Black Knight - Sword of Rage Club - Honourable Knights Only

Quoted from DrJoe:
Suggestions for next code update???? I have a couple:
Don't kill the GI in when mystery is awarded in multi-ball (or any other time balls are in play).
The flames in the back don't work if the insert brightness is set below 100%.
Upper playfield target is too strong during modes (too easy to bash it and defeat monsters). Maybe require a loop to qualify a hit?
Allow a grace period for multi-ball end (when hitting the 3rd lock for triple knights challenge while draining in catapult multi-ball).
The Black Knight goes "nice" too fast, currently after 2 monsters defeats. This should happen after maybe 4 defeats imo.
Really fun, addictive game. Other code thoughts?

My first thought on ideas for the next code update would be to make more use of the optos up on the upper playfield. I see and have shot fairly often 3 different loop shots. Would be nice to have some reward/rule layering for these types of loops aswell as the traditional one .

On my diagram (sorry for the quick rough drawing!, need to get back playing, lol!) The white and blue arrows are loops without code (other than 30 points!) the yellow one is the regular loop.
black-knight-sword-of-rage-premium-closeup-playfield-stern-betson (resized).jpg

Also, it would be good to have some reward/alternative use for cycling a ball in the castle lock when lock isn't lit and i'd also like more use of the lock down bar button. Different colours for other stuff aswell as magna save. Nothing feels better than hitting that button!

3 weeks later

#1364 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

OP
Quoted from NeilMcRae:
BOOOM!
This topper is rocking !!

Awesome!

1 month later

#1646 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/black-knight-swords-of-rage-club-honourable-knights-only/page/25#post-5215809

Quoted from DS_Nadine:
Nah, Monstermodes are enough. Refine them a bit (is there a "finishing" animation?) and add some stuff to do on the sides, like visibly/ in numbers building up damage to the castle wall/ collecting money (wich you allready do I suppose but I still didn't get how sicne I only play on location).

Actually yes, us owners would like more monster modes. Each realm should have multiple monsters to face in, otherwise why name realms differently??

Also what i want more than anything is more combos and higher/different awards for doing 2 things together. Think upper loop then castle lock together should be worth more than a straight castle lock.

Also see my loop shot map from earlier post here on what else the upper playfield loops could offer. ie blue and white loop shots currently do nothing

ee41df12ae70c269e3402f6784481c38085d070c (resized).jpg

#1670 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from javagrind888:
Bah, how is this Black Knight Friday? Disappointing

Yeah, how is releasing a vinyl record already available on eBay anything worth shouting about???Really expected new code and the topper yesterday otherwise don’t say anything.

Wasn’t pissed off before but now I’m annoyed! But, I’ve still got an awesome bk premium to play!

#1673 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from DS_Nadine:
Stern got a lot of shit for making the record exclusive to a convention and people reselling that thing near 300$ on eBay. So there's obviously people waiting for this. Me included.

That’s nothing to shout about though. It just extra merch so what. The code update is what everyone here with games wanted and expected especially when you start calling it ‘Black Knight Friday’ No brainer and I’m pissed off now they said anything

#1687 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from RebelGuitars:
Where did Stern ever mention code or the topper? They didn’t, we were all just hoping that’s what it would be.
BTW, the vinyl released yesterday is different from the SDCC version.

The point is when a post goes up hyping something with the phrase ‘black knight Friday’ And a cool promo assembly vid you expect something bigger than a vinyl album already released and already available on eBay ... Jeez, it’s not that difficult to think the long awaited code update and topper will be released. They shouldn’t have bothered if that wasn’t the case... Frikin piss take

3 weeks later

#1844 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

No code for christmas then....

Bummer

#1864 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from newtoit:
As far as code, dont get your hopes up and you wont be let down. I was a big advocate for this game but my enthusiasm has died. It is the best looking game stern has put out but the gameplay is lacking. It could be a great game if the code had more to offer. I own an LE and havent played it in atleast a month but i do enjoy looking at it.

Yep, very disappointed about the lack of code updates. Spent an absolute fortune getting a premium here in uk which was not easy to earn. I still love playing it as screen graphics, sounds, music, art blows other games away, but I notice big gaping holes now in the codes depth and they are getting irritating

Retro modes don’t seem to add anything to the game and block your progress. No additional use for the lockdown button during game, only 1 monster per realm, no auto save if knights mace flings ball over flipper lane guides or flipper itself.

The upper loops are just annoying with no awards on 2 of the 3 shots! Tumble weed! And I’m yet to understand what the right hand side 3 bank drop targets do??? Anyone? Maybe I’m missing something..

Not sure why we can’t have regular incremental updates like other games. I like seeing the progress. Doesn’t need to be 6 months between additions, or ‘we need to wait for toppers’. The teams at stern are big enough now surely that programmers can focus on individual projects.

