40 replies to this topic

[henryHastur]

Hey all!
This is my first attempt at creating my own table. Instead of trying to re-skin something I decided to start completely from scratch and try to learn as much as I can. Ive learned a ton just setting up different tables on my cab, and Ive been watching a lot of great video tutorials to get me started, but WOW this is a lot of work!! Im having a lot of fun doing it though! Im sure Ill eventually be reaching out to others for help. Ive only done basic coding a little bit over a decade ago so I may need a bit of help there..  And Id be grateful for any tips n tricks offered!

Now, after a few weeks of playing around I think Ive got something going with Green Lantern.
This is all design work so far, no coding or lights yet. Ive designed the walls and shot layout, rules and modes are planned out, playfield art I think looks pretty cool, Im starting to get a handle on adding 3d objects (the power battery isnt quite right yet) and now Im trying to figure out how to make my own pop bumpers. Then I guess I start learning about lights.

Thanks for reading, and please let me know what you think of Green Lantern, and again, any advice is greatly appreciated!

Hank

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[templarjh]

Very first off, I won't be able to help you with any sort of coding. Sorry. I'm quite happy with my BA in History (and I love the older EMs and have a few) but aaanyway...

The first thing that caught my eye was those inline drop targets. Fantastic.

The drop target layout seems to be like breaking through a shield. A Green Lantern shield? Lol

 

Those lower pop bumpers are an outstanding idea. Other people might disagree. I like how they break up the playfield, and I hope you add some sort of scoring significance to the pop bumpers in general. In older games they were worth something to hit and they aren't anymore.

 

Artwork reminds me of Geoff Johns so that's good.

 

I'm not sure about that long habitrail, but maybe it will provide a brief break.

 

Hope this goes well!

[henryHastur]

Good eye on the art! This is absolutely based on Johns’ War of Light/Blackest Night run.
Pop bumpers will totally be tied to scoring and modes needing to hit specific bumpers and such. And of course once I figure out how to change them they will be tied to specific Corps.
The long Rail is supposed to invoke a Lantern streaking through space (I also have heavy ball trails which I usually hate but really work for this theme!) I want to try to put a kicker inside the Power Battery to fire the ball down the rail (and activate a short ball save for a “recharge”) but I haven’t figured all that out yet.
The inline targets are obviously a lock alá TNA, and will be grave stones to go with the Blackest Night mode.
Eventually I want to add some sort of bash toy or at least some 3D model eye candy in the top right corner but not sure about that yet.

Very first off, I won't be able to help you with any sort of coding. Sorry. I'm quite happy with my BA in History (and I love the older EMs and have a few) but aaanyway...

The first thing that caught my eye was those inline drop targets. Fantastic.
The drop target layout seems to be like breaking through a shield. A Green Lantern shield? Lol
 
Those lower pop bumpers are an outstanding idea. Other people might disagree. I like how they break up the playfield, and I hope you add some sort of scoring significance to the pop bumpers in general. In older games they were worth something to hit and they aren't anymore.
 
Artwork reminds me of Geoff Johns so that's good.
 
I'm not sure about that long habitrail, but maybe it will provide a brief break.
 
Hope this goes well!

[allknowing2012]

Which machine has the high speed ramp behind the flippers? Has to be a way to have the ball return to play and not get stuck on the bottom of the loop. Will be an interesting design.

[jpsalas]

I have done a similar ramp behind the flippers when I made The Flintstones for VP9. What I did was simply to make a piece of the ramp without the side wall, so if the ball got stuck at the bottom you could simply nudge it out of the ramp I remember testing the table and the ramp worked very fine, until I publish it, then I started to get reports about the ball getting stuck there, then I added a piece of the ramp without the upper wall, so it could get nudged out.

[wiesshund]

trigger a green glowball when the ball is in lamp mode streaking across the sky(ramp) ?

Which machine has the high speed ramp behind the flippers? Has to be a way to have the ball return to play and not get stuck on the bottom of the loop. Will be an interesting design.

 

could always use a ramp helper to assure it continues on at enough speed?

[Kranky Pantz]

Cool idea...just don't show it to Ryan Reynolds.

He'd flip out!!!

[mrjcrane]

I like the idea of your progressive drop targets on the right side of the playfield if that is what they are .... good idea !

[henryHastur]

I believe the way I have the long rail set up its still in a decline as it sweeps the apron so it shouldnt stop there at all, but until I figure out how to hollow out or put a tunnel through the 3D power battery its a moot point since I cant shoot it anyway. Ive never messed with 3D models before (or pretty much any of this stuff!) so Im not really sure where to start. Is there a way to make the model not a solid object so the ball can just pass through?

Edited by henryHastur, 04 June 2022 - 02:49 AM.

