Williams WIP BAM FizX FP Sorcerer Build Thread

[shiva]

I've done 2 threads already, but on models and parts, so I decided it might be just as well doing one thread on Sorcerer. I did the very first version of Sorcerer for VP back in 2002, and it's ironic that this might be my last table. Funny how things end up sometimes.

I loved this game in the arcades when it came out. Didn't really have much choice, the 2 arcades near me only had Sorcerer to play anyway, but I have grown to love it, just like you can love a woman that you know is bad for you, but is just to damn sexy to resist. The best way to describe Sorcerer is mean, vicious, bad spirited, way too fast, and very inconsistent in play. Most of the time the ball screamed down the drain lanes or between the flippers, and yet every once in a while, you can play a ball for minutes. Sometimes it was all action, other times it played dull, flat and awkward. I have had 3 different tables of this one game to play, they all played differently from each other, but this is how they generally played. Very very fast (only F14 was faster IMOH) but once you got over the challenge of the speed, and learned to control the game play, she purrs like a kitchen, and it was very easy to rack up scores once you figured her out.

The big problem with Sorcerer from a fp/vp perspective is the amount of detail in the artwork, especially the plastics. Literally there are 10's of thousands of tiny dots of various sizes in color, and we have needed better images for years on the plastics just to try and preserve some sort of clarity. The resources available have been pretty fuzzy or very low res, so all the versions available can look pretty badly mangled in VP/FP and end up looking like solid blobs of color (especially in lower res versions like 1080p and 1440p). I was fortunate enough to have high res shots of the plastics, so years ago I took the time to redraw everything because this is one of those games that needs to be redrawn to have any hope of displaying it properly in 4K, so people can see and appreciate the truly insane amount of detail in the plastics.

I am happy to announce though that I already set a personal record on the amount of control points needed to shape one object, which is just over 210 for the left spinner plastic. As insane as that sounds, I know I'm gonna break that with the right top plastic. :)

This is just a very early build at the moment. The first 2 screenshots are just showing the exact progress I have made so far. The first screenshot is the build as it stands, the second is showing the plastics build and how I do it, and if you look, I am starting work on shaping the light object for the right plastic drain. I'm working my way up with that. The other 3 screenshots are just showing the start of the build days earlier. These are covered by the videos I have done.

Please note that though you can right click the image to get full size, because we have to compress the images here to save file size, the images posted here are noticeably fuzzy compared to how the actual game will display.

This also is the start of a new graphics set for me. I decided to replace the graphics I have been using for decades with brand new graphics, so you are seeing the new graphics and texture sets as I have been making them in Photoshop. I will be loading some of the new textures in the resources section as I go along and make enough to upload, I have already uploaded new higher res ball images suitable for sphere mapping.

There is still a long way to go here even for the build. I've had to fix the warp in the plastics as I go along, and it's been a process with the textures as well, but it's coming out very well so far. There is only base code, and stock fizx with no additional code, but that will added once the build is complete.

There's new stuff going on here, a new reflection technique for me, new graphics, and there are some things I am planning. I've only done a couple videos, but I will do more as I go along, and so if people have questions that I can answer better in video format, just ask here. Even though I really suck at making videos, I will do the best I can to answer those questions.

Still, game is starting to look real good now.

 

[shiva]

Update time. I alternate between here and youtube, I generally use videos to answer questions that need examples there, and the next one will have a camera walk-through more than likely. Getting close despite the weird ass computer I have (or is it FP?) that decided to remove all height settings overnight despite the fact that surface everything was attached to was still there. No idea...

Anyway, you see how it looks at this moment. Plastics are in (Right Header image had 463 control points, has to be a new record... took 5 hours to build as the Image kept moving on me. ( worth it though ) and the next stage is to do the transparent clear plastic and reflection. Nearly all the objects are in, but still a good full week of work at least. I got a offer to have the side ramp flap modeled, so been trying to get it shaped properly, height correct and placed just based on a handful of images. I noticed that the ramp wasn't that tall compared to modern ramps, it actually just barely clears the acorn on the right side. Being doing it wrong for years I guess.

The big change is the cab height, which has made a whole world of difference. I ditched the idea of sideblades, so once I realized the height was way too tall, and adjusted everything, everything just came together. FP, being the wonderful 15 year old POS that it actually is, decided to draw one side of the cabinet lower than the other for no particular reason. Anyone ever get that? How the hell do we even fix that?

Well. it looks a awful lot like Sorcerer now, even with the raw graphics and no help from BAM code. This screenshot is just stock "Bright" mode.

 

[GeorgeH]

I get glitches like that sometimes when having memory problems. It could be the large image files you are using. Be sure you have web browsers and other programs closed when working on FP. Deleting the fpRam file might help a little.

 

[shiva]

Thanks George for the reminder. All issues are fixed now, game is almost complete as the build. Had to compromise on the design a tiny bit, but then every other version out there does, as there are no measurements, dimensions on the ramp, and there are no reproductions out there either. I think I hide my compromise quite well actually considering how the ramp is actually made in real life. The actual ramp is actually quite complex in shape, so I did it as simplified as possible, and put in some placeholder textures to see if I have seams and how it looks.

Mandatory screenshot enclosed. If you are wondering why the plastics are darker, that is due to the reflection texture I added. Doing reflections on a light object is a lot tougher than on a wall, as FP can display a lot of bad image bugs, like the light object texture can become very transparent, but I worked it out. I used a darker transparent as I don't like the lighing if it's white, it looks too milky, and I can compensate for it when it's time to do the light code in BAM. Hell of a time to do it though, must have taken 10-12 hours to build. Be worth it though.

I drew the rest of the main textures and nearly everything is in. Next is to get the table playable so I can see if the ramps will work before I send it off. Then do the lights, finish the build and start learning some new things to see if I can do better textures, as well as decide what type of object I need the custom models to be. The different objects in FP will handle textures very differently, so I have to pick the right one and make sure I can do that texture needed.

Video should be up soon, as soon as I can tear my way from watching the hockey playoffs (Go Oilers) and I will show the new double reflection effect on the plastics, and maybe demonstrate some things if people have questions on WTF I am talking about.