Zaccaria Pinball

[Zsolt]

Thanks for your feedback!

Currently we work on physics engine to "eat" less hardware resources and run on iPad and iPhone 4 as smooth as on other more powerful devices. I hope we will be succeed because I have an iPhone 4 too

 

[Zsolt]

[*]In Devil Riders, I hit a ball up the right-side ramp, and I heard the voice sample saying “great”. But the ball never made it up there. The ball fell back down somehow to the lower playing field, and I was unable to play the ball since my lower flippers were disabled. (The ball was supposed to be up top.) This has happened twice, actually. If this is something that used to happen in the real tables, then bravo for realism. But if this is just a problem with the app, it’s pretty frustrating.

It seems like bug at first listen, but we will check it.

[*]In night mode, the lighting seems off in Locomotion. In this video on YouTube, you can see that the train and the word Locomotion is illuminated on the back glass, but in the app the backglass is lifeless. Also, the pop bumpers seem to strobe in the real table. Is this YouTube table modded, or are the lights in these tables not properly emulated?

We made some modifications since the last update has been sent to Apple for review, so these modifications will be included by the next update.

[*]Also in that YouTube video for Locomotion, there seem to be train sounds. I don’t seem to hear these when playing with the app.

This is one of the changes which have been made after the update is sent to Apple.

[*]In this YouTube video for Devil Riders, you can see that there’s a Match sequence at the end of your game. In the app, we’re taken out of the tables interface and asked to enter our initials using non-native interfaces. We should be shown the match sequence, and if the tables allow for entering our initials in-game, this would be preferable.
[*]In this other video for Devil Riders, we can see the ball rebounds pretty forcefully off of the drop targets in front of the ramps. In the app, though, the ball seems to almost drive through these targets. It seems to hit the targets and then hover there for a bit. It would be nice if the ball could be tuned to bounce more off of these targets.
[*]In Devil Riders, when the ball is hit up to the top playfield, our view moves so that we can see the animated rider on the back glass. It would be nice if, during this move, the persistent onscreen scoreboard was somehow removed. This way, we’d be able to actually see the scores as they appear on the back glass. With the persistent scoreboard, the scoring section of the back glass is obscured.

I will check these videos ASAP to see how the way these changes could be implemented.

[*]In the options menu, there’s no way to preview any of the in-app purchased options. There’s only text that describes the appearance of these options. There should be images to preview these things.

This also will be changed in the next update.

[*]I don’t actually use the “Background Volume” feature, but playing around with this, I’ve noticed that if I adjust the volume, it’ll sometimes drop out completely. Sometimes, I’ll have to restart the app to get it to come back on, actually.

It's a bug then, we will check it.

[*]You can’t scroll through the music without changing the music. Whatever song is highlighted in the middle of the screen when you stop scrolling will be automatically played.
[*]The columns are very narrow, and it’s not possible to see the full names for almost any of my music.
[*]There are seven tracks displayed at a time in the interface, but this interface isn’t designed for touch screens. The track in the middle will be automatically playing, but if I touch the first listed track, it won’t play this track. Instead, it’ll scroll all of the tracks down one. It won’t play the track that I tapped on, it’ll play the track above the one that was playing earlier. To actually play the track that’s listed first, I have to manually scroll the view until the track that I want is in the middle of the screen, or I’ll have to tap on the top of the screen three times until it scrolls far enough.

Actually, the more that I think about this, this implementation is terrible. It should be removed completely from the app. Nobody will use it. And if anybody happens to use it by accident, they’ll hate it, and maybe by proxy they’ll hate the rest of the app a little because of this. So really, just remove it. It’s easy enough to change your music by going into your music app.

We will see. We will try to make this option better first.

Thank you for your report anyway

 

[Zsolt]

I got the latest update, & flipper gap appears the same to me in both arcade & simulation (which is way way too small, its almost impossible to lose a ball down the middle). I hope its coming soon in another update. Flipper physics still need some work. A cradled ball is often very weakly shot up the middle (especially on Time Machine & Pinball Champ), needs a lot more steam with those center shots, any shot when the ball is toward the base of the flipper doesn't seem to have much behind it & the ball just kind of tails off (which has always been an issue on ASK games). When the ball has some speed going along the flipper, then its a little better. But trying to hit that center target in Pinball Champ is a disaster.
Also the flippers do this weird thing on Time Machine & Pinball Champ where once held in the up position, they keep slowly crawling upwards!

