Cincinnati, OH
Quoted from TaylorVA:I tilted this post. If I want to see emoticons smooching I'll log onto the tweens angst forum.
Just for you Taylor 
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Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
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Quoted from TaylorVA:If I want to see emoticons smooching I'll log onto the tweens angst forum.
How's this?
drinking dinker.gifOh and on a side note I do believe I am going to now declare Whitewater my favorite game of all time passing/equaling AC/DC. I lent my Whitewater to a friend for awhile and just got it back and I missed it so much! Long live Dennis!
Quoted from AloneMordakai:Well... not exactly the early December update I was hoping for.
Brisbane
Quoted from iceman44:This thread needs a little titty karma. Ted? Where r your girlfriends
boob beach.jpgIn my view it would be pretty hard to balls-up an Alien/s themed pinball machine given the amount of awesome "on tap" source material, not impossible but it would take a special kind of effort to get this one badly wrong. If Dennis has given the project a good steer then I wouldn't panic too much about its potential, it really comes down to HP's commitment and investment to the finished product.
Just hope they don't cut any corners to meet an over optimistic deadline.
Edmonton, AB
Quoted from Sly_Old_Devil:In my view it would be pretty hard to balls-up an Alien/s themed pinball machine given the amount of awesome "on tap" source material, not impossible but it would take a special kind of effort to get this one badly wrong. If Dennis has given the project a good steer then I wouldn't panic too much about its potential, it really comes down to HP's commitment and investment to the finished product.
Just hope they don't cut any corners to meet an over optimistic deadline.
Trying to make it "family friendly" would absolutely ruin it, as an example. If they stick to source material and use source sound/music/etc. (or at least something that is close, in terms of music), then you are right, it would be pretty tough to make a mess of it. For me, using unlicensed sound clips instead of actual sound clips from the movie(s) could kill it. Sound is a big part of a game to me, I don't want to listen to crappy voice actors try to do their best impression of the actors in the film(s).
Quoted from Sly_Old_Devil:Just hope they don't cut any corners to meet an over optimistic deadline.
Absolutely. I would hope that the deadline was reasonable to begin with, but I understand that set-backs occur, or sometimes the plan is too aggressive for the time allowed. But for me, I'd rather wait a bit than get a lackluster product.
I'm pretty new to the community, but looking around at the different companies and watching other threads, Heighway is and has been giving me good vibes and I've been pleased with everything I've seen from them so far.
As we are still awaiting some approvals and we want to give you an update now, we would like to share with you a basic 3-D image of the playfield design.
This is a very basic render, without any artwork, and missing some features and toys - but it gives you a better look at how the playfield should look from the player's perspective.
The toys shown are just model mock-ups at this stage.
Please note that all aspects of this playfield are subject to change.
AlienPinball_Whitewood.JPGalien queen better end up being a lot bigger than the soldier, or there will be disappointment.
You should really just ditch one of the aliens, and replace with the power loader.
Also, maybe you should show that video that was mentioned on the other thread to calm the nerves of potential alien customers 
what is the 4th toy?
i count facehugger, space jockey, the rotating queen, and what is the 4th?
need the egg, need the power loader. hopefully there is a flamethrower somewhere on the playfield.
hopefully that fancy video screen shows motion tracking a la the movie.
a lot can be done with this theme, but I dont feel good about this
Probably counting the chest burster in the top left as the 4th toy.
Once I see the art I'll know how I feel about it. I was never really excited about the shot map, so the art and sound would have to be something special to get me excited enough.
Quoted from aeonblack:Probably counting the chest burster in the top left as the 4th toy.
Once I see the art I'll know how I feel about it. I was never really excited about the shot map, so the art and sound would have to be something special to get me excited enough.
ah yeah forgot about that one. so no egg and no power loader toys, makes me sad. facehugger, chest burster, alien, these are great toy themes. space jockey? not really. replace that dude with an egg. then replace either the queen or soldier with a power loader, then you have all the bases covered.
A very innovative layout with a lot of shots. I really like the location of the upper right flipper and the two shots directly to the right of it, especially that short ramp. The arrangement of the left flipper is cool too with the lane behind it. The left outlane looks really interesting.
Dennis did a good job, great designer. Obviously too early to tell but it certainly looks like it will be fun to shoot.
