Marble Blast Gold

2011-08-09 10:52:32 am

Ad infinitum

Quote from IsraeliRD:

Hey again everyone,

I'll give you all a heads-up that we're nearing the next update. This update includes nearly a third of the game getting improved (or maybe it is a third already?), with several levels getting brand new and crazy paths, including some that will knock your socks off. No joke. Some others are same routes just getting a huge speed update.

As well, I'll be rerecording all levels to have the same audio volume, and redoing whatever bloopers I can (we're getting dozens of them). To top it all off, Pascal and I will be doing an audio commentary. Hopefully when this hits verification, verifiers will have a HQ/IQ encode with the audio commentary.

Both the improved run and the audio commentary does some freaking awesome, amazing and astonishing! Cheesy

IsraeliRD

2011-08-09 10:23:28 pm

Dragon Power Supreme

NMS: afaik the runners of the Halo runs used a different encoding program (which I do not have), thus they managed to do so. I will use Anri 3.3 which doesn't support that (I think).
ZenicReverie: I'm not sure on how to do that in Anri. I'm also not sure if people would like to have a level followed by a 2 second black screen with the level name (and possibly runner).

I talked to Pascal and it seems as we'll have to do 2 audio commentary tracks (unless we somehow manage one, which is unlikely). The first will be about the levels specifically and the second is more general discussion about the game, pointing some runs, more history and other stuff. In one of them (or both?) we'll say the level name and the runner, so that can take care of the problem.

iMacmatician

2011-08-10 08:14:56 pm

Quote from IsraeliRD:

whatever bloopers I can (we're getting dozens of them)

Dozens is an understatement… although I'd be surprised if you used any more than a fraction of them in the final bloopers video.

I'm shocked at 1/3 of the levels being improved, I'm really wondering what they are (besides the ones I already know).

Excited about the audio commentary too!

About the black screen thing, I don't think I'd like black screens, since I think it would cut into the flow of the runs too much (the significant amount of time spent on the finish pads already does to an extent, although I've gotten used to that). I'd prefer looking at a separate page of level names/runners. If the names/runners have to be in the video, then maybe all at the start or the end.

Xelna

2011-08-10 09:39:09 pm

For the SDA version, we'll have the audio commentary to cover level names / runner / who's pathway, but if you want to look at it on YouTube, then we'll most likely make a credits roll at the very end with everything you need to know there.

And yes, we'll need to make 2 of em (audio comments) because we have too many things to say.

RandomEngy

2011-08-15 11:52:03 am

A Crab

Quote from NMS:

Halo 1 and 2 have the runner names. I think there are some others, but I don't recall what they are off hand. The stat_ID would be OK too, but I figure most people aren't that interested by what happens before you can move off the pad, important as it may be.

Yeah Half-Life 2 and Half-Life 2: Episode 1 had them as well. I think having the runner name appear during the countdown is a good idea.

icedcube

2011-08-16 07:05:23 am

Wat. Even moar improvements?

iMacmatician

2011-08-23 04:55:05 pm

Now over 40%?! Shocked

scurty

2011-08-23 05:58:11 pm

Quote from IsraeliRD:

NMS: afaik the runners of the Halo runs used a different encoding program (which I do not have), thus they managed to do so. I will use Anri 3.3 which doesn't support that (I think).
ZenicReverie: I'm not sure on how to do that in Anri. I'm also not sure if people would like to have a level followed by a 2 second black screen with the level name (and possibly runner).

I talked to Pascal and it seems as we'll have to do 2 audio commentary tracks (unless we somehow manage one, which is unlikely). The first will be about the levels specifically and the second is more general discussion about the game, pointing some runs, more history and other stuff. In one of them (or both?) we'll say the level name and the runner, so that can take care of the problem.

Hi. I edited the Halo 1 video of which I participated in. Also, like RandomEngy stated, there are a few Half Life speed runs where they do the same thing. That is actually where I got the idea from, the Half Life 2 speed run.

I simply used WMM 2 to put a simple fade in to fade out transition of the names. Saved as .avi so anri could encode it.

On topic, I'm a secret fan of watching this game being speed ran. I don't have the game and have never played it, but it is fun as hell to watch!