Also the performance doesn't seem great on Pinball Champ.
I just bought the Silver pack from you guys dropping $33 in total, since you guys did fix some important things, but I'm hoping you guys also keep at it, still some work to do in order to be considered a top notch simulation. Going in the right direction though.

Yes, the new gap will be in the next update.
We work on physics continuously to be more accurate and realistic. All the updates will include physics changes as long as simulation mode gets as realistic as possible. Fortunately we have some real pinball machines in the office, so that also helps in the implementation.

 

[Zsolt]

- 8bitty (icade) support is cool but for the 8bitty, left flipper is controlled by the left trigger, but the right flipper is controlled by... the bottom right button. If its possible, it would be great if the button layout could be configurable as I am sure many would prefer to use the triggers while others will like the bottom right (as presently implemented) for the right flipper but use the left direction on the digital pad for the left flipper. Still, well done, first pinball game on the ipad I play that I can use something other than touch screen and I like it!

You will be able to configure iCade in the next update

- The app did not seem to keep/save the camera position but I just retried it and it did? This may be due to the icade/8bitty support, perhaps one of the buttons is mapped to the camera?

Maybe it is a bug, we will check it.

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Zsolt]

& is there going to be a way to disable the dirty glass effect? Not a big fan of that, but can't seem to disable it.

We take your idea into consideration, so we will see.

 

[night]

Just updated, first observations:

-I like to report ball stuttering issues on Pinball Champ 82. iPad2 (I understand you guys are updating the physics engine to make it run more smoothly?)

Physics are very good, this is a big improvement, compliments! Zaccaria has transformed into serious pinball simulation!
Pinball Champ 82, wow!! Now this is pinball.. I just love this table, fast exciting action and the graphics are just fantastic. Night mode is well done as well, and the lighting effects are great. I feel sorry for anyone without an iOS device right now!

For Zslot, some idea's/suggestions you might want to look into:

-When it's 'game over' the game ends too sudden, it will break-off imediately, showing the highscore abrubt. Zaccaria has a nice intro, a fly-over. When the game ends there should be a short end. Zoom in on the backglass for 1 second before showing the high-sore!

-I really do like the effect that there is actual glass on the table! I love the way this has been done on the pinball App 'Revenge of the Rob-o-Bot', where you can see the reflection of the backglass. Is that a possibility to implement in Zaccaria? (3 options in the menu: dirty glass - backglass reflection - off).

-I wonder, is it possible to switch the background (the table, chair and carpet) 'off'? Just black. It makes the pinball-table stand-out more. A clean look is the best, the tables themselves are full of detail and color already. Nothing really important but I love simplicity and minimalism in backgrounds.
(Or just a simple wooden floor that fades into black.) You already make such beautiful tables, you don't need this silly background. Less is more!

-The ball pack could use an update, it is very hard to tell the difference between ball textures. I don't think this is an important part of Zaccaria, and if there are more important things to update, by all means, do it! But if you pay for a ball pack it should be worth it.

-About the ball: can there be a new ball (or an updated ball) with another environmental reflection map? I observed the ball closely, it has the reflection of the pinball table (of course, don't change this!!), but I can also see (what looks like) an environmental reflection of a house with a garden..? My suggestion is this: I think the ball in TPA looks very well because it is simple, likewise use for Zaccaria a simple environmental reflection map, like a black background with a square softbox-light. Now the ball is too obstructed with reflections from a detailed table AND a detailed environment, and therefore to 'busy/detailed' in it's appearance. Just keep the ball you have now and add (or change) one of the balls in the ballpack with a simple environmental reflection map. I bet it will look much better. (Menu: default ball 1 and default ball 2!).

Funny how Zaccaria tables are so different in style, refreshing. Most definitely looking forward to new updates, this is going in a very good direction.

Love it!

 

[SilverBalls]

Yes, the new gap will be in the next update.
We work on physics continuously to be more accurate and realistic. All the updates will include physics changes as long as simulation mode gets as realistic as possible. Fortunately we have some real pinball machines in the office, so that also helps in the implementation.

