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What pinball game would YOU want?

makerkaren
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element14's The Ben Heck Show

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Mini Pinball Kit
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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!

  • Here's a totally out of the box idea.
    2 Player Pinball Game
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUE3zWnZbTo

    Two pinball fields head to head with no backer board.

    So, it's a bit like the plywood love child of pinball and air hockey.

     

    She's got the concept but lacking any electronics for the project.

    Might be interesting to reach out to her and see about a collaborative build.

  • in reply to rouverius

    Air hockey is fun, and the tech involved is very cool. I was a huge fan of the UV reactive tables.

  • The Bill Paxton's Pinball Machine was an awesome. A Bruce Campbell's Evil Pinball would be epic.

      

    An undead zombie apocalypse theme is one suggestion I have for future designs.

     

      Another would be for a Retro Video Game Theme with graphics similar to what was used in game systems such as NES and Sega Genesis incorporated into the score keeping, lighting, and overall theme of the design. The recent popularity of the "8-bit" pixelated style of animation would be an interesting aspect to bring to Pinball. Many early video games were designed with simple mechanics and simple themes but to this day are still very popular. The theme, characters, and aspects such music, graphics, and playability are often critical factors of a games overall success and popularity. I would really like to see current technologies such as RGB LED, OLED, eInk, LCD, UV LED, EL Wire and Panels and similar used in a design such as this.

     

      I have a similar idea for a RetroPie console and LCD display in a picture frame as a low power functional art installation.

     

    Thank you Karen, Ben, Felix, and Max for doing projects like this and all the work required to make the show. This show is how I learned about the Element 14 community. The projects that the team have made possible are inspiring and I look forward to future episodes.

     

    Trent

     

    PS tell Ben the beard is awesome and he should let it grow out if he wants to. Very suiting for an infamous pirate of electronics. Like Red Beard the Solderer. Yarr!!! There is hacking to be done in these circuits! No retro game console is safe from his plunder. Sorry, regrettable acting is cool.

  • Okay, so I was rewatching the Community Feedback video (this time with a bit more attention and less of an adrenaline rush), and Ben mentions the 2016 Aliens pinball and the P3 pinball to answer my question (not exactly a suggestion, it was kinda unrelated, sorry) on using LCDs in the playfield... That in turn took me to, y'know, go look for those, and upon seeing the P3... They have some neat ideas, but one that Ben might be able to use to make his customizable machine is to attach some obstacles, targets, bumpers and stuff not to the playfield board, but to a structure above it, using different transparent polycarbonate "modules". Then you wouldn't need to make too many holes on the board, thus making it more customizable!

     

    Now, specifically of using LCDs (and I don't think Ben will want to use them, because of costs... dunno, maybe!), Aliens doesn't use them well enough (it's just an effin' screen with video running on it, same as in the backbox) and the P3 is too much of a "video game", the actual pinball parts are around the screen, surrounding it. My idea is (now) to put obstacles on top of the screen, again, attached to a structure above it.

  • As to which features it should have... The ones I find indispensable are pop bumpers, slingshots, drop targets, spinners and ramps.

    Habitrails would be cool, but I guess hard to put on a customizable machine. You could have 2 different kinds available for people to add to their machines, though.

     

    EDIT: And of course, blinking lights everywhere.

  • I can't wait to see how the kit turns out!  For features, slings and pops are essential I find games feel anemic without them. Ramps are optional for me, but not everyone likes street level games.  Drop targets would be great!  The biggest must have in my mind is RGB LEDs!  The code can get so much more complete if we create color coded modes!

  • I was born in the 90's, so past the whole "pinball era". We played game consoles when I grew up, arcades with pinball machines didn't even cross our minds! I have played very very few real pinball machines in my time. With that said I am super excited to see and get my hands on this kit. For people like me and in my age range I would suggest to put an emphasis on the story mode. Make it really known to the player that they are progressing in some way by doing certain things on the table, like record sound bytes by you guys saying "HIT THIS OVER HERE!" or "PUT THE BALL OVER THERE!".Or with the use of light up arrows. For people who never had real pinball in their lifetime it would help them acknowledge that there is an actual game to it and a "story" and how to progress. As for the theme Im thinking a "spy" or "secret agent" theme, like a mix of James Bond seriousness with the comedic effects of Archer mixed in. Who doesn't want to be a spy!

  • in reply to f5kn

    Yeap! I love something like that! Ghost and vampires and werewolf