184 replies to this topic

[moogster66]

IMPRESSIVE! (In my best Darth Vader voice)

[destruk]

heh...

http://vpforums.org/destruk/eob2.avi

That ties up that little section. Adding sounds will be easy.

[destruk]

Got rid of the flickering on the score countdown.
http://vpforums.org/destruk/eob3.avi


I guess it's about time to start on the beginning of the game then.

[bolt]

Thanks for the video's destruk, all together are fantastic.

[njamont]

wow cool beans destruk, can i be a tester?

[razors78]

This is looking absolutely stunning, Destruk. Can't wait to see how you implement the sounds/music to this game!. Will be very interesting to see if it can be made as accurate as the real thing.But I'm sure you've got the magic touch to do that! Well done so far!

[destruk]

When there is actually something to "PLAY" then I'll accept some beta testers - probably 10 or so. Right now it's just a high score/match/end of ball routine, attract mode, and beginning logic framework code in it with nothing more than the absolute most basic sounds like plunger, ball release, etc etc. I did a lot of debugging today, tried a few more graphic alternatives with procedure code, etc. The addscore routine is kind of ready - sort of, but no score display and nothing awards points yet, - I've been 'prefilling' the variables with data to test my logic for all possible issues. And I have another 115GB of video captures to go through to come up with the in game graphics and all the game modes to go - so it's still a long ways off before it'd be worth your time to even test. It'll happen if I have anything to say in the matter, but it'll just take more time.

[njamont]

you are doing an amazing job.

i can see in now in the future on my cab the playfield on my main display and the graphics display on the backbox

Sweet

[kruge99]

It looks amazing destruk, I never imagined Pin2K would be emulated! I had a chance to play SWE1 pinball at the Toronto Pinball show back in May of this year and I must say, it's a better game than the reviewers give credit for it. I'm guessing it's the SWE1 theme that people focus too much on. I'd happily own one if I had the space and the credits.


Best Regards,
Todd.

[The Trout]

It looks amazing destruk, I never imagined Pin2K would be emulated! I had a chance to play SWE1 pinball at the Toronto Pinball show back in May of this year and I must say, it's a better game than the reviewers give credit for it. I'm guessing it's the SWE1 theme that people focus too much on.

People hate on SWE1 not because of the theme (though that certainly doesn't help) but because you can beat most of the game by just repeatedly shooting the ball into the huge opening in the center. It just gets boring because there's no variety. On location here in Phoenix, Ep 1 is sitting right next to Revenge, and while Ep 1 collects dust, someone is ALWAYS playing Revenge. Revenge is just a lot more fun.

That said, Destruk's recreation is still an amazing achievement and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

[destruk]

Actually, Revenge from Mars has nearly identical gameplay. Bash the middle targets to finish all modes in that too, just RFM has more teenage humor and better music, so I think people like it more because of that. If you check out the rulesheets for both games you'll see they are quite similar. Did you know Jar Jar Binks is one of the most hated characters in movie history?
http://www.urbandict...?...r Jar Binks

That said, since Episode 1 was made first, they didn't flesh out the game rules as well as they could have. Some minor issues even with the latest software:
When you lose the saber battle you still get 1,000,000 points anyway and increase your jedi rank emblem.
Getting any jedi rank emblem guarantees you the #1 spot on the jedi rank tables. No matter how well you did, the last person to gain a rank always gets #1.
The first time you are playing the sub escape mode, you can't get eaten by the fish.
If the game selects you as "Darth Maul" for your name and profile, Jedi Battles still have you playing as Qui-Gon - so no mirror match and no ability to actually play as the Sith.
None of the modes actually begin until you hit the center targets once after the mode is displayed - they will sit there waiting for you to hit the targets or lose the ball.
If a mode is running and you lose a ball, your next ball automatically picks up exactly where you left off - I need to confirm this, but getting 'perfect shooting' for hitting one target one time on a new ball makes this a bad rule.
Earlier software had the ability for unlimited ramp combos - they had to change that in the last revision to fix tournament mode, as the game used to be all about the ramps and nothing else made much difference.
Hangar Escape mode has an incorrect sound call - the display says you have torpedos but Anakin says "Use your lasers" - lasers are used in most of the other modes so it is understandable how this would happen.
Poor bonus point system - maximum of 5 million (5x 1 million) bonus with the possibility of 100,000 increments - so a 10-state bonus system with a multiplier is quite weak.
Weak rules layout - the r2D2 lane is only used for skill shot, extra balls, and 2310 points for rollover. The c3PO lane is predictable and awards the 2310 rollover value. The left and right standup banks only appear to increase your laser count, scoring, and activate the magnet.
You can 'steal' other players' multiballs in multiplayer games.

The Jar Jar Binks videos and voice calls, the Amidala monotone serious voice calls and stupid hairstyles - I nicknamed one of her pictures "Spaghettihead" and she is quite ugly. I have no idea what Lucas was going for with her - wanting her to dress up as every indiginous race on Earth? http://media.photobu...n_Amidala_2.jpg Anakin's not all that bad but being yelled at by a 6 year old kid with such amazing lines as "You have the force too!" and "A real jedi wouldn't tilt" makes me think I'm playing with a bunch of little kids.

There are plenty of other reasons this game isn't seen as all that great - these are just a few I noticed and can list off the top of my head.

Anyway, I need to get back to work on this.

