering of Real-Time Reflections (on glass marbles).
  
• UI: Added a Slider to control the frequency at which Real-Time Reflections are rendered. At 0% forces period to 1 second. at 100% can be up to 60fps.
  
• UI: Updated appearance of UI Sliders, adding an in-built frame
  
• LIGHTS: Updated Light Shadow LOD to be driven by host light. This allows Host light to specify if ANY shadows are rendered, with LOD chosing quality of shadows.
  
• BUG: Fixed Ice particles not disabling correctly, when toggled off.
  
• CONTROLS: Removed use of D-Pads X axis for UI Tab control. This leaves it for use with the Y axis for general UI navigation.
  
• CONTROLS: Added Y Axis of D-Pad to VERTICAL group, allowing its use in menus
  
• SETTINGS: Added Checkbox, controlling if in-game ANTI-AILISING is enabled.
  
• SETTINGS: Added Checkbox, controlling if in-game ANTI-AILISING is using Temporal Anti-Ailising.
  
• SETTINGS: Added Checkbox, controlling if in-game PARTICLE EFFECTS are enabled
  
• SETTINGS: Added Checkbox, controlling if in-game VOLUME LIGHTING effects are enabled
  
• PREFS: Added new prefs for the above new Settings.
  
• PARTICLES: Updated MrFrosty and Fan particle effects to observe new PARTICLE EFFECTS Setting
  
• LIGHTS: Updated GreekTorch and CycleLights to observe new VOLUME LIGHTING Setting
  
• LIGHTS: Created GreekTorch class, to control if Greek Torches have Shadows and VolumeLights enabled as an option, with both being false as a default.
  
• LIGHTS: Added Volume Light effect to CycleLights, with it off by default, to bring it inline with GreekTorch on levels where volumetrics make sense
  
• LIGHTS: Added Volume Light effect to NIXIE's, so they can produce volume lighting on levels that use it (dark / misty).
  
• LIGHTS: Added VolumeLightControls, allows for local control of Volume Lights, so enabling / disabling Volumes can be done at the light AND Quality level.
  
• POWER UPS: Bug Fix - Baddies could collect Power Ups, and you'd get the power. Can now only be collected by Player.
  
• FROST EFFECT: Pause Particles when game is paused
  
• FROST EFFECT: Scaled number of particles based on Quality setting
  
• AIR FAN: Scaled number of Mote particles based on current Quality setting
  
• AIR FAN: Pause fan animation and Mote particles when game is paused
  
• VOLUME LIGHTS: Reduced quality of Volume lights to bare minimum.
  
• LEVEL: Mezzanine - Large update, making use of new Prefabs to replace elements of its set, and game-play improved.
  
• LEVEL: Boot Camp - Completely re-worked, using new modular course elements
  
• OBSTACLES: Created a set of track sections and obstacles, for creating obstacle courses.
  
• ROCKET: Created new Consumable, Rocket. Gives a speed boost for a short duration.
  
• CHRONOS: Converted CHRONOS into a Consumable. Needs testing for usefulness

This release brings a new Early Access price of $18.99, and has been massively focussed on level polish in Gameplay and Set Dressing...

Since we launched on Early Access the game has had a price of $29.99. We chose to go in at this level, as we only wanted players that wanted to be involved in the on-going development process at a relatively early stage (warts and all). Now, that process is nearing its close, so we feel a change in pricing makes sense.

From this release onwards, the game will retail at $18.99 USD. This new price will include 2 free Level Packs. Each Level Pack will include 20 new levels, so that means your getting 40 levels to play in the on-going Beta, and then 40 more as Level Packs are released.

There are 40 levels in-game, and getting all 40 levels to a final level of Set Dressing and Gameplay is quite the task. Since our last update, we have been 100% focussed on a complete audit of all 40 levels, and where needed levels have had their sets geo buffed and dressed to make them more appealing. And of course, Gameplay has been tweaked to take into account these changes, and other upstream changes.

In future releases, we will be focussing on...

• A couple of Levels which still need major updates
  
• Adding a couple of new Consumables.
  
• A large focus on Audio
  
• User interface polish, adding more settings etc.
  
• Addition of general artwork and art polish
  
• Level progression system and more Steam Achievements
  
• Further level polish
  
• And more!

Please do take advantage of the new price (still with 2 free Level Packs), and join us on the journey to the final release, and of course, the Level Pack releases beyond.

