An Afternoon At FarSight Studios

[SKILL_SHOT]

The Champion Pub is probably my most favorite game. I picked it as my "if you could only own 1 table?" I noticed the yellow buttons, the color pattern and on the apron although small the CHAMPION pub I did compare it to photos to confirm the color pattern button color and the apron writing.

 

[The Wishmaster]

Thank you for this amazing writing , very informative to clarify some doubts and explaining how things are done . Hope all the haters and complainers read this and see how tough it is to recreate and make updates on these tables , so they can appreciate more all the effort they're making . For my part i want to congratulate them for all the dedication and the hard work they make to bring us all these great tables . Anxiously to know whats coming in the future and keep enjoying pinball arcade . Pinball 4 Ever.

 

[smbhax]

Great article, thanks SYT and FarSight, and Merry Christmas!

Best job I've seen yet of someone asking them the questions we really want to know about! It's funny, I worked on a licensed software property once where updates had to be approved by two other companies, but somehow it hadn't occurred to me that FarSight has to do something like that with TPA updates.

Was particularly glad to hear about the deal with the one frame delay for lighting post-processing at 1080p on the PS3. While I wish they could come up with some other option that would still look pretty decent, at least now I know what I can play without delay at 720.

Anyway great article, huzzah! : D And yay for Champion Pub! It'll be interesting to see how the game handles the ramp jumps and impacts and ricochets on that big boxer.

 

[Blueshirt]

Don't mind me, just cruising through ipdb comparing table after table to those blurred shots. It definitely sounds like there's some winners in there, man, excellent post. I'm also totally jelly.

Edit: of course you guys already figured it out. Champion Pub sounds cool as hecks.

 

[RC_Deckman]

Next you guys are gonna post side by side pics of unblurred versions next to the blurred as proof of your guesses! And as far as other surprises, there were tables in offices too!

Nah. IPDB.org satisfied my curiosity. lol I expected there were some not pictured.

On another note: You know, I've noticed that flipper-"hop" on occasion too. Funny thing is, I thought it was as realistic as a true one and never thought anything of it.

The only bug I think they should fix across the board is having absolute authority to call an attendant to dump/reset a ball.

 

[robx46]

Ho Ho Ho, my gift to all is revealing blurred games (I think). Definitely Dr. Dude, Whirlwind, Pinbot, Victory, & I'm unsure about the last 2 but have good guesses might very well be correct. One looks like Roadshow, the other might be Jungle Lord, but I might be wrong on that because what I thought was a blurred "grill" that system 7's use might be a coat or a chair. & so whoever guessed champion pub, that looks to be correct.
I left out 1 in the one pic, which is definitely Genie, no surprise there.

 

[Byte]

If you look at the pic of Mike Reitmeyer, you can see two Wii remotes on a charger. As to Pin*Bot, Space Shuttle, Victory being there, they were in Pinball Hall of Fame, so they have plausible deniability

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

Super excited about these new tables!!
I knew these would eventually make their way to TPA, but it's great to see them on their way sooner than later...

 

[pseudokings]

I was thinking the one had to be White Water Hopefully that really is true. And that everyone's guesses/assumptions that the other is Champion Pub are true too

 

[Bowflex]

That's not White Water. It's Roadshow. I am 99% certain.

 

[Bowflex]

Second picture, there is definitely a Bad Cats in the foreground on the right.

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

Second picture, there is definitely a Bad Cats in the foreground on the right.

pretty sure that's those are the same tables from the first picture, but just from a different angle, so that's Pinbot- you can tell from the topper in the first shot. However, between SYT taking those two pictures, they must have shuffled some tables around because in the first photo, all the way to the right you can see Firepower, ????, and STTNG. But in the second photo of the same room, different angle, you can see ??? (which is either Whitewater or Red & Ted's Roadshow) STTNG, and Champion Pub on the left side. Again, this is only assuming the tables orientation for TZ and Gophers, which are visible in both photos.

What do you guys think? is the mystery table Roadshow or Whitewater?? Or is the mystery table a different table in both photos. It's really hard to tell any distinctions from the first photo, and the second one has a yellow button but could really be either... hmmmm....

 

[Bowflex]

pretty sure that's those are the same tables from the first picture, but just from a different angle, so that's Pinbot- you can tell from the topper in the first shot. However, between SYT taking those two pictures, they must have shuffled some tables around because in the first photo, all the way to the right you can see Firepower, ????, and STTNG. But in the second photo of the same room, different angle, you can see ??? (which is either Whitewater or Red & Ted's Roadshow) STTNG, and Champion Pub on the left side. Again, this is only assuming the tables orientation for TZ and Gophers, which are visible in both photos.

What do you guys think? is the mystery table Roadshow or Whitewater?? Or is the mystery table a different table in both photos. It's really hard to tell any distinctions from the first photo, and the second one has a yellow button but could really be either... hmmmm....

