Custom Buffy The Vampire Slayer Pinball

****We will have 2 Buffy machines at The Texas Pinball Festival this year! Please stop by and give them a play if you are there!****

Hey guys! I am a huge fan of all things Whedon with Buffy being one of my biggest passions. So I decided to make my own BTVS pinball. I have started a retheme project and wanted to share it with you guys. It is still in the very early stages and far from being completed, but I'd like to hear what you guys think of it so far and any input you may have for me. You can read more about it on the P-ROC forums here: http://www.pinballcontrollers.com/forum/index.php?board=34.0 or on my web page www.BuffyPinball.com. Below is some basic info on the game. Thanks for looking!

- Game name: Buffy The Vampire Slayer
- Manufacturer name: BuffyPinball.com
- Machine type: SS
- Production run: 3
- Game type: Home-brew
- Design team for the following roles:
Concept: Dave Nelson
Game Design:Dave Nelson
Software Design: Michael Ocean
Animations and Display: Michael Ocean
Artwork, Cabinet: Vlad Strajnic
Artwork, Playfield: John Dozier
Sound and Music: Dave Nelson, Michael Ocean

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BuffyPlayfieldFinalFlatSmall.png
IMG_9797.JPG

IMG_0887-3.jpg
IMG_0982-1.jpg

buffy_pinball_side.png

Post last edited 7 years ago.

#2 10 years ago

GMB

bigdaddy07

Pinside+ Frequent

O'fallon, MO

13y 106K 4,718 5 28

Great job on the cabinet and translite so far. Looking forward in seeing how this progresses.

#3 10 years ago

JIM

Captive_Ball

Pinside+ Frequent

Cypress, TX

11y 128K 7,186 17 86

Quoted from bigdaddy07:
Great job on the cabinet and translite so far. Looking forward in seeing how this progresses.

Ditto

#4 10 years ago

TAK

ThatsaKicker

Inactive member

So was the pf in pretty good condition previously?
...

#5 10 years ago

RAT

paul_8788

Pinside member

12y 88,150 3,054

Cool. I too am a huge Whedon fan, too bad it is too old with not enough wide appeal to ever get a commercial machine done. I agree with the great job on cab and translite.

#6 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Quoted from ThatsaKicker:
So was the pf in pretty good condition previously?
...

The playfield was in Ok shape. I wouldn't say it was good. It has 5 or 6 inserts that are missing artwork and a few that are sunk in that will need to be releveled.

#7 10 years ago

JIM

Captive_Ball

Pinside+ Frequent

Cypress, TX

11y 128K 7,186 17 86

Quoted from ThatsaKicker:
So was the pf in pretty good condition previously?...

Better to re-theme it then throw it in the trash....great idea Nelly...looking forward to more updates along the way

#8 10 years ago

TAK

ThatsaKicker

Inactive member

Fair enough. Can't help but feel sad when I see rethemes.
Good theme though. And good artwork and website too.

#9 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Quoted from paul_8788:
Cool. I too am a huge Whedon fan, too bad it is too old with not enough wide appeal to ever get a commercial machine done. I agree with the great job on cab and translite.

If I ever do another retheme it will be a Firefly one! I am Browncoat for life! Love your avatar!

#10 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Thanks for the input guys! I know I will get flack for retheming a SOF, being semi rare and all, but I wanted to use a game that was inexpensive with a great layout and that was fun to play. That coupled with the fact I needed the layout to work with my theme, didn't leave me with a lot of options out there.

#11 10 years ago

TAK

ThatsaKicker

Inactive member

No flack from me. Just personal opinions/preferences
Takes big dreams and a lot of effort to do any semi large project let alone something like this.
So for that you have my respect!

#12 10 years ago

BRI

gweempose

13y 154K 20,205 37 1

It will make your life a lot easier if you base all the callouts on the episode 'Hush' ...

#13 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Quoted from gweempose:
It will make your life a lot easier if you base all the callouts on the episode 'Hush' ...

Hush miltiball. In which the whole game goes silent. Except for jackpots where you hear a scream and you see a Gentelmens head explode on the display!

#14 10 years ago

ANV

captainadam_21

Inactive member

Sioux Falls, SD

12y 74,150 3,104 46

Early seasons badass Spike is a must. Not that tool he was when he got a soul.

#15 10 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

Pinside+ Addict

Ann Arbor, MI

12y 162K 48,037 19 30 1

I'd prefer Angel, as it was the much better show. Good Luck!

