[Wuthering_Heights]

Kickstarter for Star Trek: The Next Generation on Pinball Arcade

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...ext-generation

[Shaneus]

Edit: Man, would it kill them to get someone like Steve Ritchie to talk about the game itself? Not that I'm not a fan of the FS dude, but someone directly involved with the game to at least give their stamp of approval would mean a heck of a lot to people. Ritchie seems like he'd be the kind of dude who'd do it at the drop of a hat, too. He's definitely not shy in this "making of" AC/DC (a must watch for everyone in this thread).

PS. New thread worthy?

Edit #2: New thread. Worthy!

[Gillian Seed]

Edit: Man, would it kill them to get someone like Steve Ritchie to talk about the game itself? Not that I'm not a fan of the FS dude, but someone directly involved with the game to at least give their stamp of approval would mean a heck of a lot to people. Ritchie seems like he'd be the kind of dude who'd do it at the drop of a hat, too. He's definitely not shy in this "making of" AC/DC (a must watch for everyone in this thread). PS. New thread worthy?

Amen! Just got the email on my phone. I am gonna drop 20 bucks for this. This is the table i have always wanted to play.

[Planet_JASE]

$10 to get a copy of the game that will cost far less than that when it's released? That's not entirely appealing. A two pack on the 360 is 400 points, meaning that the "satisfaction of knowing you helped make the preservation of this table possible" is worth about $6.00.

That seems a bit steep.

[Jucksalbe]

Kickstarter is not a store.

[Minsc]

Yup, you're absolutely in your right to not back the kickstarter if you feel it's too expensive, and if it doesn't get funded you will be able to just buy some other pinball table in it's place instead of Star Trek. The point isn't necessarily to match the price you get on iOS or XBLA, but to offer you the opportunity to play a digital version of a specific table that would otherwise never be digitized by official means.

[Planet_JASE]

Kickstarter is not a store.

No, but you need to put forward an attractive value proposition. The value proposition should not be "pay more than everyone else" unless there are perks to doing so.

I get the idea that some people will gladly pay extra in order to see this table come to fruition but these are likely to be the only people this Kickstarter will attract.

Why not make the $10 level access to the game across all platforms? That would actually make me consider supporting this campaign.

Just offering another perspective.

Yup, you're absolutely in your right to not back the kickstarter if you feel it's too expensive, and if it doesn't get funded you will be able to just buy some other pinball table in it's place instead of Star Trek. The point isn't necessarily to match the price you get on iOS or XBLA, but to offer you the opportunity to play a digital version of a specific table that would otherwise never be digitized by official means.

I agree. Mainly I'm confused as to why you wouldn't give the people who are "making it happen" access to this table across all platforms. They helped make it happen, so why shouldn't you treat them like the fantastic people they are?

[Shaneus]

$10 to get a copy of the game that will cost far less than that when it's released? That's not entirely appealing. A two pack on the 360 is 400 points, meaning that the "satisfaction of knowing you helped make the preservation of this table possible" is worth about $6.00. That seems a bit steep.

Point missed :P Plenty of discussion on it in the OT for it, though.

[plagiarize]

obviously I chipped into the Star Trek TNG kickstarter, but last night I got the billion point shot on Bride of Pinbot. Felt pretty good! I just have the jackpot left from the wizard goals on that table which shouldn't be too hard, then yeah, i think I'll be done with it.

really looking forwards to more tables :)

[jgkspsx]

I contributed $10. Since it seems like the 3DS version is a distant glimmer, I'll take it on the 360 and buy it on whatever other platforms I am using at that future time. I don't think anybody should feel the need to spend more.

[Benedict]

Don't trust them with my money.
Take better care of your EU customers next time and I might trust you again.

[Gillian Seed]

Don't trust them with my money. Take better care of your EU customers next time and I might trust you again.

I trust them with my money. Sorry to hear that Europe is getting the short end of the stick. It happens to us a lot as well.

[Parallax Scroll]

w00t, back to xbox #1 on Funhouse. I think the jackpot shot for multiball is harder than in PHoF, but I figured out today that it's not too hard if you do it off an orbit shot.

