1.2.2 Now Out! (Feedback & Discussion Thread)

[immortalmindz]

Is this out just for the people that helped with the kickstarter? cos im not seeing anything on my devices.

 

[At0mXII]

Add me to the folks that don't like the forced landscape mode. Please fix in a future update.

STTNG launcher IS in a very awkward spot. I keep missing right flipper shots because of it. :/

 

[Dutch Pinball ball]

I think i am gonne pass on this update, i wait for fixes this time.

 

[canuck]

I originally purchased all my tables in the "Free" version. Since only the 99 cent version has the new startrek table at the moment, I paid the money and downloaded that one. I then deleted the old "free" version thinking that everything would work in the new one...but then I discovered my paid tables were showing un-purchased in the 99 cent version!

Frustrated, I synced and restored the Free version, downloaded all the tables again, successfully unlocked them, and everything was working again, in the "free" version.

With BOTH versions now on my ipad, I discovered the tables in the 99cent version were now all magically unlocked! Weird.

I guess I'll just keep both installs in place until farsight work out the bugs in the payment server between versions.

I'm happy enough with a few bugs, so long as I get to keep playing ST:TNG for Christmas.

 

[robx46]

EDIT: Yes I agree the launcher button is in a bad spot at least in portrait mode. It blocks the right outlanes & the ball vanishes behind it. You NEVER want a button blocking the ball on a pinball table, cuz seeing the ball is kinda important! & this is one button where we don't even really need quick access to it, it isn't like the magnasave on BK or HD button. & so it can be placed in a better spot with no problems. why did they put it where they did? Luckily, I think I prefer view 2 (portrait mode) anyways, which also places the button outside of the table area. But the issue is with the default #1 view. I guess if they moved the button I might prefer the #1 view, but 2 is pretty good.

I can't believe how bothered people are by the UI. It does need improved, but damn all I care about is that I can launch & play tables. It does the job, & I can see just fine sideways, & I haven't broken an arm yet rotating my tablet. I think I'll be OK, in fact I still think this UI is better than the old. I'm launching all my tables with no problem. I can understand people being a little annoyed by the rotation bug, but I don't understand how some people act like they are about to sue FS over this "disaster".
TZ now has the powerball. STTNG is pretty damn awesome to look at & play. UI works for me. Tables are all as good or better than ever, & great to see that these wider superpin tables (TZ & TNG being the 1st widebody tables in TPA) work well on tablet despite their width, things seem to fit very well. Seems like they could do even wider tables that are more square (like Embryon, Paragon) & have them work well. Anyhow I really don't have anything to be truly fed up over. Just my 1 usual comment...

For the 50th time I yet again want to mention this because I'm not sure devs got the message yet, the ball still moves too fast along the flippers, mainly from a cradled ball. Some tables are worse than others but they are all too fast. This really screws up physics for me. I play real pinball every day, so this is something I notice right away as being an issue in TPA.
When I have a cradled ball, as I often do when playing pinball, the point of a cradle is to line up an accurate shot. When you let go of the flipper on a cradled ball, the ball goes from a stopped position to gradually pick up speed as it runs along the flipper. Simple physics. TPA just doesn't seem to have the ball behave this way. & for some reason, the android version is pretty good with this. All others aren't. & some tables are worse than others.

This might sound like a petty thing that isn't important, but it throws off aiming since this process is sped up, which as we all know is the most important part when playing pinball. Like if I'm shooting one of the outer lanes on EATPM from a cradled ball, I've got almost no time between the time I let go of the flipper & the time I need to flip again. In real life I'd normally have a nice beat there to make my move. I believe a few tables including MM got a little better with this in the last update, & so I had assumed that all new tables would have the same nice MM physics. But they don't, or at least so far TZ & STTNG don't.

For those who really want to see what I mean. Play Pro Pinball or Zen Pinball or Pinball FX or VP or probably others. Cradle a ball, let go of it & let to roll to the end of the flipper. That is more or less how it should be. Then play EATPM on iOS, & you'll see how much faster by comparison that ball flies along the flipper.
This would really make my day if all tables just had this simple tweak that would make things 2x more enjoyable for me. It really would. But at the same time, I'm still very much enjoying playing, even with bugs & inaccuracies.

 

[Craig Grannell]

Agreed. I reverted to 1.2.1 just to get the old front-end menu and portrait mode back, nevermind STTNG. Constantly rotating the iPad/fiddling with the orientation switch at every table change got old very fast.

Yup, especially given how sluggish the UI is to respond. I'm pretty disgusted with this. It goes against decent UI principles in general, and they've replaced a terrible front-end with one that's even worse. For a 69p app, that'd be one thing, but I'll bet plenty of people buy every single table, and now they're left with an app that's less usable than they had a couple of days back. I'll also be reverting if possible (I've no idea if the data is possible/simple to move across and back, although I have PhoneView, iExplorer and so on) and I absolutely won't spend another penny on this app until these guys get someone who understands the basics of interface design in to sort this mess out. (It also makes me hesitant to recommend the product for the various publications I work for.)

 

[Craig Grannell]

I can't believe how bothered people are by the UI.

For me, there are various factors, surrounding general user experience and also care. The best apps and games on iOS are the ones that are the complete package; one might argue that's the case for iOS devices, too. If I didn't care about such things, I'd just grab a cheap Android tablet. On gaming, that's generally something I do when I want to relax and have fun, and so having to flick my iPad back and forth like an idiot, in the hope that the app might deign to realign itself to portrait every time I play a table is just annoying. That's not what I want from gaming. This is further compounded by the fact that I've paid for every table. No, I've not "broken an arm" playing the new update, but I was naively hoping these guys would at least be able to fashion a menu interface that doesn't suck, rather than, bafflingly, churning out one that's even worse than what came before.

