(Topic ID: 106728)

ALIEN PINBALL - Game Over, Man, Game Over

By HeighwayPinball

9 years ago


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Topic index (key posts)

53 key posts have been marked in this topic, showing the first 10 items.

Display key post list sorted by: Post date | Keypost summary | User name

Post #9151 Insight from Alien's programmer on tournament mode Posted by Ferret (7 years ago)

Post #9234 Update on distribution Posted by HeighwayPinball (7 years ago)

Post #9660 Here we show you a short clip from the 'Ambush Multiball' mode Posted by HeighwayPinball (7 years ago)

Post #10128 Photo of Alien at UK Trade Show Posted by unigroove (7 years ago)

Post #10230 game play video from EAG UK tradeshow Posted by Join_The_Cirqus (7 years ago)

Post #10231 game play video from EAG UK tradeshow Posted by Join_The_Cirqus (7 years ago)

Post #10914 Alien ships Posted by ZenTron (7 years ago)

Post #10916 Alien ships Posted by HeighwayPinball (7 years ago)

Post #11230 Key posted, but no summary given Posted by ezeltmann (7 years ago)


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#138 9 years ago

The company's media/simulation guy has put together a flappable flowtest version in digital form, and the gameplay is absolutely superb. It completely hits the 'instant appeal' mark, with a single ball leaving you wanting to make every single shot.

1 year later
#2858 8 years ago
Quoted from Captain_Kirk:

Should easily fit in any one's home.

Alien.jpg

That's the South American Taito knockoff version.

1 month later
#4056 8 years ago
Quoted from Aurich:

I think I'm going to call it a night, go play some SFIV

Bagsies on Blanka.

1 week later
#4579 8 years ago

Pinball is like comedy. Timing is everything.

4 weeks later
#4857 8 years ago
Quoted from Aurich:

We've talked about this very thing actually. And not the Predator "invisible" stuff. Just straight up UV reactive ink. You never know.
I love the word rad by the way. But I'm from the Bay Area, where we say hella, so we're not worried about what anyone else thinks of our slang.

You are a Data East Time Machine and I claim my five pounds.

2 months later
#6158 7 years ago

Yeah, the thing about a train wreck is the train is expected then to GODDAMN STOP.

23
#6311 7 years ago

The xeno head model that sits around the mech is the same size one that's been shown before, and yes, it will 'eat' the ball. What you don't see yet on the CAD is the mini-subway that will take the ball behind the backboard, to be ejected back into play onto the upper corner of the right platform, to drop onto the end of the habitrail and down to the return. In front of the backboard re-entry is where the Space Jockey will stand as a large upright plastic, so it should look like the ball is emerging from behind his turret. The LV-426 area is also the most natural place for him to be.

The centre mini-post is a deliberate design choice. The flipper gap isn't any wider than standard, but there's a lot of lateral movement on this game which means more outlane drain potential. The post balances things pretty well, and you can't knock the satisfaction of a successful save with it.

The hypersleep chamber is a physical three-ball lock, the 'fourth' ball drawn on the CAD is a visual indicator of how the dispenser works, dropping the foremost ball onto the level below while holding the others back.

#6338 7 years ago

The launch ramp habitrail simply pops the ball onto the right platform, to be deposited in the right inlane.

The left ramp target, as well as being a legitimate shot, acts as a deflector to angle the ball down the left platform without requiring a large drop-off (which the ramp isn't really long or high enough for). This let's the hypersleep exit and lock function connect to the same platform without causing a break in the ramp flow.

#6344 7 years ago

This layout offers plenty of multiple skill shot opportunities at different levels. For instance, from the delivery to the right flipper, shoot for the xeno (easy, regular points), airlock (medium, points plus instant mode start), or orbit to the upper flipper immediately followed by the ramp (hard, big points plus instant lock).

#6350 7 years ago

He's clearly yawning there at how BLOODY TIRESOME the MK franchise has become. It's the fighting series equivalent of one of those godawful indy-game FPSes on Steam Greenlight, that consist of a bunch of pre-bought Unity models chucked into the same map without any shits given as to whether they all belong there together.

#6356 7 years ago

Bah, give me a new Darkstalkers and I'll be happy.

#6365 7 years ago

The platforms running down the left and right edges of the playfield.

#6409 7 years ago

Achievements could be good if you had a game specifically dedicated to a list of goals rather than modes; the rules will include a large list of potential achievements for every section of the game, and every time you play it brings up a randomized selection from that list. Completing these in one go would qualify your wizard mode, and the random factor would help to keep the game fresh for longer.

#6416 7 years ago
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

How about everybody that puts in 3 quarters wins a trophy

HERE THE CHEAT HAVE A TROPHY

trophy_(resized).PNGtrophy_(resized).PNG

2 weeks later
#6574 7 years ago
Quoted from Manic:

Make sure to include her great cringe worthy line "They're DEAD! All DEAD. Can I go now??!!"

I suggested that one after the call for an outlane drain.

The other main suggestion was "they mostly come at night" whenever the lights go out.

#6649 7 years ago

TFW you leave the house for work and remember you left the social media on.

2 weeks later
#6749 7 years ago
Quoted from NightMutilator:

New interview highlights with Andrew Heighway from Rocky Mountain Pinball Showdown right here!
» YouTube video

That's Weebl in a wig.

1 month later
#7251 7 years ago

Once these new gens are fully built up for testing, I'll be playing one of my favourite games; 'A Lie-In'.

15
#7252 7 years ago
Quoted from Aurich:

Those two arrow inserts there say REVIVE, and if they're lit you get a ball save from that side. So if only one is lit you gotta nudge to make sure the ball falls on the right side, because as you noted there are some posts and rubbers there.
I forget how you light them, I'd have to dig into the rules doc.

You light them by having balls locked in the Hypersleep chamber. One ball = one REVIVE lights alternately, two balls = both REVIVES are lit. One ball is ejected from the Hypersleep when the ball in play drains through a lit REVIVE, then the LOCK has to be lit again.

1 month later
#7782 7 years ago
Quoted from sven:

It does look like a nice game! 9 main shots (including standups behind the magnet) of which 2 ramps and a 'mini-ramp' (what's the thing on the right called again? .

The official Stern name for it is a reverse-o-matic. I call it a halfpipe ramp.

#7863 7 years ago
Quoted from rubberducks:

Airlock is there, just the look changed.
Space Jockey was indeed missing from both the game I saw (probably the one in the flyer) and the flyer, and Andrew seemed to suggest the game was feature complete save for an incoming logic board. Assume it was canned.
Only difference is that they've added the (production) colour eggs ... neutral colour instead of proto green ones (ensures they can be properly lit by the rgb leds)

The Space Jockey is intended to be present as décor in the upper right LV-426 area, either as décor on the final backwall design or as its own standup plastic. Probably the former.

#7864 7 years ago
Quoted from jonesjb:

Reposting this, hoping someone can answer. Does anyone know?

Yes, the xenomorph model is a key detail on all Alien playfields.

#7865 7 years ago
Quoted from libtech:

Just looking at the shooter does it go to the right return or will it jump and go to the flip ramp?

Several people seem to be confused by this - the shooter wireform drops the ball onto the right platform to be sent down to the right flipper.

#7910 7 years ago

The apron isn't 'off-centre', it's the same size and shape as the Full Throttle apron. It's the flippers that are 'off-centre' and placed further to the right.

No manual plunger, autolaunch only on this game.

24
#8389 7 years ago

This next week in particular is going to be a busy one in Wales as we start making those revisions; taking on board the feedback, making improvements and fixing things that aren't 100-percent right yet. The airlock is going to constructed differently from the more plasticy demonstration version, with a metal endoskeleton; the orbit diverter will be implemented and secondary magnet made fully functional, which will improve flow to the upper right flipper; and the platforms will be reworked for rigidity, easier construction and the inclusion of fibre-optic lighting and potential flashers and spotlights. As far as the shots go, the game is complete; we had one or two minor issues there related to the playfield, but were able to solve them before the show and get the overall feel of the game as solid as a rock.

#8676 7 years ago

Upper left flipper shoots across the field towards the drops and the return loop shot to the right flipper, below the launch ramp and platform; it shoots at the chestburster lane between the pops and the upper right flipper; and it's also capable of shooting at the right reverse-o ramp.

#8689 7 years ago

He should be back in the office sometime tomorrow, or failing that, Monday.

1 week later
#8894 7 years ago
Quoted from Cheeks:

But for modularity, P3's model is Nintendo.

Which would basically make us the Neo-Geo.

#8916 7 years ago

Heh-HEM.

