Mars Attacks 2009 (Original) VP8

VP8 SS Original Table Mars Attacks 2009 (Original) VP8 v2009b

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bob

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I updated a lot of table elements, stuff flashes and lights up and then I added music from the movie soundtrack and then I added enough new sounds to make this table sound like a real war with the Martians. I even added a surprise. This update even impressed me as the new sounds make this seem like a new table.

Download:
 

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The object of this game is to shoot the Martians.... Kill, kill, kill! To kill the Martians, shoot the targets! Drop either target bank and the left outlane will be guarded by a Martian until you kill him. Drop a second target bank on the same ball and the right outlane will then be guarded by a Martian until he's killed, this lights the EXTRA Ball light, shoot the kicker hole at the top left. Drop a third target bank on the same ball and a Martian will guard the center drain area until he's killed. All Martians guards will leave if the ball drains. The Martians guarding the ball exits is the surprise, they weren't in previous versions.
 
Sweet job, Bob, thanks for all your hard work! :)
 
Fix that fuckin' signature bob, I'm downloading your table now, how about you do an an original layout?
 
Fix that fuckin' signature bob, I'm downloading your table now, how about you do an an original layout?

AJ is fixing my signature.... :)

Do you mean an Original layout with 4 bumpers below 4 guidelanes with a swooping circle entry lane with a spinner at each opening and a target bank on the left and right side with a big graphic slapped in the middle of the table? Hell, anyone can do that.... :welcome1:

:fruitdance:
 
AJ is fixing my signature.... :)

Do you mean an Original layout with 4 bumpers below 4 guidelanes with a swooping circle entry lane with a spinner at each opening and a target bank on the left and right side with a big graphic slapped in the middle of the table? Hell, anyone can do that.... :welcome1:

:fruitdance:

Prove it, that aside I've just been playing your latest update and yes it rocks, very tweaked indeed...:D

I have noticed the ball does on occasion do weird shit on those ramp built posts.
 
Prove it, that aside I've just been playing your latest update and yes it rocks, very tweaked indeed...:D

I have noticed the ball does on occasion do weird shit on those ramp built posts.

Thanks Steve, super zoom in on those posts and you'll see that they are surrounded by a normal perfect circle VP wall....

It's amazing what those sounds do to the game play, especially if you have your pc hooked up to some high powered speakers.

I like to keep my tables updated, before I move on to newer projects. I'm thinking about revamping my SyncoBob table. You can't get anymore Original then that. :)
 
Loads of fun! Great new sound! A keeper and all that, but...
Do you have another version of the background without the green squiggly lines?
'Tis a small thing really, but they (the green squigglies) do offend. A bit.
 
Thanks for the table update Bob, Mars Attacks is a fun table.

Off topic: Is version 1.3 the latest version of DareDevil? I really like the layout on DareDevil BTW. Is that an original layout? Any chance of an update in the near future? I think an up close version of DareDevil would be great to have. Thanks ;)
 

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Thanks for the table update Bob, Mars Attacks is a fun table.

Off topic: Is version 1.3 the latest version of DareDevil? I really like the layout on DareDevil BTW. Is that an original layout? Any chance of an update in the near future? I think an up close version of DareDevil would be great to have. Thanks ;)

I have a 1.4, 2.0 and a 2.1 version Of DareDevil, but I started using years as version numbers in 2007, so those are really old too. The DareDevil layout is completely Original and it was created by Hakyoku and he offered it on VPF as he wasn't going to finish it, so I took it and used it.
 
Loads of fun! Great new sound! A keeper and all that, but...
Do you have another version of the background without the green squiggly lines?
'Tis a small thing really, but they (the green squigglies) do offend. A bit.

The green squiggly lines came with the background pic, I'll try to make them less noticable.
 
