Suggestion: "arcade mode", with only three coins per day

[morenoquinteiro]

I don't need to say this, but Pinball Arcade is awsome! I play these products since around 2008, when I had a Nintendo Wii and played the "Williams Collection" there. It was love at first sight it felt so right in the first time you played it.

But one thing pinball simulations don't do is giving that "thrill", when you have only one coin or a few coins, and you have to score using only those coins. This is somehow done with the "challenge mode", when you have to play a lot of tables, with only 3 credits per table, no turning back.

What about making it even better, with a whole new mode where you enter, only 3 coins per table, and that's it for the day? A daily leaderboard in that mode, separeted from others. It would be so much fun.

So, in other terms, it would be like the "challenge mode", but with daily boards and separated by table. Is that a good idea? Thanks for the attention

 

[SmoothBalls]

Really why should we be stifled in playing the product we paid for.

 

[Xanija]

I think the idea is not that bad, as long as it doesn't stop you from playing the table as much as you like. I thought about something similar, inspired by Trackmania (a special kind of racing game). You can play it as often as you like, but it's always "Training mode". Every 10 minutes you can do a race which actually counts towards your "Official time" If you mess this race up, you will have to wait for another 10 minutes, in which you can do as many Training games as you like.

It wouldn't be bad to have something similar in TPA, when you need to decide, whether your next game is an "Official score" game or a training game. With reducing the number of possible "Official score" games per day, it would give a leaderboard a different meaning. It wouldn't be something like grinding a table for the best score (which has some right to exist as well), but a separate list of "Official scores" would be something like a permanent tournament.

I know this is a bit different to the OP's idea, but in the end the idea is similar: Giving some games a special value, where you can't just restart until you get a decent score. You're limited in the attempts in a certain period of time.

 

[Firefox2000]

Not a bad idea, as long as it is totally optional and a addition to PBA rather than a restriction, i enjoy PBA for the pick up and play when ever i feel like it factor, that should always be PBA main feature, which i am sure it will be.

 

[Snorzel]

Good idea I'm in.

A way to rack up credits like on phof would be cool. We could use them on Jive Time and Ace is High when they drop

 

[invitro]

I don't like this idea as it is, but I do like something that's roughly similar. How about daily challenges (quests)? You log in and see:

Today's Challenges:
- Score 80M on Whirlwind
- Get a Special on Big Shot
- Score a Triple Jackpot on Dracula

Or whatever. Like Hearthstone. There'd have to be a reason to do this... win credits to use to buy tables, table extras, enter tournaments, I don't know. It might be difficult to program, though, and I'm not sure how it would make more money*, which has to be considered for any potentially realistic idea .

* If I were Farsight, I think I'd look at outsourcing the table-creation process, or most of it. It seems like everything but the art & sound could be done offsite for cheap by someone who knows something about pinball and programming (or spreadsheeting?). Their employees may already be cheap, though. I'm getting a feeling that most of them don't do much if any programming, but rather use programs developed by Reitmeyer et al. to build & debug tables. Anyway, I'm just rambling.

 

[EccentricFlower]

The unlock system on PHOF was the thing I hated the most about it. It's my effing money. Unlock everything and let me play it the way I want. (As it is I have an issue at being extorted extra money for "pro mode" in TPA just so I can get one feature - the free-look view of the table.)

That said, if it's an optional mode, knock yourself out. You wanna play in a straitjacket, that's your business.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

* If I were Farsight, I think I'd look at outsourcing the table-creation process, or most of it. It seems like everything but the art & sound could be done offsite for cheap by someone who knows something about pinball and programming (or spreadsheeting?). Their employees may already be cheap, though. I'm getting a feeling that most of them don't do much if any programming, but rather use programs developed by Reitmeyer et al. to build & debug tables. Anyway, I'm just rambling.

Just to clarify, aside from the actual emulation code, all the table programming is done by me (with few exceptions). And it takes 2-3 weeks full time to implement a table. There is quite a lot of programming to do each table release. Approx 3000-4000 lines of new code each time.

The other programmers here handle things like porting to the other platforms, dealing with submissions, implementing features like the new UI (which is coming along nicely), as well as some unannounced updates.

 

[Fungi]

Just to clarify, aside from the actual emulation code, all the table programming is done by me (with few exceptions). And it takes 2-3 weeks full time to implement a table. There is quite a lot of programming to do each table release. Approx 3000-4000 lines of new code each time.