[quote="IsraeliRD"]NMS: afaik the runners of the Halo runs used a different encoding program (which I do not have), thus they managed to do so. I will use Anri 3.3 which doesn't support that (I think).
ZenicReverie: I'm not sure on how to do that in Anri. I'm also not sure if people would like to have a level followed by a 2 second black screen with the level name (and possibly runner).

I talked to Pascal and it seems as we'll have to do 2 audio commentary tracks (unless we somehow manage one, which is unlikely). The first will be about the levels specifically and the second is more general discussion about the game, pointing some runs, more history and other stuff. In one of them (or both?) we'll say the level name and the runner, so that can take care of the problem.[/quote]

Hi. I edited the Halo 1 video of which I participated in. Also, like RandomEngy stated, there are a few Half Life speed runs where they do the same thing. That is actually where I got the idea from, the Half Life 2 speed run.

I simply used WMM 2 to put a simple fade in to fade out transition of the names. Saved as .avi so anri could encode it.

On topic, I'm a secret fan of watching this game being speed ran. I don't have the game and have never played it, but it is fun as hell to watch!

IsraeliRD

2011-08-26 05:33:40 am

Dragon Power Supreme

WMM never gives me avi files Sad

Thanks for enjoying the runs, I promise you what we've got in store is amazing. In fact, it's 13.37 Wink

In related news, Pascal (um, Xelna for those who don't know) and I decided that to *help* the introduction of the audio commentary, we'll be recording the main menu and pressing the 'play' button for Learning to roll, showing the loading screen and then all levels will start up from there (without anymore pauses, except the usual fireworks). While this is very helpful ~5 seconds more to the audio commentary, we can also extend it up to 10-15 seconds by including the intro screens of the game (there are 3 total, I guess we can start from the last one).

And with that, time for me to do my .rec as Pascal is breathing down my neck. Marbling away!

scurty

2011-08-26 10:32:09 am

Well, I saved it as DV-AVI (NTSC) and then compressed it with anri after that into the respective formats. You should have that option. The sound gets a little messed up near the beginning, but it should be good after that.

IsraeliRD

2011-08-27 02:39:17 am

Dragon Power Supreme

Hmm, kind of annoying to have sound getting messed up. I wouldn't worry, we'll just say in the audio commentary everything. That said, did I mention we improved over half the game? We're nuts. Well... they are.

iMacmatician

Edit history:

iMacmatician: 2011-08-28 03:59:20 pm

2011-08-27 02:13:32 pm

Quote from IsraeliRD:

In fact, it's 13.37 Wink

Is that a hint? Tongue

Quote from IsraeliRD:

In related news, Pascal (um, Xelna for those who don't know) and I decided that to *help* the introduction of the audio commentary, we'll be recording the main menu and pressing the 'play' button for Learning to roll, showing the loading screen and then all levels will start up from there (without anymore pauses, except the usual fireworks). While this is very helpful ~5 seconds more to the audio commentary, we can also extend it up to 10-15 seconds by including the intro screens of the game (there are 3 total, I guess we can start from the last one).

Fair enough.

And 50%… seriously?? That's a 3rd WR Rampage right there!

EDIT: Are the bloopers going to get an audio commentary?

IsraeliRD

2011-08-30 06:28:49 pm

Dragon Power Supreme

Okay, we finished everything unless ^^^this person^^^ gets another level done.

Improvement overall is huge, we've got over half the game improved (I'm not gonna say final number... yet). The smallest improvement is 0.004 seconds (but it drops the 2nd decimal point down by 1), the largest being 4.13 seconds (you're never gonna guess which).
We also have 1 level redone, it's practically the same time as the one currently listed. The only reason it was redone was for entertainment purposes.

I'm going to record all .rec files now and hopefully encode this weekend or before. We're done <3

iMacmatician

Edit history:

iMacmatician: 2011-08-30 07:10:54 pm

2011-08-30 07:06:43 pm

Quote from IsraeliRD:

the largest being 4.13 seconds (you're never gonna guess which)

I have a pretty good guess… but if it's not what I'm thinking then I'm extra surprised.

IsraeliRD

Edit history:

IsraeliRD: 2011-08-30 10:45:03 pm

2011-08-30 10:44:43 pm

Dragon Power Supreme

What is your guess Smiley

Yeah I'm curious.

Quote from iMacmatician:

Quote from IsraeliRD:

In fact, it's 13.37 Wink

Is that a hint? Tongue

Maaaybe.

