Time to fix all the bugs Farsight

[Drathro]

Time to get working through the master bug list, things need to improve if you're going to keep your app relevant.

 

[jrolson]

There's a better chance of hell freezing over...

 

[PeacemakerPIN]

I hope so. Because before the latest patch, the bugs weren't that bad. Now that the audio is bad on PS4 again, I hope it's fixed to like it was before the patch.

 

[Rayder]

It may sound harsh, but I'm guessing this sort of stuff is why Farsight lost the Bally/Williams license.

 

[jrolson]

It may sound harsh, but I'm guessing this sort of stuff is why Farsight lost the Bally/Williams license.

It's only a matter of time before Stern jumps ship also... Probably just waiting for their license contract to be up...

 

[bmsuseluda]

It's only a matter of time before Stern jumps ship also... Probably just waiting for their license contract to be up...

i hate these nonsense doomy posts. whats the point?

 

[Tabe]

It may sound harsh, but I'm guessing this sort of stuff is why Farsight lost the Bally/Williams license.

When the news broke that they'd lost the Williams license, this was my exact thought. I would imagine Zen had approached Williams, or otherwise made it known they were "open" to talks, and Williams took a look at the state & history of TPA and, well, the rest is history.

 

[xZOMBIEx]

I really hope Farsight loses the rest of ther licenses, they have completely become one of the worst developers out there. Nothing but empty promises, too much catering to specific platforms instead of all platforms, never fixing bugs, releasing half assed tables, their Quality Assurance if it even exists is completely horrible, waaaaaaaayyyy too long between updates on the consoles and always trying to blame it on Sony or Microsoft, but other companies including Zen has never had issues releasing content on all platforms at the same time AND fixing known bugs in a timely manner....

Just look at how they charged everyone to transfer their tables they alway purchased on 360 to XB1 or PS3 to PS4... Zen allowed everyone to do it for free including when they released FX3...

Farsight has been done for the most part, that's why that didn't have any news about anymore seasons and the two tables coming out soon (supposedly) were already known for the longest time, but they are trying to act like it's a new announcement...

Let's just hope the other companies see just how much better Zen does the real tables and also see that we are willing to repurchase them again, provided they are amazing quality like all their original tables and I'm sure more of them will come over to Zen...

Go Zen!!!

 

[Xanija]

Warning: It's ok to criticise, it's not ok to insult people. If you ask for professional behaviour, start with the man in the mirror.

 

[Gorgias32]

It's only a matter of time before Stern jumps ship also... Probably just waiting for their license contract to be up...

That's interesting, I hadn't thought about this. At the end of the day it's a business decision. If Farsight can produce high quality Stern reproductions like they have (eventually) been able to deliver on Star Trek, AC/DC, Mustang and Ghostbusters, and if they are able to have it be profitable for both them and Stern, they may be fine.

But if Zen continues knocking these "real-life" tables out of the park, and puts out a mobile version, and continues to support all the multiplayer/bells and whistles, and Farsight is not able to keep up, it may be that Stern might be better served moving to Zen.

It would be really unfortunate, IMO, if this happened; Farsight has a lot of great talent, and it's healthier overall to have more than one "big dog" in the digital pinball market.

 

[Extork]

If they’re gonna fix the bugs, they should start with mosquitoes. I get one bite, and I itch all over. It’s almost as bad as sand.

 

[FarSight_Matt]

If they’re gonna fix the bugs, they should start with mosquitoes. I get one bite, and I itch all over. It’s almost as bad as sand.

I'm on it, just got my CRISPR kit in the mail...

 

[Drathro]

Just look at the list though

http://www.digitalpinballfans.com/s...24-Master-Bugs-List-(Updated-Up-To-Banzai-Run)

That's a very long list, there are still issues with season one tables for Unicron's sake!

I wouldn't be surprised if quality control was the reason the Williams license was lost.

 

[dtown8532]

I don’t play near as much as most of you on here and, today, I saw a ball pass through the left flipper on BSD. That’s just with playing a single game. Can’t imagine how many more issues are found if I payed for hours on a single table.

 

[Gorgias32]

Two new releases this weekend and they have fairly obvious bugs, at least on Android - Woah Nellie has the high scores list messed up (lowest high score is set at 100,000 which is completely unattainable in this game, but the demo high score limit triggers at around 1500 points), and for both tables the music plays even if your settings have sound set to "off". It's just frustrating to see these things still get released like this.

