To Ade. ( I am assuming you are going to come back to this thread for more reading),
I have not been able to get a decent screen shot of the rendering on my cab, but I'm going to chime in anyway.
First, please offer compliments to your rendering artist. It is a fantastic work of making something that is 2D appear almost 3D. Second, as I view the rendering on my cab, it seems to change a little bit in depth depending on whether I am standing in flipper-ready position, or if I back away for a longer range viewing. I.E. the objects appear to change in relation to each other depending on how near or far from the cab that I stand ( I know they don't change relationally, but that is the super cool brain bender that comes to me from viewing this rendering).
For instance, regarding the flasher at the back that is a little bit out of round: As I step back from the cab about 4 feet/ 1.2 meters, this flasher loses a little depth and appears to straighten out a little. (For those of you with this rendering on your cab, try stepping back a few feet from your cab and see if you see what I am talking about).
There are three more objects that seem to play the same relationship mind game as I stand back from the cab. I would have to say that if I could stand back and play the rendering from 4 feet/1 meter away, it would be the perfect rendering in all ways. I saw those sidewalk pictures on the Kickstarter link, so I am cognizant of what you are working on here.
#2) The Time Machine appears to flatten out when I stand back. The effect is subtle, but the optical illusion is there. I'm not saying the close up view of the Time Machine is bad. Not at all. It is just an illusion I noticed.
#3) The ball lock globe appears oblong in flipper ready view, but becomes more round as I stand back.
#4) The ball lock catch basket is a little bit different than the other items. If I lean over with my head in the middle of the cab, the catcher appears to lean forward and grow taller, but as I lean back and back away from the cab, that catcher seems to move with me and lean backwards and get shorter, as well ! And no, I'm not smoking anything 
(Hey, you all try it. Rock your head back and forth over your cab and see if that catcher follows you, or not).
I bring these items up because at flipper ready position there is a bit of what I call "helicopter" view; A sense of one being very tall and towering over the machine. I find that if I cover the lock basket with my left hand that some of this helicopter view angle seems to dissipate. Maybe when you are tweaking things you could mess around with catcher a little. On the other hand, trying to tweak the catcher might have deleterious results in relation to the rest of the table.
I have one last item. For this, I need to use pictures. I loaded my original Timeshock CD and took pics of three of the four table viewing choices.
The first pic is of Table #2: This was my favorite view to play so many years ago. I am 5 feet six inches / 1.6 meters tall and this view feels what I am used to seeing when I stand in front of a pinball machine. This view shows the ball lock catcher leaning forward (see above), but I am more interested in the presidents faces (Rushmore), at this point forward. With this view I am looking into the eyes of Rushmore. I see their foreheads and I see their eyes.
The next pic is of table choice #3. This view is what I imagine a tall person sees when standing at a pinball machine. In this view, the ball catcher is starting to lean back a little bit. If you compare this view with the catcher in the rendering, I think you can see the leaning back appearance of the catcher that I spoke of earlier. Of course, the catcher in View #3 is static and does not display those amazing movements in the rendered catcher that I described. Once again, as I look at Rushmore, I can still see the eyes.
The last pic is a juxtaposition of the rendering and Table View #4 from Timeshock. View #4 is the overhead shot. Placed side by side, the rendering is absolutely amazing. I compare the rendering to what I see when I place the rendering on my cab, and the subtle changes blow me away. The high peak of the Time Machine is especially noticeable in the desktop view of the rendering when compared to what I see on my cab. But I want to concentrate on the heads of Rushmore in TAble View #4. In #4, what we see is the tops of the heads. The eyes are completely removed in this topdown view.
While the rendering artist does show some of the eyes in the rendering, I don't think we see enough of the eyes. I am thinking if you could tweak the Rushmore heads by leaning them back a little and possibly do something with the lock catcher, that it might give us the illusion of being closer to the table. And the table might appear to look a little more angled.
So, all of that verbiage above to get to these two items. Sorry. I never can seem to get my thoughts across in two or three sentences like many others are able to do. If you have managed to read this far, I hope my thoughts came across clearly.
Even if your team's tweaking efforts do not bear fruit, what you have right here, right now, is super. I think Barnstorm is on the verge of raising the bar for computer/console pinball games.
My guess that once the render is colored up and the ball is rolling, we will forget about these items that are very minor.
I am a Multiball backer. I hope I can bring something to the table with the alpha-beta testing that is coming.
Cheers !!
Edited by cottonm4, 12 September 2013 - 06:29 AM.
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