Round 5: Post Your Questions for Bobby King

[Jeff Strong]

Bobby King from Farsight has graciously agreed to do a multi-round forum interview*, where we get to nominate and then vote on 5 questions for each session!

So now it's time to start posting your questions for Round 5.

ONLY RULE: Please limit yourself to posting 1 question per round, as this will make it more fair to everyone, and easier for me to select the questions.

This thread will be open for about a week (or UNTILL we get too many questions, whichever comes first), and then I'll pick 30 questions and create a new thread with a poll for voting on which 5 questions Bobby will answer. If your question doesn't get picked this time around, don't worry because this will be a reoccurring event, so you can always resubmit your question for the next round.

* dates will vary, depending on how busy Bobby is.

 

[dtown8532]

Are you working on emulating Bally MPU AS-2518-35 which runs many popular tables like Centaur, Eight Ball Deluxe, Fathom and Xenon? Or, are you going the route of scripting with the Bally's of this era?

 

[squidlr]

Why is there no changelog provided with each game update?

It's hard to see what has been changed, considering feedback the forum has given to Farsight regarding bugs, suggestions etc...

 

[Nik Barbour]

What frequency will Xbox dlc eventually be released on? (ie. Every 3 months, 4 months,5 etc)

 

[Brian Clark]

Why are there still problems with iOS tilting (shake and swipe), button interfaces, and flipper gaps?

 

[xNiCeGuYx]

My question:
Any news about the advanced flipper physics?

 

[Stormchild]

In this video about Elvira: Scared Stiff, this guy says he usually doesn't bother with mods, and prefers to keep his tables in factory condition, but Elvira: SS was subjected to financial cutbacks due to waning profits in the industry that made the production units lack some of the details that were in the design. For example, the bones on the bone ramp were supposed to have a "washed" look that made them look more like actual bones, but on the production tables they basically cheaped out and skipped that step, shipping plain white plastic that lacked the intended detail. So in this one case, he modded his own table to make it more like the factory condition should have been.

If you watch that video, there are a number of other details that were cut from the production tables as well.

My question is: would FarSight consider deviating from the exact details of a table in a situation where the production tables did not match the final design prototypes?

(I think this is a different question than the one re: whether FarSight would change the female character in Taxi back to Marilyn Monroe, because that was a licensing/likeness issue that would cause the same problem for FarSight as it did for Williams.)

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Will we be able in the future to adjust physical options on the tables, such as the outlane post positions, playfield pitch, tilt bob sensitivity, etc.?

 

[francis247uk]

Any update on timeframe for new flipper, bumper and ball impact sounds?

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

Niceguy, you took my question!

Anyway, how are you planning to do the DLC on Steam once it comes out? Are you releasing them all at one time (Core and 1-6) or adding them as time goes on, say like, a few packs each month? I bet you'll add more tables and patches as soon as they're ready.

 

[xNiCeGuYx]

Sorry Pinballwiz45b.

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

No prob. I had another to ask, anyway.

 

[Brandon Debes]

What is your current thinking on how TPA will make the leap to the next round of consoles in terms purchases carrying over?

 

[SilverBalls]

How about a very topical question.... "Do you think Steam are a bunch of scheisters?".

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

How about a very topical question.... "Do you think Steam are a bunch of scheisters?".

I hear you.

 

[1976mrk]

Didn't get it answered last round, so I'll try again now...

Can we get an overall status report on the Vita version of The Pinball Arcade? Tables seem to have many issues for months (especially Cirqus Voltaire). Last couple of updates seem to have either not addressed long-standing issues, or introduced new bugs.

 

[unbroken]

Okay, in light of the sad Steam news today I'll try this one if it hasn't been answered before:

Since it sounds like the PC version is ready and Valve/Steam is taking so long, would FarSight consider independently releasing the game either from the official website or another distribution platform (GOG, Origin, etc) in the meantime?

 

[iCub]

Flipper lag on PS3. Though not a universal problem according to the comments on here; is he aware of it and are they working on any solutions?

 

[jaredmorgs]

A self-curated list of users to play against is desperately needed in TPA to foster easier score-chasing. The current leaderboard system has no way of filtering.

Will Farsight implement a way of selecting specific users from the leaderboard to compete against? Perhaps as an add-on app, or implementing a completely re-designed interface to the leaderboards and doing away with FB integration.

Or if that is not going to happen, will Farsight release a read-only API to the leaderboards so passionate users can create their own leaderboard system to plug into the scores.

 

[shutyertrap]

Putting this out a second time, cause I just really gotta know!

Do you have plans for all the tables you have bought and restored? Possibly a pinball arcade/museum of your own up in Big Bear? Please?