Greetings Switch Players! We are **Alex Swanson**, Lead Designer u/skywardsentinel **Ben Garney**, Lead Developer u/bengarney **Todd Pickens**, Art Director u/Erik_Teh_Red **Mark Frohnmayer**, Executive Producer u/nardo_polo of *the Marble Collective!*
As us anything about ***Marble It Up! Ultra***, life as indie game developers, the future, or whatever strikes your fancy! We will be here for an hour to provide you with answers that will hopefully entertain and enlighten. We will send a copy of the game to the user who asks our favorite question!
You can buy ***Marble It Up! Ultra*** here, with a 10% off discount here 8/23: [https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/marble-it-up-ultra-switch/](https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/marble-it-up-ultra-switch/)
If you are not already familiar with Marble It Up! Ultra, check out our trailer here:
https://reddit.com/link/15xj7is/video/ovpsgjalyijb1/player
by skywardsentinel
38 Comments
Hello world !
Been looking forward to this AMA, I’ve been a fan since Marble Blast Ultra on 360. I have a few questions about the recent release of Ultra that I’ll hope you’ll indulge!
1. Are there any plans to add quickchats to the multiplayer modes? The soccer mode, specifically, is soooo much fun and definitely deserves some Rocket League-esque quickchats.
2. Is there any possibility of adding the “Blast” power to the standard single player levels? I know it would probably break more than a few levels, but it would be so much fun to have that ability in the single player levels, like in MBU.
3. Any advice on how to mod the original MBU “sliding.wav” sound effect into MIU:U? It may be stupid, but it was my favorite part of the old games, and I really want it back lol
4. Is there any way to remap the controls in the Switch version? I’d much rather have jump mapped to ZR than ZL if possible.
5. Because modern control sticks have circular gates (as opposed something like the GameCube stick, which is octagonal), it’s very hard to consistently hold the exact same direction after each retry. Have you guys considered adding optional cardinal direction “zones” so that it’s easier to consistently retry?
6. I remember waaaaay back when MIU originally launched, a battle royale mode was announced or hinted at. Any chance that’ll ever come to fruition?
Is switch version crossplay?
Hello, was wondering if there is plans for additional customization options down the road, like custom particle effects for soccer goals etc.
Will it ever be possible to run custom maps in multiplayer?
Howdy!
1) Any plays for Multiplayer leaderboards and/or a true skill system?
2) Twisted pixel studios had a really interesting idea where they create a level and challenge the community to get the best time, top 5 players win something silly or fun (could be a marble cosmetic) is this something you think you’d consider playing around with?
3) Is there any plans for an overall single player leaderboard with a rating system like MBU? I believe this really helps with a game that’s reliant on replay-ability when you can see yourself climbing the leaderboards!
4) If all goes successfully do you think you’d consider adding some funky new power-ups into this game as a DLC or potentially a sequel?
5) A fun idea would also be add what the fastest developer time was on a level (would be quicker than diamond time) and give players even more reason to replay the level and could tie into an achievement, I know Infinity ward do it and it works well!
Thanks for the insanely addictive game and I hope all goes well!
Thanks for releasing this wonderful game! I’ve been waiting ever since the beta came out on steam and it just feels so nice to play it on switch. A few questions:
1. Can we expect anything for post launch updates? New Single player levels, (with maybe new obstacles like the tornado/mine/others) multiplayer stages, new multiplayer-only powerups? (I could see something like an attract/repel power up being pretty chaotic. I know when MIU classic was out the Switch received updates pretty late compared to the steam version.
2. What are each of you guys’ favorite levels? Favorite marble designs? (Mine has to be the classic smiley face)
3. MIU merch??? It would be awesome to have stress balls with some of the more popular marble designs
4. Could there be more functionality and adjustments for camera controls? I find that especially in multiplayer, I’d like the camera to be slightly lower and tilted upwards a bit so I can see more of the level ahead of me (especially in Stadion)
Thanks so much for hosting this AMA and congratulations on the release!!
Would you ever look at a physical release, either through yourselves to sell in general stores or partnering with a company that releases limited print games, either for
* Marble It Up! Classic
* Marble It Up! Ultra
* Combined Marble It Up! Classic & Marble It Up! Ultra (as if you buy one on the eshop, you get the other)
Please feel free to ask one question at a time for clarity of reading :-).