• LEVEL: Madness ~ Big Set buff and tweaked gameplay elements
  
• LEVEL: Escalade ~ Buffed level geo, and tweaked gameplay
  
• LEVEL: Archon ~ Updated Mesh, and tweaked for gameplay
  
• LEVEL: Fly Like The Wind ~ Big update to Set mesh, and also tweaked many gameplay elements to
  
• LEVEL: The Winding Road ~ Fixed some missing details on set mesh.
  
• LEVEL: Hippety Hop - Updated all platforms, with rounded versions.
  
• LEVEL: Wire It Up - Replaced all platforms with rounded versions. Added Nixie lights to emphasise
  
• LEVEL: Cresta - Updated meshes to reduce platform edge lips that can cause skips when going
  
• LEVEL: Cresta - Updated level set meshes, with bronze edges. Removed LOD from columns,
  
• LEVEL: Archipelago - totally re-vamped using the new rounded platforms. Now features Friends to

• LEVEL: Madness ~ Big Set buff and tweaked gameplay elements
  
• Rounded Platforms: Created new 4x21 and 4x12 platforms.
  
• LEVEL: Escalade ~ Buffed level geo, and tweaked gameplay.
  
• BUG: Fixed Turbo not fully resetting if you were killed while it was active.
  
• LEVEL: Archon ~ Updated Mesh, and tweaked for gameplay.
  
• Utils: Added Collider Checker. Checks if Collider has a dynamic material attached in currently loaded scenes.
  
• LEVEL: Fly Like The Wind ~ Big update to Set mesh, and also tweaked many gameplay elements to work better with new geo and other upstream changes.
  
• CHRONUS: Added ability to change the duration of the effect.
  
• OCTAL ARCH Added Collider
  
• LEVEL: The Winding Road ~ Fixed some missing details on set mesh.
  
• BUG: Fixed Audio levels being too loud on Flipper Ramps.
  
• LEVELS: Various levels buffed and tweaks.
  
• LEVEL: Hippety Hop - Updated all platforms, with rounded versions.
  
• LEVEL: Wire It Up - Replaced all platforms with rounded versions. Added Nixie lights to emphasise stages.
  
• BUG: Fixed Gate not opening in Emporium.
  
• NIXIE: Enhancement, added ability for Nixie to be turned on by attached switches.
  
• NIXIE: Added Stage sound effect. It is played when Nixie turns on, and pitch shifts based on Nixie number.
  
• NIXIE: BUG - Numerals above 6 were not displaying correctly, tweaked Material opacity type, and had to adjust in script to make numerals work effectively
  
• SWITCHES: Added new BoxTrigger prefab. Can be used as an invisible Switch for any suitable item.
  
• BUG: Discovered player is dynamic when game starts. Now is set to be Kinematic, and also has position set out of world area when game is reloaded.
  
• LEVEL: Cresta - Updated meshes to reduce platform edge lips that can cause skips when going between geo boundaries
  
• EFFECT: Speed trail effect start threshold increased, to stop it happening at moderate speeds. Top end clamped to stop it getting too bright.
  
• LEVEL END: Updated Level End UI, to have handles for all routines, now used to do Cleanup when scene is Reset.
  
• BUG: Fixed In-Game Audio being off, by moving it being set to zero into the Load Scene block, rather than in the post Level Load setup.
  
• LEVEL: Cresta - Updated level set meshes, with bronze edges. Removed LOD from columns, pointless. Reduced number of LOD levels in Column Capitals, over complex.
  
• BUG: TriggerFallDeath and DeathCamActivators Trigger now cannot happen unless IN-GAME, otherwise it can be triggered during large scene loads with slow scene unfurl.
  
• BUG: Moved Editor Player position out of expected scene bounds, as it could cause unwanted trigger effects during scene loading. This specifically fixes crazy on-load behaviour in level CRESTA.
  
• LEVEL: Archipelago - totally re-vamped using the new rounded platforms. Now features Friends to rescue and Energy Consumables to make it easier, though not easy...
  
• MOVING PLATFORMS: Updated motion to be based on distance travelled between waypoints, now the platforms have a consistent speed.
  
• MOVING PLATFORMS: Updated audio to be more subtle.
  
• MOVING PLATFORMS: Added Gizmo Line to show any Switch subscriptions.
  
• PINBALL: All Pinball items refactored to use inherited cleanup, as well as using specific cleanup when required. Now also stops audio playing on level reset.
  
