Jive said:
Awesome!!!
Can't wait to play it! :)
Hmmm... I'm pretty sure that you have discovered a secret on table's editing (like the way to place decalls exactly at the correct place without doing many tries). Otherwise, I fail to understand how you may have time to do so much perfect tables, graphically talking.
No secrets, just lots of starting the table, exiting and adjusting. You get faster with practice. Plus you can get some ballpark ideas pretty quickly based on the real image size. The "auto width" tool with decals makes keeping their aspect ratios correct a lot easier too.
In any case, I said it's easier to make new tables than "mod" someone else's mistakes and I wasn't kidding. I don't have to look for mistakes, problems and things that could be "improved" (that alone means countless revisions with mods IMO) because I already know I have to make everything. So that saves an entire part of the process.
Plus some things like scripting are overrated by some, IMO. Writing a VP script is not exactly rocket science. I write most table scripts in less than 6 hours. That's about how long it took me to make Earthshaker's script INCLUDING the time to make and adjust 3 separate vertical ramp animations.
Plus my engineering background makes me a good troubleshooter. Tackling logic problems is my specialty. I find a problem where there is no direct solution and I invent one. This is the very reason you have fully working magnetic accelerators in Getaway and No Fear, working vertical ramps in Twilight Zone, Judge Dredd, Cactus Jack and now Earthshaker, accurate playing magnets in TAF and TZ, fully animated realistic looking heads and jet bumpers in RoadShow, beacons with lights shining on the background walls in High Speed and Getaway, translucent plastic ramps in No Fear, Cactus Jack, Whirlwind and now Earthshaker, etc. without reinventing the wheel in the process. It just takes a little creative thinking and a lot of trial and error and you usually accomplish whatever it is using the tools that are available to you.
For example, I could add realistic looking flashers to IJ in probably less than an hour now that I have the reels already made in general for flashers (it's easy to adjust their color hue in an image editor). I plan to go back and add them to High Speed pretty soon since they looked so pretty for real. I'll probably eventually add them to TAF and TZ. Earthshaker's flashers definitely look a lot nicer than the "pop bumper" effect used on older tables. I haven't even added any playfield lighting effects and the light show still looks pretty cool.
In any case, if you want to learn more about decal based graphic enhancements, I'm sure Kristian is the man to talk to. It seems to be his specialty.
Just imagine how much more work I could have gotten done if I weren't arguing with flamers over at VPFF half the time....