Is it an ice cream shaped scepter?

I don't why you are whining about my post, you are a little too precious with your opinions. Anyways low effort and low thought is probably what led to them marking their content as kids only.

Levi and I had our disagreement on Bond.

But the guy is on fire!
Lately I am LOL at all Levi’s posts.

Hilarious. Love it. Lol
#teamLevi

The humor of Whoa Nellie Big Juicy Melons was simply the appetizer, the amuse bouche.

The pinball community, industry, and players lapped it up, and demanded more!

Are you ready to gorge on the trough of hilarious delights that is the main course?

Here it is. Nordman unchained!!!

If you can handle it.

Hoping audio comes through better in game and looking forward to a stream. But if it's similar to what was in the trailer I don't think I could muscle through a 3 ball game.

The community can debate the marketing/reveal forever. It probably won't ever (obviously) be held in the same regard as the GnR reveal.

When its proven to be a great game to play, the marketing won't matter.

Its not an opinion lmao. I agree though, low thought is exactly what led to it. I don't know. Maybe I am crazy to think that if I was launching a product, I wouldn't want low effort or thought going into my big reveal. Hopefully the 4 year olds banging away on their moms old ipad enjoy it! I'm not exactly sure what the guidelines are for kids content on youtube either, but I wouldn't be that shocked if some of the things in the trailer actually violate it.

HAHAHA MELONS! LIKE BOOBS!! LOLOLOLOLOL

All true! Instead FF! All hail FF!

The acting is like a bad porno; but I kinda like it!

Dialed In would like a word with you

Haha, man I love that one too.

If this game sells anything like DI, I think AP can declare victory.

I'm kinda reminded of this ending to an episode of Community where they make a short low budget Star Wars like trailer

That’s a snappy Pinside handle if I ever heard one Levi!
I wonder if o-din would be game switching to that…

"Respect the bounce" and WNBJM?

keith-morrison-see.gif

They did release it a couple days before one of if not the biggest pinball festival. Im guessing they want hands on and have people experience it for themselves Im sure there will be a stream released. People complaining about actors and it being goofy. That is the point its not to be taken serious. Just like my favorite example the movie Evil Dead. That movie did not take it self serious and turned out very well. It is a funny, cheesy horror movie that turned out being a cult classic. Too many people here are putting the cart before the horse. Lets all just wait a few days and we will have much more information and we can go from there. I think it does look like a fun game I am excited to see game play.

I think the comments about the footage in the reveal vs during gameplay are referencing how they're used on screen vs just bare full screen clips shown in the reveal. We haven't really seen how they fit in the actual game yet, yet Levi and others are mocking and have written off the entire thing.

One of the only still pics we have of the display shows the video of the Captain in a small section of the window, with the image of the enemy tank that seems to be displayed during battles. I think that works just fine, imo.

I'm sure they'll be some full screen footage in game, but the integration with the HUD and scoring displays, bits of separate animation, etc, will make these fit a lot better I expect. Heck, just the art and control panel style of the speaker panel/bezel area will make the videos look better in game. I'm curious if the green lighting is just art or if that panel is actually actively lit too.

This image is all I recall seeing thus far...
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FYI, The AP sales numbers and trends some are sharing as if gospel, are incorrect.

Seems they wanted to save the live action for this last? trailer, but seems they then made that too much of a focus, vs showing the ball in action. Given the game will be at major shows the next two weeks and allegedly on location at a bunch of places, possible they just did not want to show too much until folks get to experience the game in person. Was a bit surprised they did not try to share some of the back story and more about the Ice Cream component.

As I commented a couple of thousands posts ago, the game would have lovers and haters and that is certainly the case. However, I would suggest everyone hold off loving or hating this too much, until you actually see it in game play. Not saying everyone is going to love it, but suspect there will be plenty of flip-flops -- probably both ways. As I've also said, this game is very different from what has been released of late, so you can't really know if you love it or hate it, until you shoot it. For the haters, I'll beat one of you to the punch line . . "You think you hate it now, wait until you shoot it".

BTW, I was involved in all of the video recording sessions, and I can tell you that the Professor Plotnik is pretty funny and he is my favorite character -- so head to the LAB!!! Since I don't have clips from the game to share, I'll leave you with this Professor Plotnik, aka Jeff Hoover, "Walken" video. . .

I'll go ahead and make a bold prediction, they are seriously underplaying the acting and the final product will be nominated not just for a Twippy, but a Oscar next year!

LOL...

Actually it is 100% in violation of YouTube Kids policy. They do not mark the video as a paid advertisement (which it is since they made the video to try and sell stuff). Not disclosing the creator-sales relationship is a very, very big no-no for YT kids. It can't be inferred either... it has to be an actual verbal cutscene stating that "this is a paid advertisement for .... product" anything else and you are in violation of YT and FTC policy.

I agree we just cannot form a reliable opinion until gameplay videos.

