Major Marble News

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Amish-made marble machines are interesting little contraptions. A small tray takes marbles down to a lower level, after which a counterweight moves the tray back up, so the next marble can go through.


I started creating a very rough blockout for the machine in 3DS Max. The idea was to test the physics first, before creating a fully textured model. After setting up collision for the important elements, I had to setup a hinge joint so the rod could rotate around its pivot. This worked surprisingly good!


To prevent marbles from moving through before the tray moved back up, there's a blocking element at the top. Throughput on the machine is fairly decent, handling about 1 marble every 2 seconds.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2910450/Major_Marble/

This devlog covers the first steps into making Major Marble.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
So when I started working on this game it was all about experimenting with Unity rigidbodies. Just getting the marbles rolling smoothly was pretty challenging. I had to scale everything up 10 times to get the physics working nicely.


The physics were a bit quirky at first. I had to tweak the mass settings and add a bit of drag here and there. Eventually though the blockout became pretty stable and I was pretty happy with the results. Eventually I created this really simple UI that allowed me to select and place the blocks on top of other ones. I wanted the blocks to snap together a little better so I came up with a 4cm grid layout. This was starting to work really well.


I could now create the tracks myself and have the marbles roll accross. I also added an availability script which shows you how many blocks you can use in each level. And now the game was starting to look a little more presentable, and much closer to where we are at today.

If you want to check out what the game plays like now, you can check out our gameplay trailer.

Major Marble debuts on Steam! Major Marble is a sandbox style puzzle game which features two distinct modes.


Complete challenging puzzles in Puzzle Mode or create awe-inspiring tracks in Sandbox Mode. Pick from a wide variety of wooden pieces like turns, ramps, bridges, hinges and more.


Customize your courses and enjoy fully simulated physics as each marble rolls down your own unique tracks.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2910450/Major_Marble/