244 replies to this topic

[PainkillerAlice]

After some more gameplay testing, I had to alter a bunch of code due to events caused by multiball. Improvements have been made on the code. Also I had forgotten (after all the time I built the table) to animate the bumpers, so will work on that. If all goes well, what is still left is the gameplay and mission coding and the table will be ready.

[PainkillerAlice]

Update: Got the bumper animations coded in but will need to practice more with this to make good animations. My bumper animations are barely visible but good enough for a little realism.

Now on to the gameplay design and coding.

[faralos]

I recently got a chance to watch the first movie again on Encore just last week! I forgot about the grid jumpers!! Nice detail to the pin and do I ever want to play it now! I just loved watching it again and can't wait for you to get this one done!

[Shooby Doo]

I can't wait either. Highly anticipated!

[faralos]

Just read a new post by a newbie with his first table build! Guess what his theme is? yup! Now we'll have not one, but two cool looking (and hopefully playing) pins based on Tron!

Edited by faralos, 16 July 2011 - 12:48 PM.

[PainkillerAlice]

Just read a new post by a newbie with his first table build! Guess what his theme is? yup! Now we'll have not one, but two cool looking (and hopefully playing) pins based on Tron!

A little competition is a good thing.

Update: Went through and had to fix the bumper animations. Looked at the bumper animation template for guidance, and discovered something that I missed that with my table, which with my current setup, the animations were crappy. I discovered that while the top height was like 30 for one ring, the bottom height was 50! So when the wall drops, it drops up which allows for the animation to look right. Got the animations fixed to where they should be and all is well in Practicedummy's pinball universe! Back to the gameplay coding!!!

[faralos]

I also noticed that on JP's bumpers that the ring walls are set 'upside down' meaning that the top wall height is lower than its lower wall height so the rings drop up instead of down! I thought he built it wrong the first time I tried those bumpers (Itch uses them in all his table templates) so I switched their values, nope they are meant to fall 'up' not down so keep their weird wall vales as they are. and I don't know if this ever got fixed but in Itchigo's older table template those pop bumpers had to be set to a wall set at a height of 25 for the rings to animate properly

[PainkillerAlice]

UGH!! Been taking huge steps forward and now a small step backwards. After each step I take on my table I test the crap out of it and discovered a problem with multiball where when two balls hit a kicker within a second or less of each other only one comes out of the 'scoop'. have to check my coding and see if I can improve on that (possibly timer scripting issue). The game won't be as good without the multiball feature.

[PainkillerAlice]

Fixed the Multiball scoop issue by adding two extra timers to cover the other two balls if they go into the same scoop right after the first ball enters a scoop.

While I am designing the gameplay and scripting it in, I am releasing a current WIP for playtesting, especially on the multiball to make sure there aren't any bugs that need worked out before I script in the gameplay. I may be adding a few more objects on the table as the result of the gameplay design so this WIP may not be set in stone.

Tron WIP 7-20-2011

On achieving Multiball, first you have to hit the 'skillshot' 5X to activate the left loop lock (blue arrow will flash) then hit the 'skillshot' 5X more (or maybe 6, I can't remember ) to activate the right loop lock (blue arrow will flash). After 2 balls are locked the third lock is immediately available (blue arrow will flash). Shoot the ball into the third lock and Multiball will start. The center scoop in normal play (to the right of the 3 bank Bit drop targets) will send the ball to the skillshot area.

Edited by Practicedummy, 20 July 2011 - 06:38 AM.

[supadave]

Wow, this has some interesting features that i've not seen before on any pinball. I like the skill shot ramp on the initial launch with that lower left flipper. Interesting idea for sure. It may not be liked by some who just want to get the ball in play right away but I like it. Fast table for sure with lots of sneaky entrances and exits. Got to be on your toes for sure. I only played it a handful of times so I can't really say much on flow and gameplay. I wasn't able to accomplish multiball either so I can't say much about that either. I do intend to play it more later today and try to get into things more. It will be interesting to see how other take to the added lower left flipper idea. I like it myself.. Very cool idea.. Did you come up with that yourself or did you see it somewhere? The only negative that I can think of is the pop bumpers in the lower right corner. For some reason I just wasn't feeling it. I felt like it slowed the table down.

