G-damn it, now I've got another pin I need to add to my wishlist... Looking forward to seeing the videos! What a crazy year
(Topic ID: 106728)
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Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
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1 week later
Quoted from HeighwayPinball:Our cabinet system has been designed to accomodate different variations in the future. You will notice that the flipper buttons and the start/launch buttons all sit on plates.
These plates are removeable and swappable.
In the future, our system can allow multiple flipper buttons on either side of the cabinet, if needed, as well as a shooter...
If the game designer wants a shooter in the future - they shall have a shooter
Holy hell... How has nobody picked up on this?! This may be the most revolutionary part of the whole design! I had my eye on a WOZ until this thread exploded... Can't wait to see the video!
Looks pretty bad ass... a little hard to get an idea of gameplay but generally it looks like a fun pin, not revolutionary in ruleset (AFAICT) but totally solid, LOTS of focus on the LCD in the playfield. Definitely a cool feature
Aurich -
Love the art on this pin - I know you had to work with a lot of existing media but it still looks killer. I've been dying to know if the Xenomorph on the playfield up by the big alien head toy is a tribute of sorts to Space Invaders? (taking back what was stolen? ha) Very similar pose 
Quoted from Aurich:That drawing came from a Dark Horse comic. No tribute deliberately made, it was more like "what assets can I use?" I mean, just to be totally honest, I had a folder full of images scraped up from the archives, most of them too low rez to use, some comic book covers, some random merchandise packaging stuff, even a whole folder full of really nice stuff from Alien Isolation that wasn't really helpful (too off from the films) and I was basically making a casserole on the fly. No guidelines beyond "this is what you can use".
I did some original drawings and renders, the planets, the inserts, stuff like that, but it was hold my breath and hope it was okay stuff, I didn't know what I was allowed to do or not.
I never saw the physical game until Expo, that was the first time I was able to stand in front of it and see if what I imagined would work from looking at CAD drawings was accurate.
It took Fox 2 months to approve the playfield. And you know, they never asked for a single change. I was stressing out the entire time, wondering what was going to happen, and then boom, good to go. And at the point no one wanted to make any changes, because repeating that process could have been suicide for the game.
The entire process was wild, nothing like it in my entire professional career.
Lots of positive feedback from Expo after people saw it all come together in person, and I appreciate everyone who had something to say. I think it all worked out in the end. But yeah, crazy.
Oh I can totally see that now. I bet I have that Dark Horse issue. What a fascinating story this all is. Yeah probably not your *preferred* process... I guess at least they did give you those resources to use, but that's not much of a structure, and then you have to put it together and hope they like it, and of course they can make you change anything they want. I'd love to see a book or even a documentary made of this whole journey. Hm... I'll have to write up a treatment. It's as good a time as any for a pinball doc!
Quoted from DJKYrtgfsRFw:Hey guys, I think I may have cracked it of why Sigourney Weaver may not have said Yes to being in Alien Pinball.
While reading the trivia on IMDB for the Alien vs Predator movie (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370263/trivia?ref_=tt_trv_trv), I found this:
(Underlined and CAPITALIZED emphasis by me to make my point)
While this film languished in so-called "development hell" for years, 20th-Century Fox considered producing a fifth film in the "Alien" franchise instead. James Cameron, who wrote and directed Aliens (1986), had written a script and even approached Sigourney Weaver to star and Ridley Scott to direct, both of whom expressed interest. When_the_studio_decided_to_use_the_Alien/Predator_crossover_story_instead,_Cameron,_Weaver_and_Scott_all_distanced_themselves_from_the_project,_and_later,_declared_THEY_WOULD_NEVER_WORK_ON_EITHER_FRANCHISE_AGAIN. Several years later, Ridley Scott ended up reworking his pitch into his Alien prequel Prometheus (2012).
Could this be why there's no Ripley in Alien pinball??
Sigourney has stated several times since then (that story is from 2011) that she would love to wrap up Ripley's story, and was on board with doing a 5th film written and directed by Neil Blomkamp (director of Section 9 and a bunch of other great stuff), but Ridley Scott's Prometheus/is-it-an-alien-or-not mess trumped it.
I have no clue specifically why there's no Ripley in the game, but I do know that Sigourney's likeness has to be licensed separately, which may have added unnecessary cost. But I'm speculating on that point just like everybody else.
