TZ Pricing and Release?

[karl]

jaredmorgs, I will do my best when I get it. Never tried it in real life but have watched a lot of video of it and played it a lot in VP and FP. Can not promise to get to that last wizard goal but I will at least play it to death trying to get there

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

I just hope the beta testers are slamming it hard!

I couldn't afford the $100 to get beta access, so the backers that did have an important job to perform.

Test hard. Test deep. Concentrate on how the powerball is handled.

Your efforts will make a difference.

We do not have the TZ beta yet, nor have we been asked which platform we will be using for the beta. I can't imagine that if they are trying to release in late November that it would be more than a few days now.

As far as testing, I can't promise I'll find every last thing, but after 150+ hours on a real TZ in the past few months, I'd like to think there would be very little that escapes me. And I'll be taking TZ with me to CP Pinball for testing alongside the real TZ for things that are hard to gauge from memory. The ruleset I have memorized, the precise behavior of the Powerball - to the extent that the unpredictable Powerball can be said to have precise behavior! - is another matter.

Serenseven Has some very good points. CBS gets a part of the profit (probably more than on other tables with extra licenses like Elvira) not only the upfront license cost so the price for TZ will likely be about the same as a 2 pack(just a guess) and pairing it with another table do not make much sense.(and if they were doing that we would have heard about it by now) I know expectations of less bugs etc will be higher if you payed up front, but lets be realistic here. The time frame for making the table is the same as any other tables and TZ is one of the busiest, most complex tables there is. We payed upfront so that they could make the table, not to have a super duper trooper extra polished table that looks and plays 10 times better than other tables (that would take a year extra to complete). Pretty confident that they have but a few extra hours into it and that it will be a wonderful release though, But no point in having sky high expectations, better to be positively surprised. I was a bit disappointed by NGG so my expectations for table pack 7 was a little lower than usual. Lo and behold, table pack 7 is probably one of my favorites so far. The EM physics alone just blew me away.

Twilight Zone is one of the most mechanically complex tables ever made (some of the modern Sterns have surpassed it in ruleset complexity, but not in terms of physical toys). There's also a lot of stacking and interaction between various modes that I imagine was tricky to handle. For example: Clock Millions is running, the physical clock is at 8:00, and the player gets Clock Chaos from the Slot Machine. What time is then displayed on the clock, what direction does it first move in, and which mode gets control of the clock? (Answer: 6:00, moving backward, Clock Chaos takes precedence over everything except Lost in the Zone.)

Even the real table with the V9.4H ROM sometimes gets confused about what's going on. While I'm sure that since TZ will be the flagship table in TPA for a while, FarSight will make an extra effort to squash bugs, I would not expect a totally error-free experience upon first release.

 

[Carl Spiby]

Argh the bloody pop goes the weasel tune, I feel a right prat when the table is pumping that out at full volume.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

Argh the bloody pop goes the weasel tune, I feel a right prat when the table is pumping that out at full volume.

I've been known to deliberately time out Clock Chaos if nothing else timed is going on, just to stop that damned music earlier.

 

[Sean]

I threw down $100 for the Twilight Zone kickstarter - guess that means I should get contacted about beta testing sometime soon?

 

[karl]

I believe it was $500 to be a beta tester? unless there was a change I do not know about. Very nice to have an experienced TZ player like you Serenseven on the beta team. Looks like you know a hell of a lot more than me about TZ.

 

[Jeff Strong]

Bobby said he was tuning the table last night (seems fitting for Halloween, eh?), so the beta has got to be very close.

 

[jaredmorgs]

Serenseven, et al who are going to be beta testers.

Your real world play experience will make a huge difference to the quality of your observations for the digital version.

You will always notice deficiencies more in tables you are passionate about.

The fact you forked out $100 to make this table a reality shows this passion.

 

[Sean]

I believe it was $500 to be a beta tester? unless there was a change I do not know about. Very nice to have an experienced TZ player like you Serenseven on the beta team. Looks like you know a hell of a lot more than me about TZ.