[ianski]

This is really exciting, fantastic work indeed Destruk and such attention to detail!
I'll be happy to contribute a little bit towards the project.

I haven't ever seen a real EP1 but i've played RFM a few times and that machine is really great and would dearly love to see it recreated.

I remember experimenting with vpdisco ages ago with my own "pinball 2000" style concept
(of course I never got remotely around to finishing it)
- I also used a semi opaque image of the playfield as the background to fake transparency,
it looked really nice apart from of course the ball can't be seen behind it.

It's a shame you aren't in the UK - I could probably get you a decent job coding games with my company
(we have a reccomendation scheme thing going on - you've got plenty of experience!)
So I wish you the best of luck with the job hunt.

Thanks very much for everything you contribute to us pinball fans

[The Trout]

The theme does make a different no doubt, but Revenge still has more variety. The ramp shots make far more of a difference. Blindly shooting the middle in Revenge won't get you much until it's time for the mode to end (in which case the ramp will pop up). On Ep 1, shooting the ramps and orbits seems to be optional most of the time. The middle shot is almost always lit to destroy whatever mode you have going at the time. It doesn't help that you can just use the lasers to blow away anything to the left and right.

But ultimately, yeah, I guess the theme does make a pretty big difference. Revenge is a HUGELY entertaining game with big laughs from almost every mode. Episode 1 makes me wanna punch a baby every time Anakin speaks.

[destruk]

I need to know which fonts these are please. Unless you don't mind using the wrong fonts for in-game. I had thought I was done, I mean I got all the fonts done/created for attract mode, the match sequence, and the end of ball routines. However, in the actual game it looks like they have two more fonts (ugh).

The font used for the player character names, ball in play, free play text in game, and lasers overlay is different from the font used for in-game scoring. Here are a few pictures. I tried What the Font and Identifont online, and I searched through another thousand or so fonts I have and I can't seem to locate an exact match.

'Something close' doesn't cut it for this, I prefer to use the actual fonts if they can be determined.


Anyway,

[Joe]

Actually, Revenge from Mars has nearly identical gameplay. Bash the middle targets to finish all modes in that too, just RFM has more teenage humor and better music, so I think people like it more because of that. If you check out the rulesheets for both games you'll see they are quite similar. Did you know Jar Jar Binks is one of the most hated characters in movie history?
http://www.urbandict...?...r Jar Binks

That said, since Episode 1 was made first, they didn't flesh out the game rules as well as they could have. Some minor issues even with the latest software:
When you lose the saber battle you still get 1,000,000 points anyway and increase your jedi rank emblem.
Getting any jedi rank emblem guarantees you the #1 spot on the jedi rank tables. No matter how well you did, the last person to gain a rank always gets #1.
The first time you are playing the sub escape mode, you can't get eaten by the fish.
If the game selects you as "Darth Maul" for your name and profile, Jedi Battles still have you playing as Qui-Gon - so no mirror match and no ability to actually play as the Sith.
None of the modes actually begin until you hit the center targets once after the mode is displayed - they will sit there waiting for you to hit the targets or lose the ball.
If a mode is running and you lose a ball, your next ball automatically picks up exactly where you left off - I need to confirm this, but getting 'perfect shooting' for hitting one target one time on a new ball makes this a bad rule.
Earlier software had the ability for unlimited ramp combos - they had to change that in the last revision to fix tournament mode, as the game used to be all about the ramps and nothing else made much difference.
Hangar Escape mode has an incorrect sound call - the display says you have torpedos but Anakin says "Use your lasers" - lasers are used in most of the other modes so it is understandable how this would happen.
Poor bonus point system - maximum of 5 million (5x 1 million) bonus with the possibility of 100,000 increments - so a 10-state bonus system with a multiplier is quite weak.
Weak rules layout - the r2D2 lane is only used for skill shot, extra balls, and 2310 points for rollover. The c3PO lane is predictable and awards the 2310 rollover value. The left and right standup banks only appear to increase your laser count, scoring, and activate the magnet.
You can 'steal' other players' multiballs in multiplayer games.

The Jar Jar Binks videos and voice calls, the Amidala monotone serious voice calls and stupid hairstyles - I nicknamed one of her pictures "Spaghettihead" and she is quite ugly. I have no idea what Lucas was going for with her - wanting her to dress up as every indiginous race on Earth? http://media.photobu...n_Amidala_2.jpg Anakin's not all that bad but being yelled at by a 6 year old kid with such amazing lines as "You have the force too!" and "A real jedi wouldn't tilt" makes me think I'm playing with a bunch of little kids.

There are plenty of other reasons this game isn't seen as all that great - these are just a few I noticed and can list off the top of my head.

Anyway, I need to get back to work on this.

Both games have poor rules and the default setting suck NO REPLAYS (just EB for fixed score) default setting. No ball saver in the older software. the crash bug in the old software on RFM. no auto launcher on SWEP1.

[TAB]

The fonts are very difficult.
Comes nearly, but not identy.
Text - OCR-A
Numbers - Elbaris

[highrise]

keep up the good work! looking forward to it

[destruk]

Another 5 days and another video clip...

http://vpforums.org/...k/sabersnew.avi

This has the intro sequence, player control code, the animated light sabers... The fonts are all customized now since I couldn't find anything close enough online.

[Dazz]

I really need to stop looking at this thread... Knowing that a FS version isn't really coming just makes me sad.

[bolt]

Awesome work destruk.