Were there a few inspirations for when designing the game?
Have you ever thought about introducing a multiplayer racing mode where whoever reaches the finish line of a level first wins?
Any plans to try and add local multiplayer, or the option to have bots on multiplayer matches in Marble it Up Ultra? I’ve loved MBI Ultra so far, but one thing I was not the biggest fan of were some of the multiplayer achievements, particularly the zombies ones and those that require a minimum of 4 players in a lobby. Let me elaborate:
As someone who likes to hunt achievements and 100% games on Steam, multiplayer only achievements are always a conflicting thing to see, as they can often mean a game might become impossible to complete, say, 5 years after release when realistically no-one else plays it anymore. I completely understand why those achievements are added to games though, as an incentive for players to try those gamemodes out, and in the case of MBI Ultra most of them can be obtained by a solo player if they want to (soccer, sumo and gem hunt achievements), but zombies by itself is unplayable unless you find someone else to play with, and I so far haven’t been too lucky finding people to play it with.
I think adding local multiplayer at least could be a neat addition, making people want to play with irl friends as well as add Steam Remote Play compatibility, while also addressing those achievement concerns. Still, I know that ca’t be a priority feature, and it’s harder to implement then I imagine since I’m not a game developer, so I look forward to reading what you guys have to say about this! Also sorry for the long question 😀
Any chance this might come to gamepass or ps plus in the future?
Hello developers — is a crossplay friends leaderboard/replay system something that may happen? I play on Steam and all my friends who have the game play on Switch, and we want to compare times more easily.
Games like Trials Fusion have some interesting skill games / mini games that I think could work well on this game;
1) Mountain Climb, a skill game that challenges you to get as high as possible, starting off easy and progressively getting more and more difficult, the leaderboards would track height>time so if you had a level where it was possible to finish it would go off the fastest time, this would be if you go OOB the run is over.
2) Long jump, some sort of downhill sprint where collecting things increase height modifier and would be tracked on distance>time.
3) Infinite feather fall, kinda like a helicopter (iPhone game) where you go insanely fast and have to get through increasingly smaller gaps and eventually if you hit something that will end the game (distance/time) again if there was a finish!
Just some ideas for you to play around with 🤪✌🏻
What were the challenges of starting from scratch with a new IP and then the challenges of building on it again in Ultra? Everything brought over from the original has been seriously upgraded. It must have been rough going from the success of the Blast series to building it up all over again.
P.S. please add a voice announcer when you pick up items. I miss hearing the lady tell me my Marble has gone Mega. 😛
My understanding is at least a few folks on the team have been working on marble-centric games for a while, from the older Marble Blast games to the current Marble It Up! games.
Do y’all ever have trouble staying motivated when you are iterating on a core concept like that over a long period of time? Or do you view it more as an opportunity to improve on previous things that maybe in retrospective you feel like you could have done better? (and get satisfaction out of that).
Thanks!
What do you think Marbles dream about?
How many people from Marble Blast Ultra are on the Marble It Up team?
When are we going to have a British chick scream SUPAH SPEED at us again? 😂
I noticed that there is input lag on the jump button on the nintendo switch version but only once I restart the level with the – button. I can clearly tell that there is a slight delay compared to how responsive the jump button is before the restart. Hopefully something you look in to.
I first came to MBU on InstantAction (woof! how gaming has changed!) then later on 360. Thanks for all the incredible memories, MIU is my game of the year for sure!
This is more so a idea for a new mode, but it is something we did try to implement into MBU years ago, but the idea would be based off the classic gem hunt, however each player would be assigned their own color of gems to collect. I know this can be expanded on further I just thought it was a cool idea all those years ago that never became a reality.
Since you skipped Marble it up:gold, can we anticipate another version in 5-7 years?
How do I get my wife to stop back seat gaming? She seriously thinks this is way easier than it is.
@Todd Pickens, you have made all the billiards balls except for the training ball (cue ball) used in 9 BALL, I need this ball so I can take the record on “Carom” with it 😂
Do you plan on porting over levels from Marble Blast Gold and Ultra in something like Greatest Hits Bonus chapter? Marble Blast Gold was one of the first games I ever played when it came free on the Mac, and it would be kind of cool to see the levels in the new engine.