Keep up the great work!!! Can't wait to see the final.

Fixed the Multiball scoop issue by adding two extra timers to cover the other two balls if they go into the same scoop right after the first ball enters a scoop.

While I am designing the gameplay and scripting it in, I am releasing a current WIP for playtesting, especially on the multiball to make sure there aren't any bugs that need worked out before I script in the gameplay. I may be adding a few more objects on the table as the result of the gameplay design so this WIP may not be set in stone.

Tron WIP 7-20-2011

On achieving Multiball, first you have to hit the 'skillshot' 5X to activate the left loop lock (blue arrow will flash) then hit the 'skillshot' 5X more (or maybe 6, I can't remember ) to activate the right loop lock (blue arrow will flash). After 2 balls are locked the third lock is immediately available (blue arrow will flash). Shoot the ball into the third lock and Multiball will start. The center scoop in normal play (to the right of the 3 bank Bit drop targets) will send the ball to the skillshot area.

[faralos]

I just got the table and will play the heck out of it today and I'll let ya' know about anything as I have this 'knack' of having pins crash! Okay cheat walls it is then for that damn multiball! I suck at your tables as they all play way too fast for me so I'll probably have to toss in a few cheat walls so I can get to the multiball and the higher levels of the pin!...50 megs huh... your pins are starting to rival mine in sheer volume size!

[PainkillerAlice]

The inspiration for the 'apron playfields' came from a Bally pinball called Blackwater 100. It is one of my favorite pinball games and one that features Multiball at the start of each ball (you plunger in each ball to the upper right playfield and then the balls get released).

Wow, this has some interesting features that i've not seen before on any pinball. I like the skill shot ramp on the initial launch with that lower left flipper. Interesting idea for sure. It may not be liked by some who just want to get the ball in play right away but I like it. Fast table for sure with lots of sneaky entrances and exits. Got to be on your toes for sure. I only played it a handful of times so I can't really say much on flow and gameplay. I wasn't able to accomplish multiball either so I can't say much about that either. I do intend to play it more later today and try to get into things more. It will be interesting to see how other take to the added lower left flipper idea. I like it myself.. Very cool idea.. Did you come up with that yourself or did you see it somewhere? The only negative that I can think of is the pop bumpers in the lower right corner. For some reason I just wasn't feeling it. I felt like it slowed the table down.

Keep up the great work!!! Can't wait to see the final.

Fixed the Multiball scoop issue by adding two extra timers to cover the other two balls if they go into the same scoop right after the first ball enters a scoop.

While I am designing the gameplay and scripting it in, I am releasing a current WIP for playtesting, especially on the multiball to make sure there aren't any bugs that need worked out before I script in the gameplay. I may be adding a few more objects on the table as the result of the gameplay design so this WIP may not be set in stone.

Tron WIP 7-20-2011

On achieving Multiball, first you have to hit the 'skillshot' 5X to activate the left loop lock (blue arrow will flash) then hit the 'skillshot' 5X more (or maybe 6, I can't remember ) to activate the right loop lock (blue arrow will flash). After 2 balls are locked the third lock is immediately available (blue arrow will flash). Shoot the ball into the third lock and Multiball will start. The center scoop in normal play (to the right of the 3 bank Bit drop targets) will send the ball to the skillshot area.

[PainkillerAlice]

Got the 6 main missions outlined as far as what the objectives are for each mission. When each mission is completed one of the 6 characters faces will have a light light up around their face. Missions will be timed so if you fail to complete one in time the mission will stop and will need to be reactivated.

Each mission is started by hitting all 3 bit drop targets once (regardless of level).

[jimbod8]

Fixed the Multiball scoop issue by adding two extra timers to cover the other two balls if they go into the same scoop right after the first ball enters a scoop.

While I am designing the gameplay and scripting it in, I am releasing a current WIP for playtesting, especially on the multiball to make sure there aren't any bugs that need worked out before I script in the gameplay. I may be adding a few more objects on the table as the result of the gameplay design so this WIP may not be set in stone.

