Table Pack #67 Speculation

[Jeff Strong]

I agree. I think it's fine that it's going to be available in TPA, but it shouldn't be part of a season, for several reasons mentioned.

 

[lettuce]

Has anyone actually Sat down and gone through all the tables that farsight could do and maybe 3 or 4 others they might do through kickstarter and determined how many season could actually be left??... I would like to say they have at least 3 seasons left.

I just hope to God when they do call it a day they either release their table building tools or someone leaks them with ideally leaving a back door into implementing the roms still

 

[HotHamBoy]

I do think it's sort of a wasted table slot though, since it's available in SPA. Think about it. Say Farsight only does 1 or 2 more seasons after this one. Looking back it a year or 2 from now, are players going to be happy that this precious space went to a table that is already available by Farsight in SPA or disappointed that they could have squeaked out 1 more additional table that isn't available elsewhere. Plus, does this mean there's a chance the other Premiums make take up additional slots as well? Food for thought.

I agree. I think it's fine that it's going to be available in TPA, but it shouldn't be part of a season, for several reasons mentioned.

Honestly, the biggest issue to me is that they pre-sold us the same table on two apps without telling us.

With Ghostbusters "valued" at $10 it means that the 9 table Season Pass is still the same "value" as the others despite being short a table.

Why would a dedicated TPA user buy Bundle 2 on SPA if they already have the old tables and GB is part of TPA's Season 7 pass?

We were told specifically that all future Stern tables would be exclusive to SPA. Going back on that now is a dirty bait-n-switch to get us to go all-in on another buggy, broken app.

Finally, what does it mean that TPA can even run Ghostbusters? That all the talk about how much more advanced SPA would be (hence dropping older platforms) was total BS? Because I'm not surprised given that it looks and plays like a rebranded TPA.

 

[Kolchak357]

I wonder if people with older devices will have trouble running GB? I know the iOS version of SPA had stricter hardware requirements than TPA had. Guess we will have to wait until release to find out.

 

[DA5ID]

I hope it's the ghostbusters pro version.

 

[Blkthorne]

We've seen A.G. Soccer, Big Bang Bar and Aces High listed before so let's hold our horses before we jump off the cliff and wait to see what is released this month. I admit that it will be very disappointing for me if it is any version of Ghostbusters for TPA, still holding out hope it will be a Halloween themed table like Spirit or even the Facebook leaker's Pistol Poker.

 

[Garycope]

I do think it's sort of a wasted table slot though, since it's available in SPA. Think about it. Say Farsight only does 1 or 2 more seasons after this one. Looking back it a year or 2 from now, are players going to be happy that this precious space went to a table that is already available by Farsight in SPA or disappointed that they could have squeaked out 1 more additional table that isn't available elsewhere. Plus, does this mean there's a chance the other Premiums make take up additional slots as well? Food for thought.

Then again TPA may get double table packs one stern new table that’s already been digitized and one Gottlieb like we got in the first two seasons.

 

[Blkthorne]

Has anyone actually Sat down and gone through all the tables that farsight could do and maybe 3 or 4 others they might do through kickstarter and determined how many season could actually be left??... I would like to say they have at least 3 seasons left.

I just hope to God when they do call it a day they either release their table building tools or someone leaks them with ideally leaving a back door into implementing the roms still

I post a rather lengthy wish list on Billy Young's Facebook post every week, they easily could have 5-6 more years of TPA if they even just stuck to Bally, Williams, Stern Electronics and Gottlieb tables. Majority of these tables are unlicensed as well other than Flash Gordon, Harlem Globetrotters on Tour or Buck Rogers.

 

[lettuce]

No it is defo Ghostbusters its in the Beta Testing thread

 

[shutyertrap]

The word I have gotten from people at FarSight, and I started getting this answer at least 2 years back, was as long as tables are selling, FarSight will keep making 'em. Seasons may eventually come to an end, but releases would still happen.

And [MENTION=524]DarkAkatosh[/MENTION] is not wrong about FarSight's past and shovelware. TPA is the longest they've ever stuck with a title, much longer than I think they ever suspected they would. I feel had they known what this title would become for them, they would have structured the entire game and business model for it completely differently. Internal comments have been made that how things were done during season 3 and 4 was how the first 2 seasons really should have been done, and they've been paying the price for starting on the wrong foot ever since.

FarSight has embraced the fact they are a digital pinball game maker, that this is their legacy. When these games first started, there were employees that couldn't care less about pinball, didn't understand the fan base, and hated our input. Those people are no longer there, and some of you from the early days of this forum know exactly what I'm talking about *cough* Genie art errors *cough*

I do think speculating about their financials and motivations is a low blow. For one, nobody here has that insider knowledge. Two, time and time again people bring up speculations that have not only been proven false, it's downright ignorant since the scope of their view is only on FarSight. My NDA has allowed me to hear certain things that I'm not allowed to repeat, and many times I have been blown away by the info to the point I say, "we all have no idea, not even close". This is why I always say, if you go to a pinball show, seek out the FarSight booth and talk to them. Put a face behind your accusations and see if you come away with the same impression.

 

[Slam23]

Well put!

The word I have gotten from people at FarSight, and I started getting this answer at least 2 years back, was as long as tables are selling, FarSight will keep making 'em. Seasons may eventually come to an end, but releases would still happen.

