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[Minsc]

Shame about the recent Greenlight approvals, once again the majority of "approved" games aren't even ready for release for months, while finished products like TPA sit in the queue time and time again. Only 10 games this month too?

Unless they are terrible at contracts I don't see what's stopping them from releasing standalone table versions of the game to XBLIG (unless there's a price cap of $5 which might cut STTNG).

Probably the fact they already signed a new publisher for the 360

 

[jgkspsx]

XBLIG have some restrictions, including no support for leaderboards.

No achievements, etc.

 

[Shaneus]

Shame about the recent Greenlight approvals, once again the majority of "approved" games aren't even ready for release for months, while finished products like TPA sit in the queue time and time again. Only 10 games this month too?

Ugh. And I'd wager that if they were position X pre-approvals then there's no way they're X-10 (as in, 10 places higher) now. They had a really weird way of explaining how the voting works on Facebook, but I can't remember exactly what it was... I'll see if I can dig it up.

But at this point, we might as well just fucking give up.

Edit: Found it:

How I interpret that is, one game with one killer month has a better chance of getting greenlit than another that has a semi-decent run over a few months. Which doesn't make any sense, because wouldn't they rather sell more copies over time than a shitload when it's first released and that's it?

 

[jvm]

Latest newsletter images.

I think you all know how I feel about that first one. Hhhhhhhhhnnnnnngggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[ThreePiMatt]

Attack From Mars just released on Android! Along with the portrait mode main screen and like some weird remix version of Pinball Wizard as the background music?

 

[Minsc]

Update also out on iOS. The new portrait mode UI is the least worst UI they've had yet, though it's still a ways off from being good.

 

[ThreePiMatt]

At least its entirely functional at this point. The scrolling works well now and everything is easy to find. I think the only issue is that the buttons still are largely designed for much smaller/lower resolution screens that just look kind of "blech" on my Nexus 10.

 

[J0dy77]

Attack from Mars is out and my holy grail of pinball games is complete. Took them 6 months longer than when they originally promised AFM but I can forgive them.

Thanks FS for making such an amazing game.

 

[Remy]

AFM is really good - I've only played it in the real world 2 or 3 times, but I think I like the PA version better than PA's MM. Genie's playfield is really busy but I'm sure I'll grow into it.

Loved Firepower on PHOF, and it's been probably 20 years since I've played Dr. Dude. Looking forward to next month!

 

[Kai Dracon]

The Vita version just stopped working for both myself and a friend on his Vita. I noticed a Vita firmware update a few days ago I didn't have, so updated.

PA loads, signs in to PSN, but after that it goes to a black screen and remains unresponsive. Vita isn't hardlocked. The home button minimizes PA, which remains stuck in its instance.

Anyone else?

Update: lol! Verizon in this region just took a big dump and cut parts of the country off for half an hour. PA is working again now that Verizon is unfucked. It was stuck in a loop trying to authorize leaderboard tickets after signing in to PSN - couldn't contact a server somewhere.

 

[VALIS]

Both tables play very nicely. AFM seems a tad fast to me, but then all of the PA tables do. I guess that's what happens when you simulate ideal condition hardware, where the real life tables we all play are in various states of decay.

My wife got a lockup on AFM (I think something to do with screen orientation) but I haven't noticed any glitches after an hour of play, which is pretty good for Farsight!

Two more great ones for the PA collection. Can't wait until they're all out on PC or 360 someday. I'll always buy the tablet versions just for bathroom, vacation and whatnot, but these games scream for a large screen and proper controller.

 

[Shaneus]

Has there been either a graphics or physics (or both) improvement across the board? I'm sure the colours look a little better (so perhaps a compromise on the iPad 3+ "post processing" mode) and the ball definitely felt a little weightier. Shame that they didn't move the launch button on Star Trek, though... I thought they would've fixed that up


Also, haven't heard back from them re: the support request I raised about not having access to pro mode in TNG (from the Kickstarter) and TotAN (from actually buying the thing).

And did you see the Steam Greenlight position? It's somehow managed to drop DOWN again from 85 to 90. AFTER TEN GAMES WERE JUST APPROVED!!!!

Starting to REALLY piss me off.

