Inserts need larger, more cheesy bevels

I agree with having the scores and other info frequently present. I normally play two player games against myself and hate when I can't figure out if I'm winning or losing when playing a ball.

Only flyers at EAG. They haven't had enough time to make up a playfield.

Here it is though.

Spoke to Andrew H. for about 25 minutes.

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Before I zoomed in it looked sparse. After I did, shapes started appearing out of the dark. Very cool. I think Im a fan.

Hummana hummana hummana

Someone please explain the "Fly the Friendly Skies" graffiti.

Can't believe someone beat Aurich to it!

image_(resized).jpeg

Not what I was expecting....

I like it a lot. Obviously the danger of showing it unpopulated is we will over analyze it, outside of the context of a completed pinball. Throw in the playfield LCD action, and color changing lights, ramps, plastics, this will be very complimentary.

It feels like it's own piece, not just recycled license assets. Thumbs up.

Took a DSLR with me hoping they'd have a playfield. Still, thought people would like to see.

I expect Heighway will put out a proper press release when they have time to put one together / and or paint and clear a PF.

Got to get a train home soon. Will write up a post later about the various things I talked to Andrew about.

I went in with no expectations, but I think I really like it. I think it brings very much potential to the table

Judging by the inserts, there are 5 Alien movie modes, 5 Aliens movie modes, and 5 multiballs.

Okay, I'm up. I'll continue some detail reveals and then post the whole thing since people seem to be enjoying it.

One thing I love about Aliens is how the marines decorate their armor and ship. It makes the universe feel lived in. Ferro's "Fly the friendly skies" helmet writing and the Bug Stomper decal, Hudson't skull and knife drawing on his breastplate, I wanted to bring that all in.

I was able to find a pretty clean shot of a spare Bug Stomper decal from the set of Aliens, and redrew it as a vector file. It would make a pretty cool keychain plastic, no?

The stars and stripes on the Drop Ship insert are taken from the Marine Corp logo in the films, just tweaked a little bit.

I wanted to tie is all together with a little hot rod flame, because the history of hot rods is really tied to the military, and it was an opportunity to bring in some color to the playfield. Especially here in California, soldiers returning from WWII had the technical training from the army that they applied to souping up cars. So I drew a stylized flame for the drop ship (taken from a still from the film) to bring all the decorative elements together.

dropship_(resized).jpg

I don't want to be negative, so lets just say that based on the flyer, I'll reserve judgement until I see it populated.

Heh, welp, I guess the tease method is out of the bag now! Gimme a minute, I'll put up a full image so you don't have to rely on that flyer.

Personally, I'm glad I preordered. Will be interesting to see how the LE compares to this (which I'm happy with). I'm looking forward to staring straight into the gaping maw of the Alien as I flip!

If you only glanse quickly at the flyer, it looks a bit like early 80' space theme pinball playfields. But things look a lot better when you start to zoom in
and look at the different parts.

I like it a lot.

I am sure that a high res image from Aurich will only enhance it further.

Thanks

So far I'm liking it. It was not what I was expecting but it's dark and the elements blend well together.

I hope the screen ends up mixing well with playfield, similar to Captain Nemo's screen. I realize the image they chose could change but the green of the screen on the flyer looks a little out of place with the purple and red of the playfield. That's just a small suggestion. Looks like it has a ton of modes. I wonder if the range finder graphic will play into one of the modes.

I dunno where that image came from, something they put together for that flyer, it has nothing to do with anything that actually shows up on the screen, so just ignore it.

Ignored!

Would be helpful i'm sure. Matte relatively low dpi flyer with reflections, and fold marks recorded on my tablet cam isn't ideal

One thing, have you considered making the stars more star like? Lens flare, colour gradation and chromatic abberation ... probably be able to see little of it once lit, but I'm anal.

Here's the full playfield. I was going to talk about some more details first, but since the flyer is out that seems silly. I can still do that more later if people want.

full-playfield_(resized).jpg

<begin offtrack>
and now for something completely related, but not. is it just me, or does the alien queen look like its wear stilettos?
alien_queen_(resized).jpg

<end offtrack>

looks good so far lovin' the radar proximity meter playfield artwork tie-in with the inserts

Hmm, Pinside compression is not doing that big image any favors!

dropbox and link to a higher rez one please!

edit:
nevermind, the image looks great if you click and zoom it

What was behind the decision of the scanlines on the purple mist of the planet? I notice they are at the bottom of the playfield too but I figured that's maybe because we're supposed to be looking through the range finder or something.