I'm definitely looking forward to Star Trek. That was always one of my favorites.

Edit: Bah, Pinball Arcade has too many DMD games right now. I'm in the mood for some old stuff.

[Shaneus]

w00t, back to xbox #1 on Funhouse. I think the jackpot shot for multiball is harder than in PHoF, but I figured out today that it's not too hard if you do it off an orbit shot. I'm definitely looking forward to Star Trek. That was always one of my favorites. Edit: Bah, Pinball Arcade has too many DMD games right now. I'm in the mood for some old stuff.

You and me both. Since PA came out, I've come to realise I'm far more a fan of the alpha-numeric games than the DMD ones. DMD IMO relies too much on telling the story and providing a captivating gameplay experience via animations and novelties, while earlier ones had to rely solely on the playfield and sound to suck you in. If you're looking at the DMD, you're not looking at the playfield and your concentration isn't 100% where it should be. If the only info on the backglass is your score, then you rarely look at it and you're completely involved sucked in to where you should be.

It seems weird that I'd prefer something that's been featured less in PA, but man... basically all the DMD games they've included, even though they're from different designers, play EXACTLY the same. Shit, I had a post written up and ready to go on PAFans about how they had so many games designed by the same guy (CFTBL, MM, MB) until I realised they were all different. At least someone like Steve Ritchie kept the playfields (mostly) clean and flowing when DMDs came out, these other guys basically just rebadged the same game over and over again :(

You might be familiar with Dutch Pinball's effort to create a DMD system for Bride of Pinbot. I've had a similarly crazy idea (though probably harder to implement) that would involve retro-fying (retro-fitting?) DMD games with alpha-numeric displays and a modified ROM to pull back on some of the modes. I think it'd be awesome.

[plagiarize]

You and me both. Since PA came out, I've come to realise I'm far more a fan of the alpha-numeric games than the DMD ones. DMD IMO relies too much on telling the story and providing a captivating gameplay experience via animations and novelties, while earlier ones had to rely solely on the playfield and sound to suck you in. If you're looking at the DMD, you're not looking at the playfield and your concentration isn't 100% where it should be. If the only info on the backglass is your score, then you rarely look at it and you're completely involved sucked in to where you should be. It seems weird that I'd prefer something that's been featured less in PA, but man... basically all the DMD games they've included, even though they're from different designers, play EXACTLY the same. Shit, I had a post written up and ready to go on PAFans about how they had so many games designed by the same guy (CFTBL, MM, MB) until I realised they were all different. At least someone like Steve Ritchie kept the playfields (mostly) clean and flowing when DMDs came out, these other guys basically just rebadged the same game over and over again :( You might be familiar with Dutch Pinball's effort to create a DMD system for Bride of Pinbot. I've had a similarly crazy idea (though probably harder to implement) that would involve retro-fying (retro-fitting?) DMD games with alpha-numeric displays and a modified ROM to pull back on some of the modes. I think it'd be awesome.

even though i'm very much a guy who loves the DMD games, i'd be really interested to see how something like that turned out. i've really enjoyed my time with the alpha numerics that we have in Pinball Arcade and would love to play more.

[Shaneus]

Yeah, but like I said... it'd be a right bitch to do! AFAIK the Dutch Pinball guys basically wrote everything from scratch (I think). To re-associate every DMD animation with some kind of a-n code (a la BoP) or remove it completely would be damn hard and more a labour of love than anything else.

It's part of the reason I dislike the direction the new Wizard of Oz is taking. Not only is it removing focus from the playfield, but it's doing so with B-grade animations not unlike Pin2k (which just looked *tacky*). Focus more on what the ball's doing, IMO.

BTW My favourite alpha-numeric game is coming up damn soon. I haven't played it IRL, but I'd give my left nut to own one:

Just a great looking table that rounds out the theme incredibly well and has great sounds to go with it.

(It's in the next pack, after CFTBL/Gorgar :D)

[jgkspsx]

Gorgar is already out with Monster Bash?

[Shaneus]

Gorgar is already out with Monster Bash?

Sorry, meant Black Knight. Brain fart.