IMG_0432 (resized).JPGIMG_0432 (resized).JPG

#9068 7 years ago
Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Thinking of changing that spinning Queen airlock toy huh? Well I'm sure you've got some extra Valentinos lying around. One small change.....problem solved

Best thing for him IMO.

#9071 7 years ago
Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Seriously though, I think a smaller space jockey chair might look good there. When the start mode scoop is ready, it could start spinning? Just a thought

We already have the visual representation of the space jockey pretty well established for the game. Popping it in place of the queen airlock wouldn't actually solve much since the biggest criticism was that people found the Queen's scale next to the xenomorph rather underwhelming, and the same scale issue would happen if we were to attempt this.

3 weeks later
#9384 7 years ago
Quoted from DJKYrtgfsRFw:

1) I have downloaded Zen pinballs version of Alien/s. Lets hope heighway capture the same audio atomosphere OR BETTER as zen does.
2) And noticed ripley quotes and sigourneys likeness is in Zen. How did they get licensing and heighway not?

Zen Pinball is developed and sold as a videogame, and obtains licenses as such. It's an entirely different category from pinball, with very different criteria involved.

1 week later
#9542 7 years ago
Quoted from Hazoff:

Now theres a great theme for pin, Dune.

It would take three hours to play one game and nobody would have a clue what was going on with the rules.

2 weeks later
10
#9684 7 years ago

Think of how the TV was used in Simpsons Pinball Party, but a couple of visual jumps above that, and you'll be on the right track. Information on each screen is designed not to clash with each other and be tailored to the size and resolution; punchier in-your-face material stays on the larger / backbox screen, while the airlock displays shot arrows, lit locks, timer countdowns, quick details relevant to the modes, the Queen herself, and as the 'default', the airlock doors. All this is relevant to that specific region of the game, that being where your eye is naturally drawn to from time to time as you follow the game rules.

#9727 7 years ago
Quoted from PinballRulez:

Innovative comment. Brilliant

Made me laugh.

#9728 7 years ago
Quoted from Perspex:

This makes me wonder more what a fully realized Nordman ALIEN game would've looked like.
It is what it is however, and there's enough here to still grab my money.

Dennis' vision for the Alien pin focused much more on the first film than the second.

#9809 7 years ago
Quoted from Hazoff:

I agree but also think that theres multiple options with the mini screen and only one action with a toy for the most part, a jumping plastic Alien Queen would become boring real fast, its all going to come down to how its implemented, I think using it as a light source with the Xeno head is a smart move.

Plus, the Alien playfield already has, at last count, six dedicated models from three unique toy moulds, even without the physical Queen.

#9902 7 years ago
Quoted from fishbone:

Does anyone know why there's no artwork beneath the flippers?

Because it's a nylon-filled hole that the entire flipper fits through. The reason for this is it keeps the flipper bat, mechanism and plate as one modular easy-to-remove piece. The bat doesn't slip so easily since there is no normal need to take it off; the plate is designed for compact space and dual function (the same plate fits both left and right flippers in a small space than either Williams or Stern flippers do), and to take it out for maintenace, just unscrew the plate from the embedded nuts under the playfield and the whole unit simply lifts out without needing to take it apart.

3 weeks later
10
#10405 7 years ago
Quoted from TheLaw:

I think you need to take BBH out of that list or at least learn when it came out

Well I designed Full Throttle, and I like Big Buck Hunter. Somebody has to.

#10409 7 years ago
Quoted from Cheeks:

My inclination is to assume you have bad taste, because BBH is pretty brutal. But Full Throttle is THE SHIT, so you sir, can like whatever you want.

It's just an unpretentious target-shooter that knows its boundaries and limitations and doesn't step beyond them. I don't even find the theme objectionable (and I really really really really should).

#10451 7 years ago
Quoted from Berserk:

Ahhh yes... Spaceballs
RIP John Hurt

"Goodbye mah baby, goodbye mah honey..."

"Obit check please."

#10493 7 years ago

Just so that people are aware: work from my end has been slow on Alien for the last couple of weeks since my brother died; I had to shoot off at very short notice back to Northern Ireland for a funeral service and to address some family matters. I fly back tomorrow, normal service should be resumed later in the week.

Not something I'd normally raise here, but significant given the current gearing up of the game and the spanner this put in the works.

2 weeks later
#11131 7 years ago
Quoted from bcd:

It's a virtual ball lock - the up post is raised briefly to announce any awards, then the ball is released. It's working correctly.

It also turned out to be the best possible move from a gameplay perspective. Much as it's nice to be able to see three physical balls in the chamber, that ties the lock down to three shots by default with no flexibility. With a comparatively tough but satisfying shot like the upper ramp is, it's better to give all owners the chance to set it according to their players' own skill levels as a reward for making it.

#11154 7 years ago
Quoted from o-din:

Is that post between the flippers optional? Or will they all come with a hole drilled there.
That narrow of a flipper gap shouldn't need one.
Well maybe for some on this forum it might.
I got to the part in the video where the ball first bounced off that post and couldn't watch anymore.

It's a regular mini-post. Simple matter to undo the nut from underneath and take the post out.

1 week later
#11385 7 years ago
Quoted from solarvalue:

Nordman actually said that he was not the designer but that he did the initial playfield drawing:
http://www.pinballnews.com/news/nordmanheighway.html
Here's the original Nordman drawing:

I agree he should still be given credit for the initial drawing and for being a better judge of how long it would take to produce the game.

I wouldn't disagree with that. The geometry has been completely reworked from top to bottom, sometimes a little in places and sometimes a lot, but even though no component is going to be in exactly the same place by this point, Dennis gave me the sound foundations to work from. There has been a lot of trial and error along the way, but much of the thought process behind my revision has been along the lines of 'OK, this is a good idea, how can I make it work better or more efficiently and save some more space'.

25
#11389 7 years ago

Here's what some of you want to see: an export of the production playfield, simplified for clarity, and an overlay of the two versions so you can see what's been changed (or changed back, even) and how it's all been refined over the development time. My lines are in green, Dennis' are in blue.

260217CAD.jpg260217CAD.jpg

260217overlay.jpg260217overlay.jpg

13
#11392 7 years ago

Turned out to be largely cost, but it was also a case of overthinking and overcomplicating an idea that the team get so invested in, and put so much effort in to make work in a clever fashion, that removing it seemed inconceivable without any other alternative at the time. In the end, it was when Andrew was pricing things up and just asked the Skype group, 'what would happen if we took the magnet out'. There was a lot of initial scepticism from me since it involved a major element of the game's flow, but a look over the CAD later from a fresh perspective revealed a sizeable cause-and-effect chain whereby the top lane up-posts and pops could be used to do the job of the magnet if the orbit was then separated - and if the magnet went, the diverter became unnecessary; and if there was now an end point below the bumper, a regular target should be put there instead. Three for the price of one, and all the game would really lose was the trap, catch and 'fling' effect from the secondary magnet.

The immense sense that relief that everyone on the Wales side IMMEDIATELY felt afterwards also told us this was absolutely the correct decision to make.

1 week later
#11627 7 years ago
Quoted from DCFAN:

I would still give Dennis credit as one of the designers since the general layout was used and adjusted. The before and after layouts show normal functional adjustments between schematic design and final design. A good designer is going to find the problems with the original schematic design when the whitewood is built and used for flipping and then make adjustments. If you go back and look at WOZ you will see very similar if not more changes from beginning to end.

This is fair. I wouldn't detract anything Dennis provided me with to build upon.

12
#11732 7 years ago
Quoted from musketd:

Whatever happened to the Dave sanders interview that was supposed to be posted last Friday?

We shot some additional footage for it the other day to make it more visually interesting, it's in the editing phase today.

1 week later
#11969 7 years ago
Quoted from Hazoff:

I have the perfect themes for Heighway #3 and #4 Robocop based on 1 and 2 like Alien you choose the film with lots of Multi's then Predator same thing choose 1 or 2, I would be a happy boy but also poor as I would have to have them all in their own cabs and all LE versions but what a line up.

The Robocop reboot, when that was in development hell, was actually one of the potential licenses that was offered to us about four years ago when the company was still in relative infancy and finding its long-term creative feet. It didn't take us twenty seconds to comply; it took us the time to process in the Batman suit and exposed hand to turn it down and run away.

The other one, which actually did get some early development time to explore the potential for an interesting and unique game, was Russell Crowe's Noah; as in 'Noahbody else is going to be touching this one with a barge pole'.

#12065 7 years ago

Which shot is the 'bad' one?

#12163 6 years ago
Quoted from DCFAN:

That is a terrible comparison because JPOP screwed the pooch on SWEP1.

Nobody could possibly have given their best work on SWEP1 given how restrictive the licensors were in curtailing communication even between different departments in order to curtail any movie information from getting out.

