Marble Blast Ultra XNA

As promised earlier, we now present to you a video clip and some screenshots of the XNA build of Marble Blast Ultra running on the Torque X engine. Me, Faraaz and LINKx12 were lucky enough to play Marble Blast XNA. We really hope you enjoy the video and screenshots, so please let us know what you think by saying what you like/dislike about the map, or just a general a comment. Thanks!

This beautiful map was created by Alex Swanson from GarageGames - dude, like remind me to get his autograph later.

Any requests for more screenshots or videos are also welcomed.

Oh, I’ve also added the default Marble Blast Ultra techno trance, gotta love Timothy Steven Clarke’s music.


Note: To view fullsize version, please double click the video.

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March 12th, 2008 by Farhan in Main 45 Comments

45 responses to “Marble Blast Ultra XNA”

  1. HOLY COW, JUST WOW. That map is lovely! Looks like a map I’ll love to use mega marble on :P

    I like the new rounded structures and floors, looks lovely. Can’t wait for the pictures. What resolution are they, the same as the video?

    SpartanMS30 on March 12th, 2008 at 7:05 pm

  2. I kept freshing 360 live, you guys made me spend extra time at work now! Bummer - but W00T, it was worth the wait. Excellent video, love the bridge in the middle and the high platforms, looks perfect for a gyrocopter! please post the pictures, I want to see them :D

    JamesD on March 12th, 2008 at 7:13 pm

  3. yep, was also refreshing here as we were told it’ll be up in a few hours in the previous post. beautiful map, I didn’t know guys name who created the map, but I do now. i hope he makes more for whenever a next marble game is released. :)

    Ooke220 on March 12th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

  4. This level was done as a test to experiment what could be done by abandoning the DIF format and supporting full polysoup collision with levels exported from Maya.

    As it turns out, quite a lot can be done.

    Unfortunately at this time, only the XNA port of Marble Blast supports the polysoup level - but as you can see it adds some incredible options to level building. And that is just one experiement, I am sure that even more cool forms for marble interaction have yet to be unlocked.

    Alex Swanson on March 12th, 2008 at 7:18 pm

  5. That rocks! Those dead marbles, are they NPCs?
    I can’t wait for it. Beautiful. DUDE! (alright… dudeS) Keep playing it, and don’t ever lose hope!

    Evildude131 on March 12th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

  6. Ahhhhhhh Alex! Why did you use Maya and not 3DS Max, isn’t it better?

    I love that video. The lighting is just awesome, when he jumped I saw the shadows go around the egde of a platform like it would in real life. Is this the torque x engine doing this? If so, it’s awesome.

    ChrisHugh on March 12th, 2008 at 7:38 pm

  7. Dude, that is like totally sweet! I wanna play this so badly…

    Primeval on March 12th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

  8. Is it me or do I see a new set of tile textures? I like how it makes the map look less repeative, nice idea. Love this map.

    One question to Alex: Do you also make the placements for the Gems and Powerups?

    DidiBrazil on March 12th, 2008 at 8:43 pm

  9. Heh liking the moves you did there. Gravity seems be slightly stronger in my eyes. What about anyone else?

    I like the flooring a lot, I can imagine being 1 foot away from a Gem and someone pops up with mega marble directly ahead of me! That would be scary, thats why I love the high and low ground.

    JasonLief on March 12th, 2008 at 8:59 pm

  10. It’s like Super Mario Galaxy… except you don’t have to save a Princess marble. But, wow, the curves make it look and play… a hellavalot better.

    Evildude131 on March 12th, 2008 at 9:19 pm

  11. Liking the smooth curves. I am seriously hoping this map will be released in MBU2 and allows more than 8 players.

    TheMBUKarma on March 13th, 2008 at 1:30 am

  12. w00t, now that’s what I’m talking about. It’s been 9 hours since the pics were going to be added? :(

    JeffreyHO on March 13th, 2008 at 9:57 am

  13. awesomasouras map! i bet thats in mbu2 for sure :P

    whats polysoup?

    CanJanKOO on March 13th, 2008 at 11:45 am

  14. such a kickass map and something i hope to see in a marble blast game!

    DenJenkin on March 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm

  15. totally gives me the craps. awesome map

    MoudaG on March 13th, 2008 at 3:51 pm

  16. Me and my husband played MBU a lot against each other (two Xbox 360’s), we played it for about a year but we’re starting to get bored as there have been no new maps. I heard about Instant Action from your website in a previous post, I love how we can now play against each other on our laptops, it’s immense and insanely fun. By viewing this video, we are excited for Marble Blast Ultra 2. Please keep it coming! :D

    SarahC on March 13th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

  17. Thats what i love about this site. every so often it has content to show us or some interesting read. Fansites are so awesome.

    i noticed the “pictures will be added within a few minutes” has still not changed

    MISTERC101 on March 13th, 2008 at 11:36 pm

  18. Sorry about taking time to add pictures, they are now up and can be viewed by going to our Gallery section.

    Hikaru on March 14th, 2008 at 12:49 am

  19. Wow, those pictures and the video is just awesome.

    CrunchPurp on March 14th, 2008 at 1:43 am

  20. rofl @ sarah c’s comment. lovely huge pictures!

