Marblenauts was a puzzle game first released for iOS in 2010, then later ported to Mac OS X. Each level was a challenge that had to be solved by interacting with the environment, rather than the Marblenauts themselves.

For example, the player had to break the right blocks to guide the Marblenauts (by letting them fall and roll) to their transporters. If all of them reached the transporter matching their color, the player could go to the next level.

Unfortunately, the game is not available anymore because it's too outdated and was automatically removed from the App Store. Most of the source code is lost, making a new version impossible. However, this site will stay as a memory of the project. This updated site also features other interesting bits of information, including the ideas of a (canceled) sequel.

At the beginning, the game took inspiration from an old classic like Boulder Dash. However, that game was made to be played with a controller, instead of a touch screen. To solve that, the main character had to be removed. Instead, blocks could be broken directly by touching the screen.

This was quite a drastic change, but gave potential to create a whole new game instead of remaking an older classic. However, something had to replace the main character to give life to the game. As a result, the Marblenauts were born.

The game started with only Marblenauts, transporters, breakable and unbreakable walls together with the Boulder Dash mechanics. This resulted in a fun to play prototype. When that was complete, the game entered a new phase where new interesting gimmicks could be created, such as: teleporters, conveyor belts, crates, rocks and gears. The goal was to let each level be a new experience. Either by introducing something new, or by combining existing gimmicks in a new way.

The player was also able to undo almost every move. It removes the punishment from mis-tapping on the screen.

The art of the game was made pixel by pixel, just like the old days, by using (Windows) paint. Also there was a bit of extra help from Photoshop for colorization and making mockups.

The process for pixel art is to first create the outline of the graphic in black, then add 2 colors (dark and highlight) to create its shape. When that looks good, a few more colors were added to add more details.

This worked well until the iPad was announced, and later the iPhone retina display. All art had to be scaled up 200%. The pixel art was remastered to also look good in high resolution. That was a lot of work, but it was worth it in the end.

Game design, programming and artwork could all be done in-house. However, the game was lacking in sound effects and music. To make the game complete, the sound work was outsourced as a fixed-price contract (based on the assets being delivered).

The work was done by Mike Weiser. Now the player could enjoy some nice mysterious music while solving the many puzzles in the game. The sound effects also contributed to the improved experience. One of the Marblenauts music tracks can be listened to at: www.mikeweisermusic.com

The basic story was about a group of Marblenauts creatures, taken from their home planet, and dropped on a mysterious asteroid. The player would make friends with them and help them escape by freeing them from all the levels. They would build their own spaceship to fly them back home.

Near the end of the game, the player would find out that a robot tries to prevent them from escaping. If the player was playing well by collecting all items, an extra ending scene became available. In here, the Marblenauts gave a hint for a possible sequel.

Unfortunately, the sequel was not made. Only some ideas and artwork exist. The idea was to evolve the Marblenauts into separate creatures (depending on their color), each with their own ability. The gameplay would take place in the spaceship, while flying back home. Of course, many challenges would appear during their trip (including the infection of a computer virus).

Creating Marblenauts was an experiment to see if a quality game could be created without spending a big budget, and how it would sell. The initial investment was about a few thousand dollars, both to finance the Apple developer materials (like a macbook and test device) and paying the contract for outsourcing the audio.

With a 50% off introduction price (1 dollar instead of 2) and a forum topic at Touch Arcade the game was slightly visible in the crowded App Store. Sales started with 5 copies a day to around 100 a day when it was featured by Apple in the puzzle category for the iPad. Later on, the game would continue to sell as part of the recommended iOS 4 games category by Apple. If the game had a frontpage App Store feature, those numbers would probably be even higher.

As a conclusion, the game was relatively successful (with just under 10000 dollars in profit before taxes). A nice reward for the work that was done, but not enough to give up an existing fulltime job, looking at the time that was spent. The biggest contributors to its success were supporting the iPad from the beginning, together with the feature from Apple.

Below is a list of screenshots to show how the game looked like on several devices when it was still available.

Click below to open a video of the game on youtube, to see how it played on an iPad: