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Implementing EM rules isn't a stumbling block. Any decent programmer can whip together such a rule set in a day or two. Heck, you see computer games more complicated than that done in a weekend hackathon. The real work is in the modeling and texturing, which takes just as much effort for an...

There's two stages of physics upgrading for Timeshock. One is porting the physics from Fantastic Journey back into Timeshock. There were considerable improvements even between those two games: the ability for the ball to spin on an arbitrary non-vertical axis and to slide across the table...

Big Shot/Scared Stiff and Central Park/Cactus Canyon. Farsight seems to operate as though they do have sales data for the EMs. This is hypothesizing, but the most obvious way to do it would be to report and track which table initiated the purchase from within the game. Obviously that's not...

Great post. I'll comment on that line, though. I don't think that's the attitude we're seeing, that you should only like DMDs. Liking EMs is perfectly fine. The attitude is that the market as a whole likes DMDs more and will buy them far more than EMs, and as a business that needs profit to...

That's correct. And the rollers are not round, but oblate, so that the skill shot acts unpredictably depending on their orientations. TPA replicates the plunger unpredictability for BOP's skill shot, but doesn't really show it visually.

SS and DMD, which is a bit of an odd combination. So here's why. Many of the alphanumeric games focus too much on hyping their one feature or gimmick, so the game ends up less diverse and fun. BOP's left ramp, Taxi's airport million, Elvira's ramp grinding, Dr Dude's mixer, all of those get...

It's different between TPA and real machines. In TPA, always for score. On real machines, usually for modes. I really don't know what my high score on a real STTNG is, but do know I've made Final Frontier about five times including twice in one game.

Well, that's actually pretty normal for these games, or at least the TPA versions. Elvira, T2, Black Hole, High Speed, Victory, Gorgar, the right thing to do in all of these is grind something boring until you get your extra ball, then you can play for real. It helps when the table rules make...

This is correct. I was really struck by the amount of nudging Mark does in his video for LCA, and it sure seems like it would cause tilt warnings on PC. I gather that the nudges must be less than full strength using analog gamepad input. Not exactly. I've only heard secondhand that soft...

Very accurate description. It's still totally worth a watch, an essential pop culture icon if you care at all about either rock or pinball, and absolutely if you're into both.

No, but I could see about making one if you're interested enough.

Topic drift, but this is deliberate and true to the real machine. There are oblong dividers which rotate on a horizontal axis between the skill shot holes. So plunges on a real machine are inconsistent and indeterminate as well. TPA doesn't really show this visually, but replicates the...

Anyone complaining about Xenon being in a "pre-1980" poll is off base. You're quibbling over semantics in the title. It's clear it really meant "1980 or earlier" and if it were titled that way nobody would care. You're grasping at straws for something to complain about. If you're complaining...

It's not all that much more complicated than the backglass game on Cirqus Voltaire that was done in TPA a long time ago. It would take some work but would be perfectly doable if Farsight wanted. The backglass game in Banzai Run is a cool gimmick, but IMO it isn't really fun to play to modern...

Haunted House is one of the very few tables that might be harder in TPA than on the real table. Reason is TPA's flippers are way too strong making the ball far too fast and jumpy. And a real machine allows much better nudging around that extra outlane between the right-side flippers. Also...

Hi! We dislike TPA's conversion of it. It's not emulating the real machine code, so it's not really the original game. It is scripted with new programming which got lots of details and bugs wrong, which Farsight has never fixed. It also has some really bad physics bugs like balls falling...

Right. I've skipped it mostly to keep myself from burning another two hundred hours on TPA instead of doing more productive things. I've goofed around on the demos a bit. I might still buy in sometime. However, there aren't any real must-have tables for me in season 3. High Roller Casino is...

Theory: to make the games symmetrical with the flippers centered within the cabinet. Putting an extra inlane or lock lane on the left side balances the geometry against the three lanes (in, out, plunger) on the right side. All four Pro Pinball games did this deliberately for this reason...

How much of Jack*bot have you actually played? There's a fair amount to do on it, just about equal to Getaway with a main multiball, a wizard-ish mode, and a few side features. The casino games are neat, Casino Run is quite the thrill, and the multi-stage main multiball with the visor is also...

I dunno, Timeshock might be even more fun when the multiballs never drain and the railroad physics lead to six ultra jackpots in a row... :)