How can you improve on the all-time classic Firepower?

For the first time you can battle head-to-head in real time on two linked Firepower pinball machines!

Blast your opponent's ship, take down his shields, drain his energy, and deliver the death blow before he gets you.

There's no scoring in this game, it's destroy or be destroyed.

Collect crystals to regenerate your shields.

Load the tubes to start either dual or triple torpedo attacks.

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Thanks to Zacaj for all his help, and his system3-6 OS platform.

Firepower Duel will make its premier at the Northwest Pinball and Arcade Show at the end of this month!

Those aren't scores. The left display shows your power bar and the right display shows the status of your shields.

FP-Duel-BG (resized).jpg

The enemy ship is in sight. Target the 6 areas to do damage. Note the lights indicate his shields are up: take those out first!

FP-Duel-Enemy (resized).jpg

RULES

Targets 1 - 6 represent areas of the enemy ship, and the associated 1 - 6 lights represent the shields protecting those areas.

Hit the target to take down the associated shield. Once the shield is down, hit the exposed target to do damage.

Your enemy is monitoring his displays for his power level and status of his shields. He can regenerate his shields by collecting crystals.

Crystals are gathered by various tasks on the playfield: the spinner and pop bumpers are particularly rewarding. Your crystal count is shown on the playfield 1-10 vertical light scale. Gather ten crystals to automatically regenerate a shield.

Lock your torpedoes in any of the three tubes. Hit the top center target to release locked-in torpedoes for multi-torpedo attack.

Stray torpedoes can damage your own ship: side drains give you some damage, but you'll suffer even more from a center drain.

You have unlimited torpedoes, but not unlimited power. Each hit drains your power, and there's no restoring it.

When your power is critical, the alarm is sounded, and the next hit you take will destroy you.

Quick, even after the death blow, you may have a few seconds to launch some final torpedoes to take your enemy down with you.

I'll get some video at the show for you guys to see it in action too.

Cross-posting some other comments I made about the background of this project...

Indeed, two Firepowers = one Firepower Duel.

One of them is this one, which is technically sold, I received a deposit for it but arranged with buyer to keep it until the show.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/for-trade-restored-firepower

The other one was a project I picked up last summer, the boards weren't installed but was told they should start just have several issues. I installed them all, and it only needed one transistor replaced, so it turned out to be not much of a project after all. I originally thought I'd fix the project one and sell it, but wanted to free up more cash for other deals, so decided to sell the more valuable restored one.

I've always planned to do a reprogram of Firepower, and thought may as well try linking them since I have two. Now that it worked out, not sure if I made the right decision selling one, ha. Good thing is there's quite a lot of them around, if the deal doesn't fall through, I'll probably pick up another one some day. Doing the project has given me lots more ideas I could implement, this version was more a proof-of-concept, but then I cleaned it up and refined it. But there's some areas I didn't spend much time on.

I'm actually just trying to link them up for the first time tonight, heh. Running into a little trouble right now, but I think I know what I did wrong. Happens a lot when you're eager to see some progress.

I'm doing what other pinball manufacturers do, I made my own little node boards to do some networking. Hope they don't blow! I actually blew about 10 straight over 2 days, because I suck at hardware design: I'm a software guy. But they aren't difficult to fix fortunately.

Because my target was to have it ready for the NWPAS at the end of this month and I'm just making use of the stuff I have on hand, some things are done in a naive and labor intensive way. I should do a more robust version, as I mentioned this one was more of a proof-of-concept. Maybe after the show I'll think about a Kickstarter. But I think the problem will be that few people have two Firepowers.

That might actually not be too farfetched. The things I have in mind for the more purposefully-designed version might not be that difficult to adapt to ethernet. Inter-machine lag wouldn't really matter much for this game either. After the show, I might give that some thought too.

I'm going to go fix what I screwed up in my link now... cross your fingers.

After some wiring debugging, the first successful side-by-side cross-talk testing this morning.

