really looking forward to shooting this deck! I like the looks and the layout appears fun.

Liking this playfield more and more. Sure, I wish the Alien showed up a bit better on the playfield. But the darkness of it could help bring out the suspense with the other additions on top of the playfield. This could be one eerie / moody game!

No backing out now. I'm too much into this theme. Sold!

I'm floored!

Amazing Aurich! Thrilled Andrew!

Now to complete me, wheres the Kaneda Apology?

"I'm not interested in any 100% accurate and fully valid reasons for why certain things weren't possible, including limited and inadequate assets with which to work from. I'd rather call all of that a cop out and lay full blame on the artist anyway."

Got it.

Until I see this in person I really can't comment on things like darkness etc, but it feels too dark to me right now. I'll work with Mirco to adjust it as needed. This is the first time I've seen anything printed, so not surprising it's not dead on the first attempt. Whole point of doing prototypes. Obviously it will feel different once populated and lit too, but still, if it's too dark it's too dark. Not a big deal to fix.

Haha, whatever, is what it is. I've said anything I'm going to on that topic, no need to argue with anyone.

I had to completely redo all the inserts to work with Mirco's printing process (I see some things that need to be fixed, again, why you prototype!) and that's when I fixed the angle of the target inserts. Much better, thanks for the suggestion!

Let's just keep it to the positive stuff like that, much more productive than sniping at each other.

I'm pretty seriously busy these days, I'm not on Pinside much (shocking I know), but I do keep checked in with this thread. Thanks for the comments everyone, and if you have constructive feedback I'm always happy to file it away. Never know what might be possible to change if it's a good idea.

eeeeeeasssy there buddy. you make it sound like you are on some type of decision making committee. I'm guessing you are not. Your first paragraph was classic. Every sentence begins with the letter I. "i'm" guessing.... they don't really care what you think.

So what's the current time estimate for someone ordering an Alien now to receiving it?

Very tempting for sure.

Looking better thinking it will all come together with all the plastics and gadgets

Would have been nice to see the classic queen profile with the iconic elongated skull & the extendo dentures thing shooting out the mouth...

Andrew, looks great.Can't be soon enough to be at my house!

The playfield looks very nice. In response to your comment, I was wondering if more use of the green pigment present around the "comic book" alien, in place of the bluish color on the bottom and top of the play field, would be something to consider. To me, the green color highlighting the aliens on the "motion tracker" aspect would be an improvement. Just a thought.

It's merely ok at this point, but hoping the populated version makes all the difference. I can't pass up on the theme, so it doesn't really matter anyways...Heighway can do no wrong with this for me. Can't wait to play this thing.

Wow it's looking gorgeous and momentum is building nicely

remember the day when the first time you had a look at a machine was after it was completed and shipped. To all these armchair quarterbacks with their " i would have done this. I doesnt do it for me" comments; go build your own machine.

Let the creative team at Heighway have some fun with this. I'm happy to be along for the ride and appreciate the updates. Looking great guys....cant wait to see this game develop further.

Nicely done Heighway Team. Looking forward to when we can see it populated! Thank you for sharing the pics.

Wow, looks nice a shiny and yells quality.

What I really like:

- Details in the inserts. For example the facehugger looks like it is ready to go walking over the playfield
- Top of playfiled color changed from red to blue. Looks more uniform now

Looks like the mission inserts get some kind of special light treatment as they are very dark and have no extra drawn details on them.

Overall the playfield looks a bit on the dark side, but photos mostly do not reveal the colors as seen by human eyes.

The amount of clear on the playfield looks impressive! Much better than Stern. This looks like glass!

That pf looks really cool

It was Heighways choice to show it. You can't blame the people looking at the pics for seeing them.
I like the art and think its going to be stunning when populated. Hoping I can swing this one!

Space invaders is so far better. i can't imagine these cartoon figures on an Alien playfield, i can't see what is the connection with.
i'm very, very disappointed with this artwork in general. it does not feel Alien pinball machine except 2 or 3 aliens on the playfield imho.
however, i wish the best for heighway.

I'm looking forward to playing this game! I think the playfield art looks neat and can't wait to see the final product.

There will be a mechanical toy in the top center of the playfield that will fill that void! It will snap out & grab the ball with a magnet hidden in it's mouth! It should look pretty Sick! I can't wait to see it!

I can attest to the quality of the clear coat 1st hand. I received my Full Throttle 2 days ago & the 1st thing my wife & I noticed is the clear coat on the playfield, it is thick & looks like a sheet of glass! It looks like something that came from Ron Kruzman! It's a high enough quality that there isn't 1 piece of mylar Anywhere! I'd say they are confident in the quality & durability of their clear coat.

that is a really good thing. hope there will not any dimple like with stern playfields

The two Full Throttle's I played on location while in Pittsburgh had a chip missing from the playfeild at the kick out hole. Maybe the clear

coat has improved since the ones I played on were built who knows?