#12241 6 years ago
Quoted from jonesjb:

Supposedly Heighway is adding a Bill Paxton tribute to the pin.

The Paxton tribute is already in the software as part of the Combat Drop mode.

#12349 6 years ago
Quoted from Jgaltr56:

I guess Dave likes a bit of randomness as part of the overall game balance? I get random drains down the left outlane on my Full Throttle too.

The skip is something I intend to fix with a tweak to the end section of the platform, it's happening because the ball comes down the left ramp much faster on average than it did before.

#12414 6 years ago

But... but by definition it's not modded or anything!

#12449 6 years ago

"Look out! Cliffy!"

1 month later
#13621 6 years ago
Quoted from frolic:

Covenant also killed the chances of us getting a "real" sequel to Aliens, with Ripley and Hicks, so there's that.

Colonial Marines doesn't count?

1 week later
#13880 6 years ago
Quoted from Fytr:

For the scoop, make it extend out approx. 2cm from the hole on all 3 sides, and also down into the scoop to cover the pf wood edge there the width of the pf.
For the magnet, cut a circle that is maybe 2 cm wider in diameter (so it extends 1 cm. out from the magnet edge) than the magnet core itself, apply it centered over the magnet, and then using a razor knife carefully cut away the portion that is covering the magnet (cut in the gap between the magnet core and the pf). First check that the magnet core itself is level with the pf. If it is noticeably higher or lower than the pf, adjust it's height before applying the mylar (some mechanism under the pf for that).
I'd also do the shooter lane, just cut a rectangular piece that covers the section of the lane that the ball shoots into when fed from the trough, including into the trough hole itself as this area gets smashed with the higher power coil they are using there.
For the ramp drops, just cut a small square big enough to cover the precise section where the ball drops from the ramps.
Good luck and congratulations!

There is a cliffy that has been designed for the scoop now.

2 weeks later
38
#14784 6 years ago

I may as well confirm as much as I can safely do so right now to allay people's fears, since it's already been leaked elsewhere. (You can guess by who. I've no idea how he found out so much.)

Yes, there is a deal in the works. Yes, there is cash infusion coming into the company. Yes, Alien production will be continuing and increasing and talks are already being had as to how best to achieve that.

No, the deal is not quite done, dusted and signed yet. The official announcement will come when it comes. But I've talked to the parties involved and expressed both my confidence and my loyalty to them. It's in my best interests as well to see this through to its successful conclusion, so I'm also one of the individuals with the most to lose, substantially more than just about anybody else here on the thread right now.

2 months later
#16208 6 years ago
Quoted from frolic:

I saved him the work:
I am writing this letter purely in the spirit of uplifting and sharing, as corny and dated as those sentiments may sound in the fast-moving and ever-evolving modern techno-plastic times in which we live. Primarily, I want to share with you my view that those who think that cannibalism brings one closer to nirvana should think again. It is requisite, even in this summary sketch, to go back a few years to see how it would be great if all of us could prescribe a course of action. In the end, however, money talks and you-know-what walks. Perhaps that truism also explains why whenever I hear Alien Pinball use a word like “electrotelethermometer” I think that someone must have given it a thesaurus without telling it how to use it. It would have been much clearer, for instance, for Alien Pinball simply to say that if you're like most people around here, you've already gotten into an argle-bargle at some point with it about where the free exchange of ideas ends and outright stupidity begins. In my case, Alien Pinball was claiming that matters of racial justice should enter a period of “benign neglect”. I, in turn, made the counterargument that it's its deep-seated belief that it is patriotic to make higher education accessible only to those in the higher echelons of society. Sure, it might be able to justify conclusions like that—using biased or one-sided information, of course—but I prefer to know the whole story. In this case, the whole story is that we need to make a manful effort to bear witness to the plain, unvarnished truth. A halfhearted attempt simply won't do.
To Hell with Alien Pinball! I find that some of Alien Pinball's choices of words in its squibs would not have been mine. For example, I would have substituted “evil” for “intercommunicability” and “dotty” for “chromatographic.” Alien Pinball's confreres claim to have no choice but to create anomie. I wish there were some way to help these miserable, jaundiced scoundrels. They are outcasts, lost in a world they didn't make and don't understand.
Although I generally try to be tolerant of unabashed laziness, defiant incompetence, willful ignorance, and combative arrogance, finding the best way to put Alien Pinball in its place is a challenging problem indeed. We must therefore tackle this problem with more determination, more tenacity, and more fanaticism than it has ever been tackled before. Only then will people realize that Alien Pinball's pontifications are based on hate. Hate, Fabianism, and an intolerance of another viewpoint, another way of life. I suggest we point out the glaring contradictions between Alien Pinball's idealized view of mandarinism and reality. This idea isn't as outré as it sounds, especially when you consider that it is thoroughly versipellous. When Alien Pinball is among plebeians, it warms the cockles of their hearts by remonstrating against recidivism. But when it's safely surrounded by its servitors, Alien Pinball instructs them to propound ideas that are widely perceived as representing outright ethnocentrism. That type of cunning two-sidedness tells us that Alien Pinball thinks that it's a living bodhisattva of peace and nonviolence. What planet is it from? The planet Splenetic? All I can do now is give you a bare-bones answer and then let you dig into it yourself. To understand the basic answer you need to realize that Alien Pinball's undertakings stink. Let me express that same thought in slightly different terms: It's a pity that two thousand years after Christ, the voices of repulsive know-nothings like Alien Pinball can still be heard, worse still that they're listened to, and worst of all that anyone believes them.
I like to face facts. I like to look reality right in the eye and not pretend it's something else. And the reality of our present situation is this: I call upon Alien Pinball to stop its oppression, lies, immorality, and debauchery. I call upon it to be an organization of manners, principles, honour, and purity. And finally, I call upon it to forgo its desire to instill a general ennui. Alien Pinball is unhappy that people like me want to encourage students to be bold, independent, and creative thinkers. Such cavils notwithstanding, I wish I didn't have to be the one to break the news that even sick-minded autocrats object to its self-righteous arrogance. Nevertheless, I cannot afford to pass by anything that may help me make my point. So let me just state that by comparing today to even ten years ago and projecting the course we're on, I'd say we're in for an even more snooty, headlong, and logorrheic society, all thanks to Alien Pinball's methods of interpretation.
Alien Pinball is a sore loser. Need I say more? I don't think so, but this I will say: We all know, in the world that surrounds us, that there are terrorists and home invaders and drug cartels and carjackers and knockout gamers and rapers and haters and venom-spouting faitours who scheme to hamstring our efforts to cast an unfamiliar ray of sunshine over the crapulous, thrasonical landscape of Alien Pinball's rodomontades. What is often easy to forget, however, is that every so often you'll see Alien Pinball lament, flog itself, cry mea culpa for blowing the whole situation way out of proportion, and vow never again to be so headstrong. Sadly, it always reverts to its old behavior immediately afterwards, making me think that my current plan is to express concern about its conduct. Yes, Alien Pinball will draw upon the most powerful fires of Hell to tear that plan asunder, but the dominant opinion of the day proclaims that its agitprop machine is running at full throttle. (Actually, its tractates provide a vivid example of how it is unwilling to entertain any opposition to its ideas and policies, but that's not important now.) Alien Pinball's jobations are not “supposedly” perverted. They are fundamentally so. In fact, because its jobations have so much to do with suppressing people's instinct and intellect, one might even say that I once heard a couple people ask Alien Pinball to comment on how out of all of the blinkered ochlocrats I've ever known, it is clearly the most inconsiderate. Alien Pinball proceeded to bombard these questioners with insults, calling them blathering, unruly preachers of allotheism and the like. Sure, Alien Pinball has a reputation for laying into its opponents, but this overbearing reaction fails to answer the substance of its competitors' points.
Regardless of what Alien Pinball seems to avow, our duty should be to nourish children with good morals and self-esteem. To make everyone agree to a specific, deeply political set of beliefs about how race, culture, class, and gender play out in our society is alien to this duty. That's why I want you to know that it keeps talking about the importance of its cause. As far as I can tell, Alien Pinball's “cause” is to concentrate all the wealth of the world into its own hands. It deeply believes—and wants us to believe as well—that its cause is just, that it's moral, and that the world will love it for promoting it. In reality, Alien Pinball's lickspittles are engaged in perpetual one-upmanship over who more deeply enjoys Alien Pinball's circulars. These are the sorts of people who can't stomach the fact that what I wrote just a moment ago is not the paranoid rambling of a malapert wacko. It's a fact.
How's this for an Alien Pinball apophasis: By claiming that it has no intention of portraying disaffected gaberlunzies as peddlers of snake-oil remedies, Alien Pinball is in fact acknowledging just the opposite. Specifically, it's confirming that it says that human beings should be appraised by the number of things and the amount of money they possess instead of by their internal value and achievements. At least we can't accuse it of hiding its prejudices, I suppose. Of course, it would nice if Alien Pinball were also to confess that not only does it impede every diplomatic, security, and social priority on which our government needs to focus its efforts, but it then commands its surrogates, “Go, and do thou likewise.” Alien Pinball's self-centered cop-outs have spawned an industry of consultants, advisors, and departments that, among them, have corporatized Alien Pinball's dream of producing a new generation of alabandical, surly traitors whose opinions and prejudices, far from being enlightened and challenged, are simply legitimized. Let me try to explain what I mean by that in a single sentence: Many, many people have been hurt by it for daring to put an end to its diabolical cycle of prejudice and reprisal. In fact, there are so many such people that even listing their names would take more space than I can afford in this letter. In their honor, though, I will say that the point at which you discover that Alien Pinball's unambitious capilotades serve as a stark reminder that anyone who questions Alien Pinball's warped view of the world is a threat to its tottering sense of reality is not only a moment of disenchantment. It is a moment of resolve, a determination that the time has arrived to make a choice between freedom and slavery, revolt and submission, liberty and subservience. We must choose wisely, knowing that if we fight denominationalism in all its infernal, self-seeking forms, we can live as truly free and empowered human beings. If, however, we let Alien Pinball prevent the real problems from being solved, we become little more than fearful, broken dogs condemned to exist in a world of doolally colonialism.
Shall we pretend that Alien Pinball is a wonderful, caring organization with no intention of leaving behind a wake of peccable reaction? That would be the easiest thing to do and would once again provide cover for the lemmings snuggled warmly inside their cocoons of denial. However, it would decidedly overlook the imporant fact that Alien Pinball pretends to be supportive of my plan to subject its exegeses to the rigorous scrutiny they warrant. Don't trust it, though; it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. Before you know it, it'll force people to act in ways far removed from the natural patterns of human behavior. Not only that, but there are two kinds of people in this world. There are those who doctor evidence and classification systems and make revolting generalizations to support unpleasant, preconceived views, and there are those who keep our priorities in check. Alien Pinball fits neatly into the former category, of course.
I am certain that if I asked the next person I meet if he would want Alien Pinball to sap people's moral stamina, he would say no. Yet we all stand idly by while Alien Pinball claims that its debauches are the result of a high-minded urge to do sociological research. Other than that, unflappably immoral wisenheimers rarely question, resist, or protest those events that do not appear to affect them directly. For example, they ignore how Alien Pinball has been displaying an irreconcilable hatred toward all nations. I have begun to see, more and more, how our failure to extricate as many people as possible from Alien Pinball's grip is reflected in our failure to promote peace, prosperity, and quality of life, both here and abroad. The situations are different, of course, but also similar. At the heart of both is Alien Pinball's success at blitzing media outlets with faxes and newsletters that highlight the good points of its brain-damaged complaints. At the heart of both, there's a denial of reality. At the heart of both, there's the observation that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Of course, if Alien Pinball had learned anything from history, it'd know that its serfs have repeatedly been caught beating plowshares into swords. I had expected better from Alien Pinball and its vaunted coven, but then again, my quest is to determine why it has been trying so hard to encourage and exacerbate passivity in some people who might otherwise be active and responsible citizens. I want to know the real stuff going on behind the scenes. I want to know why Alien Pinball periodically puts up a façade of reform. However, underneath the pretty surface, it's always business as usual.
Alien Pinball may have modernized the appeal and packaging of its proposals, but satanic proposals are satanic proposals regardless of how they're presented. Alien Pinball's objective is clear: to hammer a few more nails into the coffin of freedom some day. Although chimpanzees can be convinced to wear clothing, understand commands, and even ride bicycles (if well paid for their services in bananas), it would be virtually impossible to convince Alien Pinball that back when our policemen were guardians, not enforcers, they would have protected us from Alien Pinball's army of disingenuous maniacs. Today, it seems that most officers of the law are content to sit back and let Alien Pinball make nearby communities victims of environmental degradation and toxic waste dumping. That's why we must raise people's consciousness about its judgmental sottises. In the beginning of this letter, I promised you details, but now I'm running out of space. So here's one detail to end with: Alien Pinball is caught up in an irrational belief about its own powers and abilities.

