Medieval Madness new lighting

[Kevlar]

Here are a few pics of MM before and after FS have altered the lighting (iphone 4s shots );

By kevlarx at 2012-05-18

By kevlarx at 2012-05-18


As you can see the overal darker image is quite pleasing, but while I'm happy they are trying to sort out the lighting ( or lack of ) the way they've gone about it I'm not so sure about. While watching videos of tables on youtube ( because there are no real tables anywhere near me ) the thing that always impresses me the most is the light show. What FS seem to have done here is turn down the overall brightness but in doing so all the lights on the playfield are now really dim too which sort of defeats the object. I guess it would be a lot of work to dim the playfield but keep the playfield lamps lit the same or made brighter. With the lack of a real dynamic lighting model on mobile I guess this is the only way to do it but they do need to re-brighten the table lamps. The difference can also be seen in the table instructions at the bottom of the table, on the old table they were white, they are now gray. You can also see the fixed posts on the corners of the slingshot bumpers. The new dot matrix display is very nice but I think its too dark. The new green hue on the castle is nice, like there's some decorative lights shining up at it from the ground. Not shown working in the shot above but the left and right side flashers seem to work better now, atleast simulating lighting the surroundings, this was there before but looks better now probably because of the darker walls.

Another shot showing how dull the playfield lights are now;



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Incase anyone thinks I'm being overly critical here I applaund FS's attempt to get around the lack of dynamic lighting on mobile, I just think its going to take a bit more work to get it right. Maybe Mike or someone else from Farsight would like to comment?

 

[lettuce]

It is strange!, from the last 2 DLC pack there always seems to be one of the two tables that has excellent lightning and the other not so much. With MM and BOP DLC, BOP had nailed the lightning for the table whilst MM was plain awful in comparison. This time around FH has much better lighting that CV!

Make me think that they have 2 different teams working on the 2 DLC tables every month hence the difference in quality????

 

[Patrick]

Disappointed with the new light system. The dark aspect of the table is nice but the lights are too dark now.

On the kickstarter page, there is a video of MM. Excellent looking but it is not the iPad version? What version is it???
The same on iOS would be great!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

The video of MM on the Kickstarter page is from the 360 version (the same 360 version that we're waiting for Microsoft to get off its fat @#$%! and approve). It's using the HDR lighting effects, which as far as I know only consoles currently support. Most iOS devices don't have the oomph to do HDR lighting, although the new iPads with the A5X quad-core graphics might be getting close.

 

[Patrick]

Thank you. I hope farsight will succeed in doing a similar thing with the ipad3.

 

[Patrick]

The video of MM on the Kickstarter page is from the 360 version (the same 360 version that we're waiting for Microsoft to get off its fat @#$%! and approve). It's using the HDR lighting effects, which as far as I know only consoles currently support. Most iOS devices don't have the oomph to do HDR lighting, although the new iPads with the A5X quad-core graphics might be getting close.

Have you seen real pinball hd on iPad? The light management is very good.

 

[Patrick]

The big red lights at the top of the table (behind the castle) are never lighted on my ipad3. You too?

 

[Kevlar]

Yep, they are going for realism, those lamps are burnt out

 

[superballs]

I think we expect a little too much from the mobile versions. We can't forget that the physics take up cpu time and that these versions need to support multiple platforms.
A lot of people are already saying that FS shouldn't be supporting so many platforms so quickly, so I don't think that segmenting versions even further would be a good idea.

As it is, CV already stutters a lot on my iPhone4 though it looks great.

 

[Kevlar]

I think we expect a little too much from the mobile versions. We can't forget that the physics take up cpu time and that these versions need to support multiple platforms.
A lot of people are already saying that FS shouldn't be supporting so many platforms so quickly, so I don't think that segmenting versions even further would be a good idea.

As it is, CV already stutters a lot on my iPhone4 though it looks great.

