109 replies to this topic

[lodger]

I'll have a go at the Independence Day style bumpers and have an idea of how to renovate things to accommodate that. The upper right was a bit of a success, bit of a mess...hoping to use that for bumper purposes as suggested. Regarding the lower playfield, I have no clue how to go about implementing that...I'd need to defer to a more advanced builder.

 

So a few ideas that I had regarding the idea of player implementation is that playing through a mode as the captain gives you the vanilla mode. the daredevil version of a mode would give additional value to combos completed during the mode (you might have to complete a combo as well as the objective to complete the mode..or for combo related goals this could be really helpful), the repair guy would gain time on goals,  but may pay out less  etc to accomplish objectives, the scientist would probably require goals to be completed with more precision, i.e. in order but would have an additional jackpot to completing the mode. the Marine/ballistics person might get higher bonuses on targets but may have more limited time.

 

Complete the mode to get credit for it with that character. If you complete for example certain goals with certain players, that might improve scoring or opportunities on other modes.

[cyberpez]

I can definitely help with the lower playfield if you/others think it's a good idea.  It's something we would want to start implementing early though as we would have to raise everything up...  On Black Hole, I used a wall as the upper playfield with holes cut into it set at a height of 300. (so all upper playfield object are at a start height of 300) The lower playfield was a ramp.  It's not hard to do just tedious angling everything right.  

 

Downsides.... We would loose all reflections.  I also read somewhere that we would loose a bit in physics, but my current version of BH is playing pretty well I think.  Another is we cannot use the built-in VP lights as they do not work on an angle..  we would have to use the old fading light/flasher trickery..  still looks pretty good though.

 

Let me know what you guys think and if we want to go ahead with at least a test, I can take your new version of the table and add in a lower playfield.  I think a good entry point would be under your ramp5.....  Complete "whatever" missions.. to raise the ramp then shoot to a hole in the PF to enter the lower level.  As for a reentry point..  maybe an up kicker to the ramp behind the 3 drop targets in the lower right hand corner...?  or?

 

If the whole idea is vetoed, no worries  

[nFozzy]

I have the lower PF on Congo working with reflections and VP10 lights. The insert lights ghost a bit in DT mode because they're floating flat above lower playfield, but other than that it works.

 

Unless you're set on modeling a square or other irregular shape for the hole instead of a kicker object, shouldn't be any reason to change the playfield height. Check Ninuzzu's Tommy script for how to get the ball to kick back onto the main level.

[lodger]

the lower PF would be awesome- if you want to take a stab at that, go for it and post up for everyone to check out. I tried to do the bumper idea but feel like i really fell short again tonight...that's an Achilles heel of mine for now. If anyone wants to take a stab at it go for it and post up!

[lodger]

A few more ideas:

for the upper right flipper loop, what if we use that as a shot that "charges" a battery/cell for particular tasks. every pass adds a letter to a "Charge" spell out, when this is on, the spinner will be charged, but this might be necessary to solve different puzzles/ i.e. has to be completed with a charge level of 2 or more. As a timer ticks by, the spell out will deplete one letter at a time.

 

I'm really interested in the idea of a lower playfield- I'm wondering what sort of layout would be best- I'm a big fan of the upper playfield in WWF Royal Rumble and wonder if we'd be able to expand on that sort of idea?

 

I'd also be curious to see how we might use magnets on the playfield for particular modes or areas 

 

Regarding art for the ship, I think a lot of cues could be drawn for the mechanical look from games like Bride of Pinbot and Space Shuttle.

[hauntfreaks]

I dont have a ton of time at the moment, so i couldnt really start anything from scratch......, but i do have a close to ready VPX of the band "Slaver" table (graphically) no coding AT ALL, this isnt everyones cup of tea but would be great is another fan that had the scripting skills it would be a great project for them... I would be leaving rules and such  up to code author  

 

I also have a FP version of "the Nightmare before Christmas" that would need to be converted to VPX (i havent a clue how to do that)  and again complete freedom on the rules

 

Edited by hauntfreaks, 08 March 2016 - 03:45 PM.