Tron WIP 7-20-2011

On achieving Multiball, first you have to hit the 'skillshot' 5X to activate the left loop lock (blue arrow will flash) then hit the 'skillshot' 5X more (or maybe 6, I can't remember ) to activate the right loop lock (blue arrow will flash). After 2 balls are locked the third lock is immediately available (blue arrow will flash). Shoot the ball into the third lock and Multiball will start. The center scoop in normal play (to the right of the 3 bank Bit drop targets) will send the ball to the skillshot area.

One observation from me: as the bumpers in the lower play area are set up it seems like it's very easy for the ball to get "stuck" - not in the literal sense, but in the sense that it'll bounce around for ages in there just racking up numbers without the player having to touch the machine. I just had a game where I collected over 200 grid bugs in a single visit to the chamber. Of course, if that's supposed to be normal then just ignore me - since only you know how easy or hard you actually want that part to be.

[PainkillerAlice]

Fixed the Multiball scoop issue by adding two extra timers to cover the other two balls if they go into the same scoop right after the first ball enters a scoop.

While I am designing the gameplay and scripting it in, I am releasing a current WIP for playtesting, especially on the multiball to make sure there aren't any bugs that need worked out before I script in the gameplay. I may be adding a few more objects on the table as the result of the gameplay design so this WIP may not be set in stone.

Tron WIP 7-20-2011

On achieving Multiball, first you have to hit the 'skillshot' 5X to activate the left loop lock (blue arrow will flash) then hit the 'skillshot' 5X more (or maybe 6, I can't remember ) to activate the right loop lock (blue arrow will flash). After 2 balls are locked the third lock is immediately available (blue arrow will flash). Shoot the ball into the third lock and Multiball will start. The center scoop in normal play (to the right of the 3 bank Bit drop targets) will send the ball to the skillshot area.

One observation from me: as the bumpers in the lower play area are set up it seems like it's very easy for the ball to get "stuck" - not in the literal sense, but in the sense that it'll bounce around for ages in there just racking up numbers without the player having to touch the machine. I just had a game where I collected over 200 grid bugs in a single visit to the chamber. Of course, if that's supposed to be normal then just ignore me - since only you know how easy or hard you actually want that part to be.

Yes that is normal. I played my table a ton and the 'stuck' area happens only so often as the results are kind of random. Sometimes you only get a couple of bumper hits and the ball drains.

Edited by Practicedummy, 21 July 2011 - 05:31 AM.

[PainkillerAlice]

Won't need any more input on the multiball feature on my Tron table for the time being. Found some bugs myself and tried to get them fixed and ended up with more problems due to the fixes, so I am scrapping the multiball code for now until after I get the gameplay coding in place. Then I will do the multiball coding from scratch and hope things turn out right this time concerning that.

[moondrummer78]

Thanks for sharing the WIP thus far and allow us to test it!

I played it quite a bit and am really enjoying it, but agree with what someone said earlier about the skill shot. The new Tron Legacy table gave me an idea to pass along. Maybe you could code something in so that if you held down the left flipper while plunging it would bypass the skill shot and launch the ball straight onto the playfield.

Really like the layout and the sounds. Excited to see how you code the gameplay.

Thanks!

[PainkillerAlice]

Thanks for sharing the WIP thus far and allow us to test it!

I played it quite a bit and am really enjoying it, but agree with what someone said earlier about the skill shot. The new Tron Legacy table gave me an idea to pass along. Maybe you could code something in so that if you held down the left flipper while plunging it would bypass the skill shot and launch the ball straight onto the playfield.

Really like the layout and the sounds. Excited to see how you code the gameplay.

Thanks!

I actually thought about that early on in the playfield designing and thought of it as a great idea but had to think of possible issues of the ball getting stuck in a place it wasn't meant to go and accuracy issues from the ball bouncing on the main playfield so I had to scrap that idea. A shame too because it would have been cool.

[PainkillerAlice]

Got the gameplay design done and now will start the scripting. Unfortunately I can't implement multiball into the table because of complexity issues with the scripting involving the scoops on the table.

[PainkillerAlice]

Status update: Got one-third of the scripting done before calling it a night.