Also the bloopers might have an audio commentary. Kind of hard when you only have bloopers...

Quote:

Xelna: cuz there won't be anything to say except... hey look I missed
Xelna: hey you... look again, I missed
Xelna: Hey you there, yeah the one who's boringly looking away, focus on that vid and see, I FUCKING MISSED THERE

iMacmatician

2011-08-31 04:07:51 pm

Great Divide

IsraeliRD

2011-08-31 04:24:01 pm

Dragon Power Supreme

extra it is.

IsraeliRD

2011-09-09 07:38:52 am

Dragon Power Supreme

Okay, if you'd like to verify the run, please do. We need verifiers Smiley

Pascal and I finished both audio commentary tracks and we're happy with the end result. Verifiers get a HQ version with both audio commentaries included, the brand new author's comments (very short due to audios) and once I do it this weekend, I'll also send in the bloopers.

IsraeliRD

2012-02-29 09:31:29 pm

Dragon Power Supreme

The run is now released!

http://speeddemosarchive.com/MarbleBlastGold.html

Includes two audio commentaries and bloopers!

If you are interested in two additional improvements not seen in the gamepage, there's also a YouTube version (youtube.com/IsraeliRedDragon) . The improvements were for Spork in the Road and Escher's Race. These will make it on SDA one day, so don't worry.

Squonk

2012-03-01 07:36:48 am

This is one of the few games I hate playing and love watching speedruns.
You did a great work here, congrats Wink

IsraeliRD

2012-06-11 06:53:52 am

Dragon Power Supreme

For those who are interested, we are getting a Marble Blast Advanced (a MBG mod) speedrun on YouTube in the next few weeks. This will not be submitted to SDA because 6-7 videos do not contain audio. I will be posting the playlist link here once all videos are up (including bloopers).

Additionally, there are videos for Marble Blast Platinum (another mod, but was the most popular for MBG). Because they were released in Aug '10, I can tell you that maybe 40+ levels could definitely and were improved since. However, it's unlikely to be worked on due to the Expert levels section. However, you can check them out here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLF0B51F5479737E9B

Enjoy!

IsraeliRD

2012-07-03 04:36:21 am

Dragon Power Supreme

As promised, here are the videos. We MIGHT (unknown atm) do a compilation for SDA where we don't catch any of the Time Travels. Just watch Doomsday (final advanced level) to see why.

gammadragon

2012-07-03 05:45:04 am

Might be magic...

These are unbelievable... makes my speedrun attempts look lame in comparison.

IsraeliRD

2012-07-12 01:18:52 am

Dragon Power Supreme

More videos! Those are very old, and maybe half of them were since beaten (or there are known better records with no videos), but it's unlikely we'll ever do an additional attempt (therefore no SDA version).
This is for Marble Blast Platinum, and it's the most popular mod for MBGold. It takes community-created skills and gameplay and utilises them in levels which are much more difficult (and with experts, much longer) than Marble Blast Gold. Beginner levels was re-uploaded today because YT blocked the original video in 20 or so countries (it's still available in the playlist).

Additionally, we have another mod which is likely to release next year, and is called PlatinumQuest. It's the most anticipated mod for Marble Blast and is guaranteed to have its own speedrun. I'll be pushing for a SDA release of it as well.

More videos! Those are very old, and maybe half of them were since beaten (or there are known better records with no videos), but it's unlikely we'll ever do an additional attempt (therefore no SDA version). 
This is for Marble Blast Platinum, and it's the most popular mod for MBGold. It takes community-created skills and gameplay and utilises them in levels which are much more difficult (and with experts, much longer) than Marble Blast Gold. Beginner levels was re-uploaded today because YT blocked the original video in 20 or so countries (it's still available in the playlist).

Additionally, we have another mod which is likely to release next year, and is called PlatinumQuest. It's the most anticipated mod for Marble Blast and is guaranteed to have its own speedrun. I'll be pushing for a SDA release of it as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AAHGqgIkgY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcGTHoXHZ6g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD5BPXPiljQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbvmJeiOh5c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v55kkjvlVYI

IsraeliRD

2012-12-02 04:05:13 am

Dragon Power Supreme

Just throwing in the bloopers video that just got released for MBAdvanced. Features mainly traplaunches and other random things that makes you rage at Marble Blast for being so random.