109 replies to this topic

[lodger]

Hey all-

 

I wanted to see if anyone was interested in seeing if we might be able to get some teams together to develop original tables. Basically, the goal would be to help people network and mentor with other people who can design, to learn the process of project managment, programming, etc. Any skills, such as drawing, sound design, table design, project managment could be a great resource to help spawn some new games.

 

I'm happy to help where I can or to help manage projects if anyone is interested.

 

Post here if you're interested in collaborating.

 

-Lodger

 

 

[EalaDubhSidhe]

Best way to start would be if we gather everyone's particular skill sets in a list.

[allknowing2012]

I am game but I am no arteest. :-) can we do a ghostbusters before Stern or what about the Dukes of Hazard they are brainstorming over on pinside or.. or...

[EalaDubhSidhe]

Ghostbusters was one I wanted to do. There's actually quite of elements in the Stern game that I would have done the same way myself.

[lodger]

Personally, I can do programming, sound design, some composing (particularly good for anything funky/electronic/etc.), I also have a few tables under my belt, and a few that I never released but learned a lot from. A theme i was thinking of the other day that could be really interesting would be The Regular Show. Depending, that could hit a whole new audience of would be players

[kruge99]

Well, when I saw the title of this thread I thought "c00L!" an original themed table.  Not to sound condescending but why the talk of using themes of things we already know?  Why not go all out and come up with an original theme as well?  When was the last time someone thought about building a new pinball machine (virtual or real) that didn't rely on an existing license, outside of Heighway pinball?  What about going back to one of the old standards and creating an original table based upon, a generic theme like, bowling, card themed, pool table themed, or sci-fi/fantasy themed?

 

Take some of the ideas from lodger's other threads where we talked about table components and layouts and combine them into an original table designed as a team?

 

 

Best Regards,

Kruge99

[lodger]

Well, when I saw the title of this thread I thought "c00L!" an original themed table.  Not to sound condescending but why the talk of using themes of things we already know?  Why not go all out and come up with an original theme as well?  When was the last time someone thought about building a new pinball machine (virtual or real) that didn't rely on an existing license, outside of Heighway pinball?  What about going back to one of the old standards and creating an original table based upon, a generic theme like, bowling, card themed, pool table themed, or sci-fi/fantasy themed?

 

Take some of the ideas from lodger's other threads where we talked about table components and layouts and combine them into an original table designed as a team?

 

 

Best Regards,

Kruge99

 

Well, when I saw the title of this thread I thought "c00L!" an original themed table.  Not to sound condescending but why the talk of using themes of things we already know?  Why not go all out and come up with an original theme as well?  When was the last time someone thought about building a new pinball machine (virtual or real) that didn't rely on an existing license, outside of Heighway pinball?  What about going back to one of the old standards and creating an original table based upon, a generic theme like, bowling, card themed, pool table themed, or sci-fi/fantasy themed?

 

Take some of the ideas from lodger's other threads where we talked about table components and layouts and combine them into an original table designed as a team?

 

 

Best Regards,

Kruge99

Good point.I think that I threw the existing theme out there in the interest of finding something with a lot of prefabricated assets/sound/art as a jumping in point.

 

A handful of *new* ideas I've been kicking around is an exterminator based table where you are taking down bugs, etc could have a lot of charm,  (another profession related one) a game built around being the *worst librarian ever* and having to find books, put books places, and dodge falling debris in the process.

 

I'm finishing 2 tables now, so these were on the horizon if anyone might want to explore any of those with me

 

-Lodger

[kruge99]

Here's what I came up with while I was asleep last night:

 

-make the theme based on the nuclear threat between two imaginary super continents. (come up with their names later)

-take a name like "Asteroid Annie" and put a spin on it to get a new name:  "Nuclear Niki"  who is a double agent/spy who's working for a mysterious third party.  Her job is to go around the world and complete several tasks (game modes) in order to save humanity and the final wizard mode will be to have a peace summit between the two supper powers running the planet.

 

-take an existing layout - say something like Alien Poker and mirror the playfield to mix it up but don't use the rom (because we want to adjust the rules away from being poker based)

-adjust the layout to accommodate these table features: three jet bumpers (instead of 4), three flippers, three ball multi-ball, outlane kicker return, outlane gate ball save to plunger, three saucers as locks for multi-ball, three stand up targets, 7 drop targets in a bank of 3 and a bank of 4, borrow the trunk from Theatre of Magic to be the fallout shelter and one as an underground nuclear storage bunker.

-might need to be a wide body to accommodate these (and maybe more) features

 

Some game play modes can include:

 

-Steal and hide the nuclear bombs from both super powers mode: Nuclear Niki has to collect nuclear bombs hidden around the globe by the two super powers by hitting the three stand up targets then she has to deposit them in the nuclear bunker to save humanity. A subway returns the ball to the trough  If the timer runs out she has 5 seconds to get the bomb into one of the saucers to defuse it in the field. (making a ball lock)

 

-Save the citizens mode: Nuclear Niki has to knock down all the drop targets in numerical ascending order to get the fallout shelter mode enabled, next Niki has to gather the citizens by locking three balls in the saucers without hitting any of the drop targets or the stand up targets.  Once the 3 saucers have balls locked, initiates 3 ball multiball and has to get all three balls in the Fallout Shelter before the timer runs out.  A subway returns the ball to the trough.