Oldpinguy, I'm not sure if you were aware of this or not but the 3rd movie did have its first treatment written to take place on earth. We had assets made that even showed an egg next to a city skyline... But then David Giles changed his mind (shocker) and decided to write the story himself (producer and writer credit! $$) ... the big mess is on the Alien Bluray. Cost the studio hundreds of millions of dollars. Sigourney never really loved the (literally 10 or 15) scripts that were written, and she had creative control, so back to dev hell it went.
Anyway I always thought that would have been cool had they figured out a good story. Or the wood planet. Not my assets though.
It it is exceedingly easy - and fast - to load different code on demand.. for example when the machine boots. I don't know anything about Heighway's tech specs, meaning the CPU that these machines use ( I think someone posted the FT specs above) , but if indeed the computer in FT is having trouble with the animations, that will benefit from the CPU upgrade as well? 99 cent computers on a chip are able to keep up with 1080p video as they have hardware decoders.. this seems like a non-issue going forward. for a 2nd machine, it's still a knockout!
Quoted from zeddex:Exactly - there are all sorts of custom user feedback graphics (like, scoring!) that are composited over video on the fly.
Absolutely true!! It isn't just playing encoded video. Lots more is going on- no question.
I help out with code for a project called Kodi, which is a media Center that plays 1080p video in several different containers and encoding formats. It uses what are called Overlays to do EXACTLY what we are talking about here. Real-time, dynamically generated, constantly changing user feedback areas. And it's over the whole screen. And it runs on a 1.x Ghz computer on a chip. I'm guessing the pinball machine logic will add some lag- but basically that's the least cpu intensive part.
I have no clue about the actual load on these machines, or how things are implemented or if there's some awful driver for one of the key pieces of hardware that slows everything else down.. and I would never be so presumptuous to imply that I know better - but our PHONES can do this.
1 month later
Quoted from bladerunner:Ty for post. Did not know about Giger. What an artist! Checked his official website such impressive work.
http://www.hrgiger.com/
Wish I had the chairs listed under the "Chur Bar" on the website in my game room)
If I'm not mistaken, those chairs were based off artwork Giger did for the movie Dune, before it was revamped for David Lynch... Get the book, there's some crazy awesome designs in there
Quoted from GotAQuestion:Giger himself actually designed every aspect of his bars from the spine ceilings, to the intentionally uncomfortable chairs. My wife wrote her master's thesis on his bar designs. There were a lot of things considered that I would never have even thought was intentional. And being uncomfortable was actually a fairly central design choice.
Only the 2 that are in Switzerland, where he lived. There is (or was? not sure) a third one in Japan somewhere that he initially started helping with, then got pissed off an I think he had already cashed the check, because they finished building it without him. It is substantially lamer than the swiss ones.
Aah, yeah here we go -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giger_Bar
I must have read about this before, because there's a note about the Dune chair too.
Quoted from Rondogg:Off topic but i would love a lower cost alternative for non reflective glass...
I was talking with a friend of mine who is a museum curator (let's just say it's one of the museums you've heard of), and he was amazed at how CHEAP Invisiglass is. He said it is thinner but the same stuff is used for museum glass, and it is crazy expensive. Add that play field glass is thicker and he was talking $1000 a pop. Neither he nor I really know the mechanics of how it's made but the bottom was he thought there wasn't much margin on that stuff at the $300 price point. I hope he's wrong
Quoted from nephasth:So how does the no-name non-reflective glass compare to the PDI stuff?
Not sure if you were directing that at me, but "museum glass" is pretty much the same thing as Invisiglass, very very low reflection, probably would still see the DMD a tiny bit
2 weeks later
It seems fairly clear to me that someone will come up with decals for the cabinet that would alleviate any concerns about the art not being wrapped all the way around. So... where's the issue? I'd even pay a premium for static stick decals that you could remove if you *do* choose to do a playfield swap.
1 month later
Quoted from Wickerman2:It must be fun being a manufacturer and essentially having guys peering over your shoulder pointing at things and asking questions constantly.
Yeah, this is not annoying at *all* in my industry
1 week later
Quoted from aeonblack:Right there with you! Imagine a John Carpenter pin, where all the modes are different movies, and there are sub-modes for each movie with movie-specific goals. And, the wizard mode could be going insane in Mouth Of Madness multiball (and it's fitting as a wizard mode, since it's the last good movie he did lol.