I don't know what this game is but I wish I'd designed it.

#16302 6 years ago
Quoted from Drewscruis:

Played 1 game on this last night, got to the 3rd ball and the game puked. Playfield entirely went out, artifacts left on the screen in the head and then it started to go into attract mode on the screen in the head. Tried to reset it and stayed the same. Oh well.

Check all the USB connections underneath the field. Sounds like something came loose.

4 weeks later
35
#16815 6 years ago

Update from the unit today, circa 1pm - 2pm.

Cabinets...

01 cabs (resized).JPG01 cabs (resized).JPG
02 cabs (resized).JPG02 cabs (resized).JPG

Playfields...

03 playfields (resized).JPG03 playfields (resized).JPG
04 playfields (resized).JPG04 playfields (resized).JPG
05 playfields (resized).JPG05 playfields (resized).JPG

Parts...

06 parts (resized).JPG06 parts (resized).JPG

Lunch break...

07 lunch (resized).JPG07 lunch (resized).JPG

Boxed-up games for Cointaker and Nitro...

08 boxes (resized).JPG08 boxes (resized).JPG
09 cointaker (resized).JPG09 cointaker (resized).JPG
10 nitro (resized).JPG10 nitro (resized).JPG

Loading begins...

11 first (resized).JPG11 first (resized).JPG
12 first (resized).JPG12 first (resized).JPG

Well underway...

13 middle (resized).JPG13 middle (resized).JPG
14 middle (resized).JPG14 middle (resized).JPG

Last one...

15 last (resized).JPG15 last (resized).JPG
16 last (resized).JPG16 last (resized).JPG

All done...

17 done (resized).JPG17 done (resized).JPG
18 done (resized).JPG18 done (resized).JPG

And off they go.

19 off (resized).JPG19 off (resized).JPG
20 off (resized).JPG20 off (resized).JPG

#16826 6 years ago
Quoted from epotech:

20' container (1/2 container~20 games). 2pm and not a soul on the production line?

Loading process for 21 machines took close to an hour, and that lunch break was on shortly before the truck arrived. Plus I wasn't the only one taking pictures.

3 weeks later
15
#17389 6 years ago

What makes anyone think that if a 'fix' was as simple as moving Dennis Nordman's flipper to the outside orbit, it wouldn't have been done? As it happened, neither the geometry nor the mechanics and electronics below the field (it's easy to forget the playfield areas you can't see) allowed for it. Placing a flipper in its own space, and then extending a shot from it, as was done with the chestburster lane, gives you flexibility of angles. Placing a flipper in an existing orbit doesn't - the flipper angle has to be an extension of said orbit. Geometry is like a jigsaw - you can't simply exchange pieces and expect it to work. Look at the angle of the flipper, and compare it with the orbit. Either the flipper would have been terrible for the shots, or a ball from the orbit passing the flipper would have drained every time. You could solve one or the other, but not both.

Personally here I prefer having the upper flipper in a different place from the orbit anyway, because the orbit is where it goes 90 percent of the time in a modern game, so in this case it was a design choice. It was to have had additional feed from another magnet, but complications arose with that and the game's mechanical BOM ultimately needed to be trimmed anyway. I considered blocking off the second exit from the pops so that every top lane entry would feed the flipper, but almost nobody else liked it that way - the majority verdict wanted the pops more open and the game to remain less predictable.

#17438 6 years ago
Quoted from jonesjb:

Really good post from ealadubhsidhe. I’d like to see greenhornet’s response. GH hasn’t accounted for under the playfield mechanics in the design, and based on what ealadubhsidhe has pointed out about the geometry, GH would have likely been otherwise raising concern about the difficulty of nailing vent 3 or hyperspace from the alternate reality UR orbit flipper.

The Vent 3 loop would certainly have been harder, but what would probably would have happened more is the ball would have clonked the inside edge of the hypersleep ramp a lot and not gone up it smoothly. The more vertical the flipper bat, the greater the curviture of the ramp you need to squeeze into what may be a very confined space; at the same time, the bat can't be too high or too low that the natural perpendicular angle from the bat drifts away from the entry point of the lower shot.