[jvm]

BTW My favourite alpha-numeric game is coming up damn soon.

Yep, Taxi was a delight from the PHoF:WC disc. Man, I can't wait for everything on that disc to be on my PS3 HDD...

[Parallax Scroll]

Don't get me wrong, I like DMD games too. But the older games have their own feel, and sometimes that's what I'd rather play. One thing I liked about PHoF is that there were a lot of pre-DMD games to choose from. It'll be nice when more of those are available!

And I actually liked Jive Time, but I don't know if we'll ever get anything that old here.

[added_time]

And I actually liked Jive Time, but I don't know if we'll ever get anything that old here.

I like it too! Although I'm not very picky with my pinball tables. I seem to find something to like in all of them.

[Shaneus]

Don't get me wrong, I like DMD games too. But the older games have their own feel, and sometimes that's what I'd rather play. One thing I liked about PHoF is that there were a lot of pre-DMD games to choose from. It'll be nice when more of those are available! And I actually liked Jive Time, but I don't know if we'll ever get anything that old here.

Don't worry, I wasn't trying to put words into your mouth :) Maybe it's just been the DMD games they've been choosing that's been the problem. TotAN and ToM are (imo) too similarly-themed and MM/CFTBL/MB are just too damn similar in general. None are bad at all (hell, they all play amazingly well) but the reason they're all so close to each other in the ratings on IPDB is that they all play very similarly and everyone likes them.

I'm really surprised there isn't more variety in the DMD titles. Fish Tales was MASSIVE (at least, here in Australia) and there's not been a peep of it. White Water, The Getaway, Road Show, No Fear... all great, very little licensing to worry about except for maybe the music in Getaway/Road Show and the No Fear license) but not one peep about them.

[plagiarize]

Don't worry, I wasn't trying to put words into your mouth :) Maybe it's just been the DMD games they've been choosing that's been the problem. TotAN and ToM are (imo) too similarly-themed and MM/CFTBL/MB are just too damn similar in general. None are bad at all (hell, they all play amazingly well) but the reason they're all so close to each other in the ratings on IPDB is that they all play very similarly and everyone likes them. I'm really surprised there isn't more variety in the DMD titles. Fish Tales was MASSIVE (at least, here in Australia) and there's not been a peep of it. White Water, The Getaway, Road Show, No Fear... all great, very little licensing to worry about except for maybe the music in Getaway/Road Show and the No Fear license) but not one peep about them.

i'm sure they're working on all of those, certainly the ones with minimal licenses. but i'm also sure that like Nintendo with virtual console titles that they'll spread out the big tables. obviously we're going to eventually get all the Midway tables, so they've got those to sort of spread out. they wouldn't want to do a glut of old tables.

I really hope to see Fish Tales and No Fear, because those are tables I spent a lot of time with. Actually, I just found out that there's a No Fear machine within five or ten minutes of my work that I'm going to swing by to check out pretty soon to see if i've still 'got it'. No Fear is the only table I ever made money playing. I bought two credits and earned all the way up to nine credits when it stopped working, so I went and told the bar owner it had eaten my money and walked out with more than I put in. I really hope this local No Fear table is in good condition, but I've not got my hopes up. I played Fish Tales a few weeks ago when we were vacationing on the West coast and the launcher broke as I was playing it.

it's a shame we will probably never see video versions of the Data East tables. i put a lot of money into their Star Wars table.

[Shaneus]

it's a shame we will probably never see video versions of the Data East tables. i put a lot of money into their Star Wars table.

I've never actually seen/played a No Fear IRL, I've just read really good things about it. And you're right about the DE/Sega tables as well... given they're almost all based on fairly expensive (I'd imagine) licenses. Thankfully my mate has a WWF that I can play pretty much whenever I want :D

OOH YEAH.

[AcridMeat]

Has there been word about the DLC for the PS3 version? I keep looking at the iOS version, seeing these great new tables to play and it's still not up on PSN. :(

Monster Bash and Creature from the Black Lagoon 3D are fun as hell!

I find myself playing Bride of Pin-Bot the most though. If only World Cup Soccer was coming to this.