This is the downside to showing in progress stuff. I'm sure it's frustrating to not be able to reveal more, and the news of Nordman leaving is probably not helping, but I personally make it a rule to not do public reveals of unfinished things. People can't help but fill in the blanks with their own imaginations, and it's incredibly difficult to live up to the expectations that people create inside their heads.
AWESOME!!! Thanks for sharing the raw picture Andrew. These little tidbits are exactly what we like to see as things are developing and moving forward. So much potential! That looks like some next level ramp goodness. Can't wait until we get to learn more about what your doing there.
Quoted from Amarillopinball:so no egg and no power loader toys, makes me sad.
Did you read Andrew's post at all? Are you just making your own stuff up for a controversy?
Quoted from HeighwayPinball:As we are still awaiting some approvals and we want to give you an update now, we would like to share with you a basic 3-D image of the playfield design.
Awesome, thanks for the update! Really looking forward to this pin and can't wait to see more updates when you're able to show us.
Quoted from Aurich:This is the downside to showing in progress stuff. I'm sure it's frustrating to not be able to reveal more, and the news of Nordman leaving is probably not helping, but I personally make it a rule to not do public reveals of unfinished things. People can't help but fill in the blanks with their own imaginations, and it's incredibly difficult to live up to the expectations that people create inside their heads.
Meh. The only intent here is to show the general layout of the game. If people are going to start using their imagination in terms of adding shit to it, that's their own problem imo. I'm happy to see a rough drawing of the PF layout (which looks good to me).
Quoted from Hazoff:Great layout.
It's that simple.
Quoted from HeighwayPinball:As we are still awaiting some approvals and we want to give you an update now, we would like to share with you a basic 3-D image of the playfield design.
This is a very basic render, without any artwork, and missing some features and toys - but it gives you a better look at how the playfield should look from the player's perspective.
The toys shown are just model mock-ups at this stage.
Please note that all aspects of this playfield are subject to change.AlienPinball_Whitewood.JPG 117 KB
Thank you Andrew....outstanding communication, and looks like game is going to be awesome!!! ( it IS Alien, after all).... 
I'm curious how much a normal pinball is refined and refined again during development?
That seems to be the crux of the problem with Dennis' involvement. I'm guessing Andrew thinks they can turn games faster by having a virtual pinball first and then creating a real world one and knocking it out. That is certainly possible but the entire model hasn't been proven yet, and Full Throttle sure saw its share of tweaks from real world testing.
I think that shot map looks amazing. Best one I've seen in a long, long time. It's rather unique and looks like there will be a lot to do....not an easy thing to pull off in this era of cookie cutter playfields.
Quoted from frolic:I'm curious how much a normal pinball is refined and refined again during development?
That seems to be the crux of the problem with Dennis' involvement. I'm guessing Andrew thinks they can turn games faster by having a virtual pinball first and then creating a real world one and knocking it out. That is certainly possible but the entire model hasn't been proven yet, and Full Throttle sure saw its share of tweaks from real world testing.
That is a very accurate statement.
By having a virtual game first, we can test shots initially to see if they work in principle. Although this only gives guidelines, it has proven fairly accurate when it comes to building the real thing.
The biggest advantage, though, is to develop rules very quickly - as well as lighting effects, sound effects, voice call outs, video animations and dashboard workings.
With the rules testing, it allows us to have a very good idea about hardware aspects such as switch placements
Essentially, the virtual game allows us to speed up the development process very quickly. This is why we believe that an April production start date is achievable.
The biggest potential delay is the approval process with our licensor. However, at this point we are happy with progress.
We intend to show you pictures of the bare whitewood by next week and will keep the updates coming to you as quickly as possible
Thanks for the response, Andrew. I don't doubt you might have a whole new quicker way of doing things that are at odds with 1990s WMS development style.
I can only suggest you keep doing what you are doing and update us as much as possible. The information blackouts are when the shit storms get started here on Pinside.
My other suggestion, which I'm sure you've already come to your own on, is title #3 not get announced till production is ready .
Quoted from HeighwayPinball:Essentially, the virtual game allows us to speed up the development process very quickly.
I wish Stern would adopt this model...they start the code way late in the process and it causes trouble every time. I like that you're doing things this way, Andrew! It's a smart production pipeline.
I can say with confidence, in my given Profession ( Pro A/V, control systems), the virtual world allows us to do things that simply weren't possible in the past.
Acoustic simulation programs help us to be very, very close ( always some end " tweaking") in predicting sound characteristics (reverberation, reflections, etc.) of a space that isn't even built yet.