[jpsalas]

I believe the way I have the long rail set up its still in a decline as it sweeps the apron so it shouldnt stop there at all, but until I figure out how to hollow out or put a tunnel through the 3D power battery its a moot point since I cant shoot it anyway. Ive never messed with 3D models before (or pretty much any of this stuff!) so Im not really sure where to start. Is there a way to make the model not a solid object so the ball can just pass through?

 

Yes, you can do that by removing the collidable property, as seen in the picture:

[wiesshund]

 

I believe the way I have the long rail set up its still in a decline as it sweeps the apron so it shouldnt stop there at all, but until I figure out how to hollow out or put a tunnel through the 3D power battery its a moot point since I cant shoot it anyway. Ive never messed with 3D models before (or pretty much any of this stuff!) so Im not really sure where to start. Is there a way to make the model not a solid object so the ball can just pass through?

 

Yes, you can do that by removing the collidable property, as seen in the picture:

primitive_properties.PNG

 

 

to add to that, models should be set to toy never collidable always, unless said model really is meant to hit the ball
and even then it is probably better to use a non visible wall

models tend to have a lot more faces, balls hitting complex collidable objects, where they do not need to be can suck the performance right out of a table

 

I learned that the hard way

[henryHastur]

Awesome news, thanks guys! I’ll try changing that tonight.

I never quite figured out how to change out the pop bumper caps, but I did learn how to use decals so I was able to make them halfway decent and “on theme” and I added an apron image. So there’s that!

[wiesshund]

I never quite figured out how to change out the pop bumper caps

 

change out to what?

 

throw in a pop bumper
in visuals uncheck cap, now default cap is gone

 

now throw in a prim, either one you made (have to import it, just throw in a generic square prim and then import mesh, i Think?)

or the built in starter tables have bumper caps on the left side, pick a shape you like and copy that object
then paste it over near the bumper
move as needed.

 

adjust the height (Z position)
probably between 76 and 90 depending on what you do with your bumpers size wise

 

make sure your cap is set as toy never collidable

Edited by wiesshund, 04 June 2022 - 09:53 PM.

[henryHastur]

 
change out to what?

Guess I was overthinking it, thanks!


The Power Battery doesnt stop the ball anymore! And the long ramp works great, ball moves right through the bottom with good speed so I dont think itll have any problems getting stuck!

Thanks again everyone!

[henryHastur]

Well Ive made some progress.
Art is as finished as its going to be until I start figuring out lighting, then Im sure Ill need to make tweaks. Everything shoots well and I dont think I have any hang up spots (except the kickers which I havent figured out yet).
Started trying to learn the scripting and have added some scoring, sound fx and call outs. Ive also intro/gameplay music.

But my big question right now is, how do I keep sounds from repeating/echoing on multiple quick hits (for example: a target that plays a call out will echo and sound terrible if hit again before the sample finishes playing.)???

[wiesshund]

Well Ive made some progress.
Art is as finished as its going to be until I start figuring out lighting, then Im sure Ill need to make tweaks. Everything shoots well and I dont think I have any hang up spots (except the kickers which I havent figured out yet).
Started trying to learn the scripting and have added some scoring, sound fx and call outs. Ive also intro/gameplay music.

But my big question right now is, how do I keep sounds from repeating/echoing on multiple quick hits (for example: a target that plays a call out will echo and sound terrible if hit again before the sample finishes playing.)???

 

I am not certain of the syntax, but i am pretty sure you can do a playing check

if sound file is NOT playing then playsound
else do nothing sound wise

 

like

 

Sub Target10_hit
score
stuff
blah

everything but sound

  If playing "soundname"

exit sub 

Else

 Playsound "soundname"

End IF

End Sub

 

I do not know the command/syntax though for checking if sound "soundname" is playing

[henryHastur]

Haven’t figured out the echo thing yet, I’ll keep working on it.
However, I did manage to figure out the kickers and got one to fire back and the other works like an extra ball. It eats a ball and puts a new one in the shooter lane then spits out the original after a drain. I’ll make it more difficult to activate once i dig into lights.

I tried to figure out a ball save but it doesn’t seem to work for me yet. Keeps giving an error
Object required : BallSaveTimer
Do I need to add a physical timer from the editor to the table for this?

[jpsalas]

I guess you are using one of my scripts as a base, so for now you can just comment out the lines you find with the ballsavertime. But later you may add the timer in the editor if you want to use it. I usually add a timer with just a 1 second interval, this is 1000, so my timer uses a variable which is counting down each time the timer is activated (each second). So if you loose the ball while it is still counting then you may give the ball back to the player

[henryHastur]

I guess you are using one of my scripts as a base,

Actually, I started with the basic blank table template and started everything from scratch. All the code I have is stuff I’ve copied from examples/tutorials and tweaked to make work.
I did try to add your ballrolling sounds stuff but it didn’t do anything, though I just copy/pasted it and probably didn’t do something important.

[jpsalas]

I guess you can continue developing your script, and if you copy/paste something and it gives you an error, then just comment that line out for now, and check later if that line did something that you could use, like that BallSaverTime timer