Very torn about Farsight as a company (sort of rant but also a question, confused)

[Naildriver74]

Farsight knew what was coming and it will survive.

 

[wolfson]

i have said this before , I was happy to get 20 tables from TPA ,WOW I have 82 tables plus the tables from SPA . I do not worry about graphics or anything else .only thing that bugs me is communication . I can say what a great job Farsight have done , a very big thank you !!! I am just watching the William sisters at the Aussie Open , and tomorrow night the big one ,Raffa vs Fedde , good luck to all of them !!!

 

[Blkthorne]

While watching various developer interviews for Blizzard games the topic of communication comes up quite a bit. The designers can't sit and talk with everyone on the forums cause it would take away from focusing on other issues like bug fixing or future content etc, plus if they say too much then people take it as "U LIED 2 US!!!! or U PROMISED THIS FEATURE!!!!" if it doesn't actually make it into the game. You have a small indie company like Farsight with how many people? 10-20 employees?? and you have Blizzard with 50-100+ on each various series. Another aspect is some people become targets for hate/death threats if they don't tell people what they want to hear and who wants that kind of attention, especially if you happen to be a woman or of a certain race or even the way you look. Just look at some of the venom on popular game forums, it is not hard to understand why some developers don't communicate too much with their "fans". Even looking at the facebook page would be depressing for me as you generally see nothing but negative comments. "My 20 year old computer won't run TPA/SPA!!! U SUK LAMESIGHT" or OMG!!! ANOTHER CRAP GOTTLIEB TABLE!!! When you know we all want Indiana Jones/Simpsons etc!!!!!!!WTH!!!. or the continuing saga of why aren't console games being released at the same time as mobile/Steam???

 

[Raoul]

If you really want Farsights attention.... Just don't buy their games. They peaked 4 years ago and are just throwing s#it against the wall now and seeing if it sticks. Spreading yourself over a boatload of consoles isn't supportive..... It's just a greedy business model.

 

[Extork]

If you really want Farsights attention.... Just don't buy their games. They peaked 4 years ago and are just throwing s#it against the wall now and seeing if it sticks. Spreading yourself over a boatload of consoles isn't supportive..... It's just a greedy business model.

I think it's not as simple as you make it out to be. Just throwing s#it against the wall to see if it sticks? I'm sure there's more to it than that. I'm confident that they'll be making the most requested tables in season 7. I'll give them a free pass with most of the stickers in season 6. All I'm saying is, they know what we want, but we just need to wait

 

[Raoul]

I wish I was more confident like you but I'm just not feeling it. Farsight's first and main concern is to make a profit or they wouldn't be in this in the first place. They haven't fixed much since they've begun(Theater Of Magic anyone lol? It's like playing with tennis ball physics). Still haven't seen the Ps3 version of season 6 and that console is one of the majorities. The tables they make are for the beginner/Novice who don't know any better. Visuals are good..... Game play.... Not even close. To me I find these tables more of novelty than to take them seriously. There's a lot of disappointed purists on this site but as long as there's buyers they'll keep going.... Look at COD. My next hopeful project is visual pinball x with oculus rift..... That stuff is sooooo amazing.

 

[Kolchak357]

If you are expecting major changes to season 1 and 2 tables, I think you will be disappointed. They don't have the resources to go back and change the graphics and physics on them. Game breaking bugs, slight tuning changes, or little things here and there are made from time to time. But that's all I have come to expect. The current releases are much better than season 1 releases (imo) but they will never feel like real pinball. It's just a different physical animal. I'd recommend lowering your expectations or stay away from TPA all together and avoid the frustaration.

 

[HotHamBoy]

If you are expecting major changes to season 1 and 2 tables, I think you will be disappointed. They don't have the resources to go back and change the graphics and physics on them. Game breaking bugs, slight tuning changes, or little things here and there are made from time to time. But that's all I have come to expect. The current releases are much better than season 1 releases (imo) but they will never feel like real pinball. It's just a different physical animal. I'd recommend lowering your expectations or stay away from TPA all together and avoid the frustaration.

I would appreciate if they actually updated all the older tables to the newer flipper physics on mobile and consoles like they said they would. I think they've done a handful on mobile and none on consoles. Steam version has been totally updated for well over a year.

 

[mpad]

Only thing they updated on steam was dx11 lighting (what consoles already had) and tge the magic superhuman physics.
Desperately needed texture graphics overhaul still missing

 

[Kolchak357]

I would appreciate if they actually updated all the older tables to the newer flipper physics on mobile and consoles like they said they would. I think they've done a handful on mobile and none on consoles. Steam version has been totally updated for well over a year.

At this point I just don't expect it. Some of these pins were release around 4 years ago and are left in the dust. If we get it, then I consider it a bonus. They have enough trouble just trying to get new stuff released, I just don't see it happening. Would they like to, yes. Will it happen, that's another story.

 

[EldarOfSuburbia]

Updating old tables isn't trivial. The playfield textures are what they are: they don't have better resolution images. To get them, they'd need to strip the tables down, re-photograph everything, then update each table individually with the new assets. And still be working on the next 2-3 monthly table releases at the same time. Unless FS somehow manage to hire another 4 or 5 staff members purely to do these updates - and given the physical nature of what's required, those hypothetical new staff members would almost certainly have to relocate to Big Bear - it's not happening. And since updates of older tables isn't going to be a huge revenue stream for them (how much would you be willing to pay for those updated assets? $1 per table? $0 per table?), how are they going to afford to pay these new people?