#17712 6 years ago
Quoted from HoakyPoaky:

Alien code is quite respectable, but it's nothing like the level of depth in LOTR or WOZ. You've basically got two movies to choose from, with 4 modes each. I think most 3-ball games end before starting the movie mini-wizard mode. If playing well, you might start the mini-wizard, then move on to repeat process with the next movie. But I've never seen anyone finish both mini-wizards in a single game. If you're lucky to do that, you also need to start all 4 multiballs to get to the ALL OUT WAR final wizard mode. And I think it's already been made clear that Lifecycle multiball is a quite challenge to start, so getting to All Out War will be incredibly difficult on a 3 ball game.
I see Aliens as an amped up 90's mode based game, with some user flexibility choices for keeping individual games fresh, and a substantial challenge for getting to the final wizard mode. Also has scoring bonuses for completing the modes, and selectable gun bonuses depending on your gameplay. It's pretty clear cut & easy to understand, and there's nothing wrong with that. I think Ferret did an excellent job. But I wouldn't call that depth, just more of a difficult challenge to reach the end. Kinda similar to Metallica.

This is a good, accurate assessment. Andrew's ethos for operator games was always to get a balance where there were enough challenges in the game for good players, but the important new ones wouldn't be put off by the fear that there was no way they were ever going to achieve it all in one go. Alien has more depth than Full Throttle, but FT is much more of a pure skill-based score attack game. JJP's ultra-heavy mode approach simply wasn't for him.

#17797 6 years ago

A simple 'turning it off and on again' often works with the screens - they work best when they're all booted at the same time.

1 week later
#18317 6 years ago

So how about that... sports... thing. With bases and like, balls and that.

#18328 6 years ago

BASES. BALLS. DISCUSS.

#18374 6 years ago
Quoted from spfxted:

I have a bridge......

A bridge rectifier?

2 weeks later
#18619 6 years ago
Quoted from Astropin:

where do you live again?

Hands off. He's MINE.

4 weeks later
#19166 6 years ago
Quoted from VividPsychosis:

Hey guys, has anyone figured out a solution for the shooterlane ball wireform scraping against the Pinball glass? It is currently making a pretty intense mark on the underside of my glass, to the point where it’s scraping away the chrome completely. Will this eventually cause my glass to shatter?

Check the platform plastic which your launch ramp goes over. If there is a 'bar' on the top level that the rail is sitting on and possibly being pushed up by, crop it. If this in itself doesn't solve it, you have a few millimetres flexibility to lower the rail without affecting play. All games going out by now should have the plastic 'bar' cropped.

#19169 6 years ago

The 'bar' in question would be a part of the plastic, the bottom edge of the hole the launch ramp drops the ball into - a strut going across. It doesn't need to be there, so if it is you can safely cut this bit out if it pushes up your launch ramp.

#19207 6 years ago
Quoted from Aurich:

Came and gone a while ago, but Andrew didn't want to take it off. I argued otherwise, felt dumb to me. Guess I won that one.

I wanted the 30th anniversary of the second film, we just about squeezed in the timeline to that one.

2 weeks later
#19397 6 years ago
Quoted from greenhornet:

copy that rouge leader..
nearly a dozen posts in a couple days time drooling over blue, and a week later youve vacillated back to black. point: you've claimed, on occasion, that my posts add nothing the discussion. what exactly did repeating your color choice so many times during your 'blue' period add to the discussion? and now that you are [at least temporarily] no longer going with blue, that makes all those redundant posts even more of a waste of the readershipszzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Christ, and I thought I was on the autistic spectrum.

#19399 6 years ago
Quoted from SLAMT1LT:

A Monty Python pinball game is long overdue. The top of most pinball game designers list I would say.

Like mine. Well, second. I've already expressed my embitteredness over what's not likely to ever be top of it anymore. :p

1 month later
#19970 6 years ago
Quoted from delt31:

Really? I feel like the market is looking for anything remotely good associated with the series bc so many disappointments recently. This game def doesn't disappoint so I would think it fills in that need well. They just need to make them...

To be perfectly frank, there was a time when all we needed to do to sell the game was say "it's not Colonial Marines".

2 months later
#20661 5 years ago
Quoted from Aurich:

Because they were under NDA ...

Not *everyone*.

#20668 5 years ago

I was being subtle too.

#20786 5 years ago
Quoted from epotech:

To see his smug face on that hydrofoil and knowing how he'll probably do the same again really burns.

He won't.

16
#20961 5 years ago

Remember when the investors made their first announcement, and I said that outside of them, I as the game's designer had the most to lose? That wasn't hyperbole. I hope Aurich does get his machine, because he knows what I'm talking about. I wish I was in a better position to give my side of the story, but I can't because right now I'm a focal point in between two parties, I have to remain neutral, and I've got to let things play out between them first.

#21014 5 years ago
Quoted from epotech:

Wrong
I get (got) monthly production numbers for this title.

I don't.

12
#21025 5 years ago
Quoted from simon:

Directors Meeting was last week I think it said, decision made to go into voluntary liquidation. No one contacted me, oddly enough.
Meeting at office of insolvency company on the 4th May for I think stakeholders to agree / disagree the liquidation. Undecided whether to bother going or not.

The representative of the liquidation firm met with the office employees to outline the process and give the official termination notices last Friday. The insolvency becomes official on Friday May 4th, giving a time scale of... two weeks. >_<

#21269 5 years ago
Quoted from spfxted:

Some employees were spoken to. Chris spoke to one. I tried to do as much homework as possible. All the warning signs were published here including employees leaving because they were not paid, changing factories because they weren't being paid, vendors not being paid, Dennis not being paid, etc.
When these things were mentioned, people were jumped on.

Chris has had communication with at least two others that I'm aware of. Difficult to say *which* two that would be though.

#21350 5 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

Andrew wanting to make a Playboy pin in 2018 shows you just how clueless he is.

The Playboy license was first pitched to the upstairs team in, I think, 2014, and opinions ranged from the ambivalent to the really really outright hostile. This was before the brand itself was forced to sharply change direction and people really *did* end up having to read the magazine for the articles, but even back then I knew that a British company taking on a brand that was synonymous with bygone-America - particularly for the age range in an American-led market that would be expected to buy the machines - was a spectacularly bad idea that couldn't possibly be met with anything other than a hostile response.

#21351 5 years ago

I advised him personally face-to-face on Monday to not do this, or at least be very very careful how he phrased himself because it was guaranteed to be taken in the most negative light possible - people wouldn't just read between the lines, they'd try and fly a blimp through them. :/

#21353 5 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

A lot of people hear a lot of things.
But they don't SAY anything to stay in the good graces of pinball companies they want to be buddy-buddy with.

Or literally can't and have to suck it up if there is personal loss involved in not doing so, it would seem.

#21356 5 years ago

I always wondered how that console got its name.

#21413 5 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

My game was better, and we'll probably never see it.

No chance at all of it being made as a one-off private project?

#21429 5 years ago

Your wife is a treasure.

#21433 5 years ago
Quoted from GAP:

Dont sell your Alien. Like you said, you love playing it. It sucks the way things went down, but if you enjoy it, keep it and play it. I have one and also worried about parts and repairs, but there is enough of us, that we should be a able to keep them running. We can always start a new thread "Keeping Alien Alive" and start fresh.

If the community can keep alive arcade machines and pinballs from 1979, a license from 1979 should be no trouble.

#21455 5 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

The pinball market has a nostalgia problem...

It also makes it that much harder to bring fresh ideas to the pinball table and demonstrate that it's capable of standing on its own merits. But as long as there are Scott Danesis out there, some of us won't stop trying if we can help it.

#21510 5 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

They have new money and moved manufacturing to China. Not dead yet.
And yes, somebody else could license Alien but they'd have to make their own game from scratch. Honestly they should have just made Aliens it lends itself much more to pinball.

Translation: "It has Bill Paxton in it."

#21528 5 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

Yes just do Aliens.

This was Russell's opinion too. I think we made it work though - it would have been a looooooooooot more difficult to squeeze a whole game's worth of content out of a single film.

18
#21553 5 years ago

I want to clarify one thing related to Barry Oursler, since that was raised in the article... The problem wasn't that he didn't do much in the time that we had him - he was a lot faster than we were, for a start - but the feedback he was getting for his work was often terribly unhelpful and the brief would sometimes change from week to week with no clear direction. Anyone tackling more than one project at one time is naturally going to prioritise and focus on the one that gives them the most freedom, and this is exactly what happened. Two of his three major designs were being hamstrung from complicated and unproven demands to be included before even starting - Andrew wanted a game with a 14-ball multiball in it for example, just so he could state that he broke Apollo 13's 'record' - or frequent suggestions at a later point that meant that everything had to be bunched over again and again to cram everything in. Barry and I were able to eventually work through this after the changeover, and nobody could call his work sub-par - he definitely still has the spark - but it couldn't have been much creative fun for him and I don't think he came away with anywhere near enough of what he actually wanted to do.

