Farsight, we're breaking up - It's not me, it's you...

[MonkeyGrass]

You can see where were going here, FarSight. We love you, but some hard truths are starting to emerge that if left unchecked just might hit harder than expected/predicted.

Please don't let it get to that. Please stay relevant and current.

This is all the stuff we've been harping on for over 2 years now... I think they would have listened before, if ever. They seem to have their heads stuck in the sand, and are going to get reamed by Zacc and all the other newcomers to this game. Owning the rights to the licenses is no longer going to be "enough" to attract and retain fans... I mean - do any of us that own/play real pinball machines ever get tired of them? Not this guy. Yet - we are all getting "TPA Fatigue" and nothing is improving. Zacc and ASK are really the only reasons I come here.

These side projects are just hard to swallow for 2 reasons:

1) They are taking *very* limited time away from TPA/bugfixes/updates. Fix the bell cow before you try to start another project, please. The biggest knock on FS is the "incomplete" feeling of many tables, poor scripting, and the awful, terrible, 15 yrs out of date UI - which has gone from merely being an eyesore at first - to a real problem with the number of tables the collection is amassing.

2) The side projects SUCK.

I was taught, if you want to truly succeed in business - do one thing and do it better than anyone else. FS seems to be taking to exact opposite approach of "half-ass everything we do and maybe enough people will drop $5 on it before they notice and quit playing". As I've said before - nobody in the real pinball world takes TPA seriously. Which is a real issue for a game/app that's geared towards pinheads, IMO.

 

[shutyertrap]

I'm with Sean, in that I accept it for what it is. That doesn't mean I'm happy about it, and I certainly wish it would evolve.

It's interesting that FarSight had said the reason they didn't go with pre-rendered images was so the camera could go anywhere. And yet we are stuck with camera angles we can't change. We always talk about low hanging fruit FS could get to that would refresh the game some, and it is amazing how clueless they can be about it. The UI is single handedly the easiest way to stay relevant, and yet it gets ignored.

The sad truth for me, in real life I'd probably play a semi busted WMS table over a nice Zacc. The same is kinda true for the apps. I have no emotional connection to Zacc (or Taito, Gottlieb, Atari, any EMs, or old Stern). I can't say I like any and all pinball, but I love most 80s and 90s era WMS machines. And that means I play TPA. I also hate playing on my phone, so I can't get into Zacc or Color Monkey like I can Zen and TPA. Maybe I'll change my tune when they come to PC. The shine has long since worn off TPA, and I don't froth at the mouth over new tables that come out. Okay, I frothed at TAF, but still.

I truly hope that FarSight steps up their game, sees that they have to. I think they are distracted and jealous of the mobile in app purchase model that certain companies excel at, which is unfortunate. They have the diamond, but don't seem to know how to cut it. And diamonds aren't sold ounces at a time.

 

[SilverBalls]

Nice thread title. With a bit of councilling and effort maybe Farsight can win back our hearts.

Once DX11 is out, if cab support closely follows they will get me buying PC seasons again, and backdating the later ones I missed.

I also can't put Zacc on Android down. I thought I might tire of it, but not at all. The sim and lighting is so good, feels so real I am as taken by it as a real pin. One thing confuses me is it only 1000 downloads on Android, but early days hopefully.

If Farsight can spice up mobile lighting (tough I guess with the CPU doing the ROM emu), add configurable cams I might buy again on mobile too.

Cab support and new lighting on PC will make Farsight trendy again on PC.

Now to all those wasted licences that Farsight will never make. Like I said in another thread, it is madness for any ex Pinball manufacturer to grant one company exclusive access to all their tables, a company that knocks up one table a month. One table a month is OK, but don't lock up all the other licences! On renewal Farsight should commit to say 24 or 36 named tables over 2 to 3 years, and allow other companies like Ask to go for the others.

Maybe a joint deal (sub-licencing of EMs or early SSs) is another option, as Farsight have the publics eye and can promote it.

 

[canuck]

IMHO, when it comes down to it, Digital Pinball is all about the physics, game rules of a particular table, and faithful recreation of the physical table. Farsight continues to excell in all three of these areas. Sure, lighting effects would be nice on iPad, as would an updated UI --- but these are all secondary to the playability of the actual tables. And as they say, if you want to play AF, TPA is the only game in town.

Perhaps one day we'll get an engine/graphics update that takes advantage of latest generation iPads. One can dream.

 

[Dedpop]

The sad truth for me, in real life I'd probably play a semi busted WMS table over a nice Zacc. The same is kinda true for the apps. I have no emotional connection to Zacc (or Taito, Gottlieb, Atari, any EMs, or old Stern). I can't say I like any and all pinball, but I love most 80s and 90s era WMS machines. And that means I play TPA. I also hate playing on my phone, so I can't get into Zacc or Color Monkey like I can Zen and TPA. Maybe I'll change my tune when they come to PC.

Same thought here.

 

[SilverBalls]

IMHO, when it comes down to it, Digital Pinball is all about the physics, game rules of a particular table, and faithful recreation of the physical table. Farsight continues to excell in all three of these areas. Sure, lighting effects would be nice on iPad, as would an updated UI --- but these are all secondary to the playability of the actual tables. And as they say, if you want to play AF, TPA is the only game in town.

Perhaps one day we'll get an engine/graphics update that takes advantage of latest generation iPads. One can dream.

Have you tried the Zacc physics. The old ones were appalling but the new are totally transformed and for me equal to Farsight. In fact the Zacc mechanical sounds, table taps, etc makes the whole experience feel real and not virtual. Also because Zacc allows us to adjust flipper strength, etc the ball feels more weighty.

