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Farsight Studios
The Pinball Arcade / Farsight Studios
Suggestion for the Table Difficulty Issues
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<blockquote data-quote="Sean DonCarlos" data-source="post: 41899" data-attributes="member: 152"><p>As most of us are aware by now, the tables are tuned before they reach us to reduce their difficulty. While on most tables this difficulty decrease has been moderate and not (imo) detrimental to gameplay, Scared Stiff and especially Twilight Zone are far, far easier than the corresponding physical machines. TZ in particular has been declawed to the point that it's a mere shadow of itself; it should be at least as difficult as the TPA version of RBION. I realize that video game pinball will always be easier than the real thing - the act of translating nudging from the physical realm to an analog stick or touch controls in itself makes things considerably easier - but I think we're starting to go too far.</p><p></p><p>I don't want a collection of easy tables. The occasional easy table is welcome - I quite enjoy a beer and a round of Theatre of Magic after a hard day at work and am thankful that the table's not after my blood. But I enjoy Medieval Madness in part because it kicks my arse eight ways from Sunday. I played RBION to death in pursuit of Atlantis - it took four months for me, and believe me, I was bouncing off the walls when I reached it. (And I became absolutely delirious with joy later that evening when I reached Lost in the Zone for the first time on a real TZ.) </p><p></p><p>I assume that FarSight is doing this in an effort to appeal to the casual players. I suppose I'm fine with that (and I further suppose it doesn't really matter if I'm not! <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite7" alt=":p" title="Stick out tongue :p" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":p" />), but if this trend is going to continue, then I'd like to propose the following:</p><p></p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Presumably the tables are tuned for two reasons: to hand-correct anomalous behavior in the physics engine with regard to particular ramps, bumpers, etc.; and to reduce the table difficulty.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If those steps are done in order now or can be done in order - that is, if the physics are corrected first and then the table is tuned for difficulty - then I'd like to suggest that FarSight saves the table's collision mesh and other relevant physical properties after the first step for use in a "hard mode" version of the table. Then the difficulty tuning can take place and the "normal mode" table can be finished as normal.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In the Table Menu for each table, a new option "Table Physics" is added, with "Normal" (default) and "Hard" as the choices. This option controls whether the tuned/difficulty-reduced or "raw"/full-strength collision mesh is used.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">In an ideal world, the "hard" tables would have separate leaderboards, be used for tournaments, etc. But since developer time is a scarce and precious resource, I'd be willing to forgo these extra features. (Although I can't imagine forcing a table into using the hard collision mesh for tournament purposes would be any harder than forcing it to turn extra balls off.)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I think this would be a way of making the table difficulty appeal to both casual and fanatic players while imposing the minimum amount of extra work and minimum change to the existing development process for FarSight. New tables could have their "hard mode" developed at the same time as the rest of the table, while existing tables could have their "hard modes" added when their Pro Menus are developed. (TOTAN, SS and TZ would have to be revisited separately at some point.) </li> </ul><p>Don't get me wrong, I'm loving TZ even in its overly cuddly state. My coworkers will soon have the TZ music burned into their brains during lunch hour whether they like it or not! But having invested so much time in the real table, I think Twilight Zone deserves to have more of its unique challenge captured in TPA, and I think future tables deserve it as well.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sean DonCarlos, post: 41899, member: 152"] As most of us are aware by now, the tables are tuned before they reach us to reduce their difficulty. While on most tables this difficulty decrease has been moderate and not (imo) detrimental to gameplay, Scared Stiff and especially Twilight Zone are far, far easier than the corresponding physical machines. TZ in particular has been declawed to the point that it's a mere shadow of itself; it should be at least as difficult as the TPA version of RBION. I realize that video game pinball will always be easier than the real thing - the act of translating nudging from the physical realm to an analog stick or touch controls in itself makes things considerably easier - but I think we're starting to go too far. I don't want a collection of easy tables. The occasional easy table is welcome - I quite enjoy a beer and a round of Theatre of Magic after a hard day at work and am thankful that the table's not after my blood. But I enjoy Medieval Madness in part because it kicks my arse eight ways from Sunday. I played RBION to death in pursuit of Atlantis - it took four months for me, and believe me, I was bouncing off the walls when I reached it. (And I became absolutely delirious with joy later that evening when I reached Lost in the Zone for the first time on a real TZ.) I assume that FarSight is doing this in an effort to appeal to the casual players. I suppose I'm fine with that (and I further suppose it doesn't really matter if I'm not! :p), but if this trend is going to continue, then I'd like to propose the following: [LIST] [*]Presumably the tables are tuned for two reasons: to hand-correct anomalous behavior in the physics engine with regard to particular ramps, bumpers, etc.; and to reduce the table difficulty. [*]If those steps are done in order now or can be done in order - that is, if the physics are corrected first and then the table is tuned for difficulty - then I'd like to suggest that FarSight saves the table's collision mesh and other relevant physical properties after the first step for use in a "hard mode" version of the table. Then the difficulty tuning can take place and the "normal mode" table can be finished as normal. [*]In the Table Menu for each table, a new option "Table Physics" is added, with "Normal" (default) and "Hard" as the choices. This option controls whether the tuned/difficulty-reduced or "raw"/full-strength collision mesh is used. [*]In an ideal world, the "hard" tables would have separate leaderboards, be used for tournaments, etc. But since developer time is a scarce and precious resource, I'd be willing to forgo these extra features. (Although I can't imagine forcing a table into using the hard collision mesh for tournament purposes would be any harder than forcing it to turn extra balls off.) [*]I think this would be a way of making the table difficulty appeal to both casual and fanatic players while imposing the minimum amount of extra work and minimum change to the existing development process for FarSight. New tables could have their "hard mode" developed at the same time as the rest of the table, while existing tables could have their "hard modes" added when their Pro Menus are developed. (TOTAN, SS and TZ would have to be revisited separately at some point.) [/LIST] Don't get me wrong, I'm loving TZ even in its overly cuddly state. My coworkers will soon have the TZ music burned into their brains during lunch hour whether they like it or not! But having invested so much time in the real table, I think Twilight Zone deserves to have more of its unique challenge captured in TPA, and I think future tables deserve it as well. [/QUOTE]
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The Pinball Arcade / Farsight Studios
Suggestion for the Table Difficulty Issues
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