33
#21575 5 years ago
Quoted from rubberducks:

For the record, I think they're mad to try to continue.

I have no idea what's going to happen yet in the future, what I can say for sure is that if Alien and Full Throttle are both canned just like that, it'll mean an utter waste of five years of my life under Andrew, right from the very start, for less than no benefit whatsoever and nothing to show for it, either personally, financially or productively. With what I had to spend to get here, I could have sat on my arse in Northern Ireland doing nothing and been around £20k better off in the long run than I am now, and from promises I was given to join in the first place, I'm out a potential six-figure sum, and I *wasn't* an investor. No salary, nothing ever made official, just vague assurances of 'royalties' that I refused point blank to ever agree to. I finally got a contract once he'd gone, but the one thing you can't put a price on is all that *time*.

#21579 5 years ago
Quoted from ezeltmann:

Hopefully someone else realizes you are a talented designer and we see a game from you, produced by a real company.

I'd like to think so, but the whole affair has also left me with an insane case of imposter syndrome on top of my inferiority complex and all the other personal issues. There's also a lot of outstanding work that if everything were to stop here would become pretty valueless now to anyone other than myself.

#21580 5 years ago
Quoted from rubberducks:

Your point about time is a salient one ... I don't think so many people who were burned, mistreated, or left after witnessing alarming practices were afraid of either NDAs, or what he might do to them if wronged (though some seemed legitimately fearful) or they exposed him ... it was more to do with not wanting to waste a single second more time on having to communicate or deal with him. Most seemed to want to forget that they ever had any contact with him.

I was too deep down the rabbit hole, didn't have anything I could just walk away back to, and was legitimately terrified of the consequences of doing so anyway, if it all came tumbling down once I pulled the keystone away. I just couldn't face the idea of having so much of my life come to naught and potentially taking the blame for it. That last point was something I don't believe Andrew actually saw, and I think the point of realisation for myself was when you yourself began using the phrase 'Stockholm syndrome' to describe the impression you were getting.

#21658 5 years ago

I can personally guarantee that, opportunity willing, no game I work on again will adopt anything like the same approach as Alien, whoever such a project would be overseen by. That's not just a matter of principle; I get a hell of a lot more now about design and build hierarchy, that 'cheaper to build' doesn't necessarily equate to 'easier', and about not trying to push limits by ignoring Occam's Razor for the sake of 'cleverness'.

#21674 5 years ago
Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:

However, ealadubhsidhe whenever I look at your screen name, all I see is Eastside W’s. Then I imagine a Welsh gang of hooligans and pinball enthusiasts - who hang out late at night (past 9pm on a school night) in the bad end of town (near W street) - playing pinball, hoisting pints and talking smack.

WHEN YOU'RE A TAFF
YOU'RE A TAFF ALL THE WAY
FROM THE FIRST PONTYPRIDD
TO THE LAST CARDIFF BAY

#21675 5 years ago
Quoted from SLAMT1LT:

Be careful with all that money Dave, Andrew might approach you with an interesting investment opportunity.

In what? The combustion business?

#21695 5 years ago

It's not a game for everyone's play style or taste, I'll certainly concede that. It's definitely more of a player's game than a beginner's one; it's also not the kind of design I'd attempt anything like twice in a row, regardless of whether the initial seed is mine or not. 'Generic' isn't my thing, but expect the next design I do, should there be one, to be more conventional and easily accessible.

21
#21713 5 years ago

Yeah, the names that are cropping up on the list - JJP, Ben Heck, Kaneda, and so many more - mean as much to me for support as the contributions do. I'm blown away.

#21723 5 years ago

I thought History Today was outlined on the questions thread?

"You see an old shoebox, that a small child would use to store marbles in?"
"Would it happen to contain other items of youthful interest, such as buttons and cotton reels?"
"Yes, and a pencil stuck into each side."
"Then I am familiar with such a method of storage, yes."
"That's your pinball machine, that is. That's you getting to All Out War multiball."
"...I see. You see an old videocassette tape?"
"Would this be VHS or Betamax?"
"Betamax, with daytime soap operas recorded on it and worn to the point of constant video static."
"I recall how such media would degenerate over time, yes."
"That's your latest code update, that is."

21
#21856 5 years ago

"Dave and I have been friends for nearly nine years. Dave shared the company dream from the very beginning. At the start, Dave had the option to be directly involved with the company – including shares – and he declined."

OK, first the obvious. No matter what personal state they're in, nobody, but NOBODY, decides to up and move away from their family and move hundreds of miles to a new area to help set up a major new venture, for the sake of 'voluntary' work. I won't go into things that started going wrong once we got there; that's irrelevant. And yes, I did turn down the option of shares but then so would anyone whose personal issues have left them reliant on the state safety net for a long time that said venture is their shot at getting off of. Shares count as savings, and savings are used as a cap towards benefit calculation, so it would have been a pretty big deal if I ever had to leave for any reason and thus worse than useless if I couldn't cash them out. It wasn't a risk I was prepared to take, plus I wasn't prepared to accept any potential liabilities in a company that wasn't mine. Multiple people told me at the time, in my position, don't take shares.

"One big reason that I can discuss is that Dave wanted the freedom to come and go as he pleased – with no set working days or working hours as an ‘employee’ would have. Dave always preferred working from home... In 2015 I told Dave that the company’s finances were much healthier and asked him if he would consider becoming a paid employee. Again Dave declined."

This is true. I have major sleep issues in that my sleep pattern just does not work (I believe that's an Asperger thing), and anyone familiar with me from the Visual Pinball days knows that I get engrossed in a project, I tend to work long and hard well into the night. But you know what that's called, utilising your own time and hours to get a job done within an allocated timescale? Freelancing! How hard would it have been to put some manner of freelance contract in place that would have suited us both? That's how I intend to continue from this point on.

"Of course, Dave wasn’t going to do all of this for nothing – but he wanted to be paid retrospective royalties for his design work in the future."

No, that's what you wanted to pay me, every time the subject was broached. A royalty on every game produced, whether by myself or another designer. Potentially great if you were, say, Stern; but as I told you more than once, you weren't. You were selling me a dream. And that's what was really irking me; straightforward royalties meant my work held no value on its own merit. I would receive no money *unless* the manufacture and sales side of the company unrelated to my work were also up to the job. You wanted me to assume the same risks as the company, but weren't prepared to take any 'risks' for your designer in return.

Look, just ask yourself this: if you really thought we had a mutual arrangement in place, why did you never contract me for it?

#21981 5 years ago

They couldn't have liquidated straight away even if they wanted to, not without repercussions, because the fly in that ointment would have been, er, me. Specifically, the situation I'd been put in and what the HMRC was trying to do about it.

#22010 5 years ago

That's literally what the idea was - a table with a simpler, smaller pinball game inside. No backbox, all scoring on a small playfield screen, playfields designed like 'street level' games, trad solid-state size (42-inch standard body). Intended to appeal to both the home gameroom and the ponce furniture markets (though the Venn diagram between the two must be remote at best), but also places like European cafes might pick up.

A version of Queen was designed for it as well - at least in digital form - which I did. Interesting exercise in seeing what you could do with that kind of less-is-more playfield that could still feel fresh to play. Couldn't have too many features, so I made sure what there was would have all been different; a bank of drops, scattered stand-ups, a captive ball, a kicking target, two capture shots for multiball, and spinning posts styled as a vinyl record. Pretty pleased with how the digital sim flips, flows and bounces.

#22039 5 years ago
Quoted from Dee-Bow:

Touche.. them are some good songs listed.. just don't think that Queen would sell pins based on theme alone. Just my opinion!

At this stage in the market, you *shouldn't* hedge your bets on a machine selling on theme alone. Even if it's a 'good' theme. It can always get cocked up to the point where it would hurt sales of the following game, whatever it is.

#22043 5 years ago
Quoted from Hazoff:

Please explain?

So can sarcasm.

#22063 5 years ago
Quoted from Ive:

Maybe the timing was wrong in that the company was going down the pan ....BUT this isn't *that* insane an idea. Cocktail 60-in-1 type vids are popular and I've seen them in many bars/pubs recently. Done right, marketed correctly I could see these selling - maybe not to the hardcore on here.

The optimum phrase there of course is '60 in one'.

#22081 5 years ago
Quoted from CaptK:

K-man...I implore you to stop saying "I implore you"!!! No worries...it's all good! Keep doin' you!

BUT HERE'S THE THING

#22110 5 years ago
Quoted from vid1900:

I love the idea.
But, I'd change it so instead of using money from your bank to buy the yacht, you finance it, and get a gold toilet installed (after admiring the one Saddam Hussein had).
As you progress towards wizard mode, the yacht gets repossessed during your 6th bankruptcy.

