(Topic ID: 183206)

American Pinball Houdini thread

By lllvjr

7 years ago


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Topic index (key posts)

41 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 #145 Houdini Pinball initial flyer Posted by HighProtein (7 years ago)

Post #184 Initial reveal at TPF Posted by SilverballNut (7 years ago)

Post #190 Introductory Price of Houdini Posted by 1iblind (7 years ago)

Post #198 Initial Pictures of Machine Posted by lllvjr (7 years ago)

Post #229 Playfield Close-Up Pics Posted by bigd1979 (7 years ago)

Post #284 Machine feature details Posted by rosh (6 years ago)

Post #312 More feature details Posted by rosh (6 years ago)

Post #385 Double switch lane picture Posted by pinballrockstar (6 years ago)

Post #420 Pinball show appearance schedule for Houdini Posted by rosh (6 years ago)

Post #434 Houdini pics from Allentown show Posted by PinballSTAR (6 years ago)


Topic indices are generated from key posts and maintained by Pinside Editors. For more information, or to become an editor yourself read this post!

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#1506 6 years ago
Quoted from DngrWillRobinson:

It’s actually in Schaumburg, Il not Chicago. If you were in Chicago looking for Level 257 you wouldn’t even be close to finding it. I’m curious, were your center drains coming out of the Key Lane? I played two different machines at AP’s facility and one keep draining SDTM out of the Key Lane and the other did not. It appears one needed to be tweaked. It is an awesome game, can’t wait until they are released.

it's one of the games that was at expo. the 2 there must be the other 2

#1517 6 years ago

Had fun playing it

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#1532 6 years ago
Quoted from 3pinballs:

what really stood out for you as of game play?

inverted and reserved flippers mode. It also has the you have X flips to try to save your ball mode as well.

#1564 6 years ago

There seems to be bug with the return from beyond showing the seance multi ball ready artwork on top of it.

Also in multi ball when you stack an added multi ball mode that ball saver light should come to let you know that you stacked something and it's not the game messing up giving a end less multi ball. I was playing and I seemed to be a very long time of balls just coming back out in multi ball with no ball saver light on.

#1566 6 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

Joe, thanks for the feedback.
The seance stuff is supposed to show in Return From Beyond, since you are trying to spell seance in order to return.
I'll look into the multiball thing, not sure if the starting of the new MB is obvious, and if it is a second MB starting, ball save should be flashing, also possible something else is going on with Seance Multiball putting too many balls in play. I've had another report of that, but have not seen it or been able to replicate it yet.

Was in Seance (can't really lookup at the screen to see stuff all the time when playing to see if it stated some other mode)

Does the bug have any thing to do with staged/locked balls getting unlocked / re locked in modes?

#1598 6 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

I tend to think the Stern designers and programmers still do as much of this kind of thing that they can. I suspect part of the challenge that they have, and that we have to be careful about, is having the production line, and the need to feed it, can negatively impact the game development cycle. Stern has a big production line and they need to keep it running. If a machine is not selling well, it likely results in timelines changing for the next machine or two in line, so suddenly they have to 'finish it' so it can be ready to go when needed. In addition, Stern obviously likes to use licensed themes, which can be challenging, but they know how to work through the approval process -- and I suspect part of that is them going for the path of least resistance, which likely turns into -- keep it simple, don't do something they might object to.
We will face some of these challenges with game 2, relative to feeding the production line. The better Houdini sells, the lower the risk. Sticking with unlicensed themes, for now, lets us not have to worry about approvals, so it gives us the latitude to take creative risks, as well as not having something else outside our control potentially impact timelines.
I have to think that designers at Stern have had frustrations at time when timelines and approvals get in the way. I'm sure Steve, and whomever else was working on it, had a lot of cool ideas for SW, that they could not do given these various constraints. As we know some of their games ship with minimal code, due to these timelines, and while some of the programmers are really good about getting it finished, when, and if, they are given the time, the playfield designer can not 'finish' the things they wanted to do due to a lack of time or the concern of it not being approved.
With more competitors have entering the marketplace, giving buyers more choices, it increases the risk of a game not selling well, and the cascading affect that can have. Of course this can then become self fulfilling prophecy as you speed up a game's development since the last game did not sell well, and since you sped things up, this next game is not up to professional contemporary standards, so it does not sell well, and that can start a dangerous repeating pattern.
Of course quality issues are a totally different thing, but can also plays a roll in all of this.
Despite what Deeproot says, pinball is hard.

I think that pro / premium split hurts stern vs others in terms of constraints.
In software to have to make differnt coding / rules for the split just makes it so that it takes more time to get the code done. For the ideas it's like how can we work it so that X is only in the premium but also make so that that thing you take out does not mess up the flow of the pro game.

2 weeks later
#1719 6 years ago
Quoted from mcbPalisade:

Holy cow! Some real innovation here too! One suggestion I have is that once you consider this done NEVER CHANGE IT FOR ANY FUTURE GAMES.
That way someone charging through the menu can develop muscle memory and just know: Enter/Test, +, +, Enter etc etc

The tests area can use an specific tests (use the game logo if it has a sub menu for more then one thing in it) like stern and others as well as having coils and switches in there own area. Even the old WMS games had some stuff like that in the test menu for the games that needed it.

You one looks to have one for just one game only thing.

1 week later
#1785 6 years ago
Quoted from Rdoyle1978:

Yet another example of why I am happy to wait for these machines. (no I'm not!!!! )
It sort of sounds like you guys are doing the burn-in time in the factory instead of what's become common, where the first buyers become the final testers.

