Pinball Arcade physics

[kane11]

Any word obaut physics update?

 

[Kratos3]

Is there an issue?

 

[kane11]

Is there an issue?

Compare to real pinball, is.

 

[TomL]

I think they worked on that already, are you sure it's still broken?

Is there something in particular you can describe?

 

[Kolchak357]

Compare to real pinball, is.

Never going to feel like real pinball. If that is your expectation then I suspect you will always be disappointed.
I look at is a fun alternative when a real pin isn't available. It's not a substitute for the real thing.

 

[Kratos3]

Never going to feel like real pinball. If that is your expectation then I suspect you will always be disappointed.
I look at is a fun alternative when a real pin isn't available. It's not a substitute for the real thing.

This.

TPA is very good considering what else is out there.

 

[karl]

Still, there is a lot of room for improvements.

Just on the top of my head: The flipper aiming physics could be a bit more accurate. (it gets worse towards the tip of the flipper, meaning that you often have to hit it earlier than on a real machine)

The ball often speeds up when it comes to the inlane from a ramp.(this also happens when it hits an post and goes to the outlane sometimes)

The ball movement is many times faster on ipad 3 than on other platforms (like pc, xbox and PS) Maybe this is to make it playable on slower devices, like ipad 1???

 

[kinggo]

Still, there is a lot of room for improvements.

Just on the top of my head: The flipper aiming physics could be a bit more accurate. (it gets worse towards the tip of the flipper, meaning that you often have to hit it earlier than on a real machine)

The ball often speeds up when it comes to the inlane from a ramp.(this also happens when it hits an post and goes to the outlane sometimes)

The ball movement is many times faster on ipad 3 than on other platforms (like pc, xbox and PS) Maybe this is to make it playable on slower devices, like ipad 1???

yes, this. And IMO, this is more obvious on last 2 (or 3 with BSD) tables.

 

[Rich Lehmann]

I thought one of the draws of TPA is that the physics were so much better than other video pinball.

 

[kinggo]

well, it is. Mostly. But since a lot of us grew up with some of those tables we probably expect to much. On the other hand, when you have virtual only table it is hard to compare it with something.

 

[vikingerik]

I thought one of the draws of TPA is that the physics were so much better than other video pinball.

It's better in the sense that it's tuned to make shots and saves very easy so that everybody can feel like pinball gods. It's not better in the sense of replicating real physics. Pro Pinball's physics from 18 years ago are more accurate than TPA's currently.

 

[Richard B]

It's better in the sense that it's tuned to make shots and saves very easy so that everybody can feel like pinball gods. It's not better in the sense of replicating real physics. Pro Pinball's physics from 18 years ago are more accurate than TPA's currently.

They quit the excessive easy-tuning at the end of Season 1. From Attack from Mars on, it feels much more authentic, and seems accurate when I compare it to the real tables, except the place in town for pinball is a good distance away, so I don't go often, and certainly don't have unlimited access to any real machine, so from a casual real pinball view, it seems pretty close, if not spot-on.
Pro Pinball did have a great physics engine, especially since the last table release in the series came out 15 years ago, and the layouts and rules were pretty good, but the presentation (sound, music) really sucks, except for that DSI game.
VP 10 is supposed to blow all others away. Their current VP9 physmod build is already a huge leap in that direction.

 

[vikingerik]

It's the flipper and nudge physics in TPA that are still way too easy compared to real life. It's enormously easier to control and trap a ball that can never spin. And to slap-save with flippers that can be shoved two full inches sideways at the tap of a button. I agree that the easy table shots (MM and CFTBL left ramps) have been toned down (with some exceptions, High Speed's ramp is still too easy), but the ease that TPA allows in dead and hold passing still makes the games far more controllable and exploitable than any real machine.

Pro Pinball... yeah they blew it with the dull voice work on Timeshock and music on BRUSA. But funny thing is they were perfectly capable of both, since the voice work on BRUSA and music on Timeshock are both awesome. Actually The Web has the best sound package of them all, but it was always overlooked and overshadowed by the later games' popularity.

 

[Kratos3]

It's the flipper and nudge physics in TPA that are still way too easy compared to real life. It's enormously easier to control and trap a ball that can never spin. And to slap-save with flippers that can be shoved two full inches sideways at the tap of a button. I agree that the easy table shots (MM and CFTBL left ramps) have been toned down (with some exceptions, High Speed's ramp is still too easy), but the ease that TPA allows in dead and hold passing still makes the games far more controllable and exploitable than any real machine.

Pro Pinball... yeah they blew it with the dull voice work on Timeshock and music on BRUSA. But funny thing is they were perfectly capable of both, since the voice work on BRUSA and music on Timeshock are both awesome. Actually The Web has the best sound package of them all, but it was always overlooked and overshadowed by the later games' popularity.

+1

The flipper physics are the one area I think TPA could use the most work.

It seems like it would be easy enough to increase the tilt meter sensitivity and tone down nudging to make that more realistic. Actually, I think Zen is more accurate in that respect. One good nudge gives you a warning, and it's not even a big nudge.

I still remember playing a Funhouse with a broken tilt meter. It was hardly any fun at all.

 

[kane11]

I think Zen physics is more "natural".

 

[xAzatothx]

in my mind, PA physics are far superior to Zen. Agree there are some significant tuning differences between the platforms.

 

[Latin00032]

I was looking at videos of unit3d pinball.

I was trying to get an idea of the physics setup with that. It looks like you can change the physics to make it suit your needs. The problem is everyone will have a different opinion of how the physics should be set.

I havent downloaded the alpha version. Has anyone here who have tested the alpha version think it is better than TPA? How does it compare to TPA?

Also, I thought they were going to do a full physics upgrade across the board by now.

 

[Zorgwon]

I think Zen physics is more "natural".

The better it is the more it gets criticized. Zen is Zen.

 

[Rich Lehmann]

I am not a physics expert but I have played pinball and Zen doesn't feel natural at all unless it is supposed to be in a zero-gravity environment and the flippers surface is supposed to be aluminum and not rubber.

Having played Zen first, Pinball arcade immediately felt more realistic to me.

 

[Zorgwon]

I am not a physics expert but I have played pinball and Zen doesn't feel natural at all unless it is supposed to be in a zero-gravity environment and the flippers surface is supposed to be aluminum and not rubber.

I think the Zen ball is actually pretty heavy. Someone else called it lead ball. The Zen ball bounces only when necessary for a dead pass. You could call it smart (physics).