Robert Maxwell Multiball.

#22119 5 years ago

Yeah, don't blame Barry for the content of the demo game there. The only thing that's really his is the layout. The 'demo' was put together with whatever limited clip assets, images and stock music as a sample - no more than that - of what such a game could look like based around Andrew's idea. Not *intentionally* bad enough to change Andrew's mind (it didn't), but eh, it's not like we'd have cared. If anything, it made Andrew more convinced we could do the whole art and media package on the cheap.

#22148 5 years ago
Quoted from SLAMT1LT:

Yes, Barry had no input in the demo at all, beyond designing the original layout (which I had to slightly modify for the demo). It's all my work so I take full responsibility. I protested against this theme from day one but I did what I could. And had some fun along the way, making it as cheesy as I could.
Andrew had a hard on for an adult themed game. I agree with him, there aren't enough adult-only themed pinball games, but that doesn't always mean soft core pornography.
Personally, I would've gone with horror - Evil Dead, Saw, Nightmare on Elm Street, Halloween...etc. With the money he wasted on Playboy we could've had anything we wanted.

I thought the 'aspirational lifestyle' aspect to the demo game, a la Williams Millionaire, worked pretty well. This is very much a 'toys for boys' industry anyway, so there's no reason a good 'lifestyle' game couldn't be popular... just not *that* one.

I remember Andrew wanting a hidden 'adult' mode in Circe's Animal House, with the central hostess showing her cleavage to get the punters in. I told THAT where to go in a big hurry.

#22151 5 years ago
Quoted from SLAMT1LT:

Kind of. The original concept was much darker and scarier than the final game. I wanted to scare the player shitless.

I wanted the screen to display 'Bug Hunt' attacks with the player facing off against the Aliens and having to shoot them with the ball, like an arcade gun game. It could be done fairly easily with just the screen and a row of sensor switches above and below. Ball crosses both switch rows from the bottom flippers, the switch hits triangulate the point between them on the screen, anything in that general screen area gets hit.

#22153 5 years ago
Quoted from benheck:

My point is the quality of the band has no effect on the resulting pinball.
I don't think Queen's music fits pinball. Neither does the Beatles. Guess we'll see.

If I were to do a music or band-themed game from scratch of my own choice, if I had the freedom to I certainly wouldn't rely solely on the music to illustrate the gameplay; I'd use it as the starting point for a tangential theme related to the band, and the iconography and imagination associated with that. I personally wouldn't do 'Beatles' per se, I'd do Yellow Submarine.

#22160 5 years ago

You're all forgetting the first and most important criteria for any music or licensed pin: the *designer* has to give a shit. :p

#22163 5 years ago

Yellow Submarine would be a movie license, a piece of pop art and pop culture, a decent slice of the Revolver / Sergeant Pepper / Magical Mystery Tour song catalogue, and you could pull off some marvellous and original things with toys and features. What's not to appreciate?

3 weeks later
#22360 5 years ago
Quoted from Aurich:

Welp, this showed up today. Still not entirely sure what to do with it, gonna sit in the box for the moment. Some damage to the box itself, game inside seems fine, just tore a little hole in the box. Says LE with black trim, haven't confirmed anything.
I've had people asking me if I'll sell it long before I got it, but until it was here I wasn't really ready to think about it. It's a little sad, but right now I'm inclined to turn it into as much cash as I can get for it and feel like I got paid at least something for all that work. I just don't know that I want to look at it every day.
Time to ponder I guess, but in the meantime here's one of the last pieces of the saga, one of the last games made.

Given that it's one more machine than I actually got, my answer is undoubtedly FOR FUCK'S SAKE KEEP IT.

#22372 5 years ago

That's exactly what it was.

2 weeks later
#22493 5 years ago
Quoted from jonesjb:

Interesting developments at Deeproot Pinball related to Heighway, I wonder what this means?
https://thisweekinpinball.com/deeproot-update-plus-interview-new-hire-new-building-new-creative-studio-new-licenses-and-help-offered-to-those-who-lost-money-on-pre-orders-from-other-companies/
"From October 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018, we will offer some form of relief to those affected customers of Heighway/Pinball Bros and Dutch Pinball who have not received their promised game or other relief. While it won’t make up for the wrongs, it is the right thing to do, and we are sure will be appreciated by the hundreds of affected customers.”

That's nice. I lost five years.

#22494 5 years ago
Quoted from jonesjb:

I wonder if we’ll ever see Alien offered digitally, such as in Visual Pinball?

Unlikely at best, at least in the short term. Full Throttle would stand a better chance, but since I hold sway over much of the game's design rights as well as access to assets, there's no way I'm letting any old hack jizz it out. I'd more than likely have to oversee such a project myself.

2 weeks later
#22604 5 years ago

Why does there *have* to be anything new to say right now, as opposed to wanting there to be? Especially when jumping the gun on promises you don't know if you'll keep has been the plague on this industry for years now.

#22705 5 years ago
Quoted from Ferret:

For all you folks saying kind words about Alien -- thank you so much! Really glad you're enjoying the game. If you haven't already, I'd invite you to take a moment to fill out a game rating for Alien here on Pinside. Obviously, it's just for posterity, but I'm quite curious to see where its ratings wind up when people rate the game when it's working properly.

Ditto with the IPDB. And be honest, please.

1 week later
#22781 5 years ago
Quoted from SunKing:

I removed the post below the upper right flipper - makes it easier to hit the chestbuster and vent shots.[quoted image]

I don't personally recommend that, it's there to protect the tip of the flipper from direct ball strikes and stop the flipper being knocked out of angle alignment.

1 month later
11
#23159 5 years ago
Quoted from TimeBandit:

I have tweaked these prototypes a bit and have now ordered production boards. They will be in my Pinside shop and on my website in about ten days.

Christ, I wish we'd had you on the team when we needed it most for the electronics.

#23160 5 years ago
Quoted from Damonator:

Deeproot pinball actually attempted this (and may be better funded than anyone else to try besides Stern) and said it was a non-starter.
It would involve dealing with:
A) customers that were owed a game (or deposit money)
B) vendors that were owed money
C) working with Fox to re-acquire the license
D) working with Pinball Brothers to acquire the assets
E) redesigning some of the more fragile aspects of the game (IO boards, light boards, Xeno head etc)
F) probably other parties that I’m not thinking about
But basically - a huge pain in the butt, very expensive and very time consuming.

One of those parties would absolutely be myself.

3 months later
19
#23641 5 years ago

One rubber list and map, coming right up. Includes the airball guard ones.

Rubber map Feb 18.jpgRubber map Feb 18.jpg

#23647 5 years ago

In case anyone also needs this, the Full Throttle rubber list and map.

Maps for other components available for both games.

Rubber map.jpgRubber map.jpg
3 weeks later
#23733 5 years ago
Quoted from QuickSilverShelby:

I think that number is a decent amount higher than that.
QSS

It isn't. Around 200 is right.

3 weeks later
21
#23772 5 years ago

I may have identified the getaway vehicle.

Hydrofoil up and approaching (resized).jpgHydrofoil up and approaching (resized).jpg
3 weeks later
#23817 5 years ago
Quoted from Dee-Bow:

U gonna pay for the license?!

If by that you mean license the design rights, then great, I get paid.

4 months later
#24744 4 years ago

I'll believe it when I get an offer for all my unpaid design files. Maybe word hasn't filtered down to me yet but you'd think the game's designer would have heard something definitive about it first.

#24752 4 years ago
Quoted from JodyG:

Did you make a claim as a creditor during the bankruptcy?

That's the rub. Andrew's negligence put me in a position where the 'employment' was never made official. Never got so much as a contract from Andrew. Employment rights groups like ACAS couldn't do a thing about it for that reason, but the tax branch, the HMRC, knows ALL about it (Andrew tried to pass me off as a 'volunteer'). I won't say a bad word about Pinball Bros; there was an agreeable reimbursement plan in place after they took over, and we did our best to make it work as flexibly as we can but in order to go through official channels, the money had to come from the company itself - I couldn't simply be paid off privately - and despite all the extra investment that went into trying to getting workable machines out of door, there wasn't enough left of the company to make it work in the long run.

Quoted from Rarehero:

If you don’t own the IP, no one is obligated to tell you anything.

Surely they are if the deal involves manufacturing based on work and files that at present, don't belong to them because of what Andrew did. I need to chase up on this - I would have done so before but my life since the company closed has been one state of utter shit after another - family members dying, relying on community charity to avoid becoming homeless, serious mental health deterioration, shunted from one department to another and falling through the cracks in the system - with no let up and no real support to get me through it. The situation has got so bad through an utter inability to cope that I've been served with a section 21 notice this week on top of everything else.