Regardless of how we ultimately land on this game, I hope we can all agree on using “Head to the lab!” and “Hold my scepter!” as pinball catchphrases from now on. Also “I’m loser intolerant” and “Talk to your doctor about sprinkles”.

I couldn’t say it any better; will be waiting for gameplay maybe you can elaborate a little bit on the depth of the game; I don’t see any big mechs in this thing am I missing something?

My teenage daughter got a big laugh from the, " I am sorry, I am loser intolerant"

Still like the red lipstick though.

I am not sure people are either. Hard to do either without seeing game play. We wanted gameplay, why hide it behind questionable video

Hell, I saw more game play in the Toyota pinball super bowl ad from a few years ago than I did on the teaser yesterday.

Good thing is the pin is unlicensed. If they decide to run it thru a filter, make it B&W, whatever - they can. No need for a licensor to grant approval (unless the actors have a say). They could even have multiple versions of code (same rules, different filters).

I guess the bottom line is if the video is stopping people from buying but the playfield is great, I would think AP would revisit.

He’s not bad, but man… if you scrounged up $10 more to the acting budget, you could’ve probably scored the strongest man…….IN THE WORRRLLLD!!!

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Toby Huss free to riff in a pinball machine?
That would’ve been so f@<king PIPE!!!

For me, the real issue in the roll out is this weird video was the last step before asking for money. Distributors all started taking deposits as soon as it was released. It’s an odd last sales pitch before opening up orders. Maybe if this came out a week ago and then yesterday was more focused on gameplay it would have gone over better. I’m really surprised they haven’t rushed to get gameplay videos out after yesterdays reaction.

This whole reveal is just head scratching. Have really liked their games, they have each had very different layouts and the rules are always wide, deep and fun and with animations that usually suck (Hot Wheels being the exception and what is with just static images in LOV). At what point I wondered if that was a protest against LCDs, but clearly this says, no, just LCD challenged. Even though there are a lot of new players, hopefully this game has the positive elements from the others, but does not seem they fixed the LCD side of things. Does not seem the 2 years they spent on this game was time well spent.

Weird thing with the youtube, is that it seems they created this channel just a couple of weeks ago, all of those great maintenance videos and videos for their other games are on a different youtube channel, that had over 400 subscribers and 50 videos. Why would they create a new channel for this release and abandon the old content and subscribers? You would at least think they would have moved all of the maintenance videos over so people could find them. Wonder if they have someone new handling the youtube stuff is just clueless, creating a new account, does not know how to properly post/configure videos.

Looking at this rollout, the whole marketing department at AP needs to be replaced. Seems like the David Fix experiment is a failure.

I hate to break up the party here, but does anyone know when/if there will be a livestream of this TODAY? 3-23-23

AP is doing a stream at their TPF seminar I believe? That's Friday at 5pm central time

So what you're saying is you love the game when it's not playable? A true vote of confidence!!!

Because it's a prototype and probably doesn't shoot well or have code that's anywhere near complete? Because AP's marketing plan on this game is probably a whatsapp group chat between Dave Fix and whoever will tell him what he wants to hear? Take your pick they're probably both right!

I almost wanted to point it out (maybe in another thread) when it came up weeks ago - they're just preposterous, and only make sense in a very specific context: that the numbers were just before covid, aka 3 years ago, and just released games hadn't sold as many as the game that had been on the market longest. I think I also had picked out some logic that somewhere around 110% of games sold were accounted for on the pinside map....

This is game of the year....... no doubt about it.

Crazy Levi will probably have a stroke when that happens. An unlicensed game, selling very well, beating his beloved Stern?
CL: "IMPOSSIBLE!!! HOW CAN THIS HAPPEN?!?! IT'S UNLICENSED!!! NO ONE IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD BUY THIS GAM.... *STROKE*"

My first thoughts are that this proves (already been proven time and time again) that some pinball people will literally preorder anything. I really like Nordman games and this one might be a great shooter and end up being a lot of fun. I would have loved to have it morphing into a tank in my bedroom when I was between 4-8 years old kid. The problem here is that I'm not a kid anymore and kids don't buy 11k pinball machines. Who the F would want that in their house? Who is putting the head down after every game so it looks like a tank? All models feel overpriced for what they are. I'm hoping the game is a winner and I wouldn't be against owning a standard version if it is but there is nothing to make me order it at this moment. I don't mind cheesy or campy. I bought a AMH NIB at TPF one year and loved it while I owned it. Was about the price of a stern pro and was tons of cheesy fun. The standard version is going to have to really win some people over or this one is going to flop. After the 50 nuts that want a toy tank in their house have bought its going to come down to it being a good game to sell any of the standard models and so far it's not promising imo.

I am not sure what is going on with AP and this reveal. They haven't even bothered to update their website with any relevant information. I would like to see more closeup pictures, feature matrix, or any of the promotion material release to distros. But, all we get is a basic webpage with zero information and a horribly stretched image.

https://www.american-pinball.com/games/galactic-tank-force/

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Not even a pic of thermos or lunchbox.

