Pinball Club

[elmuerte]

Sold!

[elmuerte]

What's up with the physics of Pinball FX2!?

[clyde]

What's up with the physics of Pinball FX2!?

The ball is heavier and the slingshots and bumpers are nerfed. That's what makes it easier to control your ball. Trapping requires very little skill.

[Dewar]

I have a couple friends around here who are really into pinball. I like playing, but then they talk about strategies and knowing all the right ramps to go up at the right time to get the 10x multiplyer and I just glaze over. I guess I'm just a casual "bang the ball around the table" type player.

[clyde]

Pinball FX2 is on my mind right now so take take that into account when I say this:

Pinball FX2 is great for learning how to appreciate completing objectives on a table. Some of them have central targets that start the modes and obtuse animations when the mode starts. The characters will sometimes even say something that gives you an idea of what to do. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and the written instructions are lacking to an absurd degree.

I'll give you an example. Sorceror's Lair (the free table) has a central target that you hit three times in order to start every mode. In one if the modes, ghosts appear in each lane that you are supposed to hit and they dissipitate when the ball goes through them.

The more I try to think of examples, the more I realize that the modes are pretty complex and take a while to figure out. I still have very little idea what I'm supposed to do on Paranormal.

[tabacco]

Whoops, accidental time sink discovered: http://www.ipdb.org/

[clyde]

It's kinda slow at times, but there is some pretty great pinball-porn in this first episode, published recently:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=raAzOtOhWm0

[clyde]

So if you have an Nvidia card, a simple adjustment in the Nvidia control-panel can make the flippers of both Pinball FX2 and Pinball Arcade feel significantly more responsive and snappy. Usually I don't notice this type of technical detail, but here I do.

 

1.Go to the "Nvidia Control Panel" by right clicking on your desktop

2.Under "Manage 3D Settings", on it's tab window, click "Add"

3. Find either Pinball FX2 or Pinball Arcade from the list of programs

4. Scroll down to where it says "Maximum pre-rendered frames", click it and select "1"

5. Click "Apply"

 

Like I said, I really notice a difference. The flippers of both games feel kinda spongy otherwise.

[clyde]

What's up with the physics of Pinball FX2!?

I was playing Fear Itself this morning. When I was trying to ascend the hammer of the Worthy whose requirement is to use the magnets in the outer-orbits to do full circles, my ball was getting magnetized when I was trapping it; it moved in spooky ways when I pressed the flipper button which turns the magnet on. I thought to myself "Wouldn't it be funny if El Muerte played this table first and that's why he asked about the weird physics?"

[elmuerte]

Nah... I have the problem with all the tables. The ball simply moves weird, not very natural.

Also... holy crap you've got some high scores on those tables.

[clyde]

Nah... I have the problem with all the tables. The ball simply moves weird, not very natural.

Also... holy crap you've got some high scores on those tables.

You typically get a couple of million points for finishing each mode. In Spiderman, I managed to finish all the modes and start wizard-mode. Wizard mode typically gives me atleast a 50% addition to my score.

[Trip Hazard]

I played loads of Pinball Arcade last week, after a friend showed it to me. There are some tables (generally the easier ones, it must be said) that I really really enjoyed, like Medieval Madness and Attack from Mars. One thing that stuck out for me is just how brilliant the sound design in PA is - I feel totally immersed in each table after only a few seconds of play.

[clyde]

I played loads of Pinball Arcade last week, after a friend showed it to me. There are some tables (generally the easier ones, it must be said) that I really really enjoyed, like Medieval Madness and Attack from Mars. One thing that stuck out for me is just how brilliant the sound design in PA is - I feel totally immersed in each table after only a few seconds of play.

Centaur's sound design is intense.

[Trip Hazard]

Haven't played Centaur yet. Something else that I realised when I was playing is that some of the tables seemed to have a narrative of sorts, and that if you can fulfil that, you'll unlock big point boosters and the like. I first noticed it with the free table, Arabian Nights (or something like that), where you can battle the genie. Monster Bash is another one, getting the band together.