 

[ACE007]

I personally enjoy FarSights' Pinball Arcade - I've purchased every season and plan on continuing. My hope is that they will bring in AC/DC, Elvis, Baywatch, Jaws, Big Bang Bar, Jurassic Park....I could go on (instead of that dreadful Stern Pinball Arcade).
I'm also hoping that someday I can throw away Visual Pinball and utilize PA into my cab (with backglass support and camera placement). In my opinion, there really is no comparison between VPB and PA....PA wins hands down (maybe its my PC specs, but it really does look and play fantastic).
Keep'em coming FarSight!

 

[shutyertrap]

I personally enjoy FarSights' Pinball Arcade - I've purchased every season and plan on continuing. My hope is that they will bring in AC/DC, Elvis, Baywatch, Jaws, Big Bang Bar, Jurassic Park....I could go on (instead of that dreadful Stern Pinball Arcade).
I'm also hoping that someday I can throw away Visual Pinball and utilize PA into my cab (with backglass support and camera placement). In my opinion, there really is no comparison between VPB and PA....PA wins hands down (maybe its my PC specs, but it really does look and play fantastic).
Keep'em coming FarSight!

FarSight is not gonna help you with your cab options. Arcooda is licensing the cab option for their cabs.

 

[relaxation]

what if they asked CPR really nicely? their ToTAN (vs in game) looks really nice.

As does their...
Fish Tales (FSight)
High Speed (FSight)
Taxi (FSight)
Whirlwind (FSight)
Pin*Bot (FSight)
Firepower (FSight)
Spaceshuttle (FSight)
Flight 2000 (FSight)

 

[ACE007]

FarSight is not gonna help you with your cab options. Arcooda is licensing the cab option for their cabs.

I'm not asking for cab support (I can do that on my own).....Just hoping they keep pumping out tables. They're doing a great job of it.

 

[HotHamBoy]

FarSight is not gonna help you with your cab options. Arcooda is licensing the cab option for their cabs.

That's really shady, btw. They promised their loyal users that they were working on cab support for a long time. Then they cancel the feature only to license it to another company so they can continue to milk the small, dedicated userbase.

At this point I just don't expect it. Some of these pins were release around 4 years ago and are left in the dust. If we get it, then I consider it a bonus. They have enough trouble just trying to get new stuff released, I just don't see it happening. Would they like to, yes. Will it happen, that's another story.

They need to stop making empty promises. They need to hire more staff. There’s so many bugs between TPA and SPA it's ridiculous, and many of those bugs are platform-specific. I don't think it's fair to charge what they do and not deliver a quality product.

We could just not buy the tables but then they would stop making them and no one is going to step in to fill the void. It's a lose-lose proposition

Farsight is basically rewarded for being the only game in town. The day a quality competitor steps in to challenge them they would go belly-up.

 

[rehtroboi40]

At this point I just don't expect it. Some of these pins were release around 4 years ago and are left in the dust. If we get it, then I consider it a bonus. They have enough trouble just trying to get new stuff released, I just don't see it happening. Would they like to, yes. Will it happen, that's another story.

To remake the season one and two tables would be especially nice. Many of TPA's best offerings were from the first two seasons IMO, especially their kickstarters. But you're right-they would probably not be economically viable. Given how FartSight has been about releasing current tables, I don't think enough people would be willing to pay for the same tables again. I would, but that's just me.

Also on that point, SPA has re-released the old Stern/Data East/Sega tables from TPA on SPA. Other than lighting fixes, these play exactly the same in SPA as they did in TPA. It was great that on Steam, they made them free for anyone who purchased them in TPA, but if this is what "remastering" means to FarSight, it may not be worth the effort.

 

[thefly0810]

Farsight is basically rewarded for being the only game in town. The day a quality competitor steps in to challenge them they would go belly-up.

I was in the in the vocal minority that expressed disappointment when it was originally announced that FarSight was involved with the Stern Pinball Arcade. We knew what we were going to be getting with Farsight. I would have like to see what another developer could have done reproducing real tables in comparison to TPA. Not only would we be seeing a new product, but with competition, FarSight would have to up their game. Instead we get the same excuses by fans of "their a small company, spread too thin, biting off more than they can chew, blah, blah, blah..." That excuse may have worked in the beginning, but 6 seasons in, multiple years of development and experience, that excuse doesn't work anymore. I still don't understand the business model of "we need to release a table every month." The fan base is established. I never understood why FarSight couldn't set a designated 10 month release schedule for a season, and then take a 2 month break in between seasons in order to catch up on patching bugs and releasing tables across all platforms on a more consistent basis.

 

[vikingerik]

I still don't understand the business model of "we need to release a table every month." The fan base is established. I never understood why FarSight couldn't set a designated 10 month release schedule for a season, and then take a 2 month break

This matters. Releasing 2/12 fewer tables means Farsight takes in 2/12 less revenue. We don't know anything about Farsight's accounting but it's quite possible that the margin between business sustainability and failure lies there.

 

[crazyflipperfingers]

If you are expecting major changes to season 1 and 2 tables, I think you will be disappointed. They don't have the resources to go back and change the graphics and physics on them. Game breaking bugs, slight tuning changes, or little things here and there are made from time to time. But that's all I have come to expect. The current releases are much better than season 1 releases (imo) but they will never feel like real pinball. It's just a different physical animal. I'd recommend lowering your expectations or stay away from TPA all together and avoid the frustaration.

Sure, but the argument can be made that since the early tables are part of the base pack and a lot of the most popular tables are in seasons 1 & 2, that updating them might go some way towards convincing new customers to continue buying tables.

It's painful going back to Theater of Magic and Circus Voltaire and having the ball float around like it's full of helium.