[VALIS]

Got my first billion in Bride of Pinbot. I realize there's about 1000 others on the 360 leaderboards with 1b+, but considering I've only been playing for a day, I'm happy.

It also makes up for the fact I was having a good game on the iPad version last night and the game lost track of bonus balls somehow and even calling the operator wouldn't fix it, so I just had to close it down and lose my score. Think I'll stick to the 360 version from now on.

It's doubtful, but my dream for this game is some day they release big electro-mechanical packs of tables from the 60s and 70s. Like 10 tables for $10 per pack. I'd buy 'em all. After playing more intense/bright/loud SS pins from the last 20 years, I like to unwind a little with a game on a slower, stylish EM.

[Parallax Scroll]

After playing more intense/bright/loud SS pins from the last 20 years, I like to unwind a little with a game on a slower, stylish EM.

You and me both. Gratz on the billionaire's club.

[VALIS]

You and me both. Gratz on the billionaire's club.

Thanks. When scanning the BoP leaderboard I saw your score way up there! Brilliant score.

[Shaneus]

Have MB/BK reappeared on the 360 store yet? I nabbed them when they were briefly up, but last I checked there were still no scores. Hell of a bug to have on that MB, though.

It's doubtful, but my dream for this game is some day they release big electro-mechanical packs of tables from the 60s and 70s. Like 10 tables for $10 per pack. I'd buy 'em all. After playing more intense/bright/loud SS pins from the last 20 years, I like to unwind a little with a game on a slower, stylish EM.

That's where I think I sit in the middle. No doubt I'd love to kick around an EM or two, but from my limited knowledge, there was never really the variety in table design that started from the early 80s. IMO the perfect combination of EM and DMD-focused SS games are the alpha-numerics that were around in the 80s. Love the charm of them obviously having all this silicon technology and finding out exactly what they can do with it. Once DMDs came, that seemed to kinda stop.

[Brashnir]

Have MB/BK reappeared on the 360 store yet? I nabbed them when they were briefly up, but last I checked there were still no scores. Hell of a bug to have on that MB, though.

Someone posted upthread that the tables were uploaded early, and the official release date is Aug 28, so we should be seeing them next week.

[Maastricht]

I read some comments earlier about lag making the PS3 version unplayable - I just tested the game on the new bedroom tv which is 1080p rather than 720p that we have in the livingroom, and noticed that there is indeed some weird inout lag bug in 1080p mode. But it plays fine in 720p ... The game better either fix it or put a resolution change in either the settings or fixed in the code for the next patch though.

[The Technomancer]

And I actually liked Jive Time, but I don't know if we'll ever get anything that old here.

I lurk in here because it hasn't come out for any platforms I can play yet, but I definitely would like to see more of the old minimalist tables like Jive Time alongside all of the fancy tables they work on currently. I'd love to see Hearts and Spades digitized because I grew up with the physical machine in my house and its incredibly nostalgic, but I don't think it was popular enough to warrant digitization.
(photo not mine)

[2&2]

I'm hoping for Cue Ball Wizard. I have fond memories of playing that one. It's about time for a Gottleib table too.

[Parallax Scroll]

Cirqus Voltaire 1 billion hell yeah

[plagiarize]

Cirqus Voltaire 1 billion hell yeah

you are a nutcase. a wonderful, admirable, nutcase.

[Gaspode_T]

If anything I want them to get a nice variety of themes and years, not all new stuff, not all old stuff...a mix would be the best, especially for "keeping it real"...a lot of the older tables actually feel faster and more out of control than newer games IMO

I was playing this obscure one called Motordome that my cousin bought, it is cheezy but having some sort of sports/racing one would be interesting - the most popular one must be No Fear?

[Gillian Seed]

Cirqus Voltaire 1 billion hell yeah

Insane! Congrats.

[Parallax Scroll]

I was playing this obscure one called Motordome that my cousin bought, it is cheezy but having some sort of sports/racing one would be interesting - the most popular one must be No Fear?

The Getaway is sort of about racing.

[plagiarize]

GUYS GUYS I JUST SAW ON FACEBOOK THAT THERE IS A DOCTOR WHO TABLE TWENTY MINUTES AWAY FROM WHERE I LIVE.

