A Plea To Farsight: Quality Control Needs To Improve, Respect Your Customers

[HotHamBoy]

10 months in the making Ghostbusters is the most messed up table in a long time. All 3 previous Stern tables had/have problems and bugs but Ghostbusters is easily the worst - baffling considering the time spent on it. Major gameplay-effecting issues.

Stern Pinball Arcade is still a total messing. The Pinball Arcade is still a mess. Each release breaks something different.

You charge $5 for TPA tables and $10 for the new Sterns. This idea of "release it now, fix it later" is insulting, especially when it's with nearly every table. Especially when we never know when bugs will be fixed and often wait weeks or months.

I get that bugs slip through but there's plenty of cases where the issue is blatant and unmissable and Ghostbusters is full of them.

You gotta stay on schedule to stay afloat. You can't higher more employees and maintain a profit. You have to release on a billion platforms in order to maximize the audience for a very niche product.

I get all of these things, I really do. But at what point do you risk losing your most loyal customers because they are tired of paying for a broken product?

I can only speak for myself but I used to buy every table on release. I've bought about 5 of the last 10 tables and as of Ghostbusters I think I'm done buying tables until we at least get communication that you are aware of the quality issues and plan to do something about it - and then follow through. Last Spring you took a month off from TPA's release schedule. You also abstained from releasing a new TPA table in October (Ghostbusters having already been in the works for SPA). Yet despite this no appreciable differences have been made. In fact, Ghostbusters is your worst release in recent memory.

Edit, as another thought has come to mind:
Why announce a Switch port of SPA? You don't have enough platform-specific problems as it is? You barely have SPA working on the platforms that it's on, with myriad issues, yet you insist on adding another platform to the list rather than just focusing on polishing the product you have already sold people. A year later and SPA still feels like it's in beta but sure, why not release another bug-riddled port that will only serve to further reduce the overall quality for TPA and SPA by further stretching your resources.

 

[Tarek Oberdieck]

Very good post. I got a stucked ball in every longer game and the call attendant function worked for one time only. After that the score is lost. And the leaderboard wasn't reachable from steam in the first release. (Now fixed). Very low quality in this season. A second critism should go to the beta testers. What did they do in this periode? Never checked leaderboard access? That's poor...

 

[Naildriver74]

Very good post. I got a stucked ball in every longer game and the call attendant function worked for one time only. After that the score is lost. And the leaderboard wasn't reachable from steam in the first release. (Now fixed). Very low quality in this season. A second critism should go to the beta testers. What did they do in this periode? Never checked leaderboard access? That's poor...

We can only report the problems we find not fix them.

 

[Fungi]

iOS testers didn't even get a beta.

 

[Kramer]

Agree - it’s a disgrace how Farsight treat its customers.

Because it’s a niche, most of us have spent hundreds of pounds (dollars!) across different platforms and years on, the same old problems are apparent.

We support Farsight, it would be great if they reciprocated.

 

[DopedToInfinity]

After waiting this long for ghostbusters as my wife bought me SPA for xmas on iOS, I have finally reached the point of being completely done with TPA & SPA.

11 months in and I still have to cycle the nudge schemes before a game to get nudging to work properly. This wasn’t fixed on the latest update with ghostbusters.

I got a Switch about a month ago and got a little excited about SPA on it. I don’t think I’ll bother after seeing the mess that is ghostbusters on iOS and the lack of updates on wii u.

I’ve stuck with farsight time and time again, and it’s not all bad, but it has got to the point now where I think I’ll just stick with what I have and save some cash and frustration.

 

[Heretic]

We can only report the problems we find not fix them.

Stop lying it’s all your fault don’t gimme your fake news bullsheehat!

Burn the carpenter! You can believe me I’m a modertator

 

[Heretic]

After waiting this long for ghostbusters as my wife bought me SPA for xmas on iOS, I have finally reached the point of being completely done with TPA & SPA.

11 months in and I still have to cycle the nudge schemes before a game to get nudging to work properly. This wasn’t fixed on the latest update with ghostbusters.

I got a Switch about a month ago and got a little excited about SPA on it. I don’t think I’ll bother after seeing the mess that is ghostbusters on iOS and the lack of updates on wii u.

I’ve stuck with farsight time and time again, and it’s not all bad, but it has got to the point now where I think I’ll just stick with what I have and save some cash and frustration.