#16 10 years ago

CRG

Craig

Pinside+ Frequent

Durham, NC

11y 70,900 4,543 11

I am so impressed by you guys who pull this off. It scares me to even think about putting new decals on my IJ!

#17 10 years ago

MIK

Miguel351

Pinside member

11y 81,400 4,567 3

I don't see Caleb on there anywhere..... (Seeing as how NF is so big in the Whedonverse)

You should make it a 6 or 7 ball game and have a LITZ type crazy multiball at the end, the Potentials Multiball!

#18 10 years ago

EDH

TigerLaw

San Pedro/port Of Los Angeles, CA

Jennings, LA

14y 224K 20,099 24 240

Whedon's a genius. I think Angel was his best work but Buffy is in my all time top 20 favorite shows too. Great stuff.

#19 10 years ago

HFK

Inactive member

Nokomis, FL

11y 72,900 1,191

Looks cool so far. Now get to work on the Firefly one.

#20 10 years ago

ALR

canea

Pinside member

11y 94,150 1,905 22

Nice work! Pictures look great though I'd love to cartoon style artwork on the playfield a la BSD. I'd never be able to get my sister off a Buffy pin; she loved that show.

#21 10 years ago

DEF

ataritoday

Pinside member

Newtown, PA

12y 47,300 590 5

Great to see this thread! I have been wanting to do a Buffy retheme for my wife for years.... never really got past the planning stage (seems like that is the way for most of my projects).

Look forward to progress updates.

#22 10 years ago

TOX

ChrisHibler

Chris' Pinball Repair

Chesterfield, MO

12y 120K 9,992 46

Nice...but needs more Cordelia...
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

#23 10 years ago

VIC

vicjw66

Pinside member

12y 92,550 5,257 4 6

I bought the virtualPC pinball Buffy The Vampire Slayer back in the early 2000's. The callouts were a little repetitive but it featured the bad Spike.

#24 10 years ago

BRC

Jackontherocks

Pinside member

Mesa, AZ

11y 94,300 4,954 8

What pin did this use to be?

#25 10 years ago

EDH

TigerLaw

Jennings, LA

14y 224K 20,099 24 240

Quoted from ChrisHibler:
Nice...but needs more Cordelia...
--
Chris Hibler - CARGPB #31
http://www.Team-EM.com
http://webpages.charter.net/chibler/Pinball/index.htm
http://www.PinWiki.com - The new place for pinball repair info

Angel is your answer to more Cordelia.

#26 10 years ago

GLM

ovfdfireman

Pinball Pro

12y 115K 4,914

Looks really awesome, great job! Keep us posted on your progress!

#27 10 years ago

BOY

vid1900

Pinside+ Member

Sana'a

12y 164K 40,195 18

Looks nice, the True Blood fans will be pissed.

#28 10 years ago

NAM

kwiKimart

Inactive member

San Diego, CA

12y 90,650 10,693 3 71

Quoted from Jackontherocks:
What pin did this use to be?

SOF

#29 10 years ago

LTG

Pinside member

Hopkins, MN

12y 191K 56,932 24 7

Awesome start. Can't wait to see it when done.

LTG : )

#30 10 years ago

BYU

bayoubilly70

Pinside+ Frequent

Westminster, MA

11y 79,550 2,062 7

This looks very neat - thanks for sharing.

Could you outline the materials/equipment/procedure used for creating the translite and cabinet decals?

Also, what is a "MarkS Driver Board"?

#31 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Quoted from Miguel351:
I don't see Caleb on there anywhere..... (Seeing as how NF is so big in the Whedonverse)
You should make it a 6 or 7 ball game and have a LITZ type crazy multiball at the end, the Potentials Multiball!

Quoted from ChrisHibler:
Nice...but needs more Cordelia...

Both Caleb and Cordelia should make their way onto the playfield art.

#32 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Quoted from canea:
Nice work! Pictures look great though I'd love to cartoon style artwork on the playfield a la BSD. I'd never be able to get my sister off a Buffy pin; she loved that show.

Thanks! I haven't decided what style artwork I will use on the playfield yet. I would love to do more of a cartoon style, but this would be more expensive as someone would have to draw it all up verses using existing images. I have also thought of using season 8 and 9 comic style artwork, but I am really on the fence about it.