My head aspolode. Imagine a "The Thing" pin!!! ("The Ward" was pretty good, back in 2010, as were his "Masters of Horror episodes", but yeah I get your point )
4 months later
Quoted from snakesnsparklers:A hydrofoil is a lifting surface, or foil, that operates in water.
Hydrofoil as a company, no clue.
Andrew also has business interests in some company that makes or manages hydrofoils, apparently
1 month later
1 month later
3 months later
Quoted from PoMC:Ehh, it's just like saying Kleenex instead of tissue.
It’s not! See the Dialed In thread for non-Cliffs Cliffys and why they kinda suck!
1 week later
2 months later
Quoted from CubeSnake:This is going to probably be an unpopular opinion, but I think that people should be putting much much more pressure on CT. They're pretty much the only legitimate (for now) link with HW and they're quickly becoming more & more suspect because of their evading questions from their customers. I wonder when they'll realize that possibly, just possibly it wasn't such a good idea to get into bed with HW.
On the flipside, this tells you what stand up people Cointaker are. They are potentially taking the heat for what is HW's problem, and they're not just directly blaming them or passing the buck.
1 week later
Quoted from Mr68:You suggested they buy them "as is". That's not what people are doing now or have been.
As already reported, many of those people have return those games to Cointaker for a full refund. And it would seem Cointaker is now stuck with them.
Without some kind recourse, why take the chance especially during such desperate times for Heighways's future. Without a significant price reduction your offer would only appeal to the extreme fringe customer.
I would have done exactly what CT did. In fact, I kinda feel like they bent over backwards to make it work. It costs them money and customers if parts can’t be found, customer support time lost, and a poor reputation. They didn’t make the game but their name is on the invoice. That means something. I am super curious what they will do with the bum games though. How much is CT out? 5k each? That sucks!
I do kinda hope they fire sale them somehow, at least to recoup, and make customers sign a document that there is NO support and they assume all the risk. But even that, I’m not sure it’s worth the hassle. What a huge CF.
Quoted from Oneangrymo:This is too bad, I already told my wife I won another pinball machine and its on the way.. (trying to hide the cost of my machines from her). Oh well, guess Ill tell her the prize was taken back.
Good luck with that dude, that doesn’t sound suspicious or anything! Lol
What a S-show. I really feel bad for you all that got in early and got scammed. Typically this type of loss happens with a venture capitalist investment, not the direct customers.
Really impressive the community of effort on fixing these issues, and kind of shocking/telling that the games are this screwed up. What else lurks under the playfield?
Pretty awesome despite all this. Hope to play one some day!
Quoted from iceman44:Ahhh yes, forgot about the Dutchies. Didn't they get some investor recently?
Deeproot has deep investor $$. No pre pay
DP things aren't going well according to distributor communications. But at least they're not out of it yet
Quoted from TimeBandit:Well, I always wanted the game more than my money back. Price you pay for the dice you roll.
I wonder what price smiling Andrew Heighway has to pay. Probably bad enough just being him for the rest of his idiot life.
A price so high he was able to start a new company and begin bankrolling new suckers ...
5 years later
Quoted from JonCrox:Any tips for helping the magnet catch the ball for it to be grabbed by the xenomorph? Currently maybe 1 in 10 times it gets it?
Go into the menu and increase the magnet strength one setting at a time. You don’t want it any more powerful than absolutely necessary
2 weeks later
Quoted from Oneangrymo:Time for comic con again going to get my panel signed by him
No Vasquez
[quoted image]
She runs a couple of companies now; no need to do cons
Quoted from Oneangrymo:Ugh she’s the main one I wanted
Looks like she does do the occasional appearance after all, a couple last year even
Quoted from Oneangrymo:Mission success today
[quoted image]
NIIIICE! Glad to see he’s doing a lot better
Quoted from Oneangrymo:what happened to him ? Didn’t even know he looked good to me
he’s in recovery. Notice how he really hasn’t been in anything real big since The Abyss? Huge inspiration that he’s gotten sober
4 months later
Quoted from eckelpeckel:Are the new production machines still a buggy broken mess?
Did not care for the geomery on the OG machines i played (brick city), is this still the case on the new machines or was it altered?