 

That's all I came up with for now.

 

 

Best Regards,

Kruge99.

[EalaDubhSidhe]

Why not actually make it a game based on stopping an asteroid strike, like a modern-say Meteor?

[kruge99]

Why not actually make it a game based on stopping an asteroid strike, like a modern-say Meteor?

 

Wow! Great idea and what incredible irony, I was playing a Meteor last night at the Church of the Silverball!

[unclewilly]

I wanna do an original or 2

[EalaDubhSidhe]

PLus of course, Circe's Animal Alehouse, which I still have every intention of making.

[lodger]

Any thoughts on what sort of era you'd want to start on? might be easiest at first to do a solid state sort of game to get everyone used to the ebb and flow of design as well as what story you can tell with a game. With the meteor idea, who would be destroying the meteor, how would they do it/what would they need to assemble, and what would justify continued gameplay after the initial objective is completed?

[shannon1]

This is a great topic and I would love to help in the art department.  Maybe on the table draw or redraw? I love the idea of a Regular Show table or a Spawn table that used some of the animated HBO series for the DMD.

[lodger]

If you're interested, we can table (no pun intended) the regular show for another time; I agree w K that doing a fully original theme might be the way to go for the first project

[sliderpoint]

I would like to see AIW come around.  No, not the pinside flamefest, this one. I think WOOLY is mostly wrapped up so it would be cool if T-800 would come back around to that project.  I think it looks like a fun layout.

 

-Mike

[kruge99]

Well, lets work on a design document to start with.  What elements - if any - should we keep from my original idea post - and marry it with the Meteor theme suggested by Eala?

ie: Are there going to be any other protagonists besides the Meteor and are we going to go with the heroin of Nuclear Niki or would this be a job better suited to an already known heroin like Asteroid Annie? Or what if they teamed up?

 

Best Regards,

Kruge99.

 

p.s. edit - kind of Asteroid Annie meets the guys from Alien Poker to meets Big Bang Bar (for the humour!!)

Edited by kruge99, 27 February 2016 - 09:58 PM.

[lodger]

Well there's always the angle of "getting the gang back together" to fight a meteor...a little bit monster bash, but still workable.

or to steal an idea from a table i didnt release, how about if there are about 5-6 main characters with specialties, the player you choose determines what the specific rules of the modes are.

the rationale for the repeated attempts could be that the team, rather than try to blow up the asteroid, try to send it back/forward in time...only to be sucked into their own vortex and having to repeat the experience.

It would be cool to retain a bit of a gottleib art feel if anyone is decent with that style

[Shoopity]

Poop, I had written up a whole post about my idea for a pseudo original table, but it got lost in the site dump.  Let me make this one quick, if you want more details I'd be happy to go into them.

 

A Captain EO table; I know it's not original, but it's obscure enough to fake it.  And even if you don't want to use an existing IP, I think it might be good enough to generalize it.

If you're not familiar with Captain EO, google it.  The game is, you're the captain who has to assemble your crew for your spaceship prior to going on the mission The Corp has assigned to you.  This is done by shooting one of the major shots to start collecting that member, then needing to make various shots to actually collect them.  Or, do more like MB and shoot each shot enough times to collect them (but I lean towards the prior).  Once you collect the crew members, you then have to make it past the orbital patrol to land on the planet, sneak in to the Supreme Leader's chambers, fight off the gaurds, and finally transform the leader.  This would be a music heavy game.  I'm not sure if MB's music changes depending on who you've collected, but I think it would be cool to use layered music so different instruments layers get added as you collect the crew.

 

You could go totally fantasy with this table; I've had the idea for a long time now to utilize .visible and .collideable attributes to completely change a table, multiple tables in one.  You could even animate the primitives to make it look like the pieces are moving on and off the field.  Or you could just stick with a realistic table.  Obviously I'm thinking more of a post 90's era pin.

 

I'd love to help with coding.

Edited by Shoopity, 01 March 2016 - 03:57 PM.

[lodger]

Shoopity- that sounds really interesting. One of the ideas i had that might be used regardless if for the meteor themed table or the captain EO is that once you collect characters, having a kicker or something that lets you select a player with the L and R flippers and then hit launch ball to select. The character you have selected might be instrumental in launching a mode (i.e. complete a certain bank with  a player active to launch a mode, completing with any other character does not launch the mode) or having certain players might change scoring or make objectives easier (i.e. have an engine room that consists of 3 bumpers, you need 20 bumps to complete the mode normally, but if you have the mechanic selected, you accomplish this goal faster/get an additional reward for it. ) This would be pretty easily Implemented, but would add a lot of stuff to explore as a player.