• PINBALL: All Pinball items updated to show switch Gizmo when switch is subscribed to.
  
• GIZMO LINE: Added Source Offset, to complement existing Target Offset.
  
• ENERGY CONSUMABLE: Fixed size of Reflection Probe, it was HUGE and was making near-by items glow.
  
• SET DRESSING: Added Rounded Platforms, with brass edging (looks more foofy) of various sizes, 4x4, 5x5, 6x6, 7x7, 8x8, 8x12, and 8x14
  
• Added InterpenetrationChecker utility script. Checks if an object is interpenetrating anything to its left/right/front/back, based on a bounding rectangle, and moves it to fix any interpenetrations

This release was mainly focussed on two features...

One: Baddies did not react naturally when they were blown up with a bomb. To address this, we had to add a new state the Baddies could be in, Stunned, and then handle all of the effects being stunned entailed. Such as NOT completing on-going attacks, powering down charge ups, being confused for a while, wobbling around, making a sound when they are hit etc.

Two: The level Pipe Dream had a pretty cool concept, and some of it was roughed out. But it needed some extensive work to take it nearer to completion. That work is now complete. Please give it a go, and any feedback on it is most welcome.

IMPORTANT NOTE. This is a last notice to Early Access customers to play the game now, or lose the free keys that are granted in-game, to allow you access to the free level packs when they are released. EA customers have until the 30th of May to do this. So, play now, or lose this benefit!

Headline Features

• BADDIE: Added animation for when a baddie is stunned (hit with bomb blast), and also transitions nicely into non-stunned state.
  
• BADDIES: Added sounds for when Baddies are hit with a bomb blast, or fall into the sea.
  
• EFFECTS: Drowning Bubbles, these are spawned at the point that a Baddie falls into the water. Glub glub glub, gone...
  
• EFFECTS: Updated Speed effect to make use of PER Avatar effect color. So now RED marbles have a red trail etc.
  
• BADDIES: Many edge cases caught when when Baddies are killed.

Updated Level

• Pipe Dream - This level has been heaviily re-worked and enhanced, in terms of game-play, set dressing and more. Its quite a challenge. Could be the end level for Chapter 2...

Complete Notes

• BUG: Fixed Marble Goal not initialising on level load.
  
• BADDIE: Energy Shield, added general glow light from the shield at its base level, looked odd with the glowing shell casting no light.
  
• LEVEL: Pipe Dream - Further refined in terms of game-play and set dressing.
  
• SET DRESSING: Added new Rounded Platform surface for Pipe Dream, we can expand on this basic design for other levels.
  
• SWITCHED ROTATOR: Added check for existence of Gizmo and Gizmo lines, and is now created if not present on a Switched Rotator.
  
• SWITCHES: Added method for displaying if a Switch if something has Subscribed to a switch. Gizmo appears as orange.
  
• BADDIE: Added Emote sounds for Ouch and Falling.
  
• EFFECTS: Added Discharge animation to EnergySphere attack, used when attack is aborted during charge up.
  
• SCENE: Set loaded Scene as Active scene.
  
• EFFECTS: Drowning Bubbles, these are spawned at the point that a Baddie falls into the water
  
• SOUND: Added Positive Ping sounds effect for when a Baddie is killed.
  
• EFFECTS: Added new Drowning effect for Baddies when they fall in the water, includes bubbling water sound plus bubble particles
  
• SOUND: Recorder new Baddie sound effects.
  
• BADDIE: Refined how inactive baddies demur.
  
• BADDIE: Added animation for when a baddie is stunned, and also transitions nicely into non-stunned state.
  
• BADDIE: Added new Stunned State to Baddie.
  
• BADDIE: Added new Emote to show that Baddie is Stunned.
  
• BADDIE: Added a lot of checks to try and stop Baddie code getting into a lockup or other failures during death
  
• BADDIE: Updated Baddie code to be able to handle being stunned, including disabling on-going attacks etc
  
• EFFECTS: Updated to disable when speed gets too low, or when level is restarted.
  
• EFFECTS: Added effectColor to all Avatars, and defined color.
  
• EFFECTS: Updated Speed effect to make use of PER Avatar effect color. So now RED marbles have a red trail etc.

This release is mainly focussed on polish and bug fixing, though there ARE some new features and indeed two more levels (read below).

IMPORTANT NOTE. We have introduced Keys, given in-game for free, which grant access to future Level Set packs. For Early Access customers, one of the benefits was several free packs and when they become available, these keys deliver on this promise. To gain these keys, you MUST load and play the game NOW, as they may be reduced or removed in future Early Access rounds. So, be warned, play the game NOW, or lose this benefit!