Great work so far Zsolt in such a short time - very impressive.

I know robx46 has been building visual pinball for many years and his tables feature some of the best physics around. Would be great if you and rob are up for bit to get his feedback/help in physic settings for the up and coming tables, maybe a special build for him where rubber strength etc could be tweaked from menu options. Just an idea as I know he always strive for perfection

 

[NightShadowPT]

Hi!

I am quite impressed with the progress this app has made in such a short time. So much I've decided to buy the gold membership to support your efforts,

Nevertheless I have to say I have experienced two weird bugs in Devils Ride! More than once while shooting at the right ramp the ball just bounces around like crazy, passing over objects as if they did not exist. On other occasion when shooting with the left flipper, the ball just jumped outside of the table and I was just left there with no way to continue my game.

Keep improving the game, as it is shapping up to be a great contender for best pinball game in iOS.

 

[an ox]

Am I just being thick - how do you get the iCade working with this? I tried pressing all manner of buttons on my 8 Bitty and nothing seemed to do anything.

Also in Locomotion did they just straight up steal the sound effects from a Williams game? Sounds so much like Defender/Robotron/Firepower it can't be a coincidence!

Really enjoying it though. The Zaccaria tables have a lovely roughness and clunkiness to them which is somehow really enjoyable. Love all the 80s style sound effects and voice synth action too. Only really heard of them last year when i played a Farfalla at the UK Pinball Party. Looking forward to more of them .

Better nip and download the update then, it'll be nice not to have magic magnetic flippers any more .

 

[an ox]

Ah I was being thick. Just saw the notes for the update and it says "added iCade support". Just wasn't there in the old version.

Downloading now

 

[Kolchak357]

The tables look even better after the update and the physics improvements make the game so much more playable. Thank you.

On a side note, this app makes me wish more Zaccaria tables made it to the U.S.. I've never played a real one. But they are full of quickly fun and crazy art. Really looking forward to Spooky, Farfalla, and Magic Castle.

 

[tripleplonq]

Thanks for your feedback!

Currently we work on physics engine to "eat" less hardware resources and run on iPad and iPhone 4 as smooth as on other more powerful devices. I hope we will be succeed because I have an iPhone 4 too

I just tried the new version and it's much more playable on iPad1.

 

[an ox]

The improvements in the new version tipped me over into buying the gold membership. Good job. Anyone who knows me knows that getting me to drop that much on an IAP takes quite a bit of doing .

 

[sotie]

Here's a quick recording I just made with my iPhone of a few seconds of game play on my modded iCade Core. The plunger maps to one of my new side buttons and you can see that the button press is variable so you can control how far the plunger is pulled. I had my daughter demonstrate this with the first plunger pull.

 

[dtown8532]

The tables look even better after the update and the physics improvements make the game so much more playable. Thank you.

On a side note, this app makes me wish more Zaccaria tables made it to the U.S.. I've never played a real one. But they are full of quickly fun and crazy art. Really looking forward to Spooky, Farfalla, and Magic Castle.

You might see some at Pinfest. I remember playing Farfalla a while ago at the Whiterose Gameroom Show in York.

I just bought the basic app to try it out. How's the night mode look? Worth buying?

 

[night]

I just bought the basic app to try it out. How's the night mode look? Worth buying?

Buy it!

 

[Kolchak357]

Totally agree with night. Night mode is very nice on this.

Edit: Here is a night mode pic of Pinball Champ 82

 

[Clawhammer]

Zsolt, are there any plans to implement leaderboards/game center support in the future?

 

[jhamdotme]

There are some pretty obvious problems with the landscape support:

Here, by adjusting the volume, we can see that the system still thinks that we’re in portrait mode.

Also, the options menu is kind of a mess when you’re holding your device horizontally. It’s pretty unusable:

Unless you’re going to do a completely different layout, you should probably just force everyone into portrait mode for this.


For 1.2, though, the thing that I’d like to see most would be Game Center support.

 

[SNKAllen]

Zsolt, are there any plans to implement leaderboards/game center support in the future?

I would like to ask this also. Saving my high scores locally is fine and all but I would really like to compare high scores through gamecenter or some form of leaderboard.