Start of the game:

FP-Duel-Start (resized).jpg

After some torpedo hits: left player with shield 2,5 down, and power bar partially drained, right player with shield 2,3 down.

FP-Duel-Hits (resized).jpg

The left machine, the one that I picked up as a project is acting up. Granted, I haven't done any bullet-proofing on that one, I just rushed into my fun project, and also because there's limited time before the NWPAS, I can't really do everything. Just when I got my node boards in each machine fixed, that one started resetting and the two solitary trough switches in column 8 also stopped registering. I put it back to stock to make sure it wasn't my additions causing issues, and then added some code to my game to display switch activations on display 4. It wasn't my updates, same behavior with stock stand-alone hardware. I fixed the resetting by redoing the 12V power->MPU line. But haven't solved the trough switches yet, I think it's probably continuity.

Of course this crap has to come up and screw up my fun, especially on the home stretch.

If anyone coming to the show has a solid power board and power harness they can bring, it'd be nice to have a potential backup available.

Unfortunately the trough switches issue is more than continuity. The right and center trough switches are the only thing in column 8. I got out my logic probe and checked IC18 7406. Pin 8 is high and 9 is low. They don't pulse like the other ones on that chip: 5/6, 1/2, 12/13 all pulse. That doesn't seem right. Any thoughts? Bad PIA?

I tested again this morning, and it is actually pulsing the same as the other columns. I think I didn't start the game yesterday and they don't pulse in gameover for some reason.

Anyway, it's not the PIA, as it's pulsing the same as the one in the good machine, don't see any difference.

I may have to burn a test ROM and do some more advanced testing.

After more thorough testing, comparing the good machine to the bad, I've isolated the difference. In game over, pin 8 of the 7406 is H on the bad machine, but H-pulse on the good machine. It must be either the 7406 is bad, or maybe what Matt_R suggested, there is some short holding that pin H.

I have no spare 7406 on hand, but I noticed it looks like only 4 of the 6 inverters seem to be used. I could cut the suspect one out and rewire to one of the unused ones. I only see 1/2, 5/6, 9/8, 13/12 in use according to schematics. Does anyone know for sure if 3/4, 11/10 are truly free?

For now, I think I'll just disable trough logic in the code and finish the rest of my work until I have a 7406 on hand. Then I'll remove the board and look for shorts, and if I don't find any swap out the chip, or maybe rewire to unused inverter.

OK, I was wondering about that too, just odd that 8 was pulsing on the good machine. I'll investigate some more.

I haven't tried with the original ROMs, hate messing with 6 chips and those crap sockets, and removing the 2764 adapter. Do you think it's worth it? Or is there a 2764 image for the original available? I haven't seen one, maybe I should just try making it myself.

Will a test ROM reveal the problem quickly?

Is the game over or not difference just related to timing of the switch scan because I have much fewer active switches in game over? Anyway, that same ROM image and behavior is all working fine on the other machine, so seems alright.

Making an original 764 image was straight forward, guess I should have done that sooner. I went into switch test, and all the trough switches are registering fine! But the game still won't start. Start button is also fine in switch test. Is there anything else in start logic besides trough switches?

I did notice coin door solenoid is energized / locked-on. Not sure when that happened, or if it always was. The driver Q45 tests good though. It seems like there must be a ground short somewhere. Maybe that's affecting more.

Thanks: I've been working on my custom code so long, I forgot about that requirement on the original. That's all it was. Everything works fine with the original ROMs.

Before that, I also switched driver boards between machines to verify my conclusion that it was some short in the playfield. The problem stayed with the same machine. So the problem is related to a combination of the custom code and something particular with the playfield. The other machine works perfectly with both original code and custom code. I think I have to go through and check all the diodes on the suspect machine.

The locked on coin solenoid was resolved by something I did too, unless Q45 finally gave out. Have to retest it.

Screw column 8, had enough of messing with that. I moved those two trough switches to empty slots in column 7 and all's well.

I'm back on track.

