Questions Answered - FarSight

[shutyertrap]

I'm gonna save my rebuttal to "let's just pay more!" for this weekends podcast session. If anyone wants to argue their point on air, email us at blahblahblahcade@gmail.com

We record on Saturday afternoon.

 

[invitro]

I'm gonna save my rebuttal to "let's just pay more!"

I assume you'll clarify whether you mean "pay more for bug fixes" or "pay more for a remastering."

 

[shutyertrap]

I assume you'll clarify whether you mean "pay more for bug fixes" or "pay more for a remastering."

Yes.

 

[Naildriver74]

I'll bring the popcorn

 

[Heretic]

thats the thing static images ill go all username night on the gfx in a moving game i enjoy my no aa and missing 3d models aslong as the games ok, screwing reading the thread sayne.

whos buying me a shiney new vpin?

 

[Norman]

"@relaxation: Would recording sound straight from the speaker wire via line out converter be more accurate than whatever sound [filtering/analog equipment] emulation TPA may or may not have?"

Hello all, Norman here. There is a video out there somewhere from a panel we did at 2015 Replay FX where I talked a lot about this . Over the years we have worked the audio for the tables in different ways depending on the technology at the time. On the early tables, most of the time, the audio was ripped straight from the chip. This required a lot of post processing and mixing to get things to sound right. Around the Funhouse era, we were taking a line directly out from the soundboard. That did not work any better than the rip. Later, and, up to now, we are able to call up every sound through the speakers, either by a custom game chip or with computer software. This is really the best way. The benefit of doing this is we get the sound after is has passed through any EQs or filters in the real table that are put in place after the chip. We also get a "Mike Placement" phase that allows us the keep room ambience in. More like it would be if you were really playing.

 

[Heretic]

*hugs* elooooo norm! cool as **** bro

 

[Trackball]

"Pro mode was a feature we started implementing late in Season One. We went back and added a few to the early tables but not all."

This is, VERBATIM, the same exact answer given in a post YEARS ago asking the same thing!

That doesn't tell me anything new at all!

If it's a legal issue of some kind, just say so! I don't mind if the Sharpe brothers can't email you pro tips--just let us mess with the ROM menu!

 

[relaxation]

"@relaxation: Would recording sound straight from the speaker wire via line out converter be more accurate than whatever sound [filtering/analog equipment] emulation TPA may or may not have?"

Hello all, Norman here. ... , up to now, we are able to call up every sound through the speakers, either by a custom game chip or with computer software. This is really the best way. The benefit of doing this is we get the sound after is has passed through any EQs or filters in the real table that are put in place after the chip. We also get a "Mike Placement" phase that allows us the keep room ambience in. More like it would be if you were really playing.

Okay that's cool that you've already come up with that solution, it's too bad BSD sounds the way it does with those lady vocals then.

 

[Snorzel]

Thank you Mike and Norm, I look forward to ball spin and the Black Knight repairs.

I had posted a link to the original thread on Steam forum but it got deleted or something. Maybe you farsight bros should post these answers or do a similar q&a there to help boost morale.

 

[Nightwing]

Hamster's arcade archives are $8 a game, and some of these were available for less on Microsoft's ill-fated Game Room, which we can no longer access-to hell with any money we spent on it.

[MENTION=1406]rehtroboi40[/MENTION]
If you play offline & don't connect to XBL,you should be able to get into Game Room. At least then you can play what you have.

 

[Ben Logan]

Norman,

The biggest problem with TPA sound is the incredibly low bit-rate. Why so crunchy and compressed? Are we that worried about table download size?

Second biggest problem is the recycled mechanical sounds. Different machines make different mechanical sounds. I like that FS EM table sounds are different from the FS DMD games at least, but beyond that I don't hear anything in the way of differentiation from you guys in terms of mechanical sound. Modern Stern flippers, solid state Gottlieb flippers, and 80s and 90s Williams flippers all sound different. Consider starting there! Dead easy. Major bang for your buck for you guys.