Latest newsletter images.

I think you all know how I feel about that first one. Hhhhhhhhhnnnnnngggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

You have excellent taste in games, my friend. Steve Ritchie 4 lyfe.

That reminds me, I'd never seen F-14 Tomcat in action before (not even in videos) but I watched this video from a tournament last year and holy fucking crap, it looks BRUTAL. I must have it.


Also, from what I can gather, the following tables received updates:
Big Shot
No Good Gofers


Edit: Also, possible pro-tip VALIS: I've just fired up post-proc mode on my iPad 3 to see if they've tweaked the performance of it at all (they haven't) and while it still runs like arse, it runs like more consistent arse than being really jumpy. So if you have an iPad 3 (or an iPad 4, I guess) it might be worth giving it a go. Sadly though, this option isn't on the 4S and I don't *think* the 5. (Edit #2: Some games this theory doesn't work that well (like TNG) but for AFM it definitely seems to. I haven't fired it up without post-proc, but I can see how it would be too fast without it left on)

BTW Does anyone know when TPA was going free on PSN+?

 

[J0dy77]

So I was finally able to destroy Mars in Attack from Mars. Something I was never able to do on the real machine which I played endlessly. Not sure if PA is just easier than the real table or the hundreds of hours of playing PA has made me better overall. Feels like I completed an all time gaming goal that was hanging over me.

 

[AEREC]

How hard is it to create a decent UI for this game? Even the updated UI looks like something from the 90's. Whats with all the incredibly low res background images and poster art?

 

[Gillian Seed]

So are the 360 tables and updates still on pace for a Feb or March release?

 

[Bog]

Them promoting all these new tables they're working on when ones from months ago still aren't working on the majority of their "supported" platforms is really rubbing me the wrong way. I went from loving these guys over the summer to really not giving a shit about them now.

 

[GDJustin]

I still don't understand how the leaderboard system in PA works. I got a new iPad this week, logged into my account, and all my HoF scores are now showing 0 again.

When I scroll through the leaderboards on a table until I reach "my score" it correctly highlights my account and my previous high score (that I earned on a previous device). So it seems to recognize my account and know I'm signed into it.

But then when I set a score on Mars, those HoF points weren't added to my total, and, as I mentioned, my HoF score on every other table reads 0.

I loooove PA - it's probably my most-played game of 2012. But I'm close to giving up. Without confidence in the game's leaderboard system, what's the point of trying to learn a table and post a high score?

 

[Remy]

I still don't understand how the leaderboard system in PA works. I got a new iPad this week, logged into my account, and all my HoF scores are now showing 0 again.

When I scroll through the leaderboards on a table until I reach "my score" it correctly highlights my account and my previous high score (that I earned on a previous device). So it seems to recognize my account and know I'm signed into it.

But then when I set a score on Mars, those HoF points weren't added to my total, and, as I mentioned, my HoF score on every other table reads 0.

I loooove PA - it's probably my most-played game of 2012. But I'm close to giving up. Without confidence in the game's leaderboard system, what's the point of trying to learn a table and post a high score?

From my experience, there are five things that look like leaderboards that respect different systems:

1. There's what the machine thinks are the high scores on the table that show up on the display - these seem to reset every time you leave the table in TPA.

2. There's the per-device per-table local high score list that PA maintains, independent of #1. This is under "Options" on each table. These do not sync at all with your Farsight account or your GameCenter account.

3. There's the internet high score leaderboards per table ("Leaderboards" button from each table's main menu.) These are linked only to your Farsight account, and not your GameCenter account.

4. There's the list of all your HoF scores, which is local to your device.

5. Lastly, there's the overall HoF score leaderboards, which are ONLY on GameCenter - and as best I can tell, not linked to your Farsight account.

When I nuked my PA iPad copy when people on the fan forums were saying it was useful to get the MM table patch that didn't get pushed normally, I similarly had all of my stuff reset. What I discovered was that until my new HoF cumulative score passed the one that was already logged in GC, it wouldn't matter if I did better on the tables individually. GC only cares about the total - and there's nowhere as far as I can tell where the individual HoF scores are synced.