I don't think we'll see dynamic lighting this generation of mobile devices but FS can make up for it a lot without it as can be seen in MM, there's no reason why the playfield lights can't be brighter though ( they were before ) or the backlights work ( the sidelights work fine ) bar for the extra time its going to take. They are learning though, Funhouse looks great although it is a brighter more colourful game to begin with, not dark and moody. I'm just glad they are spending time trying to make tables already availble look better, I'm sure as time goes on and FS improve their process they will get them all looking great. Lettuce is correct in what he said above though, FH looks much better than CV at the moment, the most dissapointing part of CV being when I first activated Neon multiball and nothing changed, the neon tube is very in-effective at the moment. They'll get there.

 

[superballs]

I'm actually more concerned with the gap between the flippers. Aside from that, I'm more than happy with how the table plays.

I have pretty high expectations for the console versions but i can forgive the mobiles for something as small as lighting.

 

[Patrick]

Ipad3 is a perfect platform for such tables. iPhone is not a game machine basically. Anyway, there are millions of potential players with iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc, FS knows this.

 

[Kevlar]

Ipad3 is a perfect platform for such tables. iPhone is not a game machine basically. Anyway, there are millions of potential players with iPod, iPhone, iPad, etc, FS knows this.

I actually prefer playing on my iPad 3 compared to my Xbox 360, sure the 360 version looks better but there's something about holding the table in your hands. It's a pity nudging is not as good but I am getting better at it. This is why I want farsight to do the best they can on iPad. I also have it on my 4s but the screen is just too small, roll on a larger screen iPhone!

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I actually prefer playing on my iPad 3 compared to my Xbox 360, sure the 360 version looks better but there's something about holding the table in your hands. It's a pity nudging is not as good but I am getting better at it. This is why I want farsight to do the best they can on iPad. I also have it on my 4s but the screen is just too small, roll on a larger screen iPhone!

It's the opposite for me - I nudge more or less constantly and the lack of control on the iOS devices is really hurting my game (as you can plainly see from my sig). I'm probably going to just play the iOS version on the road and/or for the newer tables while I'm waiting through Microsoft's travesty of a DLC approval process, and save my "serious" play for the 360.

 

[Patrick]

Lights not fixed with 1.1.2 :-(

 

[Kevlar]

Lighting is still not fixed in 1.1.5!. Farsight can you please fix the brightness of all the playfield lights which were dimmed way too much when you re-lit the table a few revisions ago. While dynamic lighting might not be possible ( I'm playing on ipad 3) I'm actually quite impressed with what FS have done on most of the tables but compared to the other tables MM playfield lighting is very poor, it bothers me every time I play it. Also please change the blown lamps in the rear flashers.

 

[3waycombo]

General illumination is too dark. This is expecially true since the lights in the playfield are extremely bright. I can use my TV settings to adjust it so I can see well enough to play but then when I go to another table everything looks terrible.

There should be an adjustable lighting option for every table in my opinion. It's somewhat of an accesibility issue because not everyone has perfect vision. My dad would like to play but it's just too hard to see. Simply adding brightness, contrast, and saturation controls would make a huge difference. Thank you for your consideration of my request.

 

[ScotchYeti]

Hello 3waycombo,

The request for some kind of gamma/brightness slider on the PS3 has been out for months. Nothing sophisticated, just a simple slider to make the tables brighter or darker.
Chances are very slim that we will get it because

a) tables look perfectly fine in FS studios and it's futile to discuss with them that ON YOUR TV it doesn't look right and
b) the user base on the PS3 is small compared to Android or iOS

 

[3waycombo]

Well that's a bummer. Good news is that jpsalas made an incredible version of MM for Visual Pinball. I guess I'll do battle with the Duke of Bourbon on that platform instead.

 

[dtown8532]

Though I prefer the tables to be darker over being too bright, the latest PS3 update has made MM too dark. The biggest problem is the castle gate which is almost impossible to tell if it's open or not.