Flipperless Brio Labyrinths Simple and Advanced

[Ike Savage]

Hope to give you some real feedback on this a bit later!

This other mini-project I'm trying to finish off involves working through 2,100 screenshots to find more resources that I need to upload here.

In the middle of that, Windows 10 decided to download a bunch of updates and reboot the system while I wasn't around, losing me my place in the project. (lame excuse alert, but whatever )

 

[Gimli]

Hope to give you some real feedback on this a bit later!

This other mini-project I'm trying to finish off involves working through 2,100 screenshots to find more resources that I need to upload here.

In the middle of that, Windows 10 decided to download a bunch of updates and reboot the system while I wasn't around, losing me my place in the project. (lame excuse alert, but whatever )

@Ike Savage
No worries
The sensitivity to the motion can be tweaked further but overall it seems pretty good

 

[wild]

@Gimli

No worries
The sensitivity to the motion can be tweaked further but overall it seems pretty good

pm, for you, with some suggestions

 

[Ike Savage]

Finally tried it, and WOW... is that beautiful!

Also, amazingly-cool how you built the authentic double-axis moving framework inside the overall frame. It was totally not expecting that.

- Ball seems kind of undersized right now, altho there were many variations of this classic game, so maybe some indeed had a ball this small?
- Holes in turn seem overly large; also hard for them to gobble a ball. I almost have to patiently sit the ball over a hole before it drops in.
- Would love to see how this plays with a mouse. I think that will be the most fun, satisfying way to play. The issue with using keys is that a key press allows you to make perfect, slight, uniform slope adjustments. In reality it's a lot more unsure of a process, relying on steady hands and absolute concentration, etc.

Bitching aside, BRAVO!

 

[Gimli]

@Ike Savage
Thanks for the feedback !!
This has been a nice little rabbit trail using BAM miniplayfield function to create an MP only and conceal everthing else.

The size of the ball scales with everthing else. The actual kicker holes are smaller than they appear I made the flange black so it all looks like a "hole". I can enlarge the balls by another means though...

 

[Gimli]

@Gimli


pm, for you, with some suggestions

@wild
Thanks I did get rid of the playfield reflections like you suggested.

The ball mass definitely can be tweaked..

I'll set the table slopes to return to rest when you lose a ball

You can tweak it when if you wish and add other stuff
I updated the Simple Labyrinth with the same stuff as Expert Labyrinth.

 

[wild]

Thanks I did get rid of the playfield reflections like you suggested.

The ball mass definitely can be tweaked..

I'll set the table slopes to return to rest when you lose a ball

You can tweak it when if you wish and add other stuff
I updated the Simple Labyrinth with the same stuff as Expert Labyrinth.

have you done all my 4 points...what did I suggest?
I can do the fourth point ....

 

[Gimli]

have you done all my 4 points...what did I suggest?
I can do the fourth point ....

)increase mass or gravity, to make the ball more manageable(I mean the heaviest ball ) - Increased mass to 75 in custom ball code

2)I don't know if it is possible, to put a variable, that when you operate bam, with the Q key, the arrow keys do not work in the table

3)when the ball goes on a kicker, you have to reset the table and put it in the starting position - Done

4)wrapped, the ball passes the kickers, it shouldn't happen, it's a big job, but in my opinion, to make it more real, you will need to put retaining walls, for the ball .... with triggers that activate the collidable true / false - Probably not worth it. See below it works better now

The Q key idea I can do

 

[Gimli]

@Ike Savage
@wild
Ok here is the easy labyrinth
I used BAM Custom Ball coding to Attach a larger ball to small ball...to create the illusion of a bigger ball.
I switched the kicker models to ones without flanges so ball falls smoothly and I used FP model editor and Milkshape to create as slightly larger kicker hole model.

So the ball size and hole physics should be improved now.

I added the "Q" feature as per wild so when you access BAM menu the table will hold its position and not tip with the Arrow keys

 

[wild]

@Gimli
Nice!
here is another idea to make it more real.....
I added these values, to have a slower ball ... but here's the idea (if we want to call it that)
Gravity 3000.0
xBAM.BallSpeedLimit = 1000

to make you understand,what I mean,here is a pic, the ball from the starting point, to the red arrow, just inclined to the left, the ball flows like a rocket (too fast for me, but it is only my evaluation) now, what I would like say is this:......(but perhaps it is not easy to do )

put a limit of inclination and direction (let's put 5) so even if you press after 5 times it doesn't work
this avoids pressing the button many times to return the ball to the optimal position after tilting
in the 5 inclinations put both "speed and gravity"=SG, according to the inclinations .... I make a trivial example:

first inclination / SG = 1
second inclination / SG =2
third inclination / SG = 3
fourth inclination / SG = 4
fifthinclination / SG = 5

in practice the speed increases with each next inclination

I hope I was clear

 

[Gimli]

@wild
I will play around with various slopes etc...