So, back to this release. There are three big headline features in this release....

Firstly, we have a new level, Flipperty Jibbets, which introduces Draw Bridges, and switches. Anything in Marble Odyssey can be a switch, and this level introduces Pinball elements that control a set of Draw Bridges that block your progress to the level goal.

https://youtu.be/j4oY3lBrJDY

Secondly, a new level, Evil is Afoot, where we introduce our second Baddie type, Evil Eddie. Eddies are mobile, intelligent foes, with an energy attack. Dont let them get close, or you'll regret it!

https://youtu.be/7_LrRj-MiX8

Thirdly, to help balance things we introduce a new Collectible, the Energy Bomb. These can be collected and used to fight back against any Baddie type.

There are of course, more Headline Feature below, and as usual, the full list of changes follows. Please read on, download the new release, and give it a spin! All player feedback most appreciated!

Headline Features

• ENERGY BOMB : Until now, you were defenceless against the evil marbles in-game. NO MORE! Now you can collect and use ENERGY BOMBS to blow them away from you. Get them in the water, and you score points for their dispatch!
  
• TAB CONTROLS : Are now mapped as Tab Right/Left. These controls are now used for all simple left/right or next/previous controls. They control the display of friend Speech Bubbles, the current Level Set (in Level Selector) and the sub-panels in Settings.
  
• Control Key Values: Keyboard controls and now also shown in Control Info (along with the existing Joypad mappings).
  
• To emphasise your speed, we have added speed trails and rings, when your marble goes over a certain speed.
  
• MUSIC: Most levels now have hand selected music, to suit pace / mood.
  
• OCTOPUS FRESCO : The game is intended to have 2D arwork, loosely themed on ancient Minoan art. the first, is an Octopus fresco.
  
• Sub Surface Scattering: SSS makes ceramic marbles and glass look more realistic, giving the impression that light transmits THROUGH the material, improving the games visuals.
  
• Contact Shadows: Player feedback requested a contact shadow for your marble. This was tricky for glass marbles (no shadow casting) so we implemented a "fake" that works pretty well!
  
• Player Shadows: The contact shadow technique was used on the players marble when it is glass, to cast coloured, soft shadows.

New Levels

Flipperty Jibbets, This level introduces the concept of switches, and in this level we introduce switchable Draw Bridges, that are controlled by these switches to produce a fun mini puzzle.Evil Is Afoot Introduces Evil Eddie, a baddie which is mobile, mean and which has a powerfull energy attack. To help balance this, this level introduces the Energy Bomb, to help you to fight back!

Complete Notes

• LEVEL: Its A Drag ~ Buffed Track Mesh, and added Lumina effects. Also re-positioned gems to better fit lumina.
  
• LEVEL: Energy ~ Buffed geo, and moved items around to better acheive level goal.
  
• DIALOGUE: Fixed Bug, which stopped free range of PREV/NEXT on bubbles.
  
• CONTROLS: Added Icons for Left / Right Shoulder Buttons
  
• CONTROLS: Added Keyboard mappings for TabLeft and TabRight
  
• CONTROLS: Added tutorial on Level one, explaining use of TabLeft, Right, to show how to control friend speech
  
• FRIEND DIALOGUE: Switched into two systems. Tutor Speech progression is driven by Player pressing Shoulder buttons. Other Friend text, is simply timed.
  
• FRIEND DIALOGUE: Made Friend dialogue timed progression to be slower, upped from 0.75s, to 3s per bubble.
  
• FRIEND DIALOGUE: Clamped Blur shader elemeents to 0-1, to remove HDR data, which is problematic, as we need to block out its glare. Improves legibility of text through blocker shader.
  
• LEVEL: One Step Beyond ~ Updated Mesh to be more attractive.
  
• LEVEL: Flipperty Jibbets, fixed some issues with geo, and fixed bridge positioning.
  
• LEVEL SELECTOR: Updated to accept use of Shoulder Buttons, to change selected Level Set.
  
• LEVEL SELECTOR: BUG ~ Fixed show it shows correct Level Set button appearance when displayed.
  
• LEVEL SELECTOR: Updated to make selected LevelSet Buttons label appear bright.
  
• POINT RINGS: Added subtle wobble animation, to make floating more appealing.
  