I certainly wouldn't go so far as to say I'd sue the dev—that would be utterly stupid. However, I'm done with knee-jerk purchases of every new table that shows up, until such a point as the developer releases a version of the app that isn't fundamentally broken at the entry point. (And it's not like it was great before. With most iOS compilations, you get a basic select list, even if the dev's infatuated with swiping. With Pinball Arcade, the entry UI was fine when there were few tables, but it's a pain now there are a load of the things.)

This might sound like a petty thing that isn't important

No more than the shonky interface!

 

[jao]

Can't play Pinball Arcade at all now :-/. Ipad 2 iOS 4.3.3. Please add Play as guest again!!!

 

[Fungi]

Is it me or is the Klingon Bird of Prey backwards?

After doing a google image search, I can see that the Bird of Prey points in any direction the operator sees fit. It may look backwards to those comparing it to IPDB, but it ain't backwards for everyone.

Heck, just check out fellow forum member Jeff Carpenter's machine.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/2587-Star-Trek-the-Next-Generation

Actually, there's even a photo on IPDB that shows the Bird of Prey the same direction as TPAs.

 

[Björn Wessman]

Oh my. I love Pinball Arcade, but that front-end interface is utterly dreadful. On the iPhone 4S, load of stuff is wrongly sized or misaligned, and it still persists with SWIPE! SWIPE! SWIPE! SWIPE! SWIPE! SWIPE! SWIPE! SWIPE! It's like a disincentive to buy more tables, because whoever's designing this interface is making them harder to access. The fact the UI menu's in landscape when most people play in portrait is just crap-flavoured icing on already foul icing that covers an otherwise very tasty cake.

They should just get Tuomas Hämäläinen or some other UI designer to design a simple, fast, sleek front-end for iOS—one that enables you to get to your tables fast, and to filter a growing collection really easily. His mock-ups are way better than the dreck in this update. (And it's such a pity when everything else is great.)

I couldn't say it better. This is exactly my thoughts. Just hire a UI consultant for crying out loud! Or at least google "The basics of UI design".

And to people who only cares about "being able to launch the tables", well good for you. But there will be new people tryng out TPA who will discard it before even Launching a game. This sort of user experiense is exactly what scares away the average joe. And this means less money to Farsight which means less tables and quality for me and everyone who loves the game. NEVER under estimate the importance of user interface.

 

[canuck]

The way they have it, it looks like the romulans and Klingons are fighting

 

[immortalmindz]

Is this out just for the people that helped with the kickstarter? cos im not seeing anything on my devices.

Well?

 

[Lord Boron]

After doing a google image search, I can see that the Bird of Prey points in any direction the operator sees fit. It may look backwards to those comparing it to IPDB, but it ain't backwards for everyone.

Heck, just check out fellow forum member Jeff Carpenter's machine.
http://digitalpinballfans.com/showthread.php/2587-Star-Trek-the-Next-Generation.

Yea, I was watching the PAPA tutorial and they have the two ships in different directions as well.

 

[Tony C]

Is this out just for the people that helped with the kickstarter? cos im not seeing anything on my devices.
Well?

It is released to everyone. I have the update on my Mac, iPad and iPhone and I was not a KS backer. Try manually looking for updates in the App Store. There are lots of times when there will be an update and I don't get a notification about it.

 

[pinbot]

If sttng can be smoothed out to run better on my ipad1, then i will buy it. As is the ball changes speeds too frequently to enjoy it.

Tables that run beautifully on my ipad1:
Medieval Madness
Funhouse
Taxi
Totan
Gorgar
Monster Bash
Bride of pinbot
Scared Stiff

Games that need better ball physics (at least on my ipad1):
Theatre of Magic
Harley Davidson
EATPM
Big Shot
STTNG
Twilight Zone
RBION

 

[canuck]

Alright, ST:TNG was lagging on my ipad 3, but after restarting my device and clearing out some garbage apps that were sucking up resources it seems to have smoothed out, now it runs perfectly, no ball stuttering. Unfortunately I suck as this table, but I love the music. It's hilarious how Picard whispers, "good luck!"

Merry Christmas!!!

 

[pezpunk]

i thiiiiink that's Q saying good luck. also, who is it saying "faantastic." and "beyond belief." it sounds like Brent Spiner doing his Patrick Stewart impression.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQcammV9G1Y

 

[Findus]

Here all works fine - exept that I can't buy ST:TNG. It only says that I CAN buy it via Internet but shows no button to do it. The free Version is playable...

 

[mmmagnetic]

The stubborn new landscape UI is actively keeping me from playing TPA. It means rotating my iPad to see what´s going on, then select the table, rotate my iPad back, and finally unlock and re-lock the rotation button, because so far that´s the only reliable way to get it to portrait mode. I usually play just one or two credits between other activities, but this makes it much more of a hassle than it needs to be.

On the other hand, STTNG is absolutely amazing, this plus TZ is just an insane combo.

...you know what I would love? Some way to set favorites in such a way that you can boot up TPA, have your favorite table already loading and ready to go, with no menu stuff
inbetween. Kinda like a sleep mode on modern handheld consoles. Or just any way to enable me to quickly jump to my, say, three most played tables without all that swiping nonsense.

(I kinda love how the cheesy PHOF menu music is back, though )

 

[Turbine]

The stubborn new landscape UI is actively keeping me from playing TPA. It means rotating my iPad to see what´s going on, then select the table, rotate my iPad back, and finally unlock and re-lock the rotation button, because so far that´s the only reliable way to get it to portrait mode.

I use landscape to select the table and start it, turn to portrait, then turn landscape and back to portrait and it changes. Works 100% of the time for me on ipad 3.