Hey Farsight, Take a Break!

[superballs]

I'll tell you none of these bugs have prevented my enjoyment of this game. I've had games where the camera gets locked in certain areas or the ball gets stuck and while initially frustrating those occurrences are infrequent. Heck even on real pinball machines I've had games where I had to tilt the game to get balls unstuck, or sat there waiting for the game to push a ball out of a pop-out because it "forgot" to do it earlier, or just having to play a game with a weak flipper. The Farsight games are still a lot more reliable in having a smooth pinball type experience.

I can recall early on when I visited this forum there were a lot of complaints about bugs in some of the early tables. I was dumbfounded since I wasn't coming across any bugs that I could see. But the posts about "bugs" kept appearing. I was kinda blown away when specifics of those bug complaints got posted and a majority of them were cosmetic in nature. Like the color being slightly off on the table, or a bumper not looking right, or some piece of metal overlapping where it shouldn't. Now that I'm more familiar with the pinball community I get now that art is a big deal. But for me, as a gamer, these seem like such minor complaints they wouldn't be worth fixing. As long as the tables look good, play great, and are fun I'm satisfied.

A breath of fresh air.

Personally. I agree that art issues should be fixed. But I believe that anyone who lets a cosmetic issue completely ruin the game for them have some issues to deal with.

 

[DrainoBraino]

I hear ya Mark.

And it's not the little bugs that really bother me. I can put up with those. Pinball is prone to bugs simply due to the nature of the game itself. The big one for me is the washed out look of certain tables on PS3. I know I know, we already discussed how they can't fix this due to Sony policy on dlc yadda yadda. But I really wish they could figure out a way.

A breath of fresh air.

Personally. I agree that art issues should be fixed. But I believe that anyone who lets a cosmetic issue completely ruin the game for them have some issues to deal with.

I know I have issues! I want the tables to look right. They look great on everything except PS3. That ruins the PS3 version for me. As I mentioned in a thread bout a year ago, my girlfriend loves No Good Gophers and was so excited to get it on TPA. First time she plays it "This looks weird...". Never played it again on TPA, she plays the Hall of Fame version.

 

[gooche77]

As I mentioned in a thread bout a year ago, my girlfriend loves No Good Gophers and was so excited to get it on TPA. First time she plays it "This looks weird...". Never played it again on TPA, she plays the Hall of Fame version.

Those ugly blue ramps make it impossible to time a shot up the Jackpot ramp. The fact that you can't see drains on the right side is also annoying.

 

[MonkeyGrass]

Part of the issue, at least for me and my circle that play PHOF and TPA, is that many of the tables have seriously regressed from PHOF. BK, NGG, etc... They look like crap and others have serious game-ending bugs. Problems that didn't exist on the 5 year old version of the tables... this makes very little sense and screams lack of QC. Sorry. When you hear things like "we have no idea what happened to BK with the PS3 port"... I mean - seriously? You wrote the code, created the port, and now have no IDEA why it looks like crap and lags out to the point of being unplayable? After it's been out for well over a year? That's weak sauce, yo. If anyone ought to know what's going here, it would be the guys who wrote the code, no?

The PS3 stuff is just half baked. Which is a real surprise to me, seeing at it was the initial platform that FS launched on, and one would think that they would be the most polished table sets, not the other way around.

As I've stated before, it's very obvious to me that FS is spending a TON of resources on platforms that are not paying dividends right now (PS4, XBox 360, Ouya) and that's killing those of us that play on the core consoles and mobile platforms. I STILL don't understand the Ouya thing. I give that device about 9 months before it's dead in the water. Why spend the resources programming for such a niche device, when your CORE PLAYERS are dealing with these kinds of issues? I don't get it.

IF FS would simply take one month, and fix the major, game killing bugs and look into the graphical issues on PS3, that would mean a LOT to us hard-core, long term players.

And it's not just the "few with post counts" posting it over and over. I registered here after finding multiple awful bugs (documented with pictures and confirmed replicated) on the latest 2 PS3 releases. I go thru the trouble to document this and post it up in the specific BUG thread.... with absolutely ZERO response from anyone at FS. Not even a confirmation of "we see there's a problem and will put in on the list". Nothing. At. All.

Again, total weak sauce. You've got users doing paid beta testing and telling you what's wrong with the game, and they don't even appear to care enough to say "Hey thanks, we'll work on that when we get a chance!"

That, IMO, is the real problem. A complete lack of acknowledgement of the issues, or even an official "Bug Fix" list that keeps track of what's been identified, what's currently being fixed, and what's left to fix. This is standard Software Dev 101 stuff here guys, really.

Will I continue to play TPA? Sure. Are there about 4-5 tables that I have bought and paid for that I never play? You betcha. It's sad when I have to go back to a 2009 era disc to play BK, instead of the brand new "updated" version that is unplayable on TPA.

 

[Billy Fishtale]

^ Talks sense.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

So if stopping DLC for two months will put Farsight out of business... um... how did Farsight Studios survive then between 2008 and 2012 since that's the time between the release of Williams and Pinball Arcade?

