Why I think Druadic deserves feedback

tiltjlp

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Will's more recent releases, especially his last five, which are all up for grabs here and no where else, is that he continues to add new features, such as saving game statistics and winnings on his Payout games.

Another reason is that he redraws every playfield he uses. Now he's not the only author who does, but I can give you a good example of what one such playfield looked before he redrew it. First I'll show you a SS of the Golden Gate table released by Redswal not too long ago.

He used the playfield just as he found it. Then I'll show you a SS of the WIP Golden Gate Will had been workiong on, and which I tested. Will redrew it pixel-by-pixel, and the difference is stunning. Now Will doesn't want to be lavished with endless praise, but work like that deserves a little recognition once in a while, I think.

tiltjlp

First, Redswal's SS
 

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And now . . .

Will's SS. You compare and see what I mean. And while I don't personally care for Redswal's work, I'm not trying to insult or belttle him, I'm simply offering a comparison. And yes, all of Redswal's tables that qualify as flipperless are available here for DL.

tiltjlp
 

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Hello... I'm new here and terribly unhip about what went on lately in the VP life.

One of my friends told me about this site - I run a user's group on Yahoo! for people who restore
and collect flipperless pinball games. At first, I thought he was kidding, but I went here and shivasite,
joined both, and now I'm hooked on 'recreated' tables.

Anyhoo, I have played a lot of VP tables and I think druidic's tables seriously are some of the best.
Not only are his table choices very tasty indeed, but his attention to detail is head and shoulders over almost
everyone else. Seriously, his name as the author is to me like the 'Good Housekeeping Seal' - I know I'm
going to have fun.

I don't know if you can reach him, but if you could, tell him that his work is appreciated.

You can quote me on this for what it's worth...

Ken Lyons
Moderator
Prewar Pinball Yahoo! Group
[email protected]

P.S. I have a 1934 O.D. Jennings 'Sportsman' with a beautiful original playfield - does he 'take requests'?
 
Welcome abourd, Ken

Druadic, AKA Wiil, is offline for a while, up to two years unless I can convince him to return sooner. But it so happens that I'm his table tester and contact person, and I'll relay your comments to him.

I agree with everything you said about Will, and of course have every one of his tables, and a few more which I'm hoping he'll allow me to release shortly. Your kind comments will make it easier to convince him to say yes.

And he loves requests, so I'm sure once he returns, he'd ne glad to add any you can get good images of to his lengthy list of projects. The best thing about Will is that he'll help anyone who asks as much as he can. I became an author because of him, and without his help, and the help of some great partners and friends, none of my tables would eevr have been released.

Besides all his many tables, all which are avaiable here, there are also several demos and table templates of his also for DL. In addition, there are a number of articles by Will, myself, and pinball histrorian Russ Jensen, as well as an extensive gallery with many rare and unusual photos. Ever see a Baseball Pool Table, or an 1860s bagatelle table? We got them here.

So, once again, greetings, and enjoy each visit. I will be sending you an e-mail.

John, tiltjlp
 
Hmmm, by reading your comments John, I was half expecting this "Redswal" fellow's work to look awful or something, but that comparison up there isn't doing your argument any favors, IMO. The top one looks almost REAL and much better in the snapshots there than the redrawn one, IMO. I realize how much work it is to cleanup photos, let alone redraw them, etc., but sometimes photographic quality just flat out looks better than more flat looking "art" type work. I went out of my way with Sorcerer to GET RID OF the "art" look it had when I started (it uses a playfield overlay, which is replacement artwork for a real table, but lacks realism when just scanned as-is before placed on a real table and lit with real lighting). If you can get a photo of real table (where the GI lights don't have to work) and use natural lighting.... Well, there's a reason Gottlieb's one table got noticed despite it being boring as they get in real life (I can't even remember the name at this point the table itself interests me so little).

I'm not arguing with your argument, BTW (just saying that example up there doesn't make its point; I've seen some of Will's work redrawing playfields and it's pretty amazing and looks like a pain in the butt to do; you just can't tell from that particular example, IMO since the natural looking one looks pretty good as-is for a change).

But in general, I agree most authors don't get squat for feedback and a lot of people are underappreciated and go unnoticed, especially when they're not making the latest tables (I think my "almost nothing" update to TAF got more replies than my past two NEW tables combined; that shows you how much the popularity of the table figures in. I see some lousy recreations on Shivasite with almost 5 ratings that are of modern tables while the first time I checked on Fireball Classic, it was down at like 3 or something (think it was up to 4 the last time I looked). I'm not saying Fireball Classic is as much fun as TAF, but it looks a LOT more realistic and is a better made table, overall, IMO. And I did a lot of cleanup and lighting work on it. But most people don't care about that sort of thing. They just want recent games. I ignore it now. I make what I want to make and that's it now. Otherwise, I'm doing it for the wrong reasons.
 
Some very good comments there, Dude, and if you go simply be the SS, I see your point, to a degree. In fact, that's one of the better images Redswal has used, some of his other tables should have at least been cleaned up a bit, but I doubt if he touches any of them.

But my biggest disappointment with his work is that the game play is often sub par, and that his work on various objesct can be sloppy. so that balls often get stuck between a post and a wall. I'm not trying to tear his work apart, just point out some shortcomings.

Both Will and I have tried contacting Redswal repeatedly to offer advoce and even help, but we have never heard back from him. I hope you see the post by one of our new member, Ken Lyons, which discusses reasons why musicians fon't get much feedback. I think it applies in our situations too.

It's just a shame that most authors don't get nearly the praise or thanks they deserve, nor the constructive comments that might help them improve their work. I know I sure would like more imput about how I might improve my work.

tiltjlp
 
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