    GoodGameJASE on March 14th, 2008 at 1:28 pm

  21. Interesting pictures - I would love it if you could possibly make us some wallpapers.

    J0l0RI555 on March 15th, 2008 at 10:02 am

  22. awesomely awesome. the colours look so much better than mbu. By the way, when you were on that lumpy hill, why did you not move the ball at all? Was it to show that the ball will move itself due to the realistic physics?

    Phoxtrot on March 15th, 2008 at 10:41 am

  23. Heading off to work in a few minutes but thought I’d check this out, was referred by a friend - loving the map. I’ve never played on InstantAction before, but reading the comment by SarahC makes me want to join. I guess I’ll try it out when I’m at work.

    Danni on March 15th, 2008 at 11:36 am

  24. that map must of took forever to make!

    G4-TiNi on March 15th, 2008 at 1:29 pm

  25. haha now this is what i call art… ive never seen such a better arcade game than mbu

    CLuisMasher on March 15th, 2008 at 4:17 pm

  26. I like the smooth curves and the marbles look much more realistic.

    JasonBaker on March 15th, 2008 at 5:22 pm

  27. Amazing screenshots and amazing video, i’d love to see more!

    tiago-silva on March 15th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

  28. I used to play Marble Blast Ultra a lot, but have stopped. I didn’t know about InstantAction, will check it out later today. Lovely pictures!

    EmilyClarke on March 16th, 2008 at 7:29 am

  29. Beautiful game. I play MBO around 1-3 hours a day. But by looking at this map, God knows how many hours I’ll be up since these new maps will all be smooth and awesome. Excellent work alex!

    staceyrendelles on March 16th, 2008 at 11:09 am

  30. Love the map, love the whole MB series. Nice work.

    Haroon on March 16th, 2008 at 1:30 pm

  31. Superb work on the map by Alex! I like how the guy in the video nearly fell off in that square hole but saved himself by the wooden poles heh.

    Kenny on March 16th, 2008 at 4:20 pm

  32. DANG!!
    That was AMAZING!!!
    supurb map
    awesome version of the game
    where can i get this!?!?!

    Ryan on March 16th, 2008 at 6:32 pm

  33. Running on no code whatsoever? Crazy, CRAZY DUDE.

    forest4you on March 16th, 2008 at 9:49 pm

  34. @ChrisHugh: Maya and Max have their strengths and weaknesses each. Either one could be used to make polysoup levels.

    @DidiBrazil: I did placement for the gems and powerups in MBU, yes. There are not any powerups in the TorqueX Demo, and only a few gems that don’t actually score you any points.

    I am glad everyone liked the demo, and thanks for your kind words about the map. I encourage you all to come play MBU on InstantAction if you have not yet done so.

    Note that this Map is not a map for the current IA version of Marble Blast, but a tech demo of what will be possible in future games. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to release the map as part of a future version!

    Alex Swanson on March 17th, 2008 at 7:52 pm

  35. That is one complicated looking level! Too bad it’s only a tech demo.

    iBall on March 17th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

  36. First of all: AWESOME MAP. Secondly, HI ALEX! :D

    I have a question, will all maps in the future title be smooth? (If there will be one, that is). In the video I saw a glance of the wooden beams and noticed the structures that hold the main fat beam which the marble jumped on arent smooth, theyre more of a diamond shape. Can they not be rounded?

    Simon4L4S on March 17th, 2008 at 9:16 pm

  37. Alex: “Hopefully we’ll get a chance to release the map as part of a future version!”

    Wow, I really do hope this map is in the future version because it totally kicks ass. But it seriously needs more than 8 players. :’(

    JasonLee on March 19th, 2008 at 10:24 am

  38. alex im loving the map totally!
    how long did it take you to make?

    JSeattleFTW on March 19th, 2008 at 8:00 pm

  39. Complex map! I like how you can go so high and low. It’s totally different from every other map.

    Jamaal on March 20th, 2008 at 8:33 am

  40. AWESOME

    Yshlaw3330 on March 24th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

  41. That map is lovely, looks like a map made for skill.

    FearItSelf on March 27th, 2008 at 11:27 am

  42. HOW DID YOU GET TO PLAY THIS?

    nibbler234 on March 27th, 2008 at 12:30 pm

  43. Nibbler calm down, they’re friends with GG or so I’ve heard.

    iBall on March 27th, 2008 at 2:18 pm

  44. That is what you a call a decent map. I played MBU a lot, tons of fun, I’m now playing MBO on the new maps, tons of fun. But looking at this, all these beautiful curves makes me high. Dudez..

    RonShoawl on March 29th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

  45. Give it MBU for PC?

    zot on October 11th, 2008 at 4:31 am

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