Understandable dude but still pop in...I get konely

 

[shutyertrap]

A second critism should go to the beta testers. What did they do in this periode? Never checked leaderboard access? That's poor...

Really? Know what I did this entire beta? Tried to get the damn table to even run on my computer. For the record, it happened once. After the release, I was informed that FarSight has finally been able to replicate the problem I was having. Not fixed yet, but replicated. And like Naildriver said, we can report problems, but not fix them.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Really? Know what I did this entire beta? Tried to get the damn table to even run on my computer. For the record, it happened once. After the release, I was informed that FarSight has finally been able to replicate the problem I was having. Not fixed yet, but replicated. And like Naildriver said, we can report problems, but not fix them.

For the record, I have zero animosity towards the beta testers. It isn't their fault that Farsight pushes updates regardless of what you report.

And like I said, there's stuff that no one could miss (like key inserts not lighting, being unable to choose skillshot on iOS, missing textures, using Ghostbusters as an example) and I highly doubt Farsight employees are publishing these updates without actually using the software first.

I also want to stress that I'm not blaming this on the programmers, who are surely stretched to their limits, but the people in charge choosing to push out busted software.

And before someone chimes in to say that I/we would be mad if the tables were delayed let me say that it's far more aggravating to pay for something that doesn't work like it should. Good communication and polish that leads to a quality product goes a long way to make up for delays. A big part of what makes Ghostbusters so frustrating is that we have had very little communication about a table paid for last year that was supposed to come out months ago.

Oh, and that it's messed up on top of the excessive delay. That's really been the whole story of Stern Pinball Arcade. They forced a busted product out the door to make the holidays last year, fixed just enough to make it playable and now a year later it's largely in the same state it was last December.

After we learned Ghostbusters was releasing for TPA as October's table most users naturally assumed SPA was dead and would be abandoned. You can forgive them for believing that, given how things have gone. Not a good look.

SPA customers have been taken for granted. People who bought SPA at retail or paid for Bundle #2 already bought Ghostbusters. That makes the Season 7 TPA season pass an 8 table season since you basically bought Ghostbusters twice.

Here's a personal anecdote. A few weeks ago I decided to try to get cross-buy working between TPA and SPA on my iPad because I wanted to play High Roller Casino with 3.0 flipper physics (Half of the TPA tables on mobile STILL don't have them).

It took two weeks of back and forth emailing support to get the tables unlocked in SPA. Finally, I started up HRS only to find that most of the inserts had no textures. Joke's on me! This is 10 months after SPA came out for iOS.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Even if a beta cycle goes perfectly (the testers receiving a beta on time and they are successful in identifying and reporting every single bug), this is still Farsight we're talking about. There are bugs that have existed in the game for years. Pointing fingers at beta testers is just silly.

 

[Gorgias32]

I think it's out of line to blame the beta testers, they are volunteering their time and clearly are invested in the product. As was stated above, the only ones to blame for this are the product managers that make the decision to ship an unfinished and buggy product.

I really like SPA and the promise of it as well, I have enjoyed AC/DC and Mustang more than most TPA tables and it looks so much better/smoother on iOS. I really hope it continues as a product, and that we get the promised tables. But they can't go 12 months between releases and keep momentum.

I was worried about the GB release on TPA (I think the term I would use is "very cautiously optimistic"), especially after the issues I had with the original release of SPA on Android. I'll continue to stick around, I just really hope they can fix the major bugs in a reasonable timeframe (i.e. before the next monthly TPA release).

I honestly am starting to hope they take another month off for bug fixes between season 7 and 8, two months would be even better if they can afford it. Sending out updates that include "New - emulated Firepower!" and so forth could go a long way toward healing the relationship with the community.

 

[Trenchbroom]

I really hope that Stern recognizes what a slapped together, piss poor product Farsight has developed in their name and applies some pressure to get SPA fixed. Because obviously FS does not listen to the complaints here or on Facebook at all.

TPA I am sure is a lost cause.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

I really hope that Stern recognizes what a slapped together, piss poor product Farsight has developed in their name and applies some pressure to get SPA fixed. Because obviously FS does not listen to the complaints here or on Facebook at all.

TPA I am sure is a lost cause.

Unfortunately, you're talking about Stern here. They probably did approve of releasing SPA, and Ghostbusters, in the form it's in. Don't forget Stern are getting a cut from every sale.