On the good side, both tables play really well, I'm enjoying the demos.

 

[xZOMBIEx]

Two new releases this weekend and they have fairly obvious bugs, at least on Android - Woah Nellie has the high scores list messed up (lowest high score is set at 100,000 which is completely unattainable in this game, but the demo high score limit triggers at around 1500 points), and for both tables the music plays even if your settings have sound set to "off". It's just frustrating to see these things still get released like this.

On the good side, both tables play really well, I'm enjoying the demos.

Lol, they had all this time to create these two tables that they mentioned when Stern PBA was announced and they STILL can't get a big free table released... It's been so long since they mentioned these tables that most, including myself, completely forgot about them or thought they canceled them. Especially since they are now trying to merge Stern PBA with the regular PBA...

TBH, it's kind of sad that they can't even get two tables to fully work and it also shows that they definitely don't have people testing these games and they are relying on us to do it for them by reporting them and then they start fixing them... Maybe...

I think it's safe to say i'm pretty much done with PBA. I really don't plan on buying any other table or pack... I almost want to file a report with the Better Business Bureau to get a refund for ALL the season packs I purchased just because of how horrible this game has gotten... Everytime there are patches to try and fix something, another thing breaks...

The biggest set back that got me to stop playing was the lighting and its never been the same like how it used to be before the patch in early 2017 I think it was... Prior to that it was fine and to this day it still hasn't been fully fixed and now the ported Stern Tables have or had (not sure if it's been fixed yet) been worse and don't even adjust with the sliders being changed...

Then you have the missing plunger rod on Twilight Zone, the chipmunk voice on the Elvira table, and so on..

I know some of you all are dealing with it and just accepting how it is, but it drives me nuts that I spend more time trying to adjust the sliders and or the TV settings...

That's the problem though with today's games... Too many companies are cutting corners and just rushing games out thinking that can just fix them later with a patch... I would also be willing to bet that most companies have gotten rid of their QA Teams and just relying on us customers to report bugs and glitches...

It's just frustrating... I wish there was a way to delete the patches and go back to an older version, I'm sure the only way would be if there was a physical copy and disconnect the console from the internet...

 

[Gorgias32]

Farsight is definitely a small company, and it shows. And they have never had a focus on doing formal software QA - they could have invested in QA automation years ago and had automated checks for changes that break old tables; it sure looks to me (as a professional software engineer) like they are asking the developers to do their own QA, which is a recipe for the exact types of bugs we see getting released again and again.

It would be difficult to quantify how much more profit they would have made on TPA if they had invested in formal QA, though - if additional revenues would cover the additional costs, which with based on the architecture of their platform could be substantial. Farsight's management has all the numbers and I trust that they have looked at them decided that the ongoing QC issues are acceptable from a financial standpoint. It's frustrating for us, but it's a business decision that is theirs to make. The cost is that it has certainly driven some folks away in the past, and discouraged new adopters who may have downloaded the demo and had it be/feel flaky due to the state of the app at that given point in time.

But I am planning stick with TPA, because at the end of the day, once you get into a table, and when it's working well (which is most of the time), it's a fantastic experience that keeps me coming back on a daily basis. And their potential access to new Sterns is really something I am looking forward to.

 

[funchords]

Farsight helped me fall in love with pinball again, with it's Wii Williams title, and now I have all of the tables on the PS4. So I'm hoping and half-expecting not to be abandoned here -- time will tell. Bugs happen and we scream like it's the end of the world -- but I've been entertained for hours.

Treat me right, Farsight -- I'll keep figuring out ways to send you money. It does smell like death right now -- but from the ash rises a Phoenix.

 

[Gorgias32]

After reading Chris' (excellent) article on This Week in Pinball, it occurs to me that the loss of the license could definitely have been influenced by Farsight's recurring QC issues - that Scientific Games was aware that Farsight had some quality (and potentially pricing) issues that they determined were impacting the profitability of the brand and as a result their royalties, and that Zen had the infrastructure and track record to be more profitable for them.

I think as long as Farsight can keep Stern happy, TPA will be okay.

 

[Drathro]

You should at least try and completely fix the bugs in the tables that Zen are releasing such as


Medieval Madness

• The ball shakes continuously when it's in the plunger lane waiting to be launched.

• There are no vertical cutouts in the playfield where the rollover sensors are located.

• The two red flashers on the back wall flash white instead of red.