• SET DRESSING: Converted I Girders to use LOD.
  
• BADDIE: Buffed the look of Evil Eddie and the Energy Explosion effect.
  
• NEW CONSUMABLE: BOMB was added.
  
• LEVEL: Step On ~ Set dressed, with areas differentiated with dark marble, added Octopus artwork fresco to tower.
  
• LEVEL: Flipperty Jibbets ~ Completed Mesh, and set dressed. Play tested
  
• LEVEL: Evil Is Afoot ~ Completed Mesh, and set dressed. Play tested.
  
• PIPES: Added larger Radius corner pipe, to support more sinuous pipe sections.
  
• SET DRESSING: Added new Pipe Bracket Lattice Support item, allowing pipes to be supported by Lattice Supports.
  
• LEVEL: Flipperty Jibbets ~ Made start on level. Playable, needs set dressing.
  
• LEVEL: Minos ~ Buffed level mesh for Minos. Bevelled all platform edges. Made many platforms float, and supported with Lattice Supports.
  
• Added Lattice Supports.
  
• Implemented speed effect. Shows trails and speed rings when the player exceeds a given speed.
  
• Added Cycling Lights Base.
  
• Re-modelled the Drawbirdge meshes, making them thinner, and adding hinges.
  
• Refactored sound on Switched Rotators.
  
• LEVEL: Minos, Started Buff of level.
  
• Used refactored Rotator Switch to enhance performance of Draw Bridges.
  
• Refactored Rotator switch, to work better.
  
• Testing partial re-work of Turbo. Now has a rocket effect when started to give strong linear thrust.
  
• Added more Control Info to several levels.
  
• Implemented display of KEY values in ControlInfo help text.
  
• Wrapped LevelStart, so you cannot start game, before the MarbleSelector, has selected a default marble.
  
• Added Coloured Glass marble skins to store/in-game.
  
• Implemented fake shadows for Player, when marble is Glass. Each Avatar defines an opacity and transmissionColour value, to tint this shadow colour appropriately.
  
• Implemented fake marble shadows, for glass marbles.
  
• Implemented SubSurface Shaders for ICE and Marbles, this makes them appear much more like china and ice, with a translucent effect.
  
• Used LowPass on In-Game Audio on Level End screen and reduced its volume to knock it back.
  
• In-Game music fades to 30% of in-game volume when on end screen.
  
• Updated In-Game music to continue playing when level is completed, so the Level End screen is not silent.
  
• Retired manually controlled depth on glass shaders. This is now handled correctly by the shaders.
  
• FRIEND: Updated speech bubbles to only go ahead, when the Friend has a direct line of site to the Player.
  
• FRIEND: Updated speech bubbles, so that the display of each bubble can only proceed when the previous bubble has completed its display.
  
• Updated Settings to take input from Menu Tabbing buttons, making switching between panels much easier/faster.
  
• Added ControlManager bindings for Joypad Shoulder and DPad to be used to control Settings Menu Tabbing.
  
• LEVEL: Minos, reset all bad guys to Evil Eddies, and reinstated Navmeshes for level, fixing it.
  
• BUG: Fixed display of BonusShell, intersecting with Player. Now its min scale is 1.05.
  
• Mouse Control: Flipped X axis of mouse control. This makes it work consistently with Joypad camera control.
  
• BUG FIX: Marble Friend, Dialogue hide range is now 120pc of Chat text one range, ensuring it will not kick in immediatly when chat one text is shown.
  
• AUDIO: Added music tracks for many levels that were using defaults.

It's been quite a while since we did a formal release. That's because we thought it was better to just get our head down and crank out new features, new levels and so on. Looking ahead, we could see that our planned launch date was not achievable, so we decided to push the completed games release date to early April 2020.

Our main focus has been on adding 20 more levels for launch, integrating with Steam and improving the tutorial levels. Based on feedback from customers, we decided that 20 levels in the launch release would not cut it. But at the same time, producing sets of levels bigger than this post-launch would be onerous. To us, sets of 20 levels work best. So, we have decided to break the game into chapters, each containing 20 levels, and the game will launch with 40 levels (across two chapters) in the base product! To make this work, we had to introduce level chapter code sooner than later, and so the focus on Steam integration to allow this.

Again, based on customer feedback, we have introduced more levels of shorter duration. Counter to our original thoughts, quite a few customers felt that short levels were their preference. So we have tested this out in many of the first 20 levels, which teach much of the games features in short, focused levels. We'll see what players think of these when contrasted against the longer levels and we will base future level chapters on this feedback.

