Personally I hope that this is just a glitch in the forums, it has happened before, and that they will be up and running again soon. If not then well it was nice while it lasted. Fp is closed software, and as far as I can tell the guts have been created by a very clever one man team - if I have got this wrong then appols to those who were involved. Anyone who has designed a table will know that this takes a lot of time, so I can only guess how much time building the engine took.
If this is the end of Fp development, and I sincerely hope that it is not, then perhaps those out there who would like to have a 3d pinball emulator might like to consider putting an open project together. There have been attempts to do so in the past on Linux (Linball and Emilia being the two examples I have managed to find, though neither appear active projects) and there are many very successful open projects out there (Gimp, Scribus, Inkscape etc).
You would need some very good coders, and pinball is rather specialised, but there are folks out there who like this kind of challenge. I have no idea how you would start but looking at ODE (the open dynamics engine) is a thought.
In the meantime. Good luck, hello and lets play pinball.
Its important to remember that
FP was developed by more than just a one man team even although many people probably see it that way. Don't forget to give a huge thankyou to Lio for all those models otherwise we would just be looking at a blank playfield (as well as Steve for his unofficial models). Im sure the developers of Newton Physics engine also helped out along the way as well. Black's efforts were obviously huge but we have others to thank as well as him, not to mention the table creators who put in such a fantastic effort.
Hi Gravy,
Many thanks for the history heads up - I had no idea that Lio was responsible for all the models. Equally I did not know the situation behind Newton's involvement. I came very late to
FP, long after it's inception and although I'd love to build a small cabinet such things take time and money (I lack both). I have the greatest of respect for anyone who can do stuff I cannot be they developer, model builder (and having tried to do this I know it's hard to learn), table designer, musician , artist, sculpture... well you get the idea.. Steve's new models added a new dimension to
FP and I never really got the chance to see what they could do, oh well.
I came to pinball 'cos I was useless at all the video games in the arcades and never won on the slots (ever!). Decades ago there was a 2d construction kit on the BBC micro (might have been available on others) and it has taken a loooong time for the technology to be able to give us anything like the experience of playing a real table. So it's a shame we appear to be in this difficult situation.
At present I am waiting and hoping things will be resolved. Someone mentioned that a pinball editor/ engine would take a lot of work. Yes it would, and I hope that such work will not be necessary. Equally reverse engineering is a big no. It would not be right or proper, legal etc. If there comes a need(? - probably wrong word) for a new system then an open development team (or similar) might be a way forward.
In the meantime I play pinball - badly.
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