[EalaDubhSidhe]

If that's the Nightmare Before Christmas being developed by Mark Incitti, I'm also acting as an unofficial advisor on that game, helping to smooth off the rough edges and spot any potential prototyping problems. I've been building up the refined layout in VP 9.9.

[hauntfreaks]

If that's the Nightmare Before Christmas being developed by Mark Incitti, I'm also acting as an unofficial advisor on that game, helping to smooth off the rough edges and spot any potential prototyping problems. I've been building up the refined layout in VP 9.9.

 

nah this was started a few years ago over in the Future Pinball forums.... it started out as an abandoned project i reskinned and thats where it sits today...

has a lower spin area like oogies roulette table.... 

 

also here is jacks house I started to model

 

Edited by hauntfreaks, 08 March 2016 - 05:34 PM.

[lodger]

Hauntfreaks, once we get a bit further with the layout and graphics, would you be willing to offer feedback? Your eye for color and design are very good and I'm sure we'd benefit a lot from it.

[cyberpez]

@nFozzy..  thanks for the tip, I'd not tried it that way before.  worked out well.  I do not foresee a need for odd shaped holes on this table so should work.

 

I added a "quick and dirty" basement to the table, along with very Q&D upper and lower playfield images.  And a generic layout of what I was thinking...  complete left or right DT bank to increase "power"....meteor hit multiplier?  But definitely open to whatever...  You can raise the top right ramp with the "T" key and lower again with the "Y" key.  I don't think I messed up any of the other ramps, but did not give it much more testing beside making sure you could get in and out of the basement.  So if the physics or shots suck..  sorry

 

Here is a link to the table

 

https://www.dropbox....3-5-cp.vpx?dl=0

[lodger]

@nFozzy..  thanks for the tip, I'd not tried it that way before.  worked out well.  I do not foresee a need for odd shaped holes on this table so should work.

 

I added a "quick and dirty" basement to the table, along with very Q&D upper and lower playfield images.  And a generic layout of what I was thinking...  complete left or right DT bank to increase "power"....meteor hit multiplier?  But definitely open to whatever...  You can raise the top right ramp with the "T" key and lower again with the "Y" key.  I don't think I messed up any of the other ramps, but did not give it much more testing beside making sure you could get in and out of the basement.  So if the physics or shots suck..  sorry

 

Here is a link to the table

 

https://www.dropbox....3-5-cp.vpx?dl=0

Well done Cyberpez! This adds a totally new dimension to the table. total win. I like the steel look, but might that work best on plastics? I love that it looks like the outer window of the ship.

I'm going to take another shot at the bumpers this evening- Will post what i have

[lodger]

built a bit on cyberpez's update- changed the upper section by adding bumpers, some drop targets and changed how you enter into the central ramp.

 

https://www.dropbox....3-8-16.vpx?dl=0

[kruge99]

built a bit on cyberpez's update- changed the upper section by adding bumpers, some drop targets and changed how you enter into the central ramp.

 

https://www.dropbox....3-8-16.vpx?dl=0

 

It's looking good!  I'm not sure how to hit that tiny loop on the middle left side of the table so maybe take a look at that area.

 

I'm adding some gates and rollover lanes to the upper playfield above the bumper area to make the ball drop into this area for the plunger skillshot.  I'll upload it to dropbox when I'm done.

 

The entry to the left ramp seems to be a bit narrow and may need to be widened. 

 

I was unable to gain access to the lower playfield so maybe I missed the post where/how to activate this?

 

Overall this is really great progress!

 

 

Best Regards,

Kruge99.

[lodger]

Kruge99- good suggestions. to answer your questions, regarding the lower PF I think I uploaded a version that may not have had the lower PF visible (I was working with the other backdrop just because its easier to see the outline view of objects in the editor. to Open the lower pf, you currently have to hit a key and that opens the mid left ramp.) Regarding hitting the centermost loop (what I'm presuming you were referring to), you hit the lane on the far left which feeds into the flipper on the far right. The lane by the flipper goes to a VUK/Kicker that feeds to the wire ramp going down along the left.

 

A few things that I was hoping to do is to resize/angle the left ramp, realign and design the kicker to a saucer which I imagine could be a scoop for launching modes. I am really on a kick for ramps that open and close, it might be nice to set up another one for launching modes.