#33 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Quoted from bayoubilly70:
This looks very neat - thanks for sharing.
Could you outline the materials/equipment/procedure used for creating the translite and cabinet decals?
Also, what is a "MarkS Driver Board"?

I used a company called Game on Grafix. They have a design team that will work with you and help design anything you can possibly dream up for graphics. They also print out the artwork on the proper materials for the side art and translite. I go into pretty good detail about it on my web page. Go to www.buffypinball.com and hover your cursor over "The Build" and then click on "Artwork".

This game is being controlled by a pinball controllers P-ROC board. This board was not designed to work with System 11 games. MarkS is a extremely bright fellow from the UK that designed a board that would allow the P-ROC to be compatible with System 11 games. More info on this can be read here: http://www.pinballcontrollers.com/forum/index.php?topic=542.0

#34 10 years ago

BYU

bayoubilly70

Pinside+ Frequent

Westminster, MA

11y 79,550 2,062 7

Pretty cool - thanks.

How will you go about creating and printing the playfield art?

#35 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Depending on what type of graphics I end up using I have a couple different Graphic designers I can work with. Basically, I will send them a full size scan of the playfield and they can use this to apply their work to. Once the design is complete I will have the artwork printed out on an overlay and apply it to the playfield. Same way that Brian (Betelgeuse here on the forum) did for his Ghostbusters pinball playfield.

-1

#36 10 years ago

SMK

TheLaw

Pinside+ Addict

Ann Arbor, MI

12y 162K 48,037 19 30 1

Quoted from vid1900:
Looks nice, the True Blood fans will be pissed.

Naw they'll just buy it from him and rename it, same shit diff'rent machine

#37 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

I upgraded the sound system in The Buffy pinball a couple of days ago and it sounds FANTASTIC!! For more info and pics please visit my Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/BuffyPinball

#38 10 years ago

BRI

gweempose

13y 154K 20,205 37 1

Are you bringing this to Expo? I can't wait to see/play this in person.

#39 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

Probably not. Unfortunately it will be nowhere near completed and probably still play like a SOF at that point. You're close enough though. When its up and running with its own code you can swing by and check it out.

#40 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

I've had a few people ask about the computer set up and for pictures of the inside of the cabinet, so I made a quick video showing how it is laid out.

#41 10 years ago

RJW

s1500

Pinside member

St Paul, MN

12y 68,650 1,482 2 9

I like the fact you just used the computer's primary display as the DMD. Way more to work with. The fact you have pinMAME running a real PF is slick. I know it's been done before, but actually pulling it off is an incredible feat. Hell, it's a challenge with Visual Pinball to begin with.

#42 10 years ago

???

Shoot_Again

Pinside member

Vancouver, WA

12y 83,400 8,453 2

Looking cool so far. Best mod going for SOF =)

#43 10 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Multimorphic

Round Rock, TX

12y 119K 1,582 24 10

Congrats, Nelly. Fantastic work so far. I can't wait to see (and play) your new rules!

Quoted from s1500:
I like the fact you just used the computer's primary display as the DMD. Way more to work with. The fact you have pinMAME running a real PF is slick. I know it's been done before, but actually pulling it off is an incredible feat. Hell, it's a challenge with Visual Pinball to begin with.

We (Mark S, Eli, and I) have integrated P-ROC support into the official pinmame source tree (in a p-roc branch). So you should be able to run original rules on any physical WPC, Stern Whitestar, or system-11 playfield using a P-ROC and pinmame (and Mark S's P-ROC-to-sys11 interface board for sys11 games).

- Gerry
http://www.multimorphic.com
http://www.pinballcontrollers.com

2 months later

#44 10 years ago

DAV

Nelly

Pinside member

This Absolutely made my day, hell, my YEAR yesterday!

photo.PNG

#45 10 years ago

TBA

tbanthony

Pinside member

16y 81,550 1,524 29

My wife and I were big Buffy fans. The artwork is great.

#46 10 years ago

BRI

gweempose

13y 154K 20,205 37 1

OP
Quoted from Nelly:
This Absolutely made my day, hell, my YEAR yesterday!

That's awesome!

#47 10 years ago

MCS

Doot77

Pinside member

Dekalb, IL

12y 76,650 996 22 24

OP
Quoted from Nelly:
This Absolutely made my day, hell, my YEAR yesterday!

photo.PNG 501 KB

That's cool as hell, I used to love that show when it was on and SMG was the best.

#48 10 years ago

TAK

ThatsaKicker

Inactive member