 

[Crazy Newt]

Unfortunately, you're talking about Stern here. They probably did approve of releasing SPA, and Ghostbusters, in the form it's in. Don't forget Stern are getting a cut from every sale.

I always think of Heavy Metal when I hear the name Stern.

 

[Zevious Zoquis]

Sadly Farsight’s development model for TPA has been pretty much broken right from day one. It almost feels like none of the tables is actually finished. At this point, I wish they’d pick the 20 or so best tables in the collection, fix all the bugs and update the physics model to a unified and current standard and release it as TPA Gold Collection for a one time price of $69.95 or something on just PS4 and XBOX. This process of constant development and “one step forward two steps back” trickle-patching on every different platform is just terrible.

 

[Kolchak357]

Sadly Farsight’s development model for TPA has been pretty much broken right from day one. It almost feels like none of the tables is actually finished. At this point, I wish they’d pick the 20 or so best tables in the collection, fix all the bugs and update the physics model to a unified and current standard and release it as TPA Gold Collection for a one time price of $69.95 or something on just PS4 and XBOX. This process of constant development and “one step forward two steps back” trickle-patching on every different platform is just terrible.

You already bought them. Why pay for them again? No thanks

 

[Zevious Zoquis]

You already bought them. Why pay for them again? No thanks

1. The ones I bought are on PS3 so if I want them on PS4 I have to buy them again anyway. Prior to TPA I also had the Williams Collection so I had bought some of them even before that. People buy newer/better versions of stuff they already have. However, reading the PS4 board leaves me feeling like doing so (under the current development model) would be a mistake given the issues that exist.

2. Lots of stuff that was promised for the PS3 versions was never accomplished and now never will be. I have no reason to think anything will be different with the PS4 version.

3. I’d rather have a product that exists in a “finished” state even if it means having less content. In other words, i’d rather have 20 complete tables that all have essentially the same degree of “finish” as well as a feature set (leaderboards for instance) that works than a hundred tables of varying quality with varying issues and varying physics and a bunch of other issues.

 

[thefly0810]

What if Farsight were to stop TPA at the end of Season 7 and then release TPA 2 with tables that would have been the start of Season 8. I know some people would be upset that all the tables would not be in one app but could it make it easier for them to drop development on older platforms, and fix bugs easier in TPA 1 while not trying to release new tables there as well?

Farsight could also release a fan survey ahead a time of a list of 20 or 30 tables that they could get their hands on and develop, take the top 10 of that survey, and that will be the 1st Season of TPA 2.

 

[shutyertrap]

Allow me to apply logic to the idea of either TPA 2 or a "Gold Collection".

First off, to get the kind of quality being asked for, FarSight would have to completely rewrite their engine to get the physics people are asking for. Ideally they'd get the ROM codes so they would not have to emulate but read straight off the chip. They'd also have to completely re-capture all the elements on the physical tables to bring the graphics up to what I'd assume would be near photographic quality, because otherwise what's the point.

As FarSight is a small studio, they would have to have all hands on deck to do this, essentially stopping all work on anything else. The idea of 20 tables, bug free, new physics, etc, that's gonna take at least 6 months to a year based on the fact at one point they were able to crank out 2 tables a month. The studio would not necessarily be hurting financially as the 80+ tables available still sell and sell well. But ask yourself, are there true gains for them doing something of this nature? To do that much R&D on stuff the vast majority of customers wouldn't bother upgrading to?

Now let's look at the idea of TPA 2 where there's a platform cutoff and it's a separate app. The mentioned thought process here is so they can do the program right, allowing for easier development here on out. Except we really don't have to look too hard, as there's Stern Pinball Arcade to show us how that'd go. Plenty of bugs, an even wonkier UI, and the tables have the same look as TPA. Plus you have a general distaste by the user base of having to open a separate app rather than having some way of combining the two.

Like it or not folks, TPA is the way it's gonna be. They'll still make tweaks and adjustments, but stop expecting it to be something it's not. As much as I'd like seasons 1 & 2 to get a face lift, I'm not holding my breath. On top of that, I loved those seasons when they came out, and only started recognizing the faults when FarSight obviously learned a thing or two in subsequent seasons.

FarSight is a Zebra, and you can't change its stripes. You also can't turn it into a horse.