 

I'd welcome anyone's feedback regarding the tiny loop close to the left slingshot- I was initially thinking in terms of having some triggers in there but am not 100% sold on the idea.

 

I'd also like to add a spinner to the mix as well.

 

I think layout will be refined a bit once we start to talk about rules/potential plot and making things fit together.

[unclewilly]

Can someone post a sceen shot. I'm in the middle of moving and wont have access to my pc or internet for a week or 2 and I'd love to give some feedback

[cyberpez]

Here is a screenshot with my playfield (so you can see the basement again.)

 

To open the ramp it's the "T" key...  and "Y" to close it again.  

 

I like Kruges idea of maybe adding a gate and lanes right above the bumpers..  We could maybe do something like in Rocky and Bullwinkle for a skill shot..  have the ball bounce off the gate and into the lanes and you can pick your bonus with a rotating lane light...  other times we could open the gate so you could do loop shots...

 

I like the new playfield layout though!!  Bumpers add quite a bit.  The left ramp could be a bit wider though, but should have room with only three center targets though.

 

Yeah the playfield was very quick and dirty....  just so I had something to work around...  Glad you liked it though ...  I hope a real artist steps up to make something real nice :-)   With the table description of the crew and what not, it had me thinking of the interior of the ship from Firefly or the Millennium Falcon...  old "rundown" ship lots of parts exposed...    the upper playfield is the interior of the ship and then a window out to space for the lower..

 

 

 

Attached Files

•  meteor1.jpg   143.12KB   7 downloads

[kruge99]

ok I didn't do much testing for placement but here is what I sort of had in mind.  Someone will still need to script up a switch on either side of the pegs and align everything to prevent double-firing/scoring on the switches. 

 

https://www.dropbox....3-9-16.vpx?dl=0

 

 

Best Regards,

Kruge99.

[lodger]

One trick that I had used on a recent table that worked like a charm before we get into coding too much was to dim 2 arrays one for switches (one for each player, 99 total) and one for gamevars(player, 99) to keep track of game events. Switches are for bools, gamevars are for integer values. I found it worked well to keep track of things that need to be changed, to clear necessary things between balls you can just use a for loop to

 

for a=0 to 49

switches(player, a)=0

next

 

This ends up being super tidy and saves a lot of hastle trying to recall what everything is named, etc. I just print a spreadsheet that has what is assigned to each of the parts of the array.

[lodger]

I had an idea with the table that could help take care of an eventual issue with the amount of space we'll have for displaying things like modes, what character is active, etc. The idea would be to have a mini DMD/display over the 3 targets in the center. I know from a previous thread that it is possible to change the angle of a ramp/primitive/object to reflect the view angle (I believe this was discussed re: flashers). What I was thinking might work is to have a mini display that is like the hinged LCD's you see on some calculators that will auto adjust according to the view. What you could do then is swap the image or if it is on a primitive, change texture according to what the displayed message is. Granted it wouldn't be the most elaborate as far as animation, but it would offer a nice addition to dmd when its added.

 

for the character select, how would it work if you hit the 3 middle targets and hit the vuk channel- you are prompted to select your character and then hit the launch button to select and trigger the vuk. The id badge of the character you choose would show up on the mini display.

[cyberpez]

Hmmm  I'm interested to see how your game/mode save stuff works..  I have a pretty elaborate setup for saving modes and player scores setup in a table I'm working on..  mine worked with extra drains..  one to save the scores/mode..  kick to the next that clears everything... then everything gets restored when the ball is launched for the next player.  Yours seems simpler though :-)  Not that I understood it, but sounded simpler

 

I like your mini display idea also..  You could also change an instruction card on the apron to be a character card..  could give stats, or info on each character you pick..

 

I wonder how hard it would be to adapt something like this to work with flashers..  I'm using a stipped down (2x 2-digit) displays for credits and ball number on the table I was talking about..  if you could use flashers as mini bulbs, you might be able to make a pretty cool display too..  I'd have to look into how hard it would be to convert it.. hmmmm

 

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