The other programmers here handle things like porting to the other platforms, dealing with submissions, implementing features like the new UI (which is coming along nicely), as well as some unannounced updates.

And all it's costing me is 3 bucks per table??? DEAL!

 

[TNT]

To concur with everyone else as long as it is optional it's fine by me.

Now if it ever was forced on you.....holy cow. Can you imagine the rage on this site?

 

[Fungi]

To concur with everyone else as long as it is optional it's fine by me.

Now if it ever was forced on you.....holy cow. Can you imagine the rage on this site?

No. Because everybody would have abandoned the app and this forum like a house on fire.

 

[TNT]

No. Because everybody would have abandoned the app and this forum like a house on fire.

So you are saying that Fire! is the next table?

 

[invitro]

Just to clarify, aside from the actual emulation code, all the table programming is done by me (with few exceptions). And it takes 2-3 weeks full time to implement a table. There is quite a lot of programming to do each table release. Approx 3000-4000 lines of new code each time.

The other programmers here handle things like porting to the other platforms, dealing with submissions, implementing features like the new UI (which is coming along nicely), as well as some unannounced updates.

Interesting. To be specific, I meant outsourcing the .rez and Enums.csv files as they look like "data" to me rather than "code", but I know those terms have different defns to different people. I'm curious what the 3000-4000 lines of code deal with. I need to look at the other files to pin down where everything that deals with a specific table lives.

I wish you guys would stop wasting time on that damn new UI, but who am I to stand in the way of progress? (And perhaps it will be significantly different than I fear it will be.)

 

[invitro]

So you are saying that Fire! is the next table?

I bet Fire! will happen before Mousin' Around.

 

[TNT]

I bet Fire! will happen before Mousin' Around.

What makes you say that?

 

[invitro]

What makes you say that?

I'm glad you asked, because my reasoning was incorrect. I thought Fire! was fairly higher ranked than Mousin' on IPDB, but it's the opposite. Oops! Mousin' is #95, Fire! is #196, which is a minor shock to me. Fire! had 7,700 production, I thought it was a big smash. (I don't like it all that well though.)

F-14 is only #114, I thought it'd be a little higher. But Sorcerer is #64 and Swords of Fury is #61. All this may be how I would rank them, with my limited experience / memory. But F-14 seems much more famous than Sorcerer, and especially SoF.

There are still a lot of 1985-1991 (System 9 & 11) IPDB Top 150 Williams tables, if Farsight goes that way beyond F-14. The above, and also Road Kings, Banzai Run, Space Station, Jokerz, Police Force, Bad Cats, and Comet.

Anyway, please disregard what I said.

 

[Mike Reitmeyer]

Interesting. To be specific, I meant outsourcing the .rez and Enums.csv files as they look like "data" to me rather than "code", but I know those terms have different defns to different people. I'm curious what the 3000-4000 lines of code deal with. I need to look at the other files to pin down where everything that deals with a specific table lives.

I wish you guys would stop wasting time on that damn new UI, but who am I to stand in the way of progress? (And perhaps it will be significantly different than I fear it will be.)

The programming code becomes part of the updated .exe file. The rez files contain all the art assets and other assets needed for the table, so there isn't much to be outsourced.

 

[TNT]

I'm glad you asked, because my reasoning was incorrect. I thought Fire! was fairly higher ranked than Mousin' on IPDB, but it's the opposite. Oops! Mousin' is #95, Fire! is #196, which is a minor shock to me. Fire! had 7,700 production, I thought it was a big smash. (I don't like it all that well though.)

F-14 is only #114, I thought it'd be a little higher. But Sorcerer is #64 and Swords of Fury is #61. All this may be how I would rank them, with my limited experience / memory. But F-14 seems much more famous than Sorcerer, and especially SoF.

There are still a lot of 1985-1991 (System 9 & 11) IPDB Top 150 Williams tables, if Farsight goes that way beyond F-14. The above, and also Road Kings, Banzai Run, Space Station, Jokerz, Police Force, Bad Cats, and Comet.

Anyway, please disregard what I said.

So many possibilities.

Banzai Run and/or Pinball Circus is coming per Bobby in the latest BlahCade.

I know there are some folks who expect Space Station or Bad Cats this season.

I think I would rather see Hurricane before Comet.