I vote 4:3 tables, classic style. Everybody does angle independent tables these days, & of course that creates limitations to what can be done visually. I miss the days when we saw lots of EM reels & decals to render things that otherwise can't properly be rendered. I like tables like JP's but it sure would be nice to have more Scapino tables to add to the mix which offer things the angle independent tables can't.
As for 4:3, I think that is the way to go because people can play 4:3 easily no matter what monitor they have. But if you make a 16:9 table, then people with 4:3 or 16:10 monitors might have issues. I see people talk about widescreen tables & converting 4:3 to widescreen, but it almost seems like people forget that not even all widescreens are the same. I have a 16:10 monitor. Many PC monitors are still 16:10. I prefer 16:10. There probably isn't much distortion if you play a 16:9 table on 16:10 or vice-versa. Not sure how the scaling & all of that might work. I'll have to check out some 16:9 WS tables & see how that works on my 16:10.
I say the easy solution is just to make the table 4:3 & you can easily adjust it & release it for WS as well.
As for the alpha ramps problem. There might be an easy fix for that. Just set all the ramps that make up your post to "solid". As long as they have a transparent PNG image mapped to them, you should still get the exact same effect but with none of the slow down. The only difference would be that the ball will not be visible behind the post, but even in real life you can hardly ever notice a ball moving behind a transparent post. They are usually a bit cloudy anyhow, plus with the bolt running down through the post that blocks out much of it anyhow.
Most people certainly do still download desktop versions of tables, by far. The
FS cabinet people always get their special versions of tables that cater to their needs. So a nice rendered desktop table would be a long overdue treat for the desktop users who don't care much about angle independence.
I think when you look on these forums,
FS tables just seem more popular than what they really are. Well for one thing this site advertises & sells
FS cabs & parts, & this is where all the cabinet people gather to talk about their stuff & issues. They post more often than desktop users because they are dealing with cabinets & all the different moving parts & things that go along with that, which are things desktop users don't have to deal with. Desktop users don't have all these different elements to deal with, & so you don't hear as much from them.
Plus of course all the more casual
VP'ers out there, sooo many of them may not even post on these forums at all. They just want some simple, free pinball tables. They come & grab the latest stuff every now & then & we don't hear from them.
Say maybe 75% of all the desktop players out there don't even post much, if at all, on these forums. Meanwhile, nearly 100% of cab people post on these forums. I can't imagine doing all the things that need done to have a proper cab & not posting on these forums to show off pics, share ideas, get ideas, or whatever.
& things will probably continue to be this way, I think that forever that most users will be desktop users looking for an easy pinball fix, since obviously most pinball people aren't into it enough to spend thousands on cabs, or others might be like me & use their money to buy real pinballs & have
VP as a nice side hobby. Most users just want simple, free, desktop pinball goodness with no hassle, whether we hear from them or not.
So Kurt, your thought that hardly anybody would play your tables if you kept doing rendered tables I think can be thrown out the window. I think as many people as ever would be playing your tables. Even if I had a cab I'd still play your 4:3 tables on my desktop, as I'm sure most other cab users would as well. It's hard to pass up such nicely done tables & not play them just because they aren't angle indepenent. I just think it would be refreshing to see a new rendered table, which I've always been a fan of & tried my hand at myself doing some photo realistic decal tables.
However, I've never seen what you can do with an angle independent table, so its hard to say which I would like better. You could certainly try your hand at it, & if you enjoy it & others enjoy it, then that is fine, but I know many of us will play whatever type of table you want to put out there.
Maybe you should decide based on the table you are doing? For example, some tables you may have made years ago can now be done angle independent quite well. However there are still certain tables out there that might be better off if rendered. Tables with more complex shapes, models, or objects that still have some limitations when done in
VP. The list of tables that fall under this category is much smaller these days, but they are still out there. I can think of some Gottlieb's. For some reason I also have Zaccaria on my brain, since some of their tables have complex plastics or 3D plastics that would greatly benefit from a rendering. Your Operation Thunder is actually still a good example of a table that might be tough to do really well as an angle independent.
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