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(Topic ID: 182465)
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Alien (Heighway Pinball)
Heighway Pinball, 2017
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Quoted from Tsskinne:Just curious after watching the new gameplay videos does it shoot a little like The Shadow with the orbits and inner loop?
Not sure, but the orbit doesn't go to the upper flipper so I don't think so.
Some gameplay questions to tide me over until I can play...
-How many of the Alien or Aliens modes are also multi ball.
-Is there a video mode?
-Is there an option NOT to sacrifice a sleep multi ball lock for the left ball save, or does it always happen no matter what?
-Do you select one specific shot as the skill shot (like Ghostbusters) or is everything a skill shot (like Metallica)?
Thanks, for my first question, While the center column is multiball specific, but do any of the dedicated film modes have more than one ball... kind of like Enter hotel Monolith on the Shadow (compared to the Shadow and Khan multi ball).
I thought maybe the bottom mini wiz mode may also have more than one ball.
Quoted from Whysnow:From what I can tell, I have not heard them yet (doesn't mean they are not there)
Depending on MB, the jackpot shots are different.
The Super insert is on the upper inner orbit which can be a fun but appropriately challenging shot.
I really enjoy Shadow's approach to super jackpot multipliers, where you hold one or two balls for a brief period in a saucer, and if you nail the jackpot while they are held, you get double or triple. It could be cool to see Alien do something like this.
Quoted from Aurich:No. If I have any say over it (and I don't really lol) there will never be one either! Not a fan, I'm here to play pinball, not guess stars or bacon. I highly doubt there will ever be one in all seriousness.
Good. Agreed. I've always thought they upset the flow of the game. I guess they were a cool novelty back in the 90s.
Quoted from Ferret:Yeah, we've been talking about that too. Problem with doing that is that there gets to be a mix of "freebie" Revives and "lock stealing" Revives and it quickly becomes confusing to the player what's going on. It made more sense when there was a physical ball lock up there and you could watch the "sleeping" ball get revived...
What could be a simple compromise to leverage this cool rule, without detriment to achieving the multiball would be to not have the hypersleep lock be a literal one for one exchange: Just make it that the hypersleep activates one arrow each time a lock is achieved. When the hypersleep save is activated in the left drain, just have it remove the arrow, but keep the lock 1 registered. You'd need to lock the second ball to then activate the hypersleep save arrow again... But this would also be lock 2, it wouldn't restart the lock count at 1.
Now that the pin's been out and about in the public, can anyone shed some light on any of the modes' gameplay or scoring? I'm excited to learn more! Ferret perhaps
?
With the weapon bonuses, can the M41A Pulse Rifle double scoring and Drop Ship 2X scoring be combined for 4X scoring? And can you use a weapon before progressing to the next? For example, if I earn the handgun and activate the bonus x advance before collecting the pulse rifle, will the next weapon collected be the handgun again or the pulse rifle?
ALIEN:
1. Derelict Ship
2. Acid Burn
3. Find Jonesy
4. Tunnel Hunt
5. Self Destruct
ALIENS:
1. Combat Drop
2. A-P-C
3. Bug Hunt
4. Queens Nest
5. Loader Battle
MULTIBALL:
1. Hypersleep
2. Sentry Guns
3. Ambush
4. Save Newt
5. All out War
Quoted from Ferret:I generally prefer to let players enjoy the discovery process. That's just based on my personal approach to new games: I really like having the large and small details of a game reveal themselves as I play it more and more, and/or watch others play. I could dump my entire 20 page rulesheet on yuz, but where's the fun in that?
Really good philosophy, it kinda makes the game more of a limitless exploration as opposed to a definitive constrained rule set. I'm going to see if I can find something hidden like Shadow's Peking Duck mode, or a midnight madness... Oh, maybe the pin will do something freaky every April 26 (Alien Day)!
Quoted from Whysnow:Joe > It is really good the way it is now! Seriously from someone that likely have more time on our game than anyone, please dont make it any easier to do hypersleep. That upper ramp lock is tough but with time you start to get it dialed in. If you watch towards the end of the night, quite a few of us are getting the feel and lock multiple balls in it. It is challenging in a good way.
Plus I find that ambush and sentery happen quite often.
While I haven't had the good fortune of being to play, I'd agree. We don't need to have all multiballs, all the time. I like the idea of having a gradient of difficulty on the multiballs... it makes achieving the less accessible ones all the more rewarding.