What FS *should* do is have #2 and #4 sync with the Farsight account. And, for the sake of my sanity, they should have #2 append the faked machine RAM that drives #1 so I'm not always setting the "Grand Master" score only to find out I'm below my actual high score.

 

[Minsc]

How hard is it to create a decent UI for this game? Even the updated UI looks like something from the 90's. Whats with all the incredibly low res background images and poster art?

Looking at the iOS app icons every month, they've been consistently great in comparison (the bright green background for Attack from Mars for instance makes it very easy to identify, others have also had unique things for the table theme too).

I think if they just used a grid with each table represented by its app icon they'd have something much more usable and accessible.

 

[GDJustin]

From my experience, there are five things that look like leaderboards that respect different systems:

1. There's what the machine thinks are the high scores on the table that show up on the display - these seem to reset every time you leave the table in TPA.

2. There's the per-device per-table local high score list that PA maintains, independent of #1. This is under "Options" on each table. These do not sync at all with your Farsight account or your GameCenter account.

3. There's the internet high score leaderboards per table ("Leaderboards" button from each table's main menu.) These are linked only to your Farsight account, and not your GameCenter account.

4. There's the list of all your HoF scores, which is local to your device.

5. Lastly, there's the overall HoF score leaderboards, which are ONLY on GameCenter - and as best I can tell, not linked to your Farsight account.

When I nuked my PA iPad copy when people on the fan forums were saying it was useful to get the MM table patch that didn't get pushed normally, I similarly had all of my stuff reset. What I discovered was that until my new HoF cumulative score passed the one that was already logged in GC, it wouldn't matter if I did better on the tables individually. GC only cares about the total - and there's nowhere as far as I can tell where the individual HoF scores are synced.

What FS *should* do is have #2 and #4 sync with the Farsight account. And, for the sake of my sanity, they should have #2 append the faked machine RAM that drives #1 so I'm not always setting the "Grand Master" score only to find out I'm below my actual high score.

Well that isn't confusing at all.

 

[Shaneus]

Not at all. You'd think it wouldn't be hard. There's a single file on there called pba.dat that's created in the application's folder. I've transferred this between devices and it's retained my high scores and all that jazz. How hard is it to create a "Sync Now" or "Upload to iCloud" button? Thing is, the file's barely 500kb, so it won't break the bank.

Man, having everything synched would be a dream, but as of right now I don't know what I should use as the main source... the iPhone or iPad because whilst I've put in more time overall on the phone, I've been playing more recently on the iPad.

You'd think they'd just get this shit right. It's not hard.

 

[Dash Kappei]

Anybody playing this one on the iPad Mini?
Between Cave's HD stuff (at least the Lite versions, dunno if the full games fare any differently, but those Lite apps perform like crap especially compared to how butter smooth is the framerate of their iPhone/Universal apps) and Pinball Arcade I,m starting to regret not going for the iPad 4.

I remember having an argument with someone (Sheanus maybe? He' a great poster btw, don't take it personally) over how terrible the game performed on iPad gen1 and being told that on iPad 2 (which I barely used with PA at the time) it was perfect.

Well, the Mini is supposedely an iPad 2 and yet the game performs not much differently than on the ancient gen1. Anything as complex as TOTAN runs 30fps with hiccups, totally ruining the game.
Unacceptable... especially since on X360 I'm stuck with that awful DLC situation.

In the meantime, Zen Pinball (which I don't like as much bar the fantastic 3DS versions -despite 30fps the 3D adds a TON imo) has gone from performing worse than on 3DS with an average of sub 30fps+busted physics on Gen1 to rock solid 60fps on the Mini.

Seems I can't catch a break with Farsight, I mean PA is truly a killer app to me and yet every time there's something there just to disappoint poor me (iPad Mini framerate suckiness, no 3DS sku, no PC sku, late 2006 MBP, no DLC on 360, having my ps3 hooked up to my pj which is not ideal for pinball...)

Anybody here can report their own experience with PA on the Mini (and maybe to a lesser extent on iPad 2) and how sensible you are in general to framerate below 60fps?
Cheers

 

[bndadm]

I'm new to the Android scene (Amazon Kindle Fire) and have a question.

