#madballz

Bojan has worked hard on the UI bits lately, and we have put together a sweet collection of screens for you to enjoy. Take a look at these multiplayer screens, for example. 2, 3 or 4 players can play against each other in this mode.

In the single player campaign mode, you can instantly see your run result matched against other players, and - if you want to - try to beat a player that was slightly better than you:

So, you thought Mad Ballz would be a regular marble game? Nope. The last few days, we have been working on the ball concepts. We knew from the very beginning that we wanted balls with a personality. We could have solved that by modelling our personal... uhm... No. Inspired by Trans Formers and Bakugan, this is what we are tinkering with. 

Concepts for Mad Ballz by our concept artist Marie

There’s no arguing that sound design is one of the most important factors of a game. Who would be scared if a horror game didn’t have some eerie sounds or atmospheric music? Who wouldn’t get pumped for a platformer or arcade game if the music wasn’t vibrant and full of energy? To put it simply, you need some great music for a great game. 

That is why, for Mad Ballz, we brought on the crazy talented Barry Leitch. Our master musician has been creating music for games since 1986 such as pieces for Horizon Chase among many others. Barry was kind enough to take a break from creating our awesome game music to share some advice for all you aspiring musicians, game devs and artists out there. What can an indie music creator do? Starting out, the professional tools are usually out of budget and the expertise might not be there yet. The spirit is willing but the composer just hasn’t quite leveled up yet. “You can do a lot on a computer alone. There are plenty of VSTs out there -- use them. Start out small and work your way up. The more work you put into something, the better you’re going to get. The better you get, the better your work is and the more people will take notice. It also doesn’t hurt to do a lot of networking,” Barry shares. Some of the inspiration for Mad Ballz’s music comes from Brad Fuller, a legendary game composer in his own right that passed away some time ago. You might not know the name but Brad Fuller wrote the original Marble Madness score back in the 80s -- he’s more than enough inspiration for us. With a wink, Barry stated, “Take up programming. It’s more profitable.” You’ve got to do what you love, right? There are plenty of starving artists out there that can testify their ideas would drive them nuts if they didn’t somehow give them life. For all you composers, writers, developers, artists and creators out there, take it from Barry: Do a lot of demos / work in general and network. The work he has put into the soundtrack for Mad Ballz is proof enough that the work is more than worth it.