element14 Community
element14 Community
    Register Log In
  • Site
  • Search
  • Log In Register
  • About Us
  • Community Hub
    Community Hub
    • What's New on element14
    • Feedback and Support
    • Benefits of Membership
    • Personal Blogs
    • Members Area
    • Achievement Levels
  • Learn
    Learn
    • Ask an Expert
    • eBooks
    • element14 presents
    • Learning Center
    • Tech Spotlight
    • STEM Academy
    • Webinars, Training and Events
    • Learning Groups
  • Technologies
    Technologies
    • 3D Printing
    • FPGA
    • Industrial Automation
    • Internet of Things
    • Power & Energy
    • Sensors
    • Technology Groups
  • Challenges & Projects
    Challenges & Projects
    • Design Challenges
    • element14 presents Projects
    • Project14
    • Arduino Projects
    • Raspberry Pi Projects
    • Project Groups
  • Products
    Products
    • Arduino
    • Avnet Boards Community
    • Dev Tools
    • Manufacturers
    • Multicomp Pro
    • Product Groups
    • Raspberry Pi
    • RoadTests & Reviews
  • Store
    Store
    • Visit Your Store
    • Choose another store...
      • Europe
      •  Austria (German)
      •  Belgium (Dutch, French)
      •  Bulgaria (Bulgarian)
      •  Czech Republic (Czech)
      •  Denmark (Danish)
      •  Estonia (Estonian)
      •  Finland (Finnish)
      •  France (French)
      •  Germany (German)
      •  Hungary (Hungarian)
      •  Ireland
      •  Israel
      •  Italy (Italian)
      •  Latvia (Latvian)
      •  
      •  Lithuania (Lithuanian)
      •  Netherlands (Dutch)
      •  Norway (Norwegian)
      •  Poland (Polish)
      •  Portugal (Portuguese)
      •  Romania (Romanian)
      •  Russia (Russian)
      •  Slovakia (Slovak)
      •  Slovenia (Slovenian)
      •  Spain (Spanish)
      •  Sweden (Swedish)
      •  Switzerland(German, French)
      •  Turkey (Turkish)
      •  United Kingdom
      • Asia Pacific
      •  Australia
      •  China
      •  Hong Kong
      •  India
      •  Korea (Korean)
      •  Malaysia
      •  New Zealand
      •  Philippines
      •  Singapore
      •  Taiwan
      •  Thailand (Thai)
      • Americas
      •  Brazil (Portuguese)
      •  Canada
      •  Mexico (Spanish)
      •  United States
      Can't find the country/region you're looking for? Visit our export site or find a local distributor.
  • Translate
  • Profile
  • Settings
Mini Pinball Kit
  • Challenges & Projects
  • element14 presents
  • element14's The Ben Heck Show
  • Mini Pinball Kit
  • More
  • Cancel
Mini Pinball Kit
Forum What pinball game would YOU want?
  • Blog
  • Forum
  • Documents
  • Events
  • Polls
  • Files
  • Members
  • Mentions
  • Sub-Groups
  • Tags
  • More
  • Cancel
  • New
Join Mini Pinball Kit to participate - click to join for free!
Actions
  • Share
  • More
  • Cancel
Forum Thread Details
  • Replies 28 replies
  • Subscribers 20 subscribers
  • Views 5498 views
  • Users 0 members are here
  • tbhs
  • mini pinball
  • theheckwithkaren_mini_pinball
  • questions_communityfeedback
  • the ben heck show
  • theheckwithkaren
  • game
  • ben heck
  • pinball
  • pinball themes
Related

What pinball game would YOU want?

makerkaren
makerkaren over 8 years ago
image

element14's The Ben Heck Show

Join the Ben Heck team every week for amazing hacks! Watch them build and mod community-inspired projects using electronics!