Dimples are due to the wood.

i understand but i suppose a too much thin clear coat may not help against dimples either.

I think the violet up top looks much better than what was there before. I also like that it looks like the blood splatters were removed from around the pop bumpers.

Still don't care for the band of black extending across the playfield above the scanner. All in all, a very dark playfield thus far but perhaps it will provide good contrast to the inserts, the LCD and the rest of the stuff on top.

Looking forward to seeing the final version populated.

Yup, can feel all the inserts on my WD.

Looks good.

There are 5 aliens on the playfield. Not counting all the inserts with facehuggers, the chestburster etc.

That's before the plastics go on. That's before the sculpted pop bumper eggs, interactive facehuggers, enormous interactive xenomorph, and queen sculpts are added.

That's before the LCD screen(s) are playing all kinds of clips featuring ... aliens.

This game is going to be positively dripping with f—ing aliens. If you don't like it the don't buy it, I couldn't care less. But if you don't buy it because you can't see any aliens you're gonna want to spend your money on some glasses.

Ok. So that got me a bit excited

Best. Reply. Ever. I'm literally rofl'ing... Ouch, my stomach hurts...

I'm sat here with a big daft grin on my face too

mwahahahaha

I think the playfield looks photoshopie. The spacecrafts and aliens look slapped on there with no depth relative to the surrounding background. This reminds me a lot of starship troopers.
But, who cares what I think. Move on to the next post..

Good point well made

Yeah I know it doesn't have the "in your face" graphics on the playfield, but with all the other cool toys and stuff, it might be overkill. Can't wait to see it all together.

what i wanted to say, it's not just because there are 5 aliens on the playfield that it gives the feeling of the saga. at least, not for me.
i was waiting for something really different. all this outer space and cartoonish areas are ruining it all for me.

but many pinball fellows seem to enjoy this artwork, so be happy with it, this is more important than my opinion. great success, is what i sincerely wish u, whatever i could buy it or not. Gameplay is king for me

It will dimple the same way, but because it's so dark you won't see them too much.

Don't get sucked in...it's his opinion. You do have to look for the aliens to be honest, but this also is just a blank pf. You can't judge until everything is shown together (pf, plastics, ramps, toys).

I think it's pointless to be critical when all you have to offer is that you want something different. The playfield has aliens, machinery, and style cues from the movies. What else is there? I can see wanting more of a Giger style but kind of dark for pinball IMO. You need colors and contrast. The only thing lacking is the characters but nobody seems to mind that. Plus, this is functional art. It's important for some of the art to stand out as well as the inserts to know what different shots are for. Pinball kind of has it's own design elements that most of us expect or at least appeals to fans more.

Nope.

A clearcoat is 4 mils thick (.004").

If you took a piece of .004" thick steel foil, bonded it to the playfield and played a game of pinball, you would get a ton of dimples instantly. Thin steel is no match for a 1.06" diameter pinball.

Even your car hood, made of .06" thick steel (that's 15X thicker than a clearcoat), can not survive a pinball being dropped on it without denting.

Oh wow! I must have missed that post...looking forward to that now!

Could you imagine the Horley art guy coming onto pinside & snapping on customers to not buy it when his playfield was getting trashed?

And with several clear coat layers, it s the same? I thought that with the hardening of several clearcoat layers, it would prevent the pf from dimples.

No amount of layers of clear will keep the playfield from dimpling.

If the clear is too thick or too hard, it cracks and separates from the wood substrate.

The only playfields that don't dimple are games like New Canasta or Electra where there is a 5mm sheet of Perspex laid over the playfield.

Man, I'm simply pumped on this game! I think the playfield artwork looks even better with it being a bit darker and a bit shinier than the full scans of the artwork were. I REALLY like the inserts, and being that that's what I will see most when I'm playing, I'm excited. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date Andrew and the rest of Heighway!

Aurich, I think you said previously that the view looking at the planets was intended to be a horizon shot looking through the surrounding rocks.

If the photos convey the way the playfield actually looks, there doesn't appear to be enough definition in the surrounding rocks to see this intent. Perhaps enhancing the lighting transition from the black above the scanner to the edge of the rocks below the horizon, to make the rocks show up more, would better serve your purpose.

but please, stop by this thread and share all your minute, highly individualized needs and wants....and then add a threat that you won't buy unless something really specific happens or unless it ships by a certain deadline.

Maybe you could petition Heighway to make a "custom" Alien machine for each individual...that would be cost effective(20k by Christmas).