I received the newsletter about these two new tables available on Android and iOS, however they are not available in-game on my Kindle. Is the Kindle app considered something else, even though it runs on Android software (or OS, or whatever it is)?

 

[plagiarize]

I'm new to the Android scene (Amazon Kindle Fire) and have a question.

I received the newsletter about these two new tables available on Android and iOS, however they are not available in-game on my Kindle. Is the Kindle app considered something else, even though it runs on Android software (or OS, or whatever it is)?

yep. the kindle app generally gets tables a bit later. you'll see it gets specifically mentioned separately.

http://pinballarcadefans.com/showth...arSight-Studios-Concerning-The-Pinball-Arcade

the tables are due late Jan, so not long.

 

[Shaneus]

So, I'm fed up. I wrote this email to both "Valve" and "Gabe Newell" on the email form on Valve's website, as well as sending an email to Gabe directly (replace "Gabe" with "guys"... otherwise, identical email):

Hey Gabe,

I appreciate what the motivation was behind Greenlight in getting smaller developers onto the Steam storefront, but I'm concerned that one particular game I'm waiting for hasn't been able to meet the criteria.

I've been following the voting process for Pinball Arcade via their Facebook page and monthly newsletters but somehow, despite the fact that they could only be amassing *more* votes as time goes on, they are dropping down the rankings that dictate which games appear on there.

For example, after the December batch went through they were sitting at #85, but even after 10 were approved in January, Pinball Arcade managed to somehow drop to #90. Is there somewhere I can read up on exactly how the voting process works so I can work out why this is occurring?

If it was any other game I probably wouldn't be so surprised, but given that the title has sold incredibly well across multiple platforms (iOS, PS3, 360) I find it hard to believe that since it appeared on Greenlight in September last year, it hasn't garnered enough votes to justify it's existence on Steam.

It'd also be a great opportunity to have something greenlit that is ready to be published and gone live. There seems to be a disappointing number of games that have made the Steam Greenlight cut that are yet to be in a publishable state, so to have something appear with very little turnaround time would be a good thing for both Valve and FarSight Studios as an example of the process working as it should.

Also, Cayle George, a massive pinball fan and one of the best in the world works for in company... I'm sure he'd like to see it on there as well!

Thanks for reading this, Gabe... hopefully it does not fall on deaf ears and it'll be sooner rather than later that I'll be flipping and tilting on PC thanks to Valve, the Greenlight process and FarSight.

-Shane

I don't hold much hope of it doing anything, but given Gabe's propensity to reply to emails (at least, that's what I gather from some gaming forums and websites) I'm crossing my fingers that either himself or their generic contact will reply with some kind of an answer.

I remember having an argument with someone (Sheanus maybe? He' a great poster btw, don't take it personally) over how terrible the game performed on iPad gen1 and being told that on iPad 2 (which I barely used with PA at the time) it was perfect.

I don't think it was me... I've only owned an iPad 3. But I do tend to get into arguments with people regarding things I have no clue about, so it's entirely likely

 

[bndadm]

yep. the kindle app generally gets tables a bit later. you'll see it gets specifically mentioned separately.

http://pinballarcadefans.com/showth...arSight-Studios-Concerning-The-Pinball-Arcade

the tables are due late Jan, so not long.

Ah, many thanks!

 

[Parallax Scroll]

I hadn't played this in a while so I played Gorgar on Xbox and got double the top XBL score.

 

[Shaneus]

You bastard. Have you fired it up on iOS since the update? I hadn't realised we were getting new flipper "physics", but after having read that on PAF, it's definitely noticeable. I'm pretty sure trapping is actually possible now (and if you look closely, you can see the flipper somewhat stutter when you release it, but only VERY briefly... I think that's a thing).

iCade support is there as well, but it's not real great for things like the 8-Bitty (which I completely regret buying). I think the bottom row far left and far right buttons are the flippers left and right. All I needed to know to mod my iCade Core!

 

[Parallax Scroll]

Nah, I only played the ios version when it first released. I couldn't deal with the touchscreen controls. I guess with something like icade it might work.

 

[Elvin Atombender]

My (European) PS3 apparently downloaded an update during the night. Does anyone know if there are any bugfixes or is it just to prepare for new tables?