Isn't there an audio geek amongst your crew? Recording unique mechanical sounds would be super easy with a simple Zoom XY field recorder. And man -- what a FUN (and inexpensive) project for your team! I can't help but think you guys are missing a real opportunity to easily boost the realism of your tables with better quality audio. It fools the brain into thinking you're interacting with something real and mechanical. The VP community really excels here, for example.

That said, can't wait for BALL SPIN and improved ball physics. Absolutely number one on my wish list.

 

[Flipperdeflip]

(... I guess I'll go hibernate for three months and wake up for SPA.)

Make that four months.
"late this fall" = late December

Great answers and a lot of yesses! A LOTR KS for TPA anyone?

I see a lot of maybes.
Why would they still need to do Kickstarters after all these years and having Stern as a partner?

 

[jaredmorgs]

Norman,

The biggest problem with TPA sound is the incredibly low bit-rate. Why so crunchy and compressed? Are we that worried about table download size?

In particular, mobile. Which is 11khz.

Giving us 44khz audio on mobile would make a huge difference when we play through headphones.
[MENTION=625]Norman[/MENTION], this would settle a long standing gripe of mine. And it seems others feel the same.

 

[Robert Misner]

occulus exclusive and no vive for the foreseeable future is pretty disappointing.

 

[jaredmorgs]

I'm happy to wait for the winner of the VR wars to emerge.

Might actually be affordable by that point. VR is still going through the VHS vs Betamax phase.

I am most definitely not an early adopter of consumer VR.

I can imagine those with $2k to lay down would be gagging for content, so I get the desire.

 

[Robert Misner]

I'm happy to wait for the winner of the VR wars to emerge.

Sure I know some feel that way, however how is that different then saying "I'd rather they don't put resources into any feature "X" I don't use?

VR is still going through the VHS vs Betamax phase.

Its really not, that's not an accurate analogy. The platform is PC its already decided.
This is an API/sdk issue, On one side there's Oculus trying to be Apple, one store only support their hardware, vs OpenVR which supports any and all hardware via the Steam store or independent distribution.(the ease that wrappers work without intentional countermeasures makes its own case for open standards).

I'm cool with supporting both but if your only gonna support one(usually due to money hats at this point) its disappointing for developers that support many platforms traditionally to choose to lock themselves to the closed store and SDK for the foreseeable future.

 

[mpad]

It's not redrawing that's involved. Those textures are old (2012-2013 old) and more compressed compared to what they come out with today.

They're also lower resolution.

Exactly. So instead of disassemble the whole machine and take new photos just put the blurry mess in photo shop, upscale it, and redraw it line by line, pixel by pixel.
It may take some 100 artist hours, but you don't have to disassemble a machine you maybe don't even own anymore.
Using a modern laptop computer it can even be done in the airplane or in the garden. What fun! Some people even do it for free (see great redraws of the VP community).

 

[invitro]

Its really not, that's not an accurate analogy.

The main way it's not accurate is that it wildly overstates the importance of VR. Videotape was used by almost literally everyone, and would still be today if other techs hadn't superceded it. VR will probably be used by only a tiny fraction* of people even at its peak. Lots of people who have used VR just plain don't like it, don't think it's fun, don't see any use for it. No one said videotape wasn't fun, or the idea of recording and playing video was useless; the idea of someone saying "I don't have any use for recording and playing video" is almost laughable.

*I know that some techevangelists claim that at some point in the near future, everyone will be using VR every day. Well, maybe, but maybe we'll be getting around in flying cars or jetpacks in the near future, too.

 

[invitro]

So instead of disassemble the whole machine and take new photos just put the blurry mess in photo shop
...
(see great redraws of the VP community).

I'm no image techie, but I'm curious: is it required that photographed images be blurry? I ask because I think I've seen a few photos of pinball playfields that aren't blurry.
...
The VP playfields I've seen all look horrible. And I do mean all. I haven't played VP in a few years thanks to TPA, but I often search for high-quality pics of pinball playfields. VP ones always come up in those searches, and always look like utter crap compared to the photos of real machines.