 

When I've encountered real pinball tables in the past I'm so wowed by the sheer joy or twatting the ball about and making lights go off that I'd never noticed any of that. Reading this thread, it seems I'm not the only one.

[clyde]

If you like the narrative aspect, you may really appreciate the Pinball FX2 tables that are currently the Humble Bundle. As ElMuerte and I have been discussing, the physics are not realistic; Pinball Arcade is a pinball-sim, while Pinball FX2 breaks realism for usability and spectacle. But the Pinball FX2 tables tend to have a strong narrative quality, especially if you are familiar with the Marvel Comics lore. For instance, on the Spiderman table you battle the Green Goblin by throwing his bombs back at him, defeat Dr. Octopus by weaving under his legs to tangle him up and defeat Mysterio by ignoring his illusions. I'm not gong to tell you what Mysterio's illusion is. The first time you find out. . .hehehehe.

But Yeah, you may want to try the free table "Sorceror's Lair" first to see if the physics turn you off too much. 
 

[elmuerte]

I find the Pinball FX2 tables really hectic with a lot of hidden behavior going on. Because Pinball Arcade is based on real tables they feel much simpler and easier to deal with (i.e. less surprises).

[Trip Hazard]

Thanks for that clyde, I had been consciously avoiding FX2 because I didn't think it could stack up against the real tables, but that does sound right up my alley. I'll give it a whirl

 

(also, I had no idea that they had licenced Marvel content! YES!)

 

Edit: gave it a whirl, and whilst the ball physics do seem a little strange at first, there's a high degree of craftsmanship present which I wasn't expecting - and that's just the free level. I'll get the bundle asap.

[clyde]

I did an incomplete tutorial of the Pinball FX2/Zen Pinball Wolverine table.

[clyde]

[clyde]

Super League Football is surreal and wonderful. It's a rather high-skill table, that should be noted. 

So here's how it works: 
There is an upper playfield with a goal keeper. As you shoot ramps and lanes, a combo meter fills at the bottom left. Each yellow block (and then later each red strip) represents a player on the opposition that is in your way. If you get the ball into the upper playfield early on, a bunch of targets will block your shot. But if you fill that combo meter up, players disappear from that upper playfield (making your shot for the goal easier). But the combo meter lowers over time if you don't make ramp and lane shots. If it empties completely, you lose possession of the ball. If the ball drains during this hurry-up or id you don't make 3 flashing lane shots, the opponents score a point. Every time I score a goal, I feel it. It's a great table.

[clyde]

Personally, I'm not very interested in the competitive-scene, but this is happening this morning if anyone is interested.
http://www.twitch.tv/papatvpinball

[clyde]

The Walking Dead, Season 1 pinball table is coming from Zen. I can think of so many puns. If the ball-lock audio-cue is "Clementine will remember that" I will lose my shit.

Also, I wonder if when you are choosing to side with one person or another, you decide by hitting their ramp. A missed shot in such a scenario would be so deliciously pinball. I always tell Capt. Hastings that the way you can tell if the pinball is working is if you shout something involuntarily; you feel the missed shots.

http://www.polygon.com/2014/6/4/5777242/zen-pinball-the-walking-dead-table

[tabacco]

Of interest: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/pinball-arcade-the-addams-family

[clyde]

The first two seasons of Pinball Arcade are $15 each on Steam right now.

I went ahead and got both of them. I resisted for a long time because of having bought as many as I could on Xbox 360, waiting for 3d support on PS3 (and being disappointed with those results) and then realizing that I'll probably have to buy them again for Oculus Rift when it comes out. Plus, I've bought a few packs so I'm effectively buying those twice. I've been playing demos for a long time.

Anyway I got through all that and it sure is nice to play a full game of Centaur. I think I might stick to that table for a while, learn everything about it and then record a a goofy tutorial video.

[Vorlonesque]

Pinball is the reason my arcade stick has buttons on the sides!

 

 

There's a button on the other side as well that's off camera.

 

 Edit: Only issue is that I don't have a good way to tilt/nudge in stuff like pinball arcade.