NEW GAME MAKER REVEALS FIRST TITLE

[Rock-ola]

31/03/2015 20h36
We bring you he first title from a brand new game manufacturer based in Illinois. This time there's no slow reveal and no pre-orders, and you can buy the game and take it home later this month.

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[Isaac Sauvage]

it's like time is running backwards lately.

 

[Itchigo]

it's like time is running backwards lately.

Yeah, that was me, sorry. My Flux Capacitor is out of adjustment.

It is weird though. I mean Bacardi Run did something similar to this. I can't say who I'm working for, but my stuff is 70's based. Most people like that because they remember those when they were kids. This place is relatively close to me (1 hour).

 

[GSGregg]

Yeah, that was me, sorry. My Flux Capacitor is out of adjustment.

No problem---a couple million jiggawatts'll fix ya right up!

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Yeah, that was me, sorry. My Flux Capacitor is out of adjustment.

It is weird though. I mean Bacardi Run did something similar to this. I can't say who I'm working for, but my stuff is 70's based. Most people like that because they remember those when they were kids. This place is relatively close to me (1 hour).

yeah, the bacardi and the juicy melons one and now this. actually i have nothing against throwback machines. if this is a growing, healthy niche then fine with me.

hum, so you work in the PB industry? cool beans.

 

[sleepy]

Are there any plans to update these very-old school tables with chimes and lights?
I don't mean talky digital with DMDs, but the plain tables could be very pretty when done like that, maybe with light sequencers and FX, but not the overkill with licensed themes and actors.

I wouldn't mind seeing some Pachinko with slight updating. Maybe as a gaming device with objectives.

 

[sleepy]

I got it. The Spirograph Pachinko Game, with colorful backlit plexiglass inlay,
and a slow rotating playfieled, with counterspinning mini-circle playfields inserted.

It goes into it's spin mode for the Jackpot Shot, or when you double your bet.
Let it ride.

 

[sleepy]

I thought that many of the regulars around here (mostly over there now) had something to do with the industry.
I remember a couple of table "authors" who behaved badly, as though they were arcade operators sabotaging the project.

But for the most part, those who seem to be connected are keeping it clean.

 

[sleepy]

Could be a Time Machine Pachinko, based on the 1960 movie, with a bronze Roman Numeral outer circle for a clockface and a rotating looking glass playfield,

Or a rotating Pachinko Golf. Or rotating pinball golf in a square cabinet, using Bluetooth to preserve the wiring. I''m having one of my days. Thunderburst.

 

[Itchigo]

hum, so you work in the PB industry? cool beans.

Not anymore. I stopped being an operator about 1990 or so, but my dad still is (at 77). I do have a couple side projects involving game design though. I'd really love to show you guys a pic, but I can't.

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

Not anymore. I stopped being an operator about 1990 or so, but my dad still is (at 77). I do have a couple side projects involving game design though. I'd really love to show you guys a pic, but I can't.

redemption machines...?

sorry not trying to pry... a bit curious. todo bueno.

 

[Itchigo]

Video, Pinball, Jukeboxes and Pool Tables are what we did since I was a kid. My dad started out with the old Shakey's where he rented out 8mm projectors and Little Rascal movies to Pizza Parlors. Then Pong came out.... and everyone wanted one. So he got into games at that point, and out of movies. I remembered about 1985, Pong was out and we had a room full of (mostly working) Pong cocktail tables he was going to junk. I said give them to me. I sold each one for 50$ to people in my neighborhood.:)

What I'm doing now is a side project for extra money, designing a couple pins. I have to say that in all the time I spent as an operator I never once thought about being a designer- that is, until I got VP.

 

[sleepy]

So which game made the most money for your family? PONG? Breakout? Space Invaders? Pac-Man? Ms. Pac-Man? Donkey Kong? Dragon's Lair? Mortal Kombat? Street Fighter II? Something else?

 

[Isaac Sauvage]

thanks for sharing that itchigo, and yeah... VP was incredibly inspirational at one time. IIRC i did about two original tables and 3-4 collaborations with other ppl.

me, i had a LONG list of tables and games i wanted to make, but then my arthritic-stuff kicked in and i had to abandon most of them.

