New Stern Pinball Arcade: AC/DC Kickstarter is FULLY FUNDED!!!

[vikingerik]

Not exactly a lie. They specifically stated Flipper Physics 3.0 on their Youtube channel and in their newsletter.

This is a good point. They may have thought they were clarifying with that, rather than misleading. It's just us that got ourselves into a wrong assumption that all of "3.0" had been back-ported.

And I still think Farsight wants to retrofit and re-tune all of 3.0 (or 4.0), but the reality is that they just don't have the time and resources to do it. I don't hold anything against Farsight here. I work in software. This is normal, this happens all the time, there's always all sorts of things you want to do that sound exciting when you talk them up but the reality is you just can't get there on your schedule.

Pro pinball doesn't have a fully emergent physics engine. it never did at least before the re dos. They just did a better job cheating and tweaking then everyone else did. But anyone who played the web knows how to easily repeatedly shoot orbits by holding the left flipper up after the shot, then not waiting for the trap before shooting the orbit again.

The Web doesn't count here. That one does have railroading problems like in TPA. Starting with Timeshock is when PP has the super high spatial resolution that makes everything emergent. Source: directly from Ade during Timeshock's playtesting period in 1997.

If PP's physics engine isn't fully emergent, it's close enough that I can't tell any difference, and you guys know how perceptive I am for these things.

 

[vikingerik]

Great info, Zaphod. Forgive me if this was already answered, but does this Kickstarter video suggest that freeing the new engine from ROM emulation will free up cycles which can be put toward toward faster framerate? It seems to.

It does, though the constraint isn't exactly cycles. The constraint is getting the emulation to run at the right speed in real time. Farsight has said that that's a significant difficulty across so many platforms, and that they've had to lock TPA at 60 fps everywhere to keep the physics and rendering corrently synchronized with the emulation.

So if SPA runs native code using each platform's native timing mechanisms rather than emulation, then yes that does separate the concerns so that the physics and rendering could run on their own schedule. That's how it works in any modern shooter or whatever with a real game engine. How much of that Farsight can and will implement remains to be seen. Again, I think this would require Stern demanding high quality, as Farsight by themselves would most likely take the path of least resistance and just keep doing what TPA has always been doing.

 

[crazyflipperfingers]

Not exactly a lie. They specifically stated Flipper Physics 3.0 on their Youtube channel and in their newsletter.

This brings up the point that they are saying "With the release of the Stern Pinball Arcade we will be implementing FarSight Pinball Physics 4.0 which will be even more realistic." for this new Kickstarter.

 

[Extork]

Even the older Sterns that have already come out on TPA... If they got a Zac facelift with the same physics, that would be enough for me to chip in.its just tough to know what to expect. Still haven't seen the video, but judging from these comments, it's not very specific. As far as ACDC... Still not enough for me to chip in even though I have nothing at all agains the table. I just need more information. Mainly about the graphics

 

[invitro]

It seems that this just got the Project We Love endorsement from Kickstarter!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/stern-pinball-arcade-ac-dc

 

[Rich Lehmann]

Anyone donating to this is a complete sucker. This isn't a TPA game it is the launch of the new app Stern Pinball Arcade using TPA tech. Think about that. If this kickstarter doesn't make it's goal Stern is going to scrap the whole idea? That would be idiotic. Claiming this is licensing fees or expenses... no $#!% there are fees and expenses to starting a business. They just figured since it has been done before why not have all the suckers pay in advance and most insulting MORE than the intended retail price. Stern is set to launch Star Trek and Ghostbusters already, they are pitching it all over their instagram and facebook, they will make that goal if they have to pay all $100K of it themselves.

 

[shutyertrap]

Anyone donating to this is a complete sucker. This isn't a TPA game it is the launch of Stern Pinball using TPA tech. Think about that. If this kickstarter doesn't make it's goal Stern is going to scrap the whole idea? That would be idiotic. Claiming this is licensing fees or expenses... no $#!% there are fees and expenses to starting a business. They just figured since it has been done before why not have all the suckers pay in advance and most insulting MORE than the intended retail price. Stern is set to launch Star Trek and Ghostbusters already, they are pitching it all over their instagram and facebook, they will make that goal if they have to pay all $100K of it themselves.

Your opinion of contributors aside, you don't have your facts straight. This is not a Kickstarter for the whole app, it is just for doing AC/DC so that it might be a launch table too.

Now, about contributors. Why do you care so much about how they spend their money? I have seen in the past many posts where people were anxiously awaiting the next Kickstarter, and while I don't understand the sentiment, I don't pepper them with insults either. And in this instance where the table is going to cost the same amount as the entry level Kickstarter contribution, are people really 'suckers' for doing what amounts to a preorder?