Please don't misunderstand me though - despite all the bad memories I'd be delighted to see the game go back into production and see some proper closure on the whole affair with everyone happy, and the last thing I'd want to do is jeapordise that.

#24760 4 years ago
Quoted from Durzel:

I'd venture if you've got nothing in writing in terms of a contract then you've probably got no more say over what you did on the pin than I would if I claimed I did something. Did you have anything in writing regards this reimbursement plan from PB, or was it another gentleman's agreement sort of affair?
Perhaps if you have a contract with PB for this reimbursement it shows at least that there is a relationship between you, them and the pin. As to what weight that has in terms of them selling it to CGC or whatever, it's hard to say. The devil as with any contract will be in the detail.

There was a written contract with PB, yes.

#24764 4 years ago
Quoted from Durzel:

I'd venture if you've got nothing in writing in terms of a contract then you've probably got no more say over what you did on the pin than I would if I claimed I did something.

I have plenty of evidence of dealings with Andrew and the unpaid work I did on his behalf, going back a long time. It hasn't been disclosed before as I didn't want a pointless battle on my hands that I wouldn't have been strong enough to cope with and got nothing out of. I trust PB, they know the fragile state I'm in, but if this unconfirmed deal really does go ahead and it looks like I might get screwed once again because of what the company founder did - not just to me, but to them - I'll have nothing left to lose in deploying it. It may well turn out to be the only way of getting the mental health services to finally pay some proper goddamn attention to me.

#24767 4 years ago
Quoted from flynnibus:

well... now you know? Not sure why you went through the point of working with the government agencies on the topic, but then still 'held back' as they rejected you?

I didn't, that's the other point. The HMRC was pushing right up till the company went down with a reimbursement figure they had worked out based on 'minimum wage'.

Also the most I could have possibly got from a creditor claim was eight week's worth of similar minimum wage out of a period of five years. That would have also buggered me up in other areas since I'm disabled, and at the same time was having to deal with considerable delays in the changeover of other financial government assistance that would have cancelled immediately had my status changed to 'formerly employed', leaving me way worse off in any case. Plus the unpaid work would no doubt have become official company assets as a consequence.

I don't think you're seeing the sheer lose/lose position I was in, a situation Andrew had engineered well ahead in advance when I couldn't do a sodding thing about it.

#24770 4 years ago
Quoted from flynnibus:

Sounds to me like you made the conscious choice to relinquish your claims in lieu of disruptions to your (then) current situation. I get that it was hard and a 'lose/lose' -- but you keep bringing up your royalty situation or IP ownership as if people continue to wrong you now going forward. But from what you have shared here it sounds more and more like an emotional claim than a practical one. Your rights appear to be chewed up (or at least, incredibly hard to extract..) in the collision of your prior situation, Andrew's actions, the PinBros shuffle, and HWP's dissolution.
It may just fall to 'opportunity lost..' at this point and focusing on what you need to move forward in your life without HWP's past.

'Emotional claim' would not be an inaccurate description. I'm not saying people *are* wronging me now, I'm talking in hypotheticals but mainly in the past tense. But please, do explain to me how as an ASD person with an entire adult history of overcompensating to the point of sheer burnout through utter self-loathing, I'm expected to simply sweep under the rug five years of my life from 2012 to 2017 being effectively stolen, without mental assistance in 'moving forward', not to mention the near-constant crises since the company went under, which is helping to destroy whatever else I've got left. Consider this a plea for help.

#24774 4 years ago
Quoted from flynnibus:

It's called 'cutting your losses' and putting energy where new there are new gains to be had.
You talk all determined now.. but it sure sounds like the moment has passed. You can continue to swirl in place and focus on what should have been.. diving deeper as you aren't sustaining the daily needs or put that energy into something that will create a new baseline.
I don't know your life or your individual struggles - but I do know that if you are underwater and just looking DOWN - you'll never climb out either. Make yourself whole day to day.

Logical brain does not disagree. Irrational emotional brain on the other hand genuinely has no energy left, cannot hack it on a day to day basis any more, is absolutely terrified and will kick the shit out of me over the slightest little thing that goes wrong.

#24794 4 years ago
Quoted from Jvspin:

Dave, I'm very sorry you were not properly compensated for all you did at Heighway.
The only bright side I can see is that you (and the other contributors) brought a couple of excellent pinball machines in FT and Alien into existence. It might not put food on the table, but it is something you can be very proud of and may help offset the feeling of a wasted 5 years.

I appreciate the sentiment, I'm glad people are enjoying it. I just wish it meant more to me on a personal level though - last time I tried playing one at a tournament, I couldn't even finish the game without hitting a massive downer that I had to excuse myself from company with.

#24836 4 years ago

Don't think Alien could be made PROC compatible without ditching some of the lamp usage like in the light-up targets; you'd need more than an 8x8 matrix, I believe.

#24872 4 years ago

Going to put this as concisely and diplomatically as possible:

No.

Sorry to sound like a moany old git - it's been brilliant watching the community come together and create workarounds for the existing machines, iron out the kinks, show the passion and the value they place in the game. The products developed for this purpose are nothing short of inspirational. Getting hold of an Alien that's already out there, no matter how used or how many better days it's seen, and doing whatever is needed to make it function, spruce it up, improve it as you see fit with whatever components or mods you can make or get, go nuts. Thumbs up from me. But as long as there is the SLIGHTEST chance that the game could come back for an official rerun, from whichever source might be willing to take it on, nobody is making their own 'new' unofficial version of the machine.

There has been a fair bit of misconception about what my 'official' position in the company actually was (as well as unhelpful responses along the lines of 'nobody owes you jack shit'), but this is the truth; there never *was* an official position under Andrew. He wouldn't give me one. He was notorious for not giving out contracts; neither was there ever any kind of 'gentlemen's agreement' between the two of us because his terms were, frankly, bullshit. I have it on record detailing all of this and stating flat out to his face, years down the line, that he still did not own any rights to any of my work as long as he was playing silly buggers with the company and with me, and refusing to offer any kind of 'security' at all. And this isn't just my position, it's also that of the taxman - the HMRC - and through which Pinball Brothers also had to accept when they took over; company assets did not include work that was not contracted for.

What happens in the future is up to them and who they may or may not be making dealings with - that's their business - but suffice to say that in the event of the however unlikely, they still have to deal properly through me for rights to use designs that are categorically and provably mine, and they accept that too. Which may amount to nothing at all - I'm not *that* naive - but even so, I have to cross my fingers and hold onto it with an iron grip. Anyone who had been put in this position would do the same.

#24887 4 years ago

Just be careful with any back panel replacement that it isn't too thick or too tight, and ends up pressing against the back ball guide. That could affect the stability of your orbit shots.

11 months later
#26780 3 years ago

Don't mind me, I'm just the designer over here wondering if/when I'm going to get paid for the (apparent) remake and what the status of it really is. Everyone else seems to know more than I do right now.

#26782 3 years ago
Quoted from colonel_caverne:

Hi buddy,
A remake of the heighway alien machine is in the pipes?

That's the point. All this gossip is flying around and I STILL DON'T KNOW.

#26784 3 years ago
Quoted from noitbe1:

I’ve asked other people from the team and it seems that it’s all BS...
One thing is sure, if there is a remake, it’s not CGC. Between us, with this major crisis flying around, i don’t see any boutique company take the risk releasing a pin like that... But it’s my opinion. For me, now, we could say it was all BS and some guys, on this forum, Had really good times. Maybe it was a play with the value of the game.
I could be wrong, but we could play like this for years...

I'd much rather not given how much of my life was an utter waste on that thing. I went in with nothing, came away with a lot less than nothing.

5 months later
#27908 3 years ago
Quoted from dts:

Looks like the LCD is in this schematic, just a different configuration. Old or new, it would be nice to hear Dave Sanders' opinion.

It's right here, on the other speculative thread.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/is-cgc-going-to-manufacture-alien-pinball/page/18#post-5980281

#27931 3 years ago
Quoted from razorsedge:

Chestburster... hold. I recall something about Andrew wanting some falic looking chestburster to rise up out of the playfield from behind the target... in a somewhat cringeworthy way?

Andrew wanted a plastic 'torso' on the reverso ramp that the ball passes through and acts as the burst. I HATED that idea because I knew EXACTLY what it would look more like.

My preferred option would have been artwork on the playfield of a dead trooper sprawled on his back, and a single drop target with a chestburster decal popping up from the stomach area.

1 week later
1 week later
#28077 3 years ago

All coming together now...

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