I like that and the code in the test games seamed good (but missing a few modes) as well overall way better then stern games.

#1810 6 years ago
Quoted from swillie:

19 if you include the spot in front of the side door

there is also street parking as well.

2 weeks later
#2037 6 years ago

Got to play it some more. Why are timers counting down when the ball is moving thought the locks? Other games stop the timers for that.

#2042 6 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

Locks as in the catapult sequence (it does pause it), or are you talking about the pops, where it doesn't. The reason I don't do it in the pops, is the pops are used in multiple modes, so I don't feel appropriate to be extending the time when you are scoring points by being there. At the same time, either a mode is heavily pop focused (handcuff king, Needles trick), or being near the pops has little value to you (there is one maybe two exceptions where the key lane shot is used which will put you in the pops), so if you should not be near the pops, then why should you be rewarded for being someplace you should not be? Although I'm sure many will disagree.
One of my mantras is just because others do it or its 'always been done that way', does not make it right (I think Joe hates when I say that) nor does it mean I have to do it that way. If you like things the way they are on every other game, then, well go play a ______. Obviously Houdini conforms to many of the expected behaviors and features, since you want folks to be comfortable and obviously some of those make a lot of sense, but what often makes a new machine interesting, is when it does things that are different or new or unexpected. TNA, is an 80s style game, but brings new things to it, like speed and intensity of game play, I don't think it would be so popular if Scott had just made a new 80s style game that played like an 80s game without adding new ideas to it or using newer concepts to challenge the status quo.

In the catapult sequence the hurry up shot was counting down seemed like a bug that it did not pause. To be fair in multi player games where some players get a quick lock and others get the longer one the timers need to pause.

Keep it running in the bumpers!

#2052 6 years ago
Quoted from DennisDodel:

"Limited use"?! I guess this game really is tough! I don't remember the exact percentage, but in the old days games were designed to give a replay once every ? games. I'm sure it was about every 6 or 7 games.
You gotta give a little reward now and then or they walk away.

Some games have fired it from time to time for non replay stuff. for a long time stern has had it as an add on.

1 week later
#2139 6 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

Exchanged some emails with them today.

there is adjustability on the shooter housing, but can you take a photo of it and email it to me, I would like to see it before you adjust it ([email protected])
When I say snubber, I am referring to the scoop.

Unfortunately that is too big window, logs files have hundreds of thousands of lines (and also don't think they have the clock set right on the machine at VUK right now, based on the logs I am looking at). I do see two system crashes over the last week in the logs. One is an issue that was first reported a week ago having to do with secret missions in a multiplayer game, and has been in the code forever, the other is also a bug that has been around forever, but was never seen until now. We are currently testing a fix for it.

Just asking from an IT tech stand point does hard power offs (common with arcade games) show in the logs vs an crash and auto reboot?

1 week later
#2204 6 years ago

Tilt events will be ignored for 10 seconds following a ball search cool! Does it also have an setting for coin door disable tilt as well?

1 week later
#2350 6 years ago
Quoted from Yelobird:

Nobody should feel any pain. This Is an awesome pin and will certainly be worth the wait. A great team whose only fault is wanting to make sure every game is perfect. Look on the bright side, they are still 4 years ahead of the wait for The Big Lebowski!

and with software that is getting done a lot faster.

1 week later
#2436 6 years ago
Quoted from Ericc123:

It is Houdini after all. If you can't escape the line you don't deserve to play lol.

and line jump as well

1 month later
#3834 5 years ago
Quoted from pinden007:

I've put about 60 games on so far and this game is very frustrating and not necessarily because of the tight shots. I am getting lots of rejects from the scoop, the stage, the milk can and the ramp. It's hard enough to have to hit those things but when you do and it rejects out, it is not fun.
What is everyone doing to reduce the rejects?
Other things I would like to see:
1. Bypass the match so I can start another game
2. Bypass the hat or option to turn off the non game items
3. Stop the timer when the ball is not in play
4. If lock is lit and I skill shot award lock, I think the lock should remain lit
5. Water torture - the ball shoots out before announcing what to shoot at
6. The out lane awards don't seem to be used much (unless I just don't know how to light them)

4. can also work as advance lock.

1 week later
#4051 5 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

Here is a little secret, when you shoot stage alley or key lane, the pops are disabled for around 100 milliseconds or until the first hit of skirt, then they go live, this makes those shots through the pops a touch easier as nip of the edge of one skirt does not hose you.

I suggesting opening a ticket and Barry can work with you to see if something else needs to be adjusted relative to the trajectory of the ball.

Wow with out knowing that is hard to pickup.

4 weeks later
#4541 5 years ago
Quoted from Lysurgeon:

Why dont the ball save outlanes work during multiball?

well you do want a do or die mode to start in multiball?

1 month later
#5264 5 years ago
Quoted from rosh:

I suggest turning on the Tournament Setting, which will remove extra balls, and also remove randomness from the game, e.g. the magic shop awards will go in a set sequence as will the cops. I think magic points will also be the same for each player.
I would then consider lowering the ball saves that are adjustable. Maybe not the start of ball, but the others.
Opening the outlanes can be done, but that is a little more work and not sure it buys you enough.

EB should be there own setting not tied to Tournament mode and EB off or maxed out = EB scores points.

#5352 5 years ago

The game needs to recover better from lock cannon misses. Like ball save on right away and on lock 3 start MB even if the ball drains or starts some other mode before it time outs the (start delay).

The one at 257 has been missing a bit.

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