Also u/Nardo_Polo, how did it take you almost 100 minutes to complete every level in Marble Blast Gold? I hate to inform you, but I’ve completely destroyed all of your times.
Hi. Big fan of this game since the first version of MIU on Switch and MBU on the 360.
What would you say was the biggest challenge getting the Ultra edition to come to consoles with most of the levels and multiplayer that was in Mayhem?
I love these kind of games. Really cool to see this get continued support! 🙂
Having not been able to play your previous games (didn’t have an Xbox, and am a fairly new Switch owner in the grand scheme of things), but as a fan of games of a similar genre (Super Monkey Ball series and Kororinpa – I know in those you control the level v controlling the marble itself), I’m looking foward to playing this!
Hopefully not too late with this question – apologies for the lateness, I wasn’t on until just recently!
Anyways, though I imagine this question has been posited elsewhere, I didn’t see it in the AMA itself and wanted to ask: Who owns the rights to the original Marble Blast Gold and Ultra games, and is there any possibility of a re-release to make them available again in a format more compatible with modern hardware?
The Marble Blast community has thus far done a great job of keeping these games relatively usable, but I still regularly encounter cases where it’s difficult getting them to run, and a compat-updated version (however possible this would be; I understand the technology behind the games is _quite_ old at this point!) would be greatly appreciated!
Any plans (eventually) for 120 fps options on Series X/S?
(Should I wait for an AMA on r/xboxseriesx to ask this?)
Hello! Marble Blast has been the single-handed most influential series in my life. Marble Blast Gold was one of the first games I played on my first PC when I was old enough to use one. Something about it just really stuck with me, and I still love the games nearly 20 years later, as I think I first played MBG when I was 6 or 7, and I’m 25 now. It’s super cool to see the series continue to get attention, especially with MIU and PlatinumQuest. I always used to dream about being in the top 10 or 15 players in Marble Blast Platinum, since there was an online leaderboard for that, and a few years ago I finally achieved that goal and got to rank #9. It was super satisfying going from needing to open the level editor to move the finish pad right next to the start pad so I could unlock the next level because it was too hard, to then being in the top 10 players on the leaderboard. Unfortunately I’ve been passed since then and kicked down several spots, but I’ll definitely try to get it back at some point. Anyway, I just wanted to express my appreciation for the series first before I asked any questions, because I seriously can’t imagine my childhood without Marble Blast.
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1. Do you plan to add a server list or region setting to multiplayer? I feel that a lot of the times when I use quick play, I get put in a server with terrible ping, and need to keep backing out and pressing quick play again until I get into a decent server. A server list or region settings would likely prevent such issues
2. What does the future hold beyond Marble It Up Ultra? Obviously, I’d love to continue seeing content updates for the game, or maybe even another game entirely. However, I can imagine that sticking with the same type of game can be a bit draining and maybe feel restrictive on artistic/creative expression. Do you have other ideas or plans to make more marble type games in the future? Or, do you want to work on other games that don’t have such a focus on marbles?
3. What was the hardest part about developing Marble It Up? ie. level design, physics, multiplayer, creativity, etc. I’d also like to know what the most rewarding thing in the game is for you, and what you are most proud of.
How many levels from Marble it Up have been kept the way they were before how many have been adjusted and how many are completely new? please give an estimated percentage.
I‘ve played the previous game and don’t recognise a lot of levels tbh which is a good thing!
1. What are your favorite levels to speedrun?
2. Do any of you have any favorite custom levels and if so what ones?
3. What is your favourite level to get a glow up from classic to ultra.
4. Do you think we can have contests to get fan submitted marbles added to the game in the discord or something?
5. Will there be a new custom level unity package that contains the new stuff like item gates and bouncy survaces?
6. Mirror Mirror on the wall who is the best speedrunner of them all?
Thank you very much for all of your questions! We are wrapping up our last responses and heading back to work now. We’ve got bugs to fix for you all! If you have more questions, feel free to join us on our community Discord https://discord.gg/MarbleItUp
what do you think about Super Monkey Ball? I love both games! Wouldn’t it be great to have a collaboration with sega at some point?
Do you guys eat food