I cant believe it has been two years since I dropped this game onto steam... It feels like only moments ago that I was writing the first year anniversary post... But hey, here we are.
Thank you to everyone who has been supporting the game over there past two years, and I look forward to dropping more content in our third year!
It hasn't been too long since our last content drop, but I was able to rustle up a few new things for today, including a new and improved old game mode and some new maps., so lets discuss!
Year Two Anniversary Skin
If you play the game between November 13th and November 30th, you will receive the year two anniversary skin. The current skin is only a placeholder, and will be updated to some thing way cooler once I find the time. I have also added a placeholder for the year one anniversary skin for those who unlocked it one year ago, and again, this will be updated when I find the time along side the year two skin.
Scavenger Hunt Game Mode - Part 1
Some people may remember the old scavenger hunt mode that used to be in the game waaaay back in the day (long before the game dropped publicly on Steam). Well, today I am happy to introduce the new version of this mode.
The new mode is split into two main elements; hidden collectibles, and the main scavenger hunt.
Marble Shards
Each level now contains a number of hidden collectibles known as Marble Shards, and you can keep track of these via the level select screen. Marble Shards are available on all Time Attack, Gem Arena and Legacy levels, though some levels currently do not have any, as these are levels I am planning to update in the very near future.
These Marble Shards also represent the possible spawn points for the original Scavenger Hunt game mode.
Scavenger Hunt
At all times, one of the Marble Shard spawns will be replaced with an extra special collectible known as a Giant Marble Shard. This location is the same for all players, and only one person can collect it and claim the prizes that come with it. Once collected, a new location will be selected and the cycle continues.
In order to aid you in your search, each location will come with a special hint, that again, will be the same for all players. Use this information to find the loot! I should not however, that these hints will be populated over time, as bulk writing 2000 location hints wasn't something I was interested nor had the time to do in a single sitting. Because of this, there are currently no hints available, but each update that comes with the game will see more hints added.
This is why I have called this Part 1 of the update. Part 2 will be the gradual addition of the hints as mentioned above, as well as a dedicated Scavenger Hunt menu screen to display the hints and display the top hunters leaderboard. On top of this, additional rewards will be added for the collection of regular Marble Shards, as well as the Giant Marble Shards.
This new mode brings three new achievements:
Spelunking All Over - Find and collect all marble shards
The Seeker - Find and collect your first giant marble shard
Vulture - Find and collect a giant marble shard within 30 minutes of it spawning
Naturally the latter two achievements will become significantly easier once the hints start flowing in, but they are still technically possible to obtain right now!
New Levels
Todays update also brings a few level updates:
Salahs Nightmare - Legacy Time Trial
This level is a reimagining of a level sent to me many years ago by one of Lost Marbles top players; Salah. The level is no joke, featuring incredibly thin beams and small platform jumps. The map is fairly short however, so with a little patience most people shouldn't have too much trouble passing.
Spiders Web - Time Trial
This isn't technically a new map, but it has been slightly reimagined and moved from legacy to the main game list of levels. This new and improved level now contains a number of super jumps, as well as modified start and end locations. The upper portion of the level is also slightly different.
Personally, I find these improvements make the level feel completely new, and this is my reasoning behind the move.
For those of you looking to play the original, fear not, as it can now be unlocked as a Remix level.
Spiders Legacy - Remix Time Trial
As mentioned above, this is simply the original version of spiders web without the new improvements. The level can be unlocked by finding the secret gem on the new and improved Spiders Web level.
Divided - Time Trial
Similar to Spiders Web, divided was also a legacy level that has now been moved to the main game levels. This level has no significant changes other than the decoration, but I feel it now fits the visual style of a main level, and so it has made the move.
Other Patch Notes
- "Safety First" legacy level has received a small and much needed visual improvements, and as had its name changed to "One Small Roll"
- "Minuteure" Gem Arena map has received some small visual improvements
- Achievements and unlocks now sometimes show actual progress values (x/x) as opposed to a % value - This varies achievement to achievement