 

[wild]

I will play around with various slopes etc...

I do not understand.....

this system(my opinion), then, we have to do it on rat-race, and also reduce the mass, we will have to play with a smaller ball, the current playing field does not allow us a normal ball

 

[Gimli]

Yes we can adjust the ball sizes later no problem.
If you make the table then we can both adjust all the physics at the end

 

[wild]

of course, I'm doing it

 

[Gimli]

of course, I'm doing it

You are the best Paolo !
I am very excited to see what you do with RatRace table !
I love the lighting effects you did in the demo

ps I should be in the Rat Race Thread

 

[Gimli]

Here is the "expert" table
Adding the bigger ball and improved kicker hole properties as in the "easy" version above.

The ball may be too big and you can change it under this code:

Sub BallDelayTimer_Expired()
    BalCatchKicker.DestroyBall
    BallDelayTimer.Set False
    'StartHard.CreateBall
    Call CreateCustomBall(StartHard, BALL_A, 13.5, 75, 1)
    MiniPlayField_9.TrackedBall = xBAM.BallCloseTo(StartHard.x, StartHard.y)
    MiniPlayField_9.Scale = 1
    MiniPlayField_9.TraceBallRotation = True
    AddTrackedBall(StartHard)
    StartHard.SolenoidPulse
    DropSound()
    RestTable()

End Sub

just change MiniPlayField_9.Scale = 1 to whatever number you wish...it is just a "dummy" superimposed ghost ball and won't affect the physics , collisions or kicker function...

 

[Ike Savage]

This is stoopid, but sometimes I'm almost afraid to look at the new progress. Like, I'm fearing that my opinion will somehow shift radically, next time I see the latest progress:

"Oh my god, Gimi, how could you screw up wild's progress like this!"

"Oh my god, wild, how could you screw up Gimli's progress like this!"

Bah. In these matters, I tend to blame Blue (Shiva) for my mindless confusion.

 

[wild]

This is stoopid, but sometimes I'm almost afraid to look at the new progress. Like, I'm fearing that my opinion will somehow shift radically, next time I see the latest progress:

"Oh my god, Gimi, how could you screw up wild's progress like this!"

"Oh my god, wild, how could you screw up Gimli's progress like this!"

Bah. In these matters, I tend to blame Blue (Shiva) for my mindless confusion.

@Ike Savage
I think that: instead the opinion of others is important, you must not be afraid to say what you think or see, sometimes it is useful to receive other opinions, because you can be sure that we will always make an improved version of the precedence .... so you can only say " Oh my god this version is more fantastic than before "

 

[Gimli]

Apart from tweaking physics of tipping sensitivity and ball this test has been quite successful and it should be fun to implement what we have learned here, in the Rat Race table.

I might play around with a few more things to demonstrate other BAM features.

So here is a silly idea:
1. Make it like a pinball game where you have 3 or 5 turns and can compete with another player.
I can assign scores based on progress.

2. We can have several levels of difficulty . For instance your next turn can start from where you lost the ball on you last turn. Or there could be a "cut throat" competitive version whereby you always need to start at the beginning.

3. In terms of BAM features. I can assign points based on progress through the Maze using BAM ball tracking code

4. Also using BAM ball tracking I can have the ball and even the labyrinth itself change textures or colors as you progress through maze.

All of this is goofy and beyond the scope of the nice little labyrinth recreation and proof of concept.

 

[Gimli]

@Ike Savage
@wild @Gin

Rat in a Maze

 

[Gimli]

@Ike Savage
@wild
The other thing I am experimenting with is defining zones for scoring or whatever and then using BAM ball tracking change ball colors or whatever based on the position of ball on play field

For Rat Race we could zoom the Desktop camera to specific location as the ball finds itself in varous mazes on the playfield.

 

[wild]

Fantastic....great work
when the ball turned yellow, it made me think of the pac-man ...... ... you could insert small balls, in the line of the course, to score points, or extra ball ... what do you think? you can get the balls from nintendo, in the top left lane

 

[Gimli]

... what do you think? you can get the balls from nintendo, in the top left lane

Do you mean from your NES table ?

 

[Ike Savage]

Rat in a Maze

Btw, I bet adding an animated rat as an alt ball could look really neat.

Various VP tables have done stuff like that and it almost always looks pretty cool. IIRC, Afterburner was one:
https://pinballnirvana.com/forums/index.php?resources/afterburner-9-21.5384/

Seems like usually we think of making a re-creation as accurate as we can, and that makes perfect sense, but using the tools we have at our disposal, I think there's also some nice opportunities to add small perks not possible in the original physical game.

EDIT: oh bollocks me, you actually did!
Brill! :eek:

 

[wild]

Do you mean from your NES table ?

that if you would like to add the balls that pac-man eats, you can take the model from nintendo