Love the ip and the look of the game so really want to like this but heighway certainly made it hard.. no diss to those who own and like the game, diffrent strokes and all that.
There are some minor tweaks - for example a new switch which triggers a magnet to catch the ball momentarily and allow the upper left ramp shot to be at least plausible. Overall the geometry is the same
Quoted from Warzard:Pinball Brothers was involved when Highway was still in business as we could see with their name everywhere on boards.
They took over the business and.... pretty much 95% of the design and engineering dev which was the main cost of this pin.
I understand why they consider that the old Alien is not theirs but at the end, they don't stand behind their old association and work.
It should cost them not much to share even small code updates and they could compensate with selling extra mods or parts.
The PB version of the game is substantially different from the original Heighway games. If the original Heighway design worked, they would have stayed with it. It absolutely WOULD cost them a lot to reopen that code, and for what? Heighway owners already have a game. PB makes no new sales from it.
It might be a good idea for them to offer a paid upgrade - maybe if they offer the code for say, $800, it might be possible. But then people would complain about that. I DO think they should release the code as open source, and let the community handle updates themselves. I'm not sure of the legal ramifications of doing so - maybe they are prevented from releasing the code, or there's some liability concern.
Quoted from wesman:So um....is this game a hot mess that should be avoided? Kind of been out of the loop on this situation for awhile.
Like any game, there’s some people who are fanatics, some hate it, some take it or leave it.
I’ve had some issues with mine and I do NOT think it shoots well, but also I think most of that is the dialing in factor; just tiny adjustments. (I’ve had it for 4 or 5 months but don’t have a lot of time right now). There is definitely a clatter/clunk factor - but some of that is being addressed by mods tightening up the shots in certain places so they go where they’re supposed to go.
The reverse outlane gate ejects drive me CRAZY, and there’s a couple small things I still need to adjust - but the modes and the sound package are amazing. I wouldn’t characterize it as a hot mess, and while my personal experience hasn’t been flawless, it’s still one of two games I go for first most days.
Quoted from MK6PIN:Yea, no 27" BB acreen, no PF screen, oh but a magnet and physical lock. The OG DID/DOES work by design. PB DID make substantial $$$ selling cobbled OG's, stamping their name on boards, etc.
The point is missed by a mile here. PB Aliens look and feel flimsy fit/ finish to an OG. Period. PF layout, shots "flow" whatever, pretty much identical.
PB did not WANT to finish the original, though it was so close, to avoid any sort of accountability to the countless pinsiders that lost thousands on games that were never built. They chose to whore the theme ( along with Queen which HW owned) distance themselves just enough to get what they needed to make $$$. One of the biggest travesties/ shameless blows to the hobby.
OG owners will get the same thing we've always gotten.....nothing..
Huh? You ok bro?
Quoted from wesman:This is somewhat reassuring...!
What's the other game?Meanwhile, this definitely isn't..!
Spooky’s Halloween! Huge comeback from the abyss.
sometimes it’s a P3 game, but mostly because it’s right next to Alien (not to disparage the P3 games, “Heist” and weird Al are amazing)
1 week later
Quoted from razorsedge:"Vent 2" ball guide
I'm well aware of areas where the design needs to be improved, but this was a new one. What is wrong with the Vent 2/Hadley's Hope ball guide?
Quoted from razorsedge:You have never tried to make that shot from the upper left flipper then??
Anyone whom has played more than one or two games knows that shooting at that and hitting the mark results in the Ball bouncing/flying back Out Onto the open playfield.
I shoot that shot from the lower left flipper, with a fast moving ball (I flip it up and let it roll through fast and then tip it off the flipper). But what does that have to do with the ball guide?
Quoted from razorsedge:The fact that you can't shoot it with the flipper, from that only flipper that actually faces the shot. Before fixing it the only way I could achieve it was by freak ricichets or by accident. It was/is very lame. But when you shoot at it, can Hit it, AND it follows through, it is quite satisfying realy, instead of the frustrating broken shot that it Was.
We all stopped shooting at it, here. Then it was like 'Fuk this', why?. What is the point of a shot you can not actually shoot at and doesn't work? Even if you hit it exact it still fails. So it got fixed; now it is a Satisfying and Challenging Legit Shot that is WORTH Aiming For. (:
Reminds me of the Hobbit upper flipper shot - whatever they were going for got changed in the final design
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