Request to Farsight: Stop releasing updates until you have basic testing down

[ParallaxScroll]

The Pinball Arcade is a great game, but the amount of bugs in it is ridiculous. 7 months after it has released, you still can't play Cirqus Voltaire on Xbox or PS3 without risking the camera getting stuck on the backboard and not letting you see what you are doing until your balls have drained.

7 months after the fact, Farsight has released the PS3 version of Star Trek: The Next Generation, which has the exact same unfixed bug. Farsight apparently thinks getting sales from their new buggy add-ons is more important than fixing bugs that have been around for more than half a year. When you start a multiball mode in Star Trek: TNG, the camera looks away from the table about half the time, forcing you to play the multiball mode blind.

Why is this acceptable? Why does Farsight not detect any of this in testing? If they do detect it, why do they release the tables anyway?

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

I play CV all the time! Havnt had issues other than camera stuck in plunger views or ball through ramp but the view zoom bug is on TZ. I haven't seen it on STTNG because I haven't played alot yet...still not liking the tiny flipper situation. We need a LOCKED CAMERA. No ZOOMING and NO PLUNGER VIEW just like your standing at the machine.

 

[superballs]

Won't happen, and i'm pretty sure most of us don't want it to happen.

Fix the camera issues? Yes that needs to happen, but most tables play fine.

 

[Lord Boron]

Just had a great game of CV. The only problem I noticed was that once the camer did not go to plunger mode after I locked the ball. Not really a "game breaker".

 

[dtown8532]

Not gonna happen. Gotta pay the bills. Free bug fix updates don't do that. New table releases do. Maybe they should charge for bug fix updates? Think about it.

 

[Kevlar]

Farsight aren't going to do that but I fully understand the posters frustration especially wit CV which IS unplayable on IOS as far as I'm concerned. The trouble is I can't see the situation ever changing, 2 tables a month on an increasingly growing number of platforms means that FS are severely undermanned and unable to produce this amount of content at a quality level that would please us all.

 

[night]

What goes for bugs goes for graphics as well (mobiles). Two tables a month on lots of platforms with too little time to do things right, no good can come from that.

 

[canuck]

I'd still rather have two new tables per month with a few small bugs than no new tables at all.

 

[night]

I'd still rather have two new tables per month with a few small bugs than no new tables at all.

Sure, why not three tables a months, or five? Who says they want "no new tables at all"? That's not the point.
Two tables a months is too much for the team, it shows on all levels things can't be worked-out properly. The tables are rushed-out and the next two are on the way. Artwork and bugs are suffering. I would rather have one killer table a month with good artwork and no bugs than two half-half products.

 

[Kevlar]

Maybe they should move to 2 tables every 6 weeks. Can't see it happening though, they need to keep the money rolling in especially as the 360 mess has cost them a LOT of money.

 

[Slam23]

Are we in the know about their financial situation? If we have to guess about that, there are a lot of variables to take into account which doesn't make for an easy estimate. Releasing across multiple platforms could very well be costly, but it also attracts more (paying) customers. Their price point for tables and table packs is in my opinion somewhat steep on the iOS (but I'll buy them all ). I haven't calculated what I poured into the Arcade yet, but a conservative number would put me towards the 100 dollar point. That kind of investment into one app could go both ways: more income because of the price point, and less when people decide it's too steep to get all the tables. Have they achieved the optimum point in that regard. Anyway, I think speculation is a bit useless, but that doesn't detract from the valid argument that bug testing and fixing could be better. Hopefully working with more beta-testers improves the quality. I must say that I haven't found a fault with Central Park and Cactus Canyon yet for example. On the other hand I'm just as frustrated about Cirqus Voltaire. The right return loop bug on AFM is still not fixed. etc. So it's a mixed bag for me: I do like the frequent releases, but I concur with Night and Kevlar that I would gladly trade in the frequency for some better and more focused bug testing and fixing

 

[night]

I am more than willing to pay 5 or 6 euro's for a well done table, with no bugs and artwork that is in line with the first bunch of tables.
This as the opposite of me not paying €4,49 for CC the way it looks right now. Nobody asked for 2 tables a month in the first place.. Why take the challenge of doing so if you can't handle it? Do we really need Central Park THAT bad?

 

[brakel]

I don't think they're selling enough or on enough platforms. They need to get onto the 360 again (not their fault but they're missing a lot of revenue there) and onto PC. PC gaming has its own world and once they get a foothold there it could be a great source of new sales for them.

They need more revenue so that they can afford to pay for one or two people dedicated to fixing bugs. From what I've read the people who are working on new tables are also the ones fixing bugs on released tables (during their "spare" time). At some point they need to be able to afford to hire someone to just work on fixing table bugs.

 

[superballs]

Simply put, they aren't going to change their release schedule for a vocal minority. I'm fairly certain in saying that barring the vita version most of us are happy with the quality of the tables we're getting. And they've only gotten better.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

How did FS pay the bills before TPA? Every DLC and the coe pack features 1 brand new table and 1 re-release I think this is to save time so technically they are just making 1 table a month.

 

[night]

Simply put, they aren't going to change their release schedule for a vocal minority. I'm fairly certain in saying that barring the vita version most of us are happy with the quality of the tables we're getting. And they've only gotten better.

True, but we are fans and just a minority of the folks who buy and play TPA. The physics have become better, but for the mobiles (which I am on) artwork is worse. If nobody says a thing, even if he/she is in minority, then this place makes no sense.

 

[canuck]

night, you need to upgrade to Retina.

 

[Lord Boron]

Looks great on the iPad 3

 

[Tron]

If consumers vote with their wallets and stop jumping on the DLC night train with every release perhaps the message of quality over quantity would get through.
Everyone complains about this table and that table but still end up buying the new table when it becomes available. Its obvious FS can see this and continue to feed the fish.

Right I'm off to play some STTNG.

 

[brakel]

How did FS pay the bills before TPA? Every DLC and the coe pack features 1 brand new table and 1 re-release I think this is to save time so technically they are just making 1 table a month.

They have developed lots of games before TPA. The last non-TPA games that they developed were released in 2010. Between 2010 and when they started working on TPA they either worked on games as uncredited work with the main developer or they ramped up staff to start work on TPA.

They have not done a re-released table every month. Also the re-released tables are not just re-released but remade. Some that were scripted in PHoF are now emulated. I played my PS3 version of Williams PHoF the other day. The physics is completely different and so are the graphics. You can even tell that the placement of ramps and other physical parts of the table are different. I'll have to put my TV's side by side and make a video playing them with my wife or daughter playing one and me playing the other.