Say what you will about FarSight using Kickstarter. Just be properly informed first, and don't insult the very people that right or wrong, will eventually allow you to enjoy the table being funded.

 

[Xanija]

Anyone donating to this is a complete sucker.

Thanks for this. I appreciate knowing who I can safely ignore in forums.

 

[Tann]

If this kickstarter doesn't make it's goal Stern is going to scrap the whole idea? That would be idiotic. Claiming this is licensing fees or expenses... no $#!% there are fees and expenses to starting a business.

+1. Like it has been said before in this thread, that's really weird and illogical to make a Kickstarter for a table before the actual release of the game itself.

Let's imagine:

November 2016 - SPA is released without AC/DC, and the game is praised by everybody: great presentation, awesome new physics 4.0, ST and GB kick some ****.
January 2017 - Farsight, thanks to the huge success of SPA, decides to go for the most expensive licensed table, aka AC/DC and launch a Kickstarter. Everybody is already hyped, funding success is a piece of cake.


But the reality:

May 2016 - FS asks +100K for a table on a game that nobody knows if it will be good, and maybe will be just a slightly improved port of TPA (with its well known flaws). Teasing "new engine, new ball physics, world peace" is not a good sign too.

Maybe FS has some hidden tricks in his sleeve (like showing some actual footage of SPA if the KS went wrong), but right now, all this just seems wonky.

PS: for my part, I don't care, SPA is not planned on old gen consoles, so...


EDIT: From the Kickstarter Comments:

Mike Smith 11 hours ago

I wish you'd done this Kickstarter after releasing the new game so we could see how well the physics engine 4.0 performs and how the new game looks. Or at least showed us a demo of how it looks and plays.

 

[thefly0810]

My main problem with the Kickstarter when watching the promo video is that Farsight almosts places the blame on the consumer that if these license fees aren't paid for, and then these tables will never exist. It places the responsibility on the consumer. I get it. Six figure licensing fees is a hard pill to swallow financially. To me though, it would sound more genuine and sincere if they were just asking their fans to cover half the cost at $54,000, while they cover the rest. Or if they still wanted wanted to have it covered at $108,000, instead of selling the tables at a full profit post launch, I would rather here Farsight say something like "since this table has been funded by our great community, we are going to donate 50% of the proceeds of every sale of this table to the Wounded Soldier Project" or St Jude's Children Hospital or some other great charity.

 

[invitro]

Your opinion of contributors aside, you don't have your facts straight. This is not a Kickstarter for the whole app, it is just for doing AC/DC so that it might be a launch table too.

Now, about contributors. Why do you care so much about how they spend their money? I have seen in the past many posts where people were anxiously awaiting the next Kickstarter, and while I don't understand the sentiment, I don't pepper them with insults either. And in this instance where the table is going to cost the same amount as the entry level Kickstarter contribution, are people really 'suckers' for doing what amounts to a preorder?

Say what you will about FarSight using Kickstarter. Just be properly informed first, and don't insult the very people that right or wrong, will eventually allow you to enjoy the table being funded.

+1, right on.

 

[invitro]

The kicktraq:
https://www.kicktraq.com/projects/1067367405/stern-pinball-arcade-ac-dc/

 

[rob3d]

Its been cancelled

Hi there,
We're writing to let you know that Stern Pinball Arcade: AC/DC (Canceled) has been canceled by the project creator. As a result, your $150.00 USD pledge has been automatically canceled and your card will not be charged.
If you'd like to follow along with the creator's next steps, stay tuned to their updates. You can even drop them an encouraging message or comment on their project page.
Thanks for supporting this project.
Best
Kickstarter

 

[strells]

Project canceled?!!! What?

Steve

 

[Nomorestalker]

Its been cancelled

Well this is certainly an interesting development.

 

[Drakub]

What??? ACDC kickstarter has been cancelled?!

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

What happened?

 

[rob3d]

Well this is certainly an interesting development.

I'm really dissapointed, Fingers crossed that its cancelled because they figured out the IP funding another way

 

[karl]

Strange news Maybe they decided to give the money to Roger Sharpe instead. I am sure he could have gotten them a better license deal.

Joking aside. I am anxiously waiting for an explanation to why they canceled it so fast

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Okay, that's interesting. Maybe someone did show up with a big check?! Hey Axl is making a ton of cash off the GnR reunion and presumably from filling in on the AC/DC tour, maybe he had an epiphany!