 

[SilverBalls]

Same thought here.

I could never play on a phone in a million years. Even a tablet with touch isn't great, but plug an Xbox controller or arcade buttons linked to an iPac into the USB port of an Android is the dogs bollocks..

 

[canuck]

Have you tried the Zacc physics. The old ones were appalling but the new are totally transformed and for me equal to Farsight. In fact the Zacc mechanical sounds, table taps, etc makes the whole experience feel real and not virtual. Also because Zacc allows us to adjust flipper strength, etc the ball feels more weighty.

Actually I've only tried the free tables (the one with the wizard), which new table release would you suggest? I'm game for it.

 

[Baron Rubik]

Also because Zacc allows us to adjust flipper strength, etc the ball feels more weighty.

Try the ball type settings too. I only played around with this for the first time last night, but ball size can be changed, and material. 'Granite' had a lovely weighty feel.

Can't decide if flipper rubber colour has any affect on bounce. Don't think it does but elasticity can be tweaked in physics settings to give the effect I was looking for anyway.

 

[Baron Rubik]

Actually I've only tried the free tables (the one with the wizard), which new table release would you suggest? I'm game for it.

Space Shuttle is a popular one to try if your limited. Android - you can access and play any table pre purchase.
Make sure physics are set to simulation, and flipper gap also set to simulation.

There's only one table I don't really like out of the whole collection. Stars Phoenix, but someone else may love it.

 

[Reagan Dow]

Actually I've only tried the free tables (the one with the wizard), which new table release would you suggest? I'm game for it.

All of them! You will even get at least 5 or 6 more EMs on averGe one new table plus updates each month. All included with the gold package. Best $$ you've ever spent!! Ask anyone out their with IOS and now Android. Read some of the posts from Zsolt on the update 3.3 thread then some of the individual table threads. They are on TOP of everything and an amazing engine and customizable EVERYTHING!!

 

[Jeff Strong]

IMHO, when it comes down to it, Digital Pinball is all about the physics, game rules of a particular table, and faithful recreation of the physical table. Farsight continues to excell in all three of these areas.

You're in the minority there.

 

[SilverBalls]

Try the ball type settings too. I only played around with this for the first time last night, but ball size can be changed, and material. 'Granite' had a lovely weighty feel.

Can't decide if flipper rubber colour has any affect on bounce. Don't think it does but elasticity can be tweaked in physics settings to give the effect I was looking for anyway.

That is interesting - I presumed the ball was just a skin, but you are right the material chosen affects the play. Will play a bit with that thanks.

[MENTION=1572]canuck[/MENTION] - I also find it hard to pick a favourite table, but I hate Stars Phoenix too (as much as Goin' Nuts). So many good ones, but definitely worth buying dark mode, if you don't go for gold.

 

[Baron Rubik]

Every time the Stars Phoenix music gets up to tempo, it reminds me of someone trying to play the Ghostbusters theme tune on a bontempi organ, but that's how it was built. Ask have done a great job of simulating it.

(played more today - got multiball going and it's quite playable if you ignore the art and sounds.)

Really scary looking woman on the right sling of Pool Champion too.

 

[rehtroboi40]

You can see where were going here, FarSight. We love you, but some hard truths are starting to emerge that if left unchecked just might hit harder than expected/predicted.

Please don't let it get to that. Please stay relevant and current.

Let's hope that within the year, FarSight will start to make the doubters (like myself) look wrong.

If Zack ever comes to steam, that may become my new fave app. Especially given what I've heard about it thus far.
Also, briefly tried PP:TS on my iPhone. Looks freakin' sveet!!

Lot of respectable competition is out there now.

Your move, FarSight!

 

[wolfson]

to me the more the merrier !!! 56 tables TPA ,52 tables ZEN,imagine 30 tables from ZACC hopefully ,would be fantastic.the 5 new tables of season 4 on XBOX 1 today. i played in dark mode,FANTASTIC.the one that really took my eye was STARSHIP TROOPERS,i got my THRUSTMASTER T300 FERRARI GTE WHEEL,I`M GETTING READY FOR PROJECT CARS IN MAY.in the meantime i`ll use it with DRIVE CLUB & THE CREW. I`M IN HEAVEN !!!!!!

 

[Spud]

I must say, I've only had this a couple of days now and it is disappointing that TPA doesn't have this sort of quality graphics and physics. I've bought every season so far and after playing zacc the last couple of days going to cyclone today seemed so ancient. Zacc even runs 99.9% at full quality on my old note 10.1 (dusted it off for this lol), tpa has worse graphics than my phone on this and runs pretty laggy. That's my 2 cents worth!

 

[Xanija]

Please don't let it get to that. Please stay relevant and current.

QFE!

I really love TPA, but at some point there needs to be more than shoving out a new table every month.

 

[xAzatothx]

Zac is lucky in that most people have never played the real life tables so cannot compare accuracy. TPA is a more accurate simulation as the ROM is emulated - the downside is less CPU for fancy graphics engine.

People notice errors with Williams / Bally tables in TPA as they've played in real life and know what to expect. Rom emulation is therefore very important for TPA tables. Zac less so.

I had a quick go on Cyclone on my Nexus 7 and it looked like a game from 10 years ago compared to Zac the hoover physics are also still very apparent in TPA./

 

[p6800]

My jaw dropped after this post - http://digitalpinballfans.com/showt...n-Progress-features/page2?p=199414#post199414

How can a guy put out something like this on mobile that puts the tpa pc version to shame? How?