When playing marbles as a child, one of the key aspects of it was collecting and trading for other marbles with friends. We want to preserve this fun collecting aspect in-game. We will grant free marbles (usable skins), in-game, for various (Steam) achievements, but we also want to allow you to get further (free) skins by using an in-game currency. This will be in the form of coins, given to you when you rescue your marble friends. Non-achievement awarded skins will also be purchasable via the Steam store with real currency and will be tradable on Steam. To showcase these skins, one of the levels is The Emporium, where you can peruse these marbles in-game, before using your in-game coins, or cash to buy.

So, please read on, headline releases are listed below, and then a full list of notable additions and updates follows.

Headline Features

• STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS: Implemented use and awarding of Steam Achievements.
  
• NEW BADDIE: Automata. This baddie patrols a fixed path, oblivious to the player.
  
• MARBLE SKINS: Skins awarded for achievements, and can be purchased with in-game coins, or cash.
  
• TURNTABLES: Automatically rotating path bridges.
  
• WIRE RAILS: Now hold the player in, to make them more navigable.
  
• Contact shadows on all marbles
  
• SPEECH BUBBLES: Large Re-Working of Marble Friend Dialogue system to now display on in-situ Speech Bubbles.

New Levels

• The Emporium, where Chapter Keys and Marble Skins can be purchased in-game.
  
• Automata - introduces the... Automata.
  
• Wire It Up - introduces Pinball inspired, Wire Rails.
  
• The Two Winds - demonstrates suction funnels and fans, combined with pipes.
  
• Energy!: teaches the use of ENERGY Consumables.
  
• The Gemporium - showcases the gems & their values.
  
• Wizard - demonstrates the Pinball features in-game.
  
• Lotus Eaters - Simple maze, patrolled by Automata.
  
• Be Impulsive - Demonstrates the pros and cons of the Impulser.
  
• Cascade - introduces bounce rhythm.
  
• Hippety Hop - introduces using ramps to jump large distances.
  
• Twizzler - featuring the new TURNTABLE item.

Complete Notes

• LEVEL: New level, Automata, to introduce the... Automata.
  
• BUG: Fixed CLOSE button not working on the Settings menu when In-Game
  
• Used EnergyShield as the Attack method for Automata Baddies.
  
• BADDIE: Added EnergyShield Defence mechanism type for Baddies.
  
• Applied contact shadows to remaining Marble Friends
  
• LOD: Updated Vendor Plinth to use LOD GEO for all suitable elements
  
• BUG: Fixed Discoball Friends, they were all sharing the same shader, rather than their variety.
  
• GEO: Created complete, initial environment for Emporium Level.
  
• LEVEL: The Two Winds - demonstrates suction funnels and fans, combined with pipes.
  
• LEVEL: Terra Infirma - Reworked, using new improved wire rails.
  
• LEVEL: Wire It Up! - introduces Pinball inspired, Wire Rails.
  
• WIRE RAILS: Added improved support for Pinball Rails. The player can now be anchored into rails, to stop them falling out at speed (or not...)
  
• AUDIO - All in-game sound effects FORCED to Mono. Apparently, positional sounds HAVE to be mono. Whoda thought it?
  
• MARBLE SELECTOR: Wired up MarbleSelector to new pref, had to refactor, to make it show selected skin correctly.
  
• PREFS: Added selected skin preference.
  
• CYCLE LIGHT: Added ability to switch on SHADOWS. Fixed mesh hole, causing odd shadows.
  
• LEVEL: Gimme A Brake - Reworked level, removing Gem tutorial element, to focus wholly on brake use.
  
• LEVEL: Its A Drag - Reworked level, turned it into a circuit, it is now more educational to the topic, AND more fun.
  
• LEVEL: Energy - New level added, to teach the use of ENERGY Consumables.
  
• ENERGY CONSUMABLE: Re-worked trigger, for collection, and animation etc. It is now possible to collect WHILST standing on an Energy con, and using a Consumable.
  
• CONTROL & HELP TEXT: Linked display period to the number of chars in the string. Stops text hanging around for a very long time, in-game.
  
• LEVEL: The Gemporium - Added new level to showcase the gems, just their values, explained by friends.
  
• BUG: Fixed calc bug in calc of Marble required to complete the level. Was not taking into account that not all marbles CAN be rescued.
  
• LEVEL: Hippety Hop - Polished and enhanced.
  