The table search at PO is not working here, I dont think I have DareDevil version 2.1. Will you upload the latest DareDevil table version to PN? Sorry for the old 1.3 version screenshot, I'm sure the table looks better now with the updates. :wave:
 
The table search at PO is not working here, I dont think I have DareDevil version 2.1. Will you upload the latest DareDevil table version to PN? Sorry for the old 1.3 version screenshot, I'm sure the table looks better now with the updates. :wave:

I'm pretty sure DareDevil 2.1 is at P-O and I don't want to upload my older versions here at the moment. Below is a screenshot of 2.1 and it isn't so great. :)
 

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I really like DareDevil Bob, The horror theme is my kind of fun! The table has really great sounds as well. Ok, I will wait and get a copy when PO is back up. Thanks :awaken::salut:
 
Loads of fun! Great new sound! A keeper and all that, but...
Do you have another version of the background without the green squiggly lines?
'Tis a small thing really, but they (the green squigglies) do offend. A bit.

I got rid of them.... But I have a Martian Killed reel on this backdrop.
 

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Not sure what you mean by a Martian killed reel on the backdrop? Though I do like this new backdrop better myself. In fact I liked your table so much I've modded it some more upped the slope to 7.5, changed all the drop targets to have a 0.1 elasticity and a 2 hit threshold. Speaking of which I discovered what cased that very occasional strange bounce, there are these little invisible walls on the sides of the targets, I don't know why Eala put them there? Though you can't just delete them as they effect the script somehow, so I just left those in there, don't really like them still it's no gameplay breaker. I also adjusted the flippers 0.07 speed, 3 strength, 0.45 elasticity and adjusted the start angle to (+/-) 120, end angle to (+/-62). Plays really great now, faster and slightly easier, oh and btw it sounds great with my Sennheiser headphones on, thanks again bob. :)
 
I got rid of them.... But I have a Martian Killed reel on this backdrop.

Excellent! That is outstanding looking!:cheers:
I assume the "Martians Killed" tally will appear in the next version?
 
@zig, yes, when I played around with the backdrop, I added a Martian's killed total, which is just a target dropped total. Hitting the targets is the most important part of this game, so a tally of the targets would at least make it appear more obvious to aim for them. I don't know if I'll actually make it award anything, but right now it does display your current total and will record your Highest Martian total and display it with the High Score display. I didn't include in the total, the Martians killed in the outlanes though as they are more of a bonus feature. :)

@Steve, Yes, I noticed those little walls, I should remove them, they all have hit events. I would have to redownload the original Asteroid Annie to see what they were doing there, but for this game, they do nothing. Maybe it was something to do with an old version of VP.....

I need to try some of your settings, I do adjust stuff if I see something, but I don't go through a table with an exact plan of precise settings, I'm just not that organized, I'm more of a free hand sketcher or someone who doesn't look at a map when driving, if you know what I mean.

I'll try your flipper settings, did you change the shape or length of the flippers?

I did just replace the following code for saving data...... I had no clue as to how to adjust the old Black's Highscore code, so I had to replace it.

Code:
Sub SaveData
        ' Based on Black's Highscore routines
        Dim FileObj
        Dim ScoreFile
        Set FileObj=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
        If Not FileObj.FolderExists(UserDirectory) then 
                Exit Sub
        End if
        Set ScoreFile=FileObj.CreateTextFile(UserDirectory & "MAastannie.txt",True)
                scorefile.writeline Credits
                scorefile.writeline HighScore
                ScoreFile.Close
        Set ScoreFile=Nothing
        Set FileObj=Nothing
End Sub

sub LoadData
    ' Based on Black's Highscore routines
        Dim FileObj
        Dim ScoreFile
        Dim TextStr
        Dim Temp1
        Dim Temp2
    Set FileObj=CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
        If Not FileObj.FolderExists(UserDirectory) then 
                Exit Sub
        End if
        If Not FileObj.FileExists(UserDirectory & "MAastannie.txt") then
                Exit Sub
        End if
        Set ScoreFile=FileObj.GetFile(UserDirectory & "MAastannie.txt")
        Set TextStr=ScoreFile.OpenAsTextStream(1,0)
                If (TextStr.AtEndOfStream=True) then
                        Exit Sub
                End if
                Temp1=TextStr.ReadLine
                Temp2=textstr.readline
                TextStr.Close
            Credits= CDbl(temp1)
            HighScore=CDbl(temp2)
            Set ScoreFile=Nothing
            Set FileObj=Nothing
End Sub
I changed it to this, so I could add the save the High Martians killed total, otherwise I wouldn't have known how to add it to Black's routine.