And [MENTION=524]DarkAkatosh[/MENTION] is not wrong about FarSight's past and shovelware. TPA is the longest they've ever stuck with a title, much longer than I think they ever suspected they would. I feel had they known what this title would become for them, they would have structured the entire game and business model for it completely differently. Internal comments have been made that how things were done during season 3 and 4 was how the first 2 seasons really should have been done, and they've been paying the price for starting on the wrong foot ever since.

FarSight has embraced the fact they are a digital pinball game maker, that this is their legacy. When these games first started, there were employees that couldn't care less about pinball, didn't understand the fan base, and hated our input. Those people are no longer there, and some of you from the early days of this forum know exactly what I'm talking about *cough* Genie art errors *cough*

I do think speculating about their financials and motivations is a low blow. For one, nobody here has that insider knowledge. Two, time and time again people bring up speculations that have not only been proven false, it's downright ignorant since the scope of their view is only on FarSight. My NDA has allowed me to hear certain things that I'm not allowed to repeat, and many times I have been blown away by the info to the point I say, "we all have no idea, not even close". This is why I always say, if you go to a pinball show, seek out the FarSight booth and talk to them. Put a face behind your accusations and see if you come away with the same impression.

 

[lettuce]

Maybe it might be worth them building a new/updated engine and move all there games over to that much like Pinball FX team have done, if it makes it easier for them in the long run going forward!?

 

[shutyertrap]

Maybe it might be worth them building a new/updated engine and move all there games over to that much like Pinball FX team have done, if it makes it easier for them in the long run going forward!?

I've asked this too. The short answer? Nope. They are still playing around with ball spin and other physics tweaks, but can actually implement that game engine whenever they like. They've actually changed engines a few times during TPA. What you are more likely talking about is a complete rewrite of the code, making it more efficient for platforms, more stable from the start. That is something they simply don't have the manpower to do. If I'm not mistaken, they only have 2 or 3 guys writing code, and that's a full time endeavor for them each month. You'd need a whole new team of coders, as well as people working on a new engine and emulation code.

All that for what? 95% of the people that play TPA are never going to notice the subtle differences. I hear people right now with FX3 not noticing the differences, and yet they are there. Also, we'd be expecting all new art passes, better resolution graphics, and every single table would have to go through a re-tune. Would it be awesome? Hell yeah! It'd also take them well over a year the way they are currently staffed, only focusing on that. So that's the crossroads they face, expand to reset the scales, or keep doing and making the best of the situation.

And then look what Zen did, by not charging anything to bring your tables over to the new platform. Zen already had the staff, half of which don't even work on pinball but other areas of development. They incorporated some of what was already in development elsewhere and put it into FX3. I don't think FarSight has a research and development department to pull from.

 

[thefly0810]

And then look what Zen did, by not charging anything to bring your tables over to the new platform. Zen already had the staff, half of which don't even work on pinball but other areas of development. They incorporated some of what was already in development elsewhere and put it into FX3. I don't think FarSight has a research and development department to pull from.

There you go. Zen and Farsight just need to join forces and become the Super Digital Pinball Friends League. Zen can keep on doing what they're doing with FX3 while Farsight continues the Pinball Arcades, but be there to share assets and assist each other, and help improve each other's shortcomings.

 

[HotHamBoy]

Shutyertrap, tell them I will redesign their UI and art package for $1

Also tell them to stop paying the licensing fees for that crappy cover of Pinball Wizard. It's awful, just give me some generic free license stuff I can mute.

 

[dtown8532]

Also tell them to stop paying the licensing fees for that crappy cover of Pinball Wizard. It's awful, just give me some generic free license stuff I can mute.

Yes, please.

 

[rehtroboi40]

Shutyertrap, tell them I will redesign their UI and art package for $1

Also tell them to stop paying the licensing fees for that crappy cover of Pinball Wizard. It's awful, just give me some generic free license stuff I can mute.

Could be worse, you can always hear a crappy version of "Go Your Own Way" that's used to sell prescription drugs. I'd put that U.S. Commercial video on here, but that just might be enough to get me banned from TPA fans (and I've said some stuff before that amazingly hasn't done so yet).

 

[Heretic]

You’ve had some strong opinions in the past I don’t think a cheesy commercial is ban worthy unless it’s about raisins because they are the devil

 

[lettuce]

Also, we'd be expecting all new art passes, better resolution graphics, and every single table would have to go through a re-tune. Would it be awesome? Hell yeah! It'd also take them well over a year the way they are currently staffed, only focusing on that. So that's the crossroads they face, expand to reset the scales, or keep doing and making the best of the situation.

I sure hope to god that they do a tune up and art pass on the season 1 and 2 tables, compared to the later season they dont look good....just take a look at Monster Bash. The playfield artwork is not very high resolution and the 3d models on table are not great at all, they have said they were going to do this but that was like 2 years ago

 

[shutyertrap]

I sure hope to god that they do a tune up and art pass on the season 1 and 2 tables, compared to the later season they dont look good....just take a look at Monster Bash. The playfield artwork is not very high resolution and the 3d models on table are not great at all, they have said they were going to do this but that was like 2 years ago

They just redid BoP so that the lighting isn't burned in, making the DX11 version look way better. That being said, I don't know if they bothered re photographing the table or worked with original assets. I certainly hope if they visit MB that they'll at least run the toys through their 3D scanner which they didn't have back then.