Have you seen this PinBuilder?

We have an incredibly promising project in the works, tapping upon thousands of available tables,
and this guy wants US$30 for early access, lol.
 
Is this just me or doesn't it remind you of the beta version of FP? It even has the problems with gates, a lack of bounce and inability to pass through a gate and the ball bounced back.
A very simple builder at the moment, but interesting in that they are trying to do what fpx was trying. Simple basic tables. If they succeed, great by me, I don't have to spend hundreds of hours of coding anymore.
 
I'm intrigued by the "visual logic" style of programming. Reminds me a bit of VisualAge from IBM back in the 90's.

I'm curious about how much pinball logic could be actually created using visual programming like this (e.g. no actual script, but just logic controllers and enough options).
 
shiva said:
Is this just me or doesn't it remind you of the beta version of FP? It even has the problems with gates, a lack of bounce and inability to pass through a gate and the ball bounced back.
A very simple builder at the moment, but interesting in that they are trying to do what fpx was trying. Simple basic tables. If they succeed, great by me, I don't have to spend hundreds of hours of coding anymore.
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Paul - how deep into Pinball Creator did you go? I'm definitely curious about your take on this new one.
 
I have this now and will be in direct contact with the devs shortly (they asked, but not knowing me I pull no punches)
This is after 6 months of development, so still very early. This is not ready yet, and needs a lot more time. (VP and FP took a long time before people actually saw it) There's some big bugs, BUT...
This is Unity 5. Physics are better than stock FP, not quite vpx level. Flippers need some work, but everything else is decent enough. The editor and UI needs work, and suggestions for improvement.
Look at this as a editor for the masses, people with no coding knowledge or graphics ability, a modern version of Pinball construction set. Simple to use, and the results would be quite good for the people who use it. sort of the same idea as fpx, but with more capabilities and not being as restrictive as fp is.
I love the pinball logic idea, there's some real good ideas there, so quite impressed overall. Just give it a few more months to mature and hammer out the bugs before forming a impression of it, it really was released way to early, and I hope it doesn't hurt the success of this program like it did for FP.
 
shiva said:
I have this now and will be in direct contact with the devs shortly (they asked, but not knowing me I pull no punches)
This is after 6 months of development, so still very early. This is not ready yet, and needs a lot more time. (VP and FP took a long time before people actually saw it) There's some big bugs, BUT...
This is Unity 5. Physics are better than stock FP, not quite vpx level. Flippers need some work, but everything else is decent enough. The editor and UI needs work, and suggestions for improvement.
Look at this as a editor for the masses, people with no coding knowledge or graphics ability, a modern version of Pinball construction set. Simple to use, and the results would be quite good for the people who use it. sort of the same idea as fpx, but with more capabilities and not being as restrictive as fp is.
I love the pinball logic idea, there's some real good ideas there, so quite impressed overall. Just give it a few more months to mature and hammer out the bugs before forming a impression of it, it really was released way to early, and I hope it doesn't hurt the success of this program like it did for FP.
Click to expand...
Did you leave some comments on the app listing on Steam? I think I saw your highly detailed write up. Watching some of the YT videos the physics definitely looked to have some problems.

I agree on the early issue. Also the challenge to say the cost model is the way to go. I like the idea that Pinball Creator had whereby you could package up your pinball and be the one to sell it (as well as deal with any licensing issues of it). That said, I've not looked into the Steam Workshop store model.
 
I also wrote a long list at their request, be sending it shortly. I did add some things, mostly due to the editor which is the more important at the moment and some quality of life ideas. At the moment, there's some things broken from the last update, so have to wait on that.
As to physics, yeap, some problems, but nothing serious. VP8 level physics, which is pretty good considering this is the first alpha level of this release. The Beta's of FP and VP were in fact far far worse. People should understand this, as it takes a long time to get it right, vpx has 23 years of people trying to make it better, FP has 15 years, and neither program is perfect.
My suggestions (for the pinball part at least) were to get them focused on the key problems first before they start adding more fancy stuff. Pinball Creator I have as well, but the devs there were video game guys, not pinball guys, and no one uses it now as it is very limited. Kind of useless really.

One of my suggestions was to get a TOS out, in other words the rules for use of the program.

PinBuilder seems to be a lot more willing to improve their software, and there are some great ideas that I really truly wish we can do in FP.
Of course, not going to rally the flag for them either. Just feel that the more pinball programs available, especially aimed at beginners, is a good thing no matter what, as this will grow our community, and might in the end run attract more people to try their hand at VPX and FP. We should do everything to encourage that, as opposed to being " competition" like so many others treat it as.
Give this about 6 months I think. Lots to do on their end, I only sending them a list of the really important things, the other stuff can wait, because their target user base are non-pinball community users, people not part of this community that would like a simple way to create their own games, or others that play that just don't take it as seriously as we here do.
 