• Added new Generic Island, platforms of various sizes, that can be used to create basic levels with just prefabs.
  
• BUG: Fixed issue with Friend speech, not hiding meshes and disabling lights when the Speech Bubble is hidden.
  
• LUMINA: An initial version of Lumina decal animation system, for use initially on Wizard level.
  
• VENDING PEDESTAL: Completed work on initial version, Now vends marble displayed if Coins are available OR opens Steam store to the specific page for Marble Skin.
  
• VENDING PEDESTAL: Added sounds effects.
  
• STEAM INVENTORY: Re-worked consolidation code to consolidate ALL items that have multiple entries in user inventory i.e will auto-create stacks of ANY multiples of a type i.e. marbles, coins etc.
  
• MARBLE SKINS: Added more marble skins to test Pedestals. Added quite a lot of new China (ceramic marble) skins.
  
• LEVEL: Wizard - Created a new tutorial level to demonstrate EACH of the Pinball features in-game. Geo still basic will add animated, Vegas-like lights on the floor.
  
• VENDING PEDESTAL: Further work on vending Pedestal, for use in Emporium.
  
• VENDING PEDESTAL: Pedestal now has new Greek-inspired Pedestal mesh, in Doric style.
  
• VENDING PEDESTAL: Added price display Paddles, to display the price of Marbles in CASH and COIN values.
  
• VENDING PEDESTAL: Added Nameplate, to display Marble Skin name.
  
• VENDING PEDESTAL: Updated Triggering mechanism with round pads, one for Cash one for Coins, pressing A, B, X or Y on either pad triggers buying of that type.
  
• LEVEL: Be Impulsive - Demonstrates the pros and cons of the Impulser.
  
• MEDAL: Reflection Probe in-game was effecting in-game objects. Made it MUCH smaller, so now it ONLY lights the intended medal. Reflection Probe size is now set PER location, as its size needs to vary massively to work in each case.
  
• MEDAL: Updated all uses of Medals, to set their scale explicitly, to ensure correct scale in any given scenario.
  
• MEDAL: Ceremony medals are now disabled in Mesh and ReflProbe when the ceremony is not happening.
  
• STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS: Implemented use and awarding of Steam Achievements.
  
• STEAM ACHIEVEMENTS: Implemented 3 test Achievements on Steam, and implemented basic methods. Tested awarding Achievements, and they work.
  
• STEAM INVENTORY: Further work to support Emporium.
  
• NEW LEVEL: The Emporium, where Chapter Keys and Marble Skins can be purchased in-game.
  
• BUG: Much of the meshes had bugs, and were double thickness geo. Now shader does double-sided, and meshes are single thickness, so fake SSS works.
  
• BUG: Improved Marble Selectors rotation, so it resets Y rotation to zero once it has done a full rotation in either direction.
  
• MARBLE SKINS: Switched skin unlocking to be based on Steam Inventory awards/purchases.
  
• MOUSE: Fixed Cursor, so it is not displayed when ANY Joypad is detected. When one is NOT detected, the cursor is returned to the centre of the screen and displayed.
  
• MARBLE FRIENDS: Added several more Friend Avatars types.
  
• TRANSPARENCY: Discovered wide-ranging fix for depth sorting issue on transparent shaders. Depth sorting needs to be manual, and shader needs to write to DEPTH BUFFER.
  
• INVENTORY: Added graphics for Chapter Keys and Coins.
  
• SPEECH BUBBLES: Large Re-Working of Marble Friend Dialogue system to now display on in-situ Speech Bubbles.
  
• FRIEND SPEECH: Re-Jigged to work with the new Bubble system. No Rescue Text now, as there is nowhere to show it when the marble floats away, it was nonsensical
  
• GOALS DISPLAY: Removed Friend Tally display, and simplified to ONLY show % of Rescued Marble's goal and % of Gem Goal
  
• NEW BADDIE: Automata. This baddie patrols a fixed path, oblivious to the player.
  
• BADDIE: Baddies can now have more than one type of Eye geo.
  
• BADDIE: Baddies can now hear you.
  
• TITLE MENU: Now shows fixed text for the SELECT LEVEL button, and instead the selected level title is appended to the top button i.e. Play: Winding Road
  
• TITLE MENU: Made Menu Wider and Taller, expanded buttons to use more space, and made button text larger to make more legible
  
• TITLE MENU: Added stand-in swirling pattern, and added masks for Button Areas and Frame Edge
  
• TITLE MENU: Added decoration, in the form of edge mounts and 4 cogs, which rotate when the menu is visible.
  