"billiards engine" which you can find in the DL section here is the closest i ever came to finishing a completely original idea.

maybe if i had collaborated with someone like sleepy, more of my projects would have borne fruit. one of my last ideas was to make a table that looked like glass... exposing the mechanics underneath. but i had a million ideas when i was ten+ years younger... when VP was a passion to me.

 

[sleepy]

And me, I had a few dozen ideas that others then beat me to, or took credit for.
I remember figuring out how to add active lighting to walls and transparent lit bumper caps graphics, and I posted a tutorial. Then somebody did it and got all the glory.
It's no matter.

 

[sleepy]

Say, has anyone figured out why VP still insists that Bumper lights flash ON by default when hit? I have never seen that behavior in a real world pinball machine. They are either static Off (real old school), or On when enabled, else they are On and Flash Off when hit.

 

[Itchigo]

Sleepy, they all did pretty well in the day. Back in those days we leased games from the distributor (Worldwide Distributors in Chicago). A good game was 26 or 52 weeks at about 40$-50$ a week. We did a 50/50 split with the location which had to cover the rent on the game. We did have an Asteroids when it came out that had a service call on it- won't take quarters. Because it was full. When other good games were doing 100$-200$ a week, this location in it's first week did 495$! Still a record for a weekly collection. It went down after a couple weeks, but that first week was the record.

Ike, I've said it before but VP has been incredibly inspirational in my life. I wasn't even computer literate when I bought my first laptop in late 2008. After I got my new job I was looking for pinball cd-roms to buy. Then I found VP (cue angelic music). It was exactly what I was looking for- a way to play the games I used to run, and no longer owned. When I finally got it running in mid 2009, (remember I didn't even know what subfolders were when I started here) I was happy, but didn't figure I'd EVER know enough to make a table. Eventually, with Faralos's help I started to learn. I learned VP by mimicking the patterns in the coding. Once I learned the "patterns" I picked it up quite fast as Faralos will tell you. Since them I've 2 computers (desktop and laptop), I'm on my 3rd website, written training manuals, designed things for work, and worked in 4 different languages (VB, Java, HTML, .css.

Had I not found VP I'm sure I would've lost interest in the computer altogether. Hell officially froze over when my wife who I always asked how to do this, etc, started asking me questions. I've also been working with PBecker1946 (here), making his desktop tables into FS tables with a working backglass. Not a big deal until you find out he used to work for NASA. Try and understand HIS coding... Actually, he's made it a lot easier for me than when we started out. Truthfully Compufox's tables has been the biggest challenge to date, though converting Trigon was a pita too. I'll leave you with 2 pics PBecker1946 gave me, scanned from a slide. (How did I get off topic?) One is a pic of Viking being built (he was a part of this) the other is the original pic of the "Face on Mars" taken by his team.

 

[sleepy]

Another off-topic. Is Java dead, or is it still of value to the business community?
I was looking at it as a gaming language, but then the Java attacks started and it lost credibility as a platform for The Internet.

Do you do any HTML5 scripting? The CANVAS element with its ability to render games and 3D via WEBGL looks very promising, though I haven't had the chance to use it much here at PN.

Microsoft has a HTML5 pinball game demo online, in a wireframe kind-of design.
It plays in any HTML5-enabled browser.

http://ie.microsoft.com/TESTdrive/Graphics/CanvasPinball/Default.html?o=1

 

[sleepy]

That is not a really great pinball demo. I've seen some really impressive HTML5 demo games with sound and graphic that rivaled Flash games. Just as good, though they don't run well on older systems. Flash worked around that problem by dropping frames rates in the scripts and reducing the digital sound resolution.
Otherwise I am sure that somebody could export the graphics from a VP table or screen grab and it would have the same look.

 

[Itchigo]

HTML5? No. I had to learn some HTML for Rogue. I learned it the same way as VB. Looking at the patterns and experimenting.

Sub do this
If Replay=True Then

Do all the stuff between If and End If, if the above conditions have been met

End If
End Sub

 

[PinballSales]

Very interesting how time changes things. Looking forward to more updates.