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I saw this, trying to get a beta copy, if I do Ill post a link.
It looks, um... to early to say. Depends on how many people invest in it. It couuld be a good resource for people who make their own models etc, I would think as long as future pinball has ben around it would be just as big. It does apply to ANY type of user though and the editor did look decent, esp if it programs the table for you. no scripting . However they need a custom mode if people want to make up their own script. Who knows it depends on the support it gets.
I dont know how many people are actually into pinball anymore.
 
hellrzr2k1 said:
I saw this, trying to get a beta copy, if I do Ill post a link.
It looks, um... to early to say. Depends on how many people invest in it. It couuld be a good resource for people who make their own models etc, I would think as long as future pinball has ben around it would be just as big. It does apply to ANY type of user though and the editor did look decent, esp if it programs the table for you. no scripting . However they need a custom mode if people want to make up their own script. Who knows it depends on the support it gets.
I dont know how many people are actually into pinball anymore.
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I think more and more people are getting into physical pinball (and more "arcade" like places are reappearing) which could take away from virtual pinball. But if apps like this support and tailor an experience for a virtual pinball cabinet, then it could be great.
 
shiva said:
I have this now and will be in direct contact with the devs shortly (they asked, but not knowing me I pull no punches)
This is after 6 months of development, so still very early. This is not ready yet, and needs a lot more time. (VP and FP took a long time before people actually saw it) There's some big bugs, BUT...
This is Unity 5. Physics are better than stock FP, not quite vpx level. Flippers need some work, but everything else is decent enough. The editor and UI needs work, and suggestions for improvement.
Look at this as a editor for the masses, people with no coding knowledge or graphics ability, a modern version of Pinball construction set. Simple to use, and the results would be quite good for the people who use it. sort of the same idea as fpx, but with more capabilities and not being as restrictive as fp is.
I love the pinball logic idea, there's some real good ideas there, so quite impressed overall. Just give it a few more months to mature and hammer out the bugs before forming a impression of it, it really was released way to early, and I hope it doesn't hurt the success of this program like it did for FP.
Click to expand...
Sounds promising. I probably won't try it just yet so as not to spoil the impression. Maybe in a few months. I'll keep an eye on this topic.
 
Yeah, In 6 months it will be interesting to see how it progresses. From my point of view, getting in now means we all can help shape the direction of the program, especially with it's main selling point, which is not needed to do any coding at all. That's very appealing to everyone who doesn't code, doesn't know how, or just can't be bothered with the time needed. Coders or people who can do tables in FP and VP and can handle the amount of hours needed more than likely would not use this, it's no where close to the level compared of VP and FP, but this was aimed at a different target audience.
A lot of things though I would like to see, but it has great promise.
 
Looks like something I was looking for but I can already see some limitations someone on YouTube asked about models and video. I hope they add 3d model support so the games will have toys or plastic ramps. It needs export a project as a standalone game to play without the software so we can share the games but probably it will only run from their program. Last month I tried out Game Guru Max
it is a good program but the developer made a mistake (in my opinion) the 3d models are 10 to 20 mb each and the textures are 4000x4000 and 5 mb each. :( I know 20 mb does not seem like a lot and it's not but if every 3d model and texture on the screen is loaded even the demo games stutter and frame drop. Game Guru Max does let you export standalone games but its made for FPS games. It does let you import models because their models are bloated to the Max I guess thats why its called Game Guru MAX lol.

You get the same results if you lower your polygon counts from 300,000 to 5,000 and make the textures 2000 or even 1000 dpi. >( I don't know about you but I don't want to wait 1 or 2 minutes for the game to load up. Why do dev's do this ? even a texture of a rock or bush is 4000 lol I will stop my rant now.

Question
will this be like FP or VPX? can you change anything you want? with our own pictures? can we add videos? 3D models?


PinBuilder
2 weeks ago
It is different than FP and VPX. The current build allows you to build the machine how you want and add your own image textures and sounds. Videos and 3D models are not changeable, yet, but we have a lot of plans for the game and expect a lot of suggestions and ideas, so please join our discussion either on FB or Steam.
 
I was thinking about doing a small series of videos, using Eight ball as the sample table. I've already did the build, but I will be ranting about it throughout (really needs work) . You guys interested?
Honestly, this came out way to early, and already giving a bad first impression. Any recommendations should be at least 3 months from now.
 
shiva said:
I was thinking about doing a small series of videos, using Eight ball as the sample table. I've already did the build, but I will be ranting about it throughout (really needs work) . You guys interested?
Honestly, this came out way to early, and already giving a bad first impression. Any recommendations should be at least 3 months from now.
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I'm interested. Definitely.
 
have been doing videos, but more to learn how to do them and trying to get better at them. getting there. I think though I will hold off here a bit, as there is a update coming (3 real nice ones, and a bunch of things I noticed as I had suggested them)

So I decided when that update is up, I will do a video on that, and maybe post a link here if they also fix a few things. They seem to be really working hard on it though, so that's a great sign.

Judging from what I have seen, I still think it needs to be a bit better, but if this update does fix a few things, and I was brand new to pinball building, this could shape to be a terrific program, and certainly a lot more fun than spending hundreds of hours learning how to code.

I will create a new thread for that.
 
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