Good catch on the Pin Bot. I zoomed in and noticed the yellow burst in the drain. I had thought the red disk was the meow again.

Whitewater has red buttons and a slightly different shade of blue. The blurred graphic seems too compact for Whitewater as well. Roadshow has the yellow buttons. There is a honky-tonk I've been too a few times that has a Roadshow in great condition.

Oh, and no secret but that is a Cactus Canyon in the back between Dr. Dude and Space Shuttle.

 

[Worf]

I swear, you guys are like CSI investigators or something! All I can say is I blurred the photos myself for anything that wasn't officially announced. FarSight signed off on my blurred pics. Next you guys are gonna post side by side pics of unblurred versions next to the blurred as proof of your guesses! And as far as other surprises, there were tables in offices too!

Blurring is a very ineffective way of hiding information - so either they intentionally wanted the information leaked (there are only so many different pins and cabinet artwork, so a simple bit of squinting and visual comparison works just fine). Heck, people actually can un-blur a credit card number these days as well.

The only real way to hide the information is to black out the information.

Of course, I believe Farsight did it intentionally knowing that there are enough fans who can identify it even when blurred. Keeps it from being too easy, but also keeps fans stoked.

It's really interesting that Williams has to sign off on any table play mods done - I understand why, of course, but now it makes sense as to why there are huge delays. Still doesn't explain why sometimes a table would get released that looked like no one even ran it before shipping it 9like say, lights not working).

 

[Animator_pin_fan]

Good catch on the Pin Bot. I zoomed in and noticed the yellow burst in the drain. I had thought the red disk was the meow again.

Whitewater has red buttons and a slightly different shade of blue. The blurred graphic seems too compact for Whitewater as well. Roadshow has the yellow buttons. There is a honky-tonk I've been too a few times that has a Roadshow in great condition.

Oh, and no secret but that is a Cactus Canyon in the back between Dr. Dude and Space Shuttle.

Which makes me think it could possibly be two different pins, switched between photo 1 and photo 2, because if you look really closely at the middle table on the first photo, you can almost see what I thought was the brown of Bigfoot's wrist on the center of the side of the cabinet.
But if it's Roadshow, I wouldn't complain either.

 

[night]

It was a very interesting read and thank you for that. I still don't understand the graphic inconsistencies, the lack of table shadows and the so-so texture simulation on the mobile platforms. Even within the boundaries of platform limitations I believe graphics could be a lot better with just some simple adjustments. The very same goes for the new menu. The tables are released on the mobile platforms first but are essentially stripped-down versions of the consoles. I wonder if the tables for the iOS and Android would have looked the same if TPA was build for the mobile platforms alone. I do understand that bug issues are a lot harder to fix now we know about the license. But the graphics on the mobile platform is still beyond my understanding.

 

[karl]

I can not tell what it is from those pictures, but do not take the buttons for granted. I have a White Water myself and it has yellow buttons

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

It was a very interesting read and thank you for that. I still don't understand the graphic inconsistencies, the lack of table shadows and the so-so texture simulation on the mobile platforms. Even within the boundaries of platform limitations I believe graphics could be a lot better with just some simple adjustments. The very same goes for the new menu. The tables are released on the mobile platforms first but are essentially stripped-down versions of the consoles. I wonder if the tables for the iOS and Android would have looked the same if TPA was build for the mobile platforms alone. I do understand that bug issues are a lot harder to fix now we know about the license. But the graphics on the mobile platform is still beyond my understanding.

Shadows tend to be performance killers, especially on limited hardware, due to the increased polygon count. Even on PC games, one of the first things anyone will tell you if you're having problems with framerates and your graphics hardware is marginal is to turn the shadows down or off.

I don't understand the low-res oddities, though, like Scared Stiff's backglass.

EDIT: And as far as the Whitewater vs. Road Show debate goes: Keep in mind that Road Show is a widebody and Whitewater is not.

 

[night]

Shadows tend to be performance killers, especially on limited hardware, due to the increased polygon count. Even on PC games, one of the first things anyone will tell you if you're having problems with framerates and your graphics hardware is marginal is to turn the shadows down or off.

I don't understand the low-res oddities, though, like Scared Stiff's backglass.

The shadows can be part of the texture maps, so no hardware limitations here. Take a look at Taxi, there are shadows and even light reflections on the texture maps. They have gone basically all the way with that idea on Taxi. Bride of Pin Bot, shadows, part of the texture maps. They can do the very same thing with TZ and ST: TNG (and a whole bunch of other tables.)

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

The shadows can be part of the texture maps, so no hardware limitations here. Take a look at Taxi, there are shadows and even light reflections on the texture maps. They have gone basically all the way with that idea on Taxi. Bride of Pin Bot, shadows, part of the texture maps. They can do the very same thing with TZ and ST: TNG (and a whole bunch of other tables.)

My bad, I thought you were asking for dynamic shadows on the mobile devices for flasher effects and things like CV's neon.