There are NUMEROUS multiballs... this isn't Ghostbusters where the most accessible multiball is still somewhat difficult to access and another removes the fun (IMO) by reversing the flippers.
Quoted from ezeltmann:I have to preface this comment by saying i think the game is coming along great and i am really impressed with the attention by the entire team to answering questions and putting in their best effort to make this game great.
Right now the Alien head is the most underwhelming part of the game. Of course, except for the Heighway produced videos, I have only seen the top down perspective for most scenarios. I am expecting the reverse will be true by the time you guys are done with it.
My observations and suggestions (feel free to tell me to be patient and shut up):
1. There appears to be no indication as to how many hits you have left on the Xeno head (to start multiball) displayed on the LCD screen.
2. I would like to see some sort of feedback on the screen for each Xeno head hit. My suggestion is a very quick static-interruption style menacing Xeno appearance overriding the standard "status" screen. The ball will most likely be rolling right past the playfield screen at the exact moment this animation appears.
3. It's been mentioned before, that the Xeno head would benefit greatly from having a dedicated spotlight and /or flasher strobe. I would suggest that each hit would spotlight the head (again very briefly); which would inspire the player to shoot there often for the coolness factor. This is the No.1 mod i would want should Heighway not change anything.
4. From what i have seen when the head has grabbed the ball in videos, it seems to happen all too quick. My suggestion to be to drag it out with movie clips related to the scene ala "sparky Multiball startup" , which is way too long actually. The main point is that it should be a spectacle (IMO) , especially at the current level of difficulty. The wow factor of this toy has yet to be shown to it's full potential. Please let me know if you disagree or support this (pinsiders and developers).
I mean this all as constructive criticism and fully realize that part or all of what i suggested might already be planned. I have in in my (not Xeno) head that this feature should be the main draw and selling point of the game (again, think sparky) and as we are seeing in these streams, it has been underwhelming , if not confusing. The sound it makes when you hit it is great , i must say.
Thanks Heighway team , Hilton and friends, and Jack Danger for all your hard work and attention on last nights stream and overall in bringing us a great game. I want it to be the best game of all time.
I agree with all of the above. This is positive constructive feedback, which I'm sure is in line with what the team already has planned!
Quoted from MikeS:I think the designer did a great job getting as many shots as possible into the playfield layout.
I think Alien may set the record for the pin with the highest number of unique flipper shots on a playfield... are there any pins that come to mind with more?
Quoted from PanzerFreak:It's certainly is the top 10, maybe top 5, pins with the most shots. In terms of shots that pass through an area, drop into something, or go up a ramp Alien has 10 shots.
When counting shots as I described above TZ has 11, WOZ 10, TH 7, and STTNG 8.
Yes, but one thing I think Alien ranks higher than all these (and really highlights the genius of the playfield design) is the number of shots from each flipper in total.
For example, lot of pins have just one or 2 shots from the upper flippers... but not Alien, the lower left flipper has the vent shot, the ramp, the shot to the upper flipper, the right orbit (I'm going from memory... there may be more). Same with the upper right. Many of the 10 or so shots are accessible from a lot of the flippers.
Quoted from Whysnow:ok, guys
can we please keep this one positive and on focus of the cool things? I get the desire to compare but this game is really like nothing else.
The only close comparable is that is 'feels' liek full throttle. I do agree with mike that the style is also somewhat shadow-esque in the flow and need to work on the fly and adjust (all good things)
Code is not even remotely like any other game I have played, unless superficially i.e. shoot the blinky lights in this order.
Well. I only own one pin. It's a Shadow.
I rate Shadow as one of my top 3 pins.
I ordered a L/E Alien to be my second pin... based purely on layout shots, design, code and rules. I'm not phased much by the Alien theme (it's neat and all and I liked the movies).
This must mean something.
Quoted from Ferret:We went back and forth a lot on stacking rules. On one hand, the game is intended to be very atmospheric, we want players to be engrossed in the scenes. That's hard to do when a bunch of things are stacked, it becomes a cacophony. On the other hand, it's a modern pinball game, we didn't want it to be flat, so stacking rules are a must. It's a tough tightrope to walk, but I think we did a pretty decent job of it. You can potentially stack a scene, two multiballs, another secret feature, and 2X Playfield. The points can quickly explode.
I think you made all the right choices!
So you can stack multiballs? I'm guessing this gives a boosted scoring?
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