I am only still here because I do not have time to go play it right now. Tomorrow hopefully. I love that table so much. It better not be broken or poorly levelled...

[Shaneus]

Cirqus Voltaire 1 billion hell yeah

Ffffuuuuucking hell. I need to delete you from my 360 friends list pronto.

(just kidding... well done! How long a session was that?)

[Parallax Scroll]

Ffffuuuuucking hell. I need to delete you from my 360 friends list pronto. (just kidding... well done! How long a session was that?)

Under 2 hours I think.

[GDJustin]

Really loving Black Knight. A lot of the older tables I haven't enjoyed... not enough going on in them. But BK I've found to be a great middle point between simplicity and complexity.

[VALIS]

Was getting re-used to Funhouse just now, a game I haven't played in a very long time. Remembering it pretty quickly, easy to trap the balls, ramps are relatively wide and easy to hit. Scores are ramping up, 10m, 20m, last game took maybe 30 minutes, 56m, about #330 on XBL. Not bad. I check out the top of the leaderboard and there's our Parallax Scroll with over 770 million. Looked like about 200m more than #2. You are a legend. Have you recorded any videos of you playing? Would love to see that.

[microtubule]

Table Pack #5 video Includes Harley-Davidson (3rd Edition) and TAXI

I am looking forward to Taxi!

[The Technomancer]

How do you get the Jackpot in Taxi anyway? I'm playing the Wii version at the moment and that's always driven me nuts.

[Remy]

How do you get the Jackpot in Taxi anyway? I'm playing the Wii version at the moment and that's always driven me nuts.

From http://pinball.org/rules/taxi.html -

Pickup all 5 passengers to light JACKPOT. Collect JACKPOT. Drop off all 5 passengers to light outlanes for SPECIAL. At the start of the game PINBOT and GORBY are lit for pickup. When a passenger is picked up, the next one lights. The order is GORBY, PINBOT, DRAC, LOLA, SANTA. Each pickup awards a tip of 20k and also gives an end of ball bonus of 20k. JACKPOT starts at 500k. Each time C A B is scored, 'Raise Jackpot' lights for 10 seconds, during which time every switch adds 2k to the jackpot value. The jackpot value is held over from player to player, ball to ball and game to game until collected. Maximum value is 4M. The jackpot must be collected within 15 seconds or LOLA get out and has to be picked up again to relight the jackpot. Once the jackpot is collected, drop off passengers in the order SANTA, PINBOT, DRAC, LOLA, GORBY. This will relight the jackpot (although it probably won't have been raised much over 600k) and one (alternating) outlane for SPECIAL. After collecting the drop-off jackpot, it starts over with GORBY (only one passenger lit at once for second and subsequent times). A second complete pickup/drop off sequence does not light the second outlane for special.

[plagiarize]

Just played Doctor Who. Poor thing wasn't leveled making the W-H-O ramp pretty much impossible to hit. Also, when is the time expanded supposed to lift? I thought it lifted to the first level once you locked both the balls. Hmmm.

I still had fun mind. Its just unfortunate seeing these games age because it eats right into how they play. I have zero hopes for Doctor Who ending up simulated with it still being a very sought after license. Maybe STERN or someone will do a new Who table.

[DarkAkatosh]

Table Pack 5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=AXq9mY4rXcs

[Parallax Scroll]

Was getting re-used to Funhouse just now, a game I haven't played in a very long time. Remembering it pretty quickly, easy to trap the balls, ramps are relatively wide and easy to hit. Scores are ramping up, 10m, 20m, last game took maybe 30 minutes, 56m, about #330 on XBL. Not bad. I check out the top of the leaderboard and there's our Parallax Scroll with over 770 million. Looked like about 200m more than #2. You are a legend. Have you recorded any videos of you playing? Would love to see that.

Thanks! I don't have a capture card, but it's something I've thought about doing.

[The Technomancer]

Okay, fuck Jive Time. After trying to go for 100k I think I understand why they didn't bring it back for PA. Half of your balls consist of launching, watching it bounce around a few times and roll down one of the sidelanes without any intervention on your part.