I think you're living in denial if you feel those video assets aren't in the game. I mean, I'd be fine if they aren't, but my God, why are they so predominant in this video if they aren't. Talk about a confusing/misleading trailer if that were true.

Every time someone craps on a theme, I immediately look at what they own and laugh. Granted, I cannot see your list, but I love how someone will say that "theme xyz is stupid," but will have alien poker and hoteheels in their basement.

I didn't crap on the theme. I crapped on a pinball machine turning into a tank. I stand by my belief that it's incredibly dumb. We haven't seen enough gameplay to really tell anything other than the video assets are pretty dang bad and for 11K it can look like a tank. Game might play great and end up being a lot of fun. Pretty bad overall reveal though imo.

This whole thing about pricing being too high is just our hobby now. Personally, they're all too damn expensive. I get way more enjoyment playing games on steam or ps5 than pinball for literally .5% of the price. We have a thread about value pins below 6k for God's sake. So sadly, that's the new norm. But I get it, for that much money you would hope it would knock our collective socks off.

Ferret and I did the rules, so you know we work hard to have both breadth and depth and balance things so that there will be things in there for the casual/novice player, the enthusiast and the competitive player. The playfield art tells you a lot about game play. There are a series of battles against the enemy and there are a series of missions regarding Ice Cream ingredients, each leading to a mini-wizard mode. There are not surprisingly other things going on, such as the Alien Saucer trying to steal cows (moving target), Playfield Multiplier (targets in pop area), Meltdown (pop bumpers), advancing ranks (upper right lanes). There is also cow related mini-wizard mode as well, a final wizard mode (which I don't know details on since that and the final tank battle were not written/coded before I parted ways, although I did write some lines for both for the video sessions based on the ideas we were playing with).

As seen in the video, the tank, which I guess you can say is the major mech in the game, it uses a stepper motor to do two things, it shakes when hit, but it does something else, that has not yet been shown, but it does not shoot out balls. There is a three ball lock, which is an improved version of the one used in Oktoberfest that uses Optos, not membrane switches. There is the moving target/flying saucer, the player controlled diverter (although the game will divert for the player at times), three magnets (tank, saucer, catch/feed VUK) and you know AP games have fun with magnets, as the tank magnet is used a couple of ways.

The center up post is not 3d printed as someone has suggested, but it is a standard rubber, just being used differently. We actually had a drop target in that spot at first, like Scooby Doo and others, but Dennis felt it was not 'reliable' enough in stopping a ball, and did not want the player to think they had protection and get screwed.

A quick tip for those who will get to play it at TPF, collect methane via the main shots so you have the methane blaster charged before attacking a tank.

I’m guessing via the swinging target too?
Udderly genius!

The game is essentially 9k. People that want a tank can pay 11K or 18K or whatever. For $500 more there's not going to be a lot of people that will choose this over FF or most stern premiums or even pulp fiction. I own Embryon, there's no more bizarre space theme then that and I love that game. I just don't see how this wins in the current market. It doesn't stack up well against its current competition at the moment. Maybe gameplay will change that.

Embryon is the most whackadoo theme ever. It is amazing.

That is an improvement from yesterday, where they did not even have the game in the game list. I was hoping to find better photos of the cabinet, a feature matrix, something. Maybe that decided not to post stuff until they could find and fix all the typos.

As I said earlier, they need a new Marketing department and new leadership.

How did companies like Bally, Williams, Gottleib, old Stern ever survive back in the day when they released production numbers?

I don't get the secrecy.

Essentially you have 5 options: 1) buy LE in tank cabinet for $11k 2) buy LE in typical cabinet and Franchi artwork for $9k 3) wait for standard model to be announced for $7k 4) pass on buying one 5) play one, when you find one.

There are 100s or even 1000s of unlicensed pinballs that few people give a crap about or ever talk about. There's a survivorship bias, we only care about games like AFM and MM because they're good games. And part of what makes them good is they have great sound packages. Bally/Williams hit up the local comedy circuit for their voice work, improv artists who were used to playing ridiculous roles on a nightly basis. That's why Medieval Madness has voicework from Tina Fey.

Attack from Mars is a thinly disguised remix of Mars Attacks! Medieval Madness owes a lot to Monty Python and the Holy Grail. They took classic ideas and ran with them, but the key is that the execution was stellar. Brian Eddy created probably the two most quintessential fan layouts in pinball history. The castle is still one of the most beloved toys in pinball. The code had motherfuckin' Lyman Sheats. Dan Forden has a stable of games with excellent sound. Hitting up Second City comedy club for voice talent was actually genius. (Had a chance to catch a show there once, was a good time.)

I think LCDs in pinball are overrated. Whole topic there. But what's not overrated and is hugely important imo is sound. The callouts are going to end up being more important than what's on the screen with GTF. Curious about the music too, are they actually putting dubstep in the game or was that just an odd trailer choice?