Code:
Sub SaveData
 
    SaveValue "MarsAttacks", "HighScore", HighScore
    SaveValue "MarsAttacks", "HighMartians", HighMartians
    SaveValue "MarsAttacks", "Credits", Credits
 
End Sub 

Sub LoadData
    Dim Value
    Value = LoadValue("MarsAttacks", "HighScore")
    If (Value <> "") Then HighScore = CDbl(Value) End If     
    Value = LoadValue("MarsAttacks", "HighMartians")
    If (Value <> "") Then HighMartians = CDbl(Value) End If     
    Value = LoadValue("MarsAttacks", "Credits")
    If (Value <> "") Then Credits = CDbl(Value) End If
    
End Sub
Thanks for all of the comments!
 
No bob, I left the flippers as is as far as shape and position goes. I did add the faster downswing flipper fix to the script, Thanks Shockman for that amazing discovery, wherever you are. :)

Code:
    If keycode = LeftFlipperKey and gameon Then                            ' flip left flipper if game in play
        LeftFlipper.Speed = 0.07                                        ' flipper up speed
        LeftFlipper.Strength = 3
Code:
    If keycode = LeftFlipperKey and gameon Then                            ' drop left flipper
        LeftFlipper.Speed = 0.15                                        ' flipper down speed
        LeftFlipper.Strength = 0.1
Same for the right flippers of course.
 
Thanks Steve, I added the slowdown also. :) I even thought about putting in SHocky's visible flipper slowdown, but haven't yet, it is pretty neat and is in the Amazing Spider-man VPM table.

I played a few games after using all of your settings, it just takes a few minutes to get use to them, I don't know if they are better, but they are slightly different, it seemed a little faster, I saved the table with them. :cheers:
 
Mars Attacks 2009a is now available at Pinball Nirvana in the Original Table section.

I added a new backdrop without the green squiggles. I disabled all table elements when Tilted and added something in the TILT, so be sure to TILT it a couple of times. I changed the flipper angles, added a visual slowdown on the backswing of the flipper for a more realistic effect, without increasing the ball thru the flipper problem (thanks to Shocky for this idea) I also adjusted a few settings per Steve's suggestions.

Thanks for trying it out and I appreciate all comments. I'm surprised no one mention the chimes that I left in, but I remember playing tables with those chimes and it feels like I'm in a real battle with the aliens while playing an old pinball table. The Martian counter just counts the Martians that you kill and it will save a Martian Killed High Score, but it's just a visual stat and has nothing to do with the game.

How's that Steve?
 

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Looking good bob, sounds like some excellent modifications, I'll get back to you in about an hour or so because that's how long it's going to take me to download it with my currently crippled connection. :)
 
Lots more fun and plays even better, except I did get 2 ball through flippers. When the ball goes fast down the left in lane, it seems that shockman mod isn't triggered fast enough. ;)

Also you uploaded it with Display Image in Editor ticked, which was a bit of a give away. :)

Thanks again bob, top notch!
 
Wow, I never got any ball thru the flippers in probably 200 balls since I added that trigger.... Let's think about why the ball goes thru the flipper. You prematurely flip the flipper and actually release the flipper before the ball even gets to the flipper allowing a fast ball to go through the returning flipper (terrible technique). If you look at the system and code, the flipper can't return slowly if the ball is on the trigger when you release the flipper, so I would have to assume or conclude, your flipping sucks. :cheers: I guess you would need to make that trigger bigger.

I kind of liked the image displayed. :) I was getting kind of silly, so I thought I better stop working on it. :)
 
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If you say so bob, though that is a well known and often used flipper technique on real machines, used a lot especially on pinballs with fast in lanes, no matter I intent to remove that flipper mod completely anyway. :)
 
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