superballs
Active member
- Apr 12, 2012
- 2,653
- 2
Hi Everyone,
I have a question for Farsight as to whether or not this game is still actively developped.
I've given it another shot since my first attempt was found to be extremely frustrating.
First off, I'd like to say that Farsight has created games pertaining to two of my hobbies now, pinball and bowling.
I bowl in a league weekly, and when I return to form, I'd like to start competing again. That said, there's a huge hole where bowling sims could reside. There is a wonderful sim by Concrete Software in PBA Bowling Challenge, and, ironically, I've got a couple niche sims called Concrete Bowling and Global Bowling from what I think is a now defunct company.
I'm going to be honest. Farsight...I find this game very disappointing. Not because it's bad, but because it's so...sooooo close to being great on so many levels, but falls short in weird ways.
1) It's too slow, when I throw the ball at 12.3 MPH, which is around my throw speed IRL, it takes as long to reach the pins as when my 10 year old daughter bowls. The pins fall like they are on the moon.
2) The throw interface: It's very confusing. I think i am starting to understand it, but it has nothing with how "fast" you swipe, but the duration of your swipe. If you swipe fast and long and it takes .3 seconds to perform your swipe, then you swipe just above the "hook line" (and sinker...fnar fnar) and your swipe takes .2 seconds, the second shot will actually be the faster of the two. This is not very intuitive.
Setting your spin is also difficult as it seems to affect your aim. It's very hard to throw at a sharp angle toward the right gutter and have a nice hard hook in as when you curve the line, the ball seems to want to initially go toward where you finished the curve.
The good:
The pin physics are actually pretty nice. Not perfect, but believable. Spinning deadwood would be nice and a few more instances of a sweeper coming in and taking out a left corner pin. It's lacking in "pin action" but watching the replays shows a generally believable action. I'm inclined to even say that the physics are better than PBA Bowling Challenge. My only qualm is that the 1-3 pocket is very unforgiving, and brookyn shots are a little too punishing, though the leaves on those shots are generally what you would see in real life.
I really like how the ball seems to skid at first and settle into a roll. Again, not perfect, and it would be awesome to see flare and surface compounds and the center weights (which help a ball sort of "wind up" when it's thrown) of different drillings be taken into effect, but that's asking a lot since I've never seen that in any sim ever, even the best ones.
Farsight...you have an unpolished gem here. A few tweaks and some adjustments to the physics and most importantly a bit of speed to accurately reflect how long it takes for a ball to travel 60' from foul line to headpin at whatever speed it's going, you could have something really great here.
I'm glad i gave this game a second chance, it's been rather fun and actually requires some skill until you can steer the ball (why god...why?).
I have a question for Farsight as to whether or not this game is still actively developped.
I've given it another shot since my first attempt was found to be extremely frustrating.
First off, I'd like to say that Farsight has created games pertaining to two of my hobbies now, pinball and bowling.
I bowl in a league weekly, and when I return to form, I'd like to start competing again. That said, there's a huge hole where bowling sims could reside. There is a wonderful sim by Concrete Software in PBA Bowling Challenge, and, ironically, I've got a couple niche sims called Concrete Bowling and Global Bowling from what I think is a now defunct company.
I'm going to be honest. Farsight...I find this game very disappointing. Not because it's bad, but because it's so...sooooo close to being great on so many levels, but falls short in weird ways.
1) It's too slow, when I throw the ball at 12.3 MPH, which is around my throw speed IRL, it takes as long to reach the pins as when my 10 year old daughter bowls. The pins fall like they are on the moon.
2) The throw interface: It's very confusing. I think i am starting to understand it, but it has nothing with how "fast" you swipe, but the duration of your swipe. If you swipe fast and long and it takes .3 seconds to perform your swipe, then you swipe just above the "hook line" (and sinker...fnar fnar) and your swipe takes .2 seconds, the second shot will actually be the faster of the two. This is not very intuitive.
Setting your spin is also difficult as it seems to affect your aim. It's very hard to throw at a sharp angle toward the right gutter and have a nice hard hook in as when you curve the line, the ball seems to want to initially go toward where you finished the curve.
The good:
The pin physics are actually pretty nice. Not perfect, but believable. Spinning deadwood would be nice and a few more instances of a sweeper coming in and taking out a left corner pin. It's lacking in "pin action" but watching the replays shows a generally believable action. I'm inclined to even say that the physics are better than PBA Bowling Challenge. My only qualm is that the 1-3 pocket is very unforgiving, and brookyn shots are a little too punishing, though the leaves on those shots are generally what you would see in real life.
I really like how the ball seems to skid at first and settle into a roll. Again, not perfect, and it would be awesome to see flare and surface compounds and the center weights (which help a ball sort of "wind up" when it's thrown) of different drillings be taken into effect, but that's asking a lot since I've never seen that in any sim ever, even the best ones.
Farsight...you have an unpolished gem here. A few tweaks and some adjustments to the physics and most importantly a bit of speed to accurately reflect how long it takes for a ball to travel 60' from foul line to headpin at whatever speed it's going, you could have something really great here.
I'm glad i gave this game a second chance, it's been rather fun and actually requires some skill until you can steer the ball (why god...why?).