You may well be right. I remember for sure $100 gets you in a tournament and the table on all platforms, which is really good enough for me. I do wish I could have thrown down the same price for TNG which I actually want more, but two platforms isn't too shabby for $50 - and getting the table at all, which was the main thing!

 

[karl]

That is good news Jeff.
Agreed Sean.
500 to be a beta tester is over the top and something I would only do once. I like TNG just as much but could only afford 100 on that. When TZ kickstarter came along everything was new and I felt it really important to support them with as much as possible (also for the future of more kickstarters happening). Even more than possible because my wallet cried for months after that one. I will support every kickstarters to come but TZ will be my only one as a beta tester (if they keep the same tiers). Anyway, I can feel the suspension growing every day. checking my email more than usual

 

[spoonman]

I would hope they keep the price at $3.99 or less. They need to keep in mind most of the people willing to pay $10ish already paid.
I already paid so I don't care what they list it at, but I'd like to see this get into the hands of as many people as possible since I assume they are putting a lot of
love into this one.

 

[jaredmorgs]

That is good news Jeff.
Agreed Sean.
500 to be a beta tester is over the top and something I would only do once. I like TNG just as much but could only afford 100 on that. When TZ kickstarter came along everything was new and I felt it really important to support them with as much as possible (also for the future of more kickstarters happening). Even more than possible because my wallet cried for months after that one. I will support every kickstarters to come but TZ will be my only one as a beta tester (if they keep the same tiers). Anyway, I can feel the suspension growing every day. checking my email more than usual

I think that the lower levels should include beta testing as a basic reward.

Why?

It is in Farsight's best interests to have as many people as possible testing these kick starter tables.

The more eyes over the table, the better. Particularly on platforms such as Android.

 

[brakel]

I think that the lower levels should include beta testing as a basic reward.

Why?

It is in Farsight's best interests to have as many people as possible testing these kick starter tables.

The more eyes over the table, the better. Particularly on platforms such as Android.

Whats strange is that if they're looking at a November release on all platforms then the ps3 version would have already needed to be submitted. But my friend who contributed at the beta level hasn't gotten a beta code for the ps3 yet. I think the beta won't matter as far as fixing bugs before release. Its just a special preview.

 

[DaPinballWizard]

I threw down $100 for the Twilight Zone kickstarter - guess that means I should get contacted about beta testing sometime soon?

$500 to be a beta tester, not $100.

 

[Kemetman72]

TZ Release Date

They said end of November but it's the 8th and nothing has been determined...what gives?

 

[gooche77]

I have yet to see an release announcement with a hard date attached to it. To cover themselves Farsight usually gives a general date range like 'late November'. The good news is (at least on iOS and Android) that the releases usually come a few days earlier.

 

[Kemetman72]

Don't care about inferior ios and android. They gotta say something soon!

 

[DaPinballWizard]

I am hoping it is released before Thanksgiving weekend. Gives everybody a few extra days to play.

 

[rob3d]

Yea its definitly $500 as that's what I donated. Still waiting on the beta but I'm sure its coming, I'm just curious about how long the beta period is. If they really plan to release at the end of November then the latest I can see us receiving the beta is possibly 18th. 2 weeks for testing and bug fixes doesn't seem like a lot, but who knows.

 

[karl]

Please let there be more than just Android beta testing. this was no concern at the time because we then believed that most platforms would be more or less in sync by November and in the faq for the TZ kickstarter, Farsight says this: " Yes, there will be a PC version of the Twilight Zone. We are currently evaluating different options for distributing the PC version of the game, but that should definitely be resolved by the time the Twilight Zone is finished." I am probably more worried than I have reason to but I would really love to beta test on a console/pc. I did not expect the beta just yet but I find it a bit strange that there is no mail asking us what platform we would like to beta test. There is 15 people who have payed for this option (or higher). Should be a breeze to send a quick email if there was platform options (that's why I am a bit concerned)