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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ark Malmeida" data-source="post: 6876" data-attributes="member: 285">Here's the text:About this projectHere at FarSight Studios we’ve been developing console videogames for over 20 years. For the last seven years we’ve been developing modern videogame recreations of classic pinball tables. We have licenses from the original manufacturers of the tables (Bally, Gottlieb, Stern, and Williams) to do this. Our latest project is called the Pinball Arcade and is currently available on a wide variety of platforms: the iPhone, iPad, Android phones and tables, the Kindle Fire, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PS Vita, and Macintosh, with versions coming soon for the PC, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Wii U.  Check us out at <a href="http://www.pinballarcade.com" target="_blank">www.pinballarcade.com</a>. Here’s what the gaming press has to say about the Pinball Arcade:“FarSight Studios has been making digital pinball for nearly a decade, and Pinball Arcade is the culmination of that effort and experience… a must-own” -IGN“Simply one of the best pinball games I’ve ever played” –Touch Arcade“an impressive title, and one that is bound to please pinball fans” -148 Apps“As close to the pinball experience as you will ever get in the palm of your hand” –Pocket Gamer“This game is superb along with great presentation” –Inentertainment“Authenticity is the name of the game here, and Farsight has absolutely nailed it” –GameLive.TV“Pinball doesn’t get any more real or fun on mobile” –Gamezebo“presentation of these tables is immaculate” –App SpyThe process of digitizing these tables is very complex. We first acquire the actual physical pinball table we want to digitize. We want our videogame version to play exactly the same as the table played when it was new, so we start with a thorough restoration of the table.  We then strip the table down to the bare wood playfield and take high-resolution digital photographs of every part. We use these to create three-dimensional computer models of each of the components on the playfield. When the modeling is complete we export the data into our graphics engine, which displays the table on each of our target platforms.Next we implement the table logic and sound. We do this by emulating the electronics in the original pinball table. Most complex tables were controlled by what are by modern standards primitive computers. We’ve created ROM-emulation technology that allows the same program which controlled the original table to run on our target devices. This means that every rule, sound effect, and light sequence is exactly correct in our digital version. The idea that you can run the original code that controlled a huge cabinet-based pinball machine on your iPhone is pretty cool!The last step in digitizing a table involves tuning the pinball physics. We’ve continuously improved our pinball physics engine for the last seven years and we’re very proud of it. We can individually control reflection angles and physics parameters for every section of any component on the playfield. We use the original table as reference when doing this to ensure accuracy. Finally the table goes through a review process where it’s critiqued by pinball experts and approved by the table manufacturer. The end result of this painstaking process is an exact digital recreation of the pinball table that you can play on your handheld device or in your living room.What we’re most proud of is that we’re preserving these tables for future generations to enjoy. We can remember when these tables were in every pizza parlor and bowling alley, but they are becoming increasingly rare. If you find one chances are it’s not been well treated and many features are burned out or broken. If you’re a pinball fanatic like us you can buy one and restore it, but they are expensive, maintenance-intensive, and there are fewer of them every year. Chances are very good that our children will never get the opportunity to appreciate these great tables in person- but by digitally preserving them they can!Some of the greatest pinball tables were based on licensed properties. Often when a manufacturer created a special new table they’d base it on a popular cultural feature of the times: a movie perhaps, or a band or television show. Their original license to use these properties have long since expired, so when we want to create digital versions of these tables we must research who now owns the rights and negotiate with them. Sometimes the discussions are easy and sometimes they are very difficult. In addition if the table features actors on the backglass or playfield we must secure licenses to use their likenesses (sometimes from their estates if they are deceased). Some table also featured popular music of the times that we must secure composition and performance licenses to. It can be a daunting task!One of the licensed tables that we’ve always wanted to digitize is the Twilight Zone. This table was released by Midway under the Bally label and is unquestionably one of the greatest pinball tables of all time (in fact it’s currently #1 in user rankings on the Internet Pinball Database!) It was designed by the legendary Pat Lawlor (who also designed Whirldwind, The Addams Family, Safecracker, and No Good Gofers). After the commercial and critical success of The Addams Family table, Midway gave Pat complete create freedom with the Twilight Zone, and what resulted was a showpiece of innovative pinball design. The Twilight Zone is considered by many pinball experts to be the most complex pinball machine ever created. It’s a masterpiece!We’ve finally succeeded in negotiating all of the licenses we’d need to digitize the Twilight Zone table and bring it to the Pinball Arcade. Unfortunately when we add up the costs of each required license and calculate what we’d have to charge for the table, we’ve realized that the Twilight Zone is just not commercially viable.Here’s where you come in! The licenses will cost a daunting $55,000 (and that’s just for the licenses- we’ll cover all of the development expenses ourselves). If we can raise enough money through Kickstarter to cover the cost of the licenses, we’ll be able to digitize the Twilight Zone and preserve one of the greatest pinball tables of all time. If we don't reach our goal no credit cards will be charged, but if we raise more then the goal we’ll be able to digitize other licensed tables as well (like Star Trek: The Next Generation!) We’ve put together a tempting list of rewards to say “thank you” for helping out. Plus the top five contributors will get their initials featured as the default high scores for the table, immortalizing them as true pinball fanatics! Please join us!And the rewards:Pledge $10Get the Twilight Zone pinball table on a single platform of your choice (except for the Xbox 360- Microsoft won’t let us!) plus the satisfaction of knowing you helped make the preservation of this table possible.Pledge $100Get a special version of the Twilight Zone pinball table with access to the table operator’s menu on every platform (again, except the Xbox 360). You'll also get an entry into the Pinball Arcade Supporters Tournament!Pledge $500Everything above PLUS be a Beta-tester with early access to the table, see your name listed as a supporter in the credits, and get a cool Development Team T-shirt!Pledge $1000Everything above PLUS a copy of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection signed by the FarSight development team.Pledge $5000Everything above PLUS lunch and one-on-one with the FarSight design team! We’ll give you a tour of our studio in Big Bear Lake, California and you'll get an inside look at how we digitize pinball tables. We’ll show you what we’re currently working on (and you’ll be among the first outside the studio to play it!) You can also share your thoughts on what we should improve and which tables we should do next. You are responsible for your travel (but lunch is on us!)Pledge $10000The FarSight team will travel to a location of your choosing (within the continental US please, unless you live someplace really cool). We’ll set up and host a virtual pinball tournament for you and your friends complete with goodies and prizes. We’ll also bring along the latest new tables, and you’ll be among the first outside the studio to play them! Your name will also be highlighted in the credits as someone who really made a difference.Really bummed that they couldn't come up with a solution for the 360 owners.  I'd love to throw some money at this, but I'd also like to get a copy of the table for my troubles.  I'll have to see how the funding goes before I make my decision.  I DO like the fact that any extra would go towards licenses for other tables though.</blockquote>

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