Hey Again!
My plan was to drop the entire tutorial update before the Steam Summer Sale, but I have been a little busy preparing for a trip lately, so this is going to be a part 1 of a 2 part tutorial update. Don't let that worry you though, because todays update does still include 3 new levels (2 tutorial, and 1 remake), as well as a number of other fixes and improvements.
Lets start with the new levels...
New Levels
Some of you may have noticed a short while ago that a number of tutorial levels went missing, and the keen-eyes among you will have noticed that they were either moved to a different difficulty within the main time trial levels, or into the bonus levels. I did this because I felt the levels didn't really fit well as tutorial levels any more due to being so old and the game having evolved to the point that they didn't really cover enough of the content to be useful.
So naturally, new levels were planned to take their place as tutorial levels, and the old ones were moved about. Todays update brings you 2 of the 3 planned new tutorial levels; The powerup tutorial and the hazard tutorial.
The Powers That Be | This level was designed to take the place of the old power tutorial, "Power Up". Whilst I do think the old level teaches the basics of power ups, I noticed that for a lot of people, the format of the level was confusing, and people weren't too sure of the intended route of the level. The new level takes more or less the same instructions from the previous, but the layout is completely linear, so there should be no more confusion on how or where a powerup is supposed to take you. Additionally, many people struggled with the "Rewind" powerup, so this has been replaced with the more simple "Slam" powerup. As a bonus, you can unlock the remix level "The Powers That Weren't", which includes the original intended new level before I chose to cut the Rewind power. |
Approaching Danger | This level was designed to take the place of the old hazard level, "Danger Ahead". Unlike the power up level, this level was dated in what it introduced to the player. Since its creation, a number of new hazards have been introduced into the game, and I felt that it was important to include some of these in a tutorial about hazards. The new level teaches about the older hazards, such as bumpers and lasers, but also teaches about newer hazards like space mines and wind fans. |
To go with the new tutorial levels, we also have a newly revised version of "Rocky Road".
Windswept | "Rocky Road" was one of the few levels left in the main game that had not yet received a visual upgrade, and so it was time to change that. With the introduction of the new fan hazard in "Approaching Danger", this new level had the perfect layout to introduce this hazard into the wild... The level layout is more or less identical to "Rocky Road", but fans have been added throughout to add some additional challenge. The level is still in the easy category however, so don't except too much resistance from the changes. For those longing for the original level again, "Rocky Road" can be unlocked as a Remix level, but I will let you figure out how... |
Now, I did mention a few new Remix levels above, so that sounds like a good Segway into some of the other changes coming to the Remix mode.
Remix Updates
As mentioned, there is a brand new Remix level, a long with the movement of an old level into the remix category, so lets take a brief moment to lay those down first...
The Powers That Weren't | As briefly mentioned above, this level was the initial concept for the new power up tutorial before making the decision to remove the Rewind powerup. It follows the exact same layout as "The Powers That Be", with an added section containing a gem. |
Rocky Road | It's simple, If you have played the old Rocky Road level, then you will feel right at home here... because well.. its the exact same level... Don't think I need to say more, do I? |
Now with that out of the way, lets discuss some new changes to Remix. The remix levels now have icons in their level info panel outlining the modifications that are present in the level. Levels can contain more than one modifier, and hovering over the modifier icon will give you more information about what it means.
A long side this change, I am slowly beginning to move all "Bonus" levels into the remix section, and once moved, these levels can be unlocked in various ways, such as in-level pickups, currency store and stat goals. As all of the levels in bonus are the old legacy levels, you will notice they contain the "Legacy" modifier icon.
Below is a full list of the current modifiers, with more to come down the line whenever I think of them
Modifier | Description |
|---|---|
Legacy Level | As mentioned above, levels that were once considered "Legacy" (and later "Bonus") will be marked with a Legacy icon. Levels marked with this icon will now be considered when completing the two achievements relating to legacy levels. |
Homage Level | This tag is given to levels that are based on levels from other marble games. |
Community Design | This tag is given to levels which have been designed by members of the community. Their name will be included in the level description once this is shown on the level info panel. |
Reduced Gems | This tag is given to levels that have less gems than the level it is based on. |
Increased Gems | This tag is given to levels that have more gems than the level it is based on. |
No Gems | This tag is given to levels where all gems hav10e been removed from the level it is based on. |
Altered Physics | This tag is given when the players ball uses different parameters from the default marble. This includes things like removing the ability to jump / charge, etc. |
Mode Swap | This tag is given when a level previously used as time attack or gem arena now uses the alternate game mode. |
Altered Route | This tag is given to levels when the start and or end point of the level differs from the level it was original based on. |
Map Modifications | This tag is given to levels that have received heavy modifications on top of a base level. |
Level Mashup | This tag is given to levels that use elements of multiple level combined to make a new level. |
Other Stuff
A few more achievements are now available to unlock, as well as a few having their images and descriptions altered slightly. As usual, some of the descriptions are a little cryptic, so have fun trying to work it out!
Icon | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Honor Code | I trust that you will do the right thing |
| Suicidal Tendencies | Please, Don't do it... |
| Curiosity Killed The Cat | Yes... They do hurt... |
| Ooohh, Friend! | Quick! Try to act cool... or, you know... just equip their skin... |
| Amped Up | Unleash a cumulative total of 2,500 charges |
That pretty much sums up todays update, and once I get back from my trip, I will finalise the last level for the tutorial overhaul. This will include one additional achievement also, but ill talk more on that in the post when it happens.