• AUDIO: Paused Title Menu music when the menu is hidden, UN-PAUSE it when it is displayed again.
  
• AUDIO: In-Game gauges carried on animating when the player returned to Title Menu. Now, displaying the title Menu fires LEVEL RELOADED event which cancels all these animations, and any associated AUDIO playing.
  
• LEVEL SELECTOR: Enhanced to now display unlocked Chapters. All players receive keys to Chapters One and Two in the base game.
  
• Implemented Steam Inventory integration, required to allow the sale of Chapter keys, skins etc.
  
• LEVEL: Lotus Eaters - Updated, but requires new AUTOMATA Baddie to complete.
  
• LEVEL: Cascade - Updated, near complete.
  
• LEVEL: Hippety Hop - Updated.
  
• LEVEL: Added new level, TWIZZLER. Using it as a testbed for new TURNTABLE item.
  
• TURNTABLE: Added new TURNTABLE item, a path section that rotates to a fixed list of angles, at a given speed, and fixed pause at each angle.
  
• LEVEL: Madness - Updated mesh, added more items and refreshed marble friends on the level, added set dressing.

New Level: Escalade



One level we (the dev) personally really enjoy is All That Glisters. So our new level, Escalade takes the mezzanine structures, with ramps to a whole new level. This level ascends rapidly via a winding route, passing through a zone patrolled by a THOR baddy, and well... just load up the game and give it a whirl



Minor Feature: Slimy Wet Rocks!
Updated the tufa and rock shaders with a new World based mapping. This makes the rocks and tufa look like it has algae, and is wet where it enters the water.

THOR, yes, he's such a bad a*rs* that his name is in BOLD, yes BOLD!. THOR is a new Bad guy to pit yourself against. The level All That Glisters featres one of these new bad chaps, so load up, and roll at it...

New Feature: THOR (baddie)
THOR is something more of a slow and deadly type. He rolls around, exuding menace and when he gets close, well....

New Feature: New Attack Method
Load the game, pop over to Thor on All That Glisters and say hi...

New Feature: Baddie Speed
Baddies now have a speed/acceleration profile per type. This means we can balance a baddies attack method vs its speed. After all, a super fast, super deadly baddie might be a little unfair...

New Feature: Baddie Color Theming
Baddies now have a colour theme per type, that is used for glow effects and attack FX.

New Feature: Persuit Glow
Now all baddies glow in some way when they have spotted you. This should hopefully give you more of a clue that trouble is afoot (or base of sphere maybe...)

New Feature: Charge Glow
Baddies now Glow brightly in a way that is specific to its attack method, as they charge up to attack.

Intended to be a smallish release, one thing lead to another, and suddenly here we are with a couple of NEW features, and some pretty decent enhancements to existing elements. The new Energy Pickups, tweaks to the energy system and the Brake ehancments nudge things in the right direction we hope.

So, let's take a look.

New Feature: Pickups
The Joypad Y button or SPACE on the keyboard will now use any Pickups you have ready to go. Pickups are shown via a small icon in the upper right of the viewport. This is a set of features that we intend to expand on over time, but for now, we'll kick things off with a new Energy Pickup!

New Feature: Energy Pickups
Your Marble (Odie) has an Energy Pool that is used to power its 3 powers, Jump, Brake and Turbo. The Energy pickup (of which there are 3 varieties) refill your main Energy pool and each power to a smaller degree. Just pick them up and press Joypad Y or Keyboard SPACE to use.

Tweak: Energy Pool refill slowdown
OK, this is a BIG tweak. Until now your Energy Pool refilled pretty quickly, this meant it was pretty hard to deplete your powers and overall pool. Now it refills more slowly, so bashing away on your powers will drain the pool and it is now pretty slow to refill. Luckily, we now have Energy Pickups to the rescue!

Tweak: Min Charge Required for Powers
Until now Powers could be used with VERY low (yes, zero) charge. Now each power has a marker on its gauge, to indicate the base energy required before use. When low on charge its fluid will glow to indicate it has reached the required min charge.

Tweak: Enhanced Braking
The Brake power until now has been either at zero or 100% effect. Now it ramps in from 0 - 100%, as you hold down Brake. Its a subtle change, but it means you can now feather your brake presses to have small slowdowns, or stamp it down to slam on the brakes!