 

[Shaneus]

Nah, I only played the ios version when it first released. I couldn't deal with the touchscreen controls. I guess with something like icade it might work.

I haven't tried with my Core, but I gave it a quick crack with my 8-Bitty (one button was on the shoulder, the other was on the face) and it was incredibly responsible. I'll have to ditch the Blutrol mapping on my iPad, but if it feels as responsive as it felt with the 8B, then I'd say it's well worth picking back up (with those buttons on the iCade as the flippers and the joystick as the tilt control, which you could probably reach with your left thumb if you add flipper buttons to the side).

My (European) PS3 apparently downloaded an update during the night. Does anyone know if there are any bugfixes or is it just to prepare for new tables?

It's meant to go free for PSN+ users any day now, so maybe it's something to do with that?

 

[Shaneus]

Base pack now free for PSN+ users

 

[Ocaso]

My (European) PS3 apparently downloaded an update during the night. Does anyone know if there are any bugfixes or is it just to prepare for new tables?

My US PS3 did the same and by Jove, I think the flipper lag is finally gone! I was never comfortable switching the console to 720p just to get rid of lag and now it appears I don't have to. Can anyone else confirm?

 

[jvm]

My US PS3 did the same and by Jove, I think the flipper lag is finally gone! I was never comfortable switching the console to 720p just to get rid of lag and now it appears I don't have to. Can anyone else confirm?

Yes, please. Someone confirm. My also patched itself overnight and I would love to go back to 1080p (if only for my friends when they visit, since the lag never bothered me personally).

 

[AstroLad]

Nah, I only played the ios version when it first released. I couldn't deal with the touchscreen controls. I guess with something like icade it might work.

The one thing you will desperately miss is nudge. Nudge is a bit too easy on 360 and too difficult and unpredictable on iOS (imo; I'm no expert).

 

[Dash Kappei]

The one thing you will desperately miss is nudge. Nudge is a bit too easy on 360 and too difficult and unpredictable on iOS (imo; I'm no expert).

Agreed. I don't know what they could do to improve it tho. Generally speaking, it's too easy to go on for hours on some tables, and it just becomes an excercise in patience when you go above a not-very high skill tree: maybe they should increase the º angle or include an optional "hard mode" with it own leaderboards, they're definitely different from their real counterparts are more "vertical"/faster as far as what I experienced at the arcades.

 

[Bog]

So the Vita version updated with support for Twilight Zone... yet I don't see Twilight Zone to download still. What a colossal fuckup.

 

[Ben Morales]

So the Vita version updated with support for Twilight Zone... yet I don't see Twilight Zone to download still. What a colossal fuckup.

I haven't even received a download voucher for it yet, so I think the Vita/PS3 release is still a ways off unfortunately. But, that is a good sign that support has been patched in.

 

[Shaneus]

Agreed. I don't know what they could do to improve it tho. Generally speaking, it's too easy to go on for hours on some tables, and it just becomes an excercise in patience when you go above a not-very high skill tree: maybe they should increase the º angle or include an optional "hard mode" with it own leaderboards, they're definitely different from their real counterparts are more "vertical"/faster as far as what I experienced at the arcades.

They need to try and introduce more "random" elements... or at least, ones that can different from play to play. For example, if there was some way of keeping a tally of exactly how many times an item is hit over it's lifetime, simulate some kind of virtual wear that alters the way it plays or how well it reflects the ball over a very long amount of time (but obviously include a way to reset or "service" the table).

I think people have mentioned on PAF as well (that I'd never realised) is that ball spin isn't simulated at all, so it's not possible to get any airtime on the ball itself... some kind of spin component (which may well be too taxing on some devices) would be awesome as well if it's done right.

 

[adroit]

Farsight is having a hard enough time holding things together as they are now. I shudder to think what would happen if they tried to add wear-and-tear and spin physics to all the tables.

Look at the bizarre physics of the Zen tables. At least Pinball Arcade is vastly more realistic than that. Let's count our blessings.

 

[Jucksalbe]

So the Vita version updated with support for Twilight Zone... yet I don't see Twilight Zone to download still. What a colossal fuckup.