And it feels like the previous update was really 0.85 at best not a 1.0 in my book. Feels like a generous increment!

#1866 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Bagdad:
It activate the Magna Save.
http://tiltforums.com/t/black-knight-sword-of-rage-rulesheet/5210

Well there we are then, add that onto the list to. There’s alot more you can do with them than that, like all 3 down during a mode gives next shot for starters and some modes could use the targets themselves as extra shots. A £9k+ game should not have basic 1 dimensional rules

#1873 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Jesder:
Having the lock down bar button for magna save really limits how it can be used in the game sadly If Stern had kept magna save to a second button on the cabinet, the lock down bar button would be freed up for use in play.

I still think there is ALOT more you can do with the lockdown bar button regardless. 2 quick ideas (off the top of my head) .When you are in a multiball for example you don't need magna save so the button can be freed up for other things. When you are on the upper playfield in single ball play the button could be used to cycle awards for loops, or the current loop shot that is lit. Look at how the button was used on star wars and bm66. The lamp in there is rgb to, so you can use different colours to signify different uses.

Another thing to (on a seperate topic), when you lock a ball back into the castle lock if the lock isn't lit, you get nothing, also if you lock a ball back in during multiball play and the super jackpots are not lit, you also get NOTHING..

#1908 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from John1210:
If the community and owners don't give the coders a hard time and put some pressure on chances are the code won't get that extra polish. It's the nature of the situation.
It's not a personal attack on Tim... but owners have paid big dollars for this game and it is his job to code the game as best he can. As I said in my original post at present it's only a good game not great. He needs to sort it and get that code up to scratch and add some deeper rules and objectives.

My view is that stern should give the teams time to finish the games properly with decent rich rulesets, not rush stuff out and force a fake v1.0 on people. These games costs lots of money which takes ages to earn. I’m happy to support stern with my coin, but I don’t expect them to leave games with shots that do nothing. I really thought we were passed this type of thing with the expansion of the coders and teams generally and a more regular update process. (something which I enjoy seeing) And yes I know first hand how long things take.

#1921 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from newtoit:
I have it on good authority that there will be a code update preview within a couple weeks. It involves more text on screen, gameplay "tweaks" and many bug fixes. And of course major topper integration. Keep an eye on the tilt forums for change notes coming soon.
The topper manufacturer is the reason for the delay.

Incremental updates are the way forward, not waiting 6 months plus for all the planets to align.

Maybe the new os update has sent them all down a rabbit hole...

1 week later

#2017 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

Quoted from Jesder:
I managed to watch a few Black Knight games being played on the INDISC stream over the weekend. The topper of course looks awesome although the game audio couldn't be heard, so wasn't able to tell exactly how it's movements line up with the call outs. I was hoping they would do a small section between rounds show casing it, but didn't see any. I can't see it being bad though - it will look amazing sitting on top of our machines.
Rules and code wise - basically what we saw posted to the Tilt forms (http://tiltforums.com/t/indisc-2020-the-open-ifpa-championship/6100/41) - very underwhelming seeing it in action. WAR hurry up is worth more which is nice, making it more worthwhile. The real value in it is still the Knight letter. The fact the pops add value to it brings them into the game play more which I like. Monster battles are worth more now with the base point increase, but it still seems like the only way to boost this is via the flail ramp - which is always huge drain risk. Especially since you lose that boost if you drain in the new code. Unsurprisingly, players didn't bother with it in the games I watched. I didn't spot much in the way of improved on screen display / information on the main UI, although there may have been new call outs that we couldn't hear on the stream. Supers still hold little value outside retro mode. Mystery still has the 250K and 750K awards which seem out of balance with the rest of the game. Take out the topper code and this should have been an incremental update a few months ago with perhaps a couple more updates since to flesh the game out further.
Tim was in the chat during the stream and did say he saw a few things he wanted to change before the code release, but only minor things. He wasn't specific with what things though. Sounds to me like a few more weeks yet before the release.

I totally agree. Why are we having to wait for the topper? Why couldn’t we have this update a few months back and a few more in between. I sure hope all the loop shots on the premium/les do something in this update. I mean come on now..

1 week later

#2065 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice

I noticed a few bugs today and also a tech issue with my castle lock. May be useful for people with premiums/le to check

- When you launch with the lock down button no skill shot is awarded if you shoot the castle lock unlike with a manual plunge
- When you lock a ball back into the castle lock at multiball start no jackpot is given or call out
- When you relight the green castle lock lights then relock a ball during multiball you don’t always get a super jackpot

I had to replug the far side opto connector to my castle lock mech as it just stopped registering balls randomly today. Was not pushed in all the way.

1 month later

#2393 4 years ago

JIM

applejuice