While physics remains unchanged, the virtual tools currently available to analyze, predict, and address them greatly reduces time and cost.
"Great" sound is a combination of art and science ( IMHO), not so much unlike a "great" pin.....
My hats off to you, Andrew, and Team, for taking this approach.....mark 
Nice and thanks Andrew for the update. I love that you guys are using this approach with virtual pinball. I have heard the farsight guys that make the Pinball Arcade indicate that Stern expressed interest in their software, but using it for development is smart. Sad that this novel approach caused a rift but I hope that the end result will prove the effectiveness that Nordman will agree.
Even if the toys aren't spectacular but that layout comes to life and flows well, damn its interesting not to mention the playfield LCD and of course its Aliens, the original was on the other day, so great I actually like it better than the second, except no Bill Paxton. As long as Andrew doesn't try to make it family friendly and kill the horror. Those films are intense and the pin should represent that, like TWD which didn't really integrate theme well, I like it but I don't really watch the show, point being with the exception of the shit hillbilly one liners, and Stern's terrible attempts at humour its graphic and a little evil. Lime green armor needs to go.
+1 on not making it family friendly. I guess that could be done easily enough by choices in the menus. Keep the brutal horror from the movies in the pin. The buyers are the ones that want it that way. And players are going to want to find it that way on location.
Just imagining if they do decide to use dual LCD screens (a duplicate backbox LCD mirroring the playfield LCD) what the casual passerby on location will think when it ramps up the audio and goes nuts playing the chestburster clip with all the spraying blood and screaming.
Quoted from HeighwayPinball:The whitewood will be built within the next 2-3 weeks, and then testing will begin.
Not trying to stir the pot here and i don't know if anyone else has already caught this, but this quote was from the first post on this thread from HP 1mo,3weeks ago...With the whitewood being pushed out several more weeks from here, that makes it 2 or more months late at least. This is inline with D.N. claims about missing deadlines.
BTW. Im in, No plans on cancelling yet, and would rather wait a year for this thing to be made right instead of a rushed product and false deadlines which do nothing but fuel the fire.
Quoted from RandomGuyOffCL:Not trying to stir the pot here and i don't know if anyone else has already caught this, but this quote was from the first post on this thread from HP 1mo,3weeks ago...With the whitewood being pushed out several more weeks from here, that makes it 2 or more months late at least. This is inline with D.N. claims about missing deadlines.
BTW. Im in, No plans on cancelling yet, and would rather wait a year for this thing to be made right instead of a rushed product and false deadlines which do nothing but fuel the fire.
Agreed. As long as people are given bits of information on a consistent basis as the expected release date gets closer and closer it is easy to cut them some slack and let them address what needs doing. As long as people can see progress happening and are allowed to follow along it can be a very easy and smooth ride right up until delivery. It's when the communication stops that "issues" arise.
Andrew, with Full Throttle, the 2 main toys originally were the supercharger and the pop-up pop bumpers. Both were removed for reliability issues.
The new spinning motorcycle spinners have been tweaked and evolved as well since they were first shown, better motor, better tactile surface.
Will the new accelerated development cycle allow for time to review, tweak and revise toys? Seems like they would be the most prone to real-world issues that wouldn't be apparent virtually, more so than the playfield itself.
Maybe you could explain how you can deal with those types of issues, and how it will go better/faster than the Full Throttle development.
The more I look at that shot layout, the more interesting it appears. That upper left flipper to the ball lock looks like a tight shot, that would have to be dropped first from the ramp or out from the right loop. Then it VUKs up to the upper right flipper. I'll bet it will be a key shot. Dennis did a good job on this. I wish he could have stayed on board.
Hi everyone,
We just wanted to give you an update on where we are at the moment.
Artwork - playfield concept art is still awaiting approval. Artwork package "A" is also awaiting approval, including translite and sideart. Individual elements have been submitted, as well as videos showing gameplay, rules, some working toys and shotmaps. We have had very positive feedback from our licensor, but no approvals on these specifics yet. Please trust us that we would LOVE to show you material now - but we simply cannot do this until we have official approvals
Whitewood - whitewood playfield is being cut this week. We have some delays on ball guides and the ramps due to us needing to change out prototyping processes. Once we have firmed these, then it will make prototyping games far easier and quicker in the future. We still hope to show you the whitewood before Christmas, and maybe before the end of this week. The ball guides and ramp will, realistically now, not be ready until the first 10 days of January. From here, once we are into whitewood testing, then we can make changes needed and look to have a second playfield flipping before the end of January- depending of course, on how many modifications will need to be made to the existing design.