Why would you? Twilight Zone is announced to release on February 5th.

 

[Shaneus]

Farsight is having a hard enough time holding things together as they are now. I shudder to think what would happen if they tried to add wear-and-tear and spin physics to all the tables.

Look at the bizarre physics of the Zen tables. At least Pinball Arcade is vastly more realistic than that. Let's count our blessings.

This is true. But I'd still love for things to feel a little more realistic and I think that somehow fandangling spin and table wear would be nice. But only as a long-term goal thing.

Shit, they only just optimised the flippers now and it's made a world of difference, IMO.

 

[Bog]

Why would you? Twilight Zone is announced to release on February 5th.

Silly me seeing Twilight Zone in the patch notes made me think it might be there.

 

[Ocaso]

Shit, they only just optimised the flippers now and it's made a world of difference, IMO.

Ah, good to see someone else confirm this. This is a pretty big deal that makes a huge impact in the game (the lag otherwise made the game feel at best like a 30 fps game, meaning it's twice as responsive now) yet it seems to be largely unnoticed. It's feels a lot better now.

 

[Shaneus]

Having said that... I doubt I would've been able to put my finger on what they'd done if I didn't find out about it via PAF, but when someone mentioned it, I was just "Yes!".

Also pretty impressed with how well AfM and Genie came out. No noticeable bugs so far, which is a first. At least for me... but that's still saying something. Pretty good considering it's a fresh table and not a rehash from WPC/GPC.

 

[Baron]

Y'know, I read on the PAF that Twilight Zone was all ready to go on PS3 back in Nov/Dec, but was delayed because it was feared that it would attract lawsuits from the makers of a certain teen vampire movie over name similarities.

If that is true...

 

[Elvin Atombender]

I've only played the PS3-version once since the latest patch but did anyone else think that the game feels a lot smoother now?

Before it felt like the ball-movement skipped a frame or two now and then (especially during multiball) but now the ball(s) move very smooth.

The physics also felt better and had less of that annoying "bounce" where balls could bounce of a flipper and go back to the top of the table.

 

[MightyHedgehog]

Haven't spent much time with the PS3 version post-update, but 720p still feels snappier on input to me. No Good Gofers is better-looking now, but still feels like it's missing lighting. Playing Elvira and the Party Monsters to notice changes (I didn't notice any), I remembered that I never understood the thinking behind the plunger camera angles on all of the PA tables since nearly all of them suck for showing both the plunger and the target feature or enough of the relevant table area with skill shot targets to judge plunger strength or timing. Also, the slow speed at which the camera transitions from plunger to normal play settings hurts a little, especially on faster tables like Elvira.

 

[AcridMeat]

Is TNG coming out on PS3 soon? I feel so jipped these days.

Spoiler

picked PS3 and PC as my free versions from the kickstarter

 

[joeblow]

Hi all. Longtime lurker before recently attaining junior status to post.

I noticed that PS+ auto patched my copy late last night. Not knowing what the patch was about I played some games and noticed the improved physics, less-bouncy flippers, improved flipper aiming, toned down nudging (it's harder to speed up the ball with nudging in Taxi's launch spinner), and the awesome new bumper sound effects.

It may still have one frame of lag (according to the developers, due to the lighting engine), but man this game now feels INCREDIBLE. I almost doubled my score on Medieval Madness, reaching Battle for the Kingdom for the first time and coming within a few stupid barrier trolls from beating it (I need to save my bombs next time). This is a better result than I ever achieved on the Williams Collection or Vita version, so the PS3 controls are really, really tight and precise now.

On Taxi, I did what must have been a twelve-ramp combo, going from left to right to left to right almost as easy as typing this sentence. I was also able to finally get the Wizard goals for scoring a Crossover Bonus and scoring the Express Lane value, and did so both in the same game.

Despite complaints we often hear about TPA and the developer, I think they are doing a fantastic job at improving this title. Most games purchased are eventually put aside, but this one remains one of my most played since it released and will continue to be in the foreseeable future. I'm looking forward to Firepower in particular, which is the only table on the PS3's Williams Collection where I made top 5 on the leader boards (almost a year after its release).