If you want to see the image without Pinside compression click this link:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/227626/Shared/full-playfield.jpg

I was actually digging the detail reveals and you explaining your thought process regarding each section of the playfield art. I'm sure a lot of folks would still appreciate you stepping us through the artwork even though the flyer got leaked. We've waited a long time for this--don't let 'em steal your thunder Aurich!

Please do! I'd much rather see that then a hastily posted flyer.

kind of a dick move to post the flyer...I mean if it was weeks ago and kind of a sneak attack like the gb leak, it would have been kind of cool....But right in the moments before the artist having his little moment to put it up in a fun way he had planned out for everyone is pretty shitty!

Oooohhh, ahhhh

Definitely like it. Now I can stop refreshing this page at work...

Also, in case anyone missed the big news:

Can see much more detail there. Looks great.

Looks cool!

I agree man. Felt a bit like a Kanye West mic grab.

The better quality one is much better.

I think there's a lesson here, that we live in a world of immediate cell phone pics and videos. Look at how a lot of recent Stern releases were shown for the first time.

I'd suggest a better online plan for reveals... whether it is art, or even a complete game announcement. So much effort is put into having the unveiling at these shows, for "dozens" of people, when the real audience is right here, and should be made the priority.

Love the details!

OK, after seeing the high res images, this already looks and feels a ton better than the flyer picture.

Looks like Heighway got 5 minutes of their own "Stern-like crappy cell phone reveal" to garner some initial skepticism. Glad to see they headed that one off quickly.

"Imma let you finish, Aurich. "

Sorry, sorry. Had to say it...

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Priority one
Insure return of organism for analysis.
All other considerations secondary.
Crew expendable

Andrews company , Andrews call

My initial thoughts:

I love the balance the playfield strikes between dark and brooding (Alien) and some of the more lighthearted stuff from Aliens. The scanline effect on the xeno(s) above the flippers is top notch, love it. The xeno below the upper left flipper has a really cool 32-bit look to it that I like. I like that the hypersleep section has a bright, easy to see icon, but also a faded out picture of the hypersleep chamber behind it. Some nice depth to that. It would have been kind of cool to see something similar to that over by the APC. I absolutely love the insert designs, the font choices are spot on and with RGB lighting, this thing is going to be crazy awesome. The cartoony xeno up at the top, superimposed over the helmet (that IS a helmet, right?) looks great, and the blending effect there just really pops. The red of the helmet visor DOES remind me more of 2001 than Alien, though (not that that's a bad thing, and really, a helmet is a helmet).

I have one issue, and it's the Nostromo. I get the "trail" behind it, but it sort of pops out weird from the playfield with the aura around the ship. Was it just not standing out enough without it? I can see how that would be an issue. Maybe if the colour was a bit more subdued, it wouldn't jump out as much? Anyways, it's a pretty minor nitpick when you've done so many other things right.

Good job Aurich! Don't let all the naysayers and nitpickers bring you down in the coming months

Aurich.....great job

Much better. Didn't even see the Alien creature in the green, on the top of the playfield when looking at the flyer

get a grip man

It was public, it was a flyer.. I say fair game.

What I'd suggest to Andrew is for ALL shows... EAG, Pinball Expo, anywhere he is setting up... if he is doing a talk or reveal of anything, there is a plan for an online reveal simultaneously.

Ie: at 9am local time when the EAG show opened its doors today, all Alien info was immediately posted.

or, if he has a talk about Pinball Expo scheduled for 6pm local time, at precisely 6pm a staffer posts whatever it is he's going to talk about.

Otherwise you are guaranteed to not control your message, the cell phones are out.

Just shaking my head, not at the image, but how sloppy this reveal was handled. Aurich starts by teasing a few inserts and then the first full reveal is done with a crappy flyer by someone not even with Heighway? WTF is that? After all of the hard work on this, you think people would invest in a good camera and stop using what looks like a cellphone to capture an image. But it is what it is.

Still processing the art. Really hard to judge a playfield that's void of ramps/toys/mechs. Want to look at it some more before passing judgement. But Heighway, get your marketing shit together guys...piss poor reveal.

my opinion is split. i like some parts of the playfield (lower and green center) and not some others (essentially upper and the black zone it feels too much dark to me). i was expected a more green playfield as the cabinet LE had green trim, siderail, legs and lock bar
but the more important is the game for me.