Assets - we have a HUGE wishlist of assets, including many video segments from both movies. These have now been compiled and will be submitted for approval this week. We would assume that we will get approval for what we are allowed to use, before the end of January. These assets can then be dropped into our software for this game. Work on assets that we will create, such as the screen dashboard, will begin in January - and continue until the the game is complete.
Gameplay - we will continue to develop the game's rules in our virtual game sim. It's already playing very well, but there is still much work to be done to make this game as good as can be. Our sim currently concentrates on 'Aliens' and much of the work over the next few months will be developing the 'Alien' ruleset.
So, we apologise for not being able to show you any more images right now, other than some more close up renders. Again, please note that the material depicted in these renders is subject to change.
We would also dearly love to show gameplay videos, but they feature artwork and concepts that are not approved yet.
As soon as we get approvals, then we will show you a lot more. As soon as the whitewood is flipping in early January, then we will show you videos too.
Thanks for reading.
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Paris
Quoted from HeighwayPinball:Hi everyone,
We just wanted to give you an update on where we are at the moment.
Artwork - playfield concept art is still awaiting approval. Artwork package "A" is also awaiting approval, including translite and sideart. Individual elements have been submitted, as well as videos showing gameplay, rules, some working toys and shotmaps. We have had very positive feedback from our licensor, but no approvals on these specifics yet. Please trust us that we would LOVE to show you material now - but we simply cannot do this until we have official approvals
Whitewood - whitewood playfield is being cut this week. We have some delays on ball guides and the ramps due to us needing to change out prototyping processes. Once we have firmed these, then it will make prototyping games far easier and quicker in the future. We still hope to show you the whitewood before Christmas, and maybe before the end of this week. The ball guides and ramp will, realistically now, not be ready until the first 10 days of January. From here, once we are into whitewood testing, then we can make changes needed and look to have a second playfield flipping before the end of January- depending of course, on how many modifications will need to be made to the existing design.
Assets - we have a HUGE wishlist of assets, including many video segments from both movies. These have now been compiled and will be submitted for approval this week. We would assume that we will get approval for what we are allowed to use, before the end of January. These assets can then be dropped into our software for this game. Work on assets that we will create, such as the screen dashboard, will begin in January - and continue until the the game is complete.
Gameplay - we will continue to develop the game's rules in our virtual game sim. It's already playing very well, but there is still much work to be done to make this game as good as can be. Our sim currently concentrates on 'Aliens' and much of the work over the next few months will be developing the 'Alien' ruleset.
So, we apologise for not being able to show you any more images right now, other than some more close up renders. Again, please note that the material depicted in these renders is subject to change.
We would also dearly love to show gameplay videos, but they feature artwork and concepts that are not approved yet.
As soon as we get approvals, then we will show you a lot more. As soon as the whitewood is flipping in early January, then we will show you videos too.
Thanks for reading.Alien Pinball 1.png 650 KB
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Alien Pinball 9.png 591 KB
Hi Andrew,
Thank you VERY much for updates and progress to date looks great, so far. You had mentioned the possibility of a second display on the Backbox....is this still on the table? I believe that would be beyond cool, as it gives some interaction to the backbox...
Can't wait to see some of the artwork, and the fiber lighting for the ramps......really excited.....thanks again.......mark
Quoted from Gov:Cool renders! That side ramp shot looks tight!
Looks like there is a little scoop in the metal rail to help the ball get around.
Quoted from MK6PIN:I believe that would be beyond cool, as it gives some interaction to the backbox...
Agree, I think an LCD in the backbox with an overhead cam kit would be great as an add-on option so the playfield action could be displayed on the backbox for spectators.
Thanks! Looks good. Simple communication is all we ask. Even if it means being given news that things have been delayed or are off schedule. Much better than having smoke blown up our ass. We can handle the truth.
Quoted from sammiesguys:Thanks! Looks good. Simple communication is all we ask. Even if it means being given news that things have been delayed or are off schedule. Much better than having smoke blown up our ass. We can handle the truth.
Agreed.....truly appreciate your straightforward , " business" type approach to prompt response and updates....goes a long way with me ( and a lot of others on this site). You guys being "Alien" fans yourself, doesn't hurt either..... ......mark
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