7 replies to this topic

[anthias]

The album for LH8 is out now, find a link to download it for free from the website at lunarhowlmusic.Wordpress.com, lyrics at https://lunarhowlmus...8-frozen-north/
If youre into the music and narrative, please enjoy! A table will be built.

Blurb from that page:

Some lines are crossed in a moment and echo for a lifetime.

In a new home, old streets return in new shapes as the pack is drawn toward the frozen north. When troubled kids from the wrong side of town reopen wounds buried since the early days, two wolves are forced to face the same choice that scarred them in opposite ways. One was seen too clearly. One was never seen at all.

Now the ice is beginning to crack.

This is Lunas album, an unflinching and honest exploration of homelessness, the wrong side of town, social invisibility and erasure. I was within a hairs breadth of scrapping this entire album as it looked like it was looking like the rest of the album straying so far from what Lunar Howl is as a band I didnt think it could be salvaged. But then track eight came along and saved it all.


This one was tough, nearly broke Luna by pushing her deep into the traumas of her background, so the bands creator had to step in again lyrically. But the result? The first half is a deep dive into Lunas experiences of homelessness, social invisibility and erasure in Montreal before the band. Then on track eight the pack arrives with a bang, and the second half is present day Luna leading the pack into the physical frozen north of the wrong side of town to find the kids (the ones they began to mentor at the end of Sister Storm with the track Pass the Flame) who are missing and help them escape the emotional and social frozen north she herself survived. Luna sees and recognises the same trauma she survived now happening to the kids. And she says no. Not this time. Not again. Frozen North is the eighth Lunar Howl album and its heavy. 16 all new tracks. No two part tracks on this. And every track is a banger!
Track List
1 Threshold
2 Signal Drop
3 Peripheral Glow
4 Wrong Frame
5 No Reply
6 On My Terms
7 It Remains
8 They Stay
9 Back At The Threshold
10 Beside You
11 Cycle Interruption
12 We Stay Beside Them
13 Back Across
14 Not The Same Road
15 The Shape We Bring
16 Final State
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[anthias]

This will most likely be a mod of Shark by Hankin. (Not to be confused with Shark by Taito which is a different table) Problem is there was no vpx table of Shark by Hankin. So I've had to build it first. I now have that, in rough form, and am well underway getting it to a standard I can work from. Thanks to JPSalas for help with coding advice for vpm gi lights. As the Shark build progresses the certainty of it as the donor layout will become clearer.

 

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[anthias]

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My new build of Shark for vpx is ugly but playable. At this stage I won't be releasing it, but it should work as a basis for this table. If artwork of acceptable quality for shark surfaces I might consider it.but not for a while.

[anthias]

I have designed a cool and significant new gameplay mechanic for this game. It adds a massive gameplay mechanic that Im really excited about without hurting overall balance, integrated to rom function, and bringing theme specific function in stronger than ever. Ill post a video when its built, which will take a while as its not a thing to do first.

[anthias]

Ok so.. the attached image show first pass on building the ramp structure. Where sister Storm merged to a single inpane, these split to four. But they aren't all available at the start of the game.

 

When the game commences you will only have the two main flippers available. This phase if play represents tracks two to seven on the album, when Luna is in Montreal. Alone. Less opportunities. No support. In that state you hit the left two targets and the furthest right two targets (can't make it easy can I? To light the word "PACK". This represents track 8, They Stay, which is when the pack arrives. At this point the ramp diverters become available and the smaller flippers are able to be used. Operating a flipper also opens that side's ramp diverter. It stays open a short time then closes again. The ball passing the diverter scores a bonus. Each time you pass the open diverter the word PACK increments another letter. Lighting the full word again adds a pack member untill you have all five lit. This is the back half of the album when the pack is together, fighting to save the kids from erasure and bringing them back to Wolf Haven. Each pack member kit brings a range of benefits: strengthened flippers, additional bonuses, and longer timers on the diverters. Entering pack nide (gaining the use of the extra two flippers) opens up the table greatly, particularly giving greater access to the VUK ramp from the left small flipper. 

 

It's going to take time to dial in, but I'm confident it's going to play amazingly.

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[anthias]

Here's a concept Playfield art I'm playing around with for Frozen North. It's not live art so the bumpers and ramps etc might impact its use but it should already be pretty close to usable as is now.   clean_up_and_sharpen_the_202604291937.jpeg (1).png   2.96MB   0 downloads

[anthias]

The PACK phase modes detailed above are fully coded and working very well. PACK lights increment via ramps and the kicker in the left hand side chute, flippers are defined to appear internally illuminated and the lights in the little flippers are off when the mode has not been activated yet and thus they are not operational. Once the first pack mode triggers they become lit and look like the other flippers. The image below shows the deactivated little flippers with the main flippers active.
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Edited by anthias, 11 May 2026 - 07:19 AM.

[Breadbox64]

I can't wait to play this table! You've already announced so many nice features that I'm almost certain this is going to be the best Lunar Howl yet.