Randy is God.

[Shockman]

He does not manifest.

 

[TheMcD]

Heh, can't believe this thread got by unnoticed.

I must say I did laugh, I even LOL'ed, so to speak. I literally laughed out loud.

The McD

 

[StevOz]

I just sighed.....and yes I read it many moons ago, then again maybe that's just me?

 

[TheMcD]

Many moons? It's only been bout 2 months, but then again that might just be me.

The McD

 

[StevOz]

Lunar cycle is but 30 odd days or so, is it not.

Or is it 28, Eh I forget?

 

[TheMcD]

[SIZE=+1]29.53059 days.[/SIZE]


The more you know.

The McD

 

[bob]

Steve and Randy are from Venus.

One full rotation of Venus takes about 243 Earth days. Venus also rotates in the opposite direction to the other planets in the Solar System. One day on Venus, from noon to noon, depends on the length of the year as well as the rotation time, and is about 117 earth days.

 

[StevOz]

Ask Eddington...

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0995036/

...

http://www.mininova.org/tor/2148395

 

[Wiliamo]

Has anyone ever tried to use Facebook or MySpace to locate "God"?

 

[TheMcD]

If "God" has one we know of and which he would actually read...

We've been trying to get a hold of him a long time... I think a ton of possibilities have been tried out.

The McD

 

[bob]

Has anyone ever tried to use Facebook or MySpace to locate "God"?

We know where God is, but he doesn't like Pinball, so he has little interest in updating VP.... He created it in 7 days and then disappeared.... He returned to save us from the evil sins of Microsoft only to vanish again with Mitchell.

 

[ValamirCleaver]

Has anyone ever tried to use Facebook or MySpace to locate "God"?

I tried contacting him via MySpace, but never got a response... and I'm supposedly the Lead Admin...

 

[Wiliamo]

We know where God is, but he doesn't like Pinball, so he has little interest in updating VP.... He created it in 7 days and then disappeared.... He returned to save us from the evil sins of Microsoft only to vanish again with Mitchell.

Oh Yeah, I remember that God would occasionally talk to Mitchell and ignore everyone else in a thread. Man, how things have changed over the years.

 

[faralos]

God resides here...
http://www.randydavis.com/

 

[TheMcD]

Resided. Past tense is important here. One of his project's pages 404'd, the other one is the ungodly outdated VP homepage we all know and love.

The McD

 

[Mr. Pacman]

What if someone "hacks" Randy's page with a message for him by our community? Would he see it?

 

[StevOz]

What if someone "hacks" Randy's page with a message for him by our community? Would he see it?

I doubt that he ever visits the page, so I'd say no, that won't work at all.

 

[Mr. Pacman]

What will happen if someone (unknown), update VP and release it to the public without giving actual info about who is he? It could be a solution...

 

[ValamirCleaver]

It could be a solution...

Not even considering that the source code isn't freely available, therefore making this more difficult than you seem to be implying with your previous blasé comment; I hope that wasn't meant to be a serious suggestion to hack VP...

 

[Mr. Pacman]

Not even considering that the source code isn't freely available, therefore making this more difficult than you seem to be implying with your previous blasé comment; I hope that wasn't meant to be a serious suggestion to hack VP...

Well, I didn't mean anything bad...just a simple little desperate note..:) like "Randy please help VP"...anyway, ok, its been only a year or two after last modifications...who knows? Maybe after some years he will come back like Deus Ex Pinball Machina...

Is there a specific reason for which Black doesn't get help from other developers for physics and doesn't implement PinMAME? It seems strange after so many years...FP doesn't seem to go anywhere further except its graphics...

 

[TedB]

Even when the code was freely available, you need pretty good and pinball minded programmers to improve it.
Emilia pinball is open source and waiting for a new developer for years. http://pinball.sourceforge.net.

Future pinball will never include pinmame, so we just need to accept the way it is right now. The great thing about VP is that authors can include visual basic code, that way authors are still finding out new ways to improve their tables.

IMO kudos to Randy for making a program that is still going strong after all these years and hopefully he will re-appear one day.
He is still paying for his visualpinball site. I'm also sure he will visit the forums from time to time. I can't imagine someone spending so much time on a project and then never look at it again.

 

[Mr. Pacman]

Even when the code was freely available, you need pretty good and pinball minded programmers to improve it.

I believe that any good programmer who knows about the use of physics and mathematics, can make a a good physics engine, without being pinball minded...he/she will just need assistance to "calibrate" it, like any other developer...

He is still paying for his visualpinball site. I'm also sure he will visit the forums from time to time. I can't imagine someone spending so much time on a project and then never look at it again.

Hmm...maybe he use a friend's server or a "free" server or he pays very little money but I can't imagine a developer who continues to pay money for the promotion of such an old and almost abandoned free software. Well, i spent a lot of time for an essay, but never looked back at it again...i hope Randy will be different...He could make some money (if not much money) from it...also where is the point of not having it as open source nowadays? strange...

 

[TedB]

I believe that any good programmer who knows about the use of physics and mathematics, can make a a good physics engine, without being pinball minded...he/she will just need assistance to "calibrate" it, like any other developer...

Not much PC pinball games have the physics "right". So I doubt it is that easy :)

...also where is the point of not having it as open source nowadays? strange...

Would be a great gesture from Randy if he would open source the code. If he has lost interest in the program, why shouldn't he.
Didn't he change VP for Ultrapin Pinball Machines? If so, he probably received some cash for it. That could be the motivation not releasing the code.

 

[m4paws]

Even when the code was freely available, you need pretty good and pinball minded programmers to improve it.
Emilia pinball is open source and waiting for a new developer for years. http://pinball.sourceforge.net.

Perhaps, though I'm sure the fact that this is a Unix/Linux project has something to do with the lack of interest as well.

 

[m4paws]

Didn't he change VP for Ultrapin Pinball Machines? If so, he probably received some cash for it. That could be the motivation not releasing the code.

Perhaps, but even a pre-Ultracade Physics version would be nice, especially since the UC physics were never completely integrated anyway. However, to really take VP to the "next level" I think you'd need to make it fully 3D, which would likely require a complete rewrite like Black did with FP. It's just too bad that there couldn't be a VP/FP hybrid of some sort.