Back to The Ben Heck Show homepage image

Mini Pinball Kit
Featured Bonus Content
See All Episodes

 

I've been to a reasonable amount of arcades throughout my life. I spent quite a few days slinging quarters into machines at Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum. Despite this, I never paid much attention to pinball games. I wasn't very good at them. A lot were more expensive to play than other video games. I never became interested or invested. Working alongside Pinhead Ben here, it's difficult to not be cured of that. With his passion for pinball, I've learned a lot about the games through osmosis. One thing I didn't realize, was how well thought out the themes, storylines, and gameplay were. I always thought you just hit a ball around, get points for hitting things, and that was it. With some nice artwork to make it enticing. Boy, was I underestimating the creativity that goes into these things.

 

Most pinball games have a theme; over the last 30 years or so, they are more commonly licensed themes such as a TV show, movie, or band. Within that theme, there is a sort of storyline or modes that you have to play through to get the chance to beat the game. Hitting different targets and getting to different lanes of the playfield gets you more points and unlocks missions that you can complete to work your way through to the next mode. Progressing to the next mode will frequently enable a new, interesting mechanism such as opening up a door or a monster appearing. Since beginning working with Ben, I've paid more attention to the games, figuring out exactly what I need to hit and when to make things happen and progress through the game. It really can be a game of skill, not just chance.

 

For our mini pinball kit, we don't have any themes in mind. Licensing is expensive, so we likely won't be able to support any themes that are properties of Warner Bros, Marvel, Disney, or even smaller outfits with more niche characters and titles, but that doesn't mean we can't get creative with our themes.

What theme would you want in YOUR pinball game? Can you come up with a storyline with corresponding mechs to keep it interesting? Do you have any questions about pinball game development?

 

Tell us in the comments below!

  • Sign in to reply
  • Cancel

Top Replies

  • dougw
    dougw over 8 years ago +4
    Way back in the day, I was pretty much addicted to pinball. One machine that stands out in my memory is Gorgar - the first machine that had speech - as far as I remember. I still like pinball better than…
  • f5kn
    f5kn over 8 years ago +4
    Something related to the 1950s-1960s horror movies, with giant atomic monsters that needed to be destroyed, at first a small number would "walk" around a city appearing at random locations that you could…
  • beacon_dave
    beacon_dave over 8 years ago +4
    Spotted this 'Pirates of the Caribbean' pinball machine build in this quarter's ft:pedia magazine, which may be of some interest to followers of this project http://www.ftcommunity.de/ftpedia_ausgaben…
Parents
  • vacfink
    vacfink over 8 years ago

    If you provide a template (Adobe IA/PS) I would love to design one, maybe other community members can make others and share as a DIY upload your own.

     

    Almost anything can work, but layout will dictate IMO.

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
  • makerkaren
    makerkaren over 8 years ago in reply to vacfink

    I like that idea. We're nowhere near the point where we could begin designing skins, but it's a great idea to post a template on the Community and have people design and submit their own. Thanks!

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
  • grahambest
    grahambest over 8 years ago in reply to makerkaren

    If you really want to give people a chance to design a table, you might as use one of the existing programs that allow you to play them to see how they feel. Two examples are Future Pinball or Visual Pinball

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
Reply
  • grahambest
    grahambest over 8 years ago in reply to makerkaren

    If you really want to give people a chance to design a table, you might as use one of the existing programs that allow you to play them to see how they feel. Two examples are Future Pinball or Visual Pinball

    • Cancel
    • Vote Up +1 Vote Down
    • Sign in to reply
    • Cancel
Children
No Data
element14 Community

element14 is the first online community specifically for engineers. Connect with your peers and get expert answers to your questions.

  • Members
  • Learn
  • Technologies
  • Challenges & Projects
  • Products
  • Store
  • About Us
  • Feedback & Support
  • FAQs
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Legal and Copyright Notices
  • Sitemap
  • Cookies

An Avnet Company © 2025 Premier Farnell Limited. All Rights Reserved.

Premier Farnell Ltd, registered in England and Wales (no 00876412), registered office: Farnell House, Forge Lane, Leeds LS12 2NE.

ICP 备案号 10220084.

Follow element14

  • X
  • Facebook
  • linkedin
  • YouTube