From 2008 to 2011 we shipped
Backyard Baseball 2009
Backyard Baseball 2010
Backyard Football 2009
Backyard Football 2010
Game Party 2
Game Party 3
Game Part In Motion
Vacation Isle
Hotel for Dogs
Brunswick Bowling
Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection(Xbox 360, PS3)

 

[gooche77]

Hotel for Dogs

You admit that freely?

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

All we need now is a little Olive Garden, and this thread will be complete.

The PS3 stuff is just half baked. Which is a real surprise to me, seeing at it was the initial platform that FS launched on, and one would think that they would be the most polished table sets, not the other way around.

Not true. TPA first released on iOS on Feburary 9, 2012. Android swiftly followed, and the 360 version arrived in early April. The PS3 version did not appear until a week after that.

Also, the 360 is the primary development platform from which the other platforms' tables are ported, not the PS3.

IF FS would simply take one month, and fix the major, game killing bugs and look into the graphical issues on PS3, that would mean a LOT to us hard-core, long term players.

It has already been explained in this thread and in previous threads on this topic, why it is not practical financially for FarSight to take a bug-fix break for an extended period of time.

Again, total weak sauce. You've got users doing paid beta testing and telling you what's wrong with the game, and they don't even appear to care enough to say "Hey thanks, we'll work on that when we get a chance!"

You're kidding, right? The developers are on this forum - anyone with their username in bright blue works for FarSight. They are intensely interested in our feedback, at least when the members here aren't insulting them. Just one example: You know those new touch region settings on mobile devices that finally made forward and diagonal nudging possible? Those came out of user/developer discussion during a previous iOS beta.

That, IMO, is the real problem. A complete lack of acknowledgement of the issues, or even an official "Bug Fix" list that keeps track of what's been identified, what's currently being fixed, and what's left to fix. This is standard Software Dev 101 stuff here guys, really.

I take it you've never looked at the Table Master Issues Lists? I can't claim they're "official", but they're as close as possible. Over 400 issues covering every table in the game, updated every few days. I just updated it this morning...with several issues that are being fixed in the next release.

 

[Sun Vulcan]

Brunswick Bowling

I love this game.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

You admit that freely?

I didn't work on Hotel for Dogs

I love this game.

Awesome , although I didn't work on Bowling.

 

[DaPinballWizard]

I love TPA. You work on that one?

 

[DaPinballWizard]

"Also, the 360 is the primary development platform from which the other platforms' tables are ported, not the PS3."

Mike when will development switch over to the PC as your preferred development platform choice instead of the 360? I know you had mentioned something about that in a prior post. Will that still be happening?

 

[superballs]

I didn't work on Hotel for Dogs


Awesome , although I didn't work on Bowling.

Mike, was that the brunswick bowling for wii/ps3/360? I've been in the fence regarding that one bit I'm for sure picking it up. I isually bowl in 3-5 leagues a year so I'm gonna pick it apart

 

[Mark W**a]

From 2008 to 2011 we shipped
Backyard Baseball 2009
Backyard Baseball 2010
Backyard Football 2009
Backyard Football 2010
Game Party 2
Game Party 3
Game Part In Motion
Vacation Isle
Hotel for Dogs
Brunswick Bowling
Pinball Hall of Fame: Williams Collection(Xbox 360, PS3)

And you're still in business?

I keed I keed.

Ok so how about one month? You're telling me 1 month to devote to bug fixes, would put your business under? Seriously?

If so then I feel sorry for you guys having such a shaky business.

All we need now is a little Olive Garden, and this thread will be complete.


.

Olive Garden has a bug problem they fix it by exterminating the bugs, not adding new items to the menu. Therefor Olive Garden > Pinball Arcade. I always tip my waiter at olive garden. Olive Garden should rule the world. They don't charge me extra for salad. Plus my hostess always plays pinball with me.

If you don't see that I'm joking and this is humorous then may Olive Garden have mercy on your soul.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

For the benefit of those newer forum members who are probably asking themselves "what the hell does Olive Garden have to do with pinball?", see here: The Olive Garden Analogy. Ever since then, it's been an unwritten rule that a proper rant must have at least one reference to Olive Garden.

Do have at least a half hour to spare and something to snack on before clicking on the link, though; it's a long read.

We now return you to your regularly-scheduled bug-fix thread.

 

[rob3d]

Forget bug fixes. I want the next season of TPA to include never ending soup salad and bread sticks, and a pasta bowl

 

[gooche77]

may Olive Garden have mercy on your soul.

Too funny.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Forget bug fixes. I want the next season of TPA to include never ending soup salad and bread sticks, and a pasta bowl

So, you want Diner?

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

So, you want Diner?

Well played, Captain.

 

[Bowflex]

I can't believe I missed the original post the first time around. Probably saw it, scanned the length and said NO WAY. Can't commit time to reading anything that long, especially about Olive Garden. Now in perspective of the quotes above, it seems downright hilarious.