I had a crazy breakthrough today. I kept having problems with my nodeboard on the sketchy machine. I kept thinking it was something goofy with that machine, just like the column 8 nonsense. I lifted the playfield with the machine running and the nodeboard malfunctioning. I poked my head in close to look at the nodeboard and reached my hand out to touch it for no particular reason and it stopped malfunctioning. I moved my hand back and forth: functioning / malfunctioning. I realized that nodeboard is positioned less than half-an-inch different from the other machine, and that's all it took to get interference from other components and make it malfunction. My hand blocked the interference. I put some shielding in place on the board and it works fine now!

Crazy, I had been working on that problem for several days, and it was something stupid. I think that's the last real wall I had to scale.

Does anyone want to stop by and do some beta-testing with me? I am near Alderwood Mall about 15 minutes north of Seattle. I have yet to play anyone, so you'd be the first with me!

I want to do some tuning of the configuration, like how much power to start with, how much effort it takes to regenerate shields. Rather than just try to bash-the-hell out of the other ship, it might be fun if other strategies might be winning ones too.

I might also just leave it as a furious bash fest if that seems most fun, we'll see.

Thanks @mbecker, nice to know first beta tester really enjoyed it! Was fun for me to finally play it live rather than just test playing on one machine not knowing how it will be head-to-head.

I guess it's kind of a new main soundtrack. It seemed that way to Mbecker because there's some assets in the existing Firepower sound ROMs that are mysteriously not used in the original game. I used one of those (21) for the starting background: I call if "UFO". The background atmosphere sound switches to more intense / louder as your power is drained and you near death.

We made a video of our versus play, but I'm not releasing anything 'til the unveil at the show. But best to get some video saved, just in case. Never know what happens on the way to the show! But FP-Duel is loaded and ready awaiting lots of friends to join tomorrow.

FP-Duel-loaded (resized).jpg

Hi guys, was a very busy weekend for me at NWPAS, especially as I also volunteer for the show driving the truck transporting people's games. The show was great, and as always it's one of the highlights of the year for me.

During the show I do very little else other than focus on the show: rarely even jump on the net, as it's mostly a weekend of pinball debauchery for me, and I'm still a player first. I was enjoying seeing and trying the new pins mostly, and also keeping on eye on Firepower Duel and giving tutorials and talking to people about it.

Just wanted to post a quick follow up, that I haven't forgotten about the video, and I'll write more about Firepower Duel at the show soon.

Here's a couple pics of the setup at the show. The show reserved a good spot for me at the end of the row right beside Marco Specialties booth.

People were sure to be confused without any instructions about the games, so I whipped something up just before the show. I think something more professional and eye-catching would have helped, but I was pretty busy until the last minute getting the machines ready. I think only about 50% of the people that walked up even noticed the sign.

I also ran out of room so couldn't add that tilting will immediately wipe out all your shields. You'll notice it with at least one aggressive player I think I caught some video of. Ha ha, his "SSSSSS" shield display immediately vanishes along with the target 1-6 lights on his opponent's machine.

FP-Duel-Show1 (resized).jpg

FP-Duel-sign (resized).jpg

I guess Marco Specialties heard about my project, and they did a real nice graphic they put on their facebook. Maybe they won't mind if I file this one away for some future promotion or signage.

https://www.facebook.com/marcospec/posts/10156632473868423

Firepower-Duel (resized).jpg

Others mentioned to me they heard about it on the NWPAS facebook. Found that here:

https://www.facebook.com/nwpinballandarcadeshow/photos/a.1726082007663393/2371364749801779

FP-NWPAS (resized).jpg

Even with the sign, lots of single people just walked up and played on one machine, oblivious to what was going on. This made for some longer single-player games as the only way to receive damage then is via drains. 2 damage for a center drain, 1 for outlane drains. Starting at 8 power, that probably averages over 5 balls a game.

Another interesting happenstance was that in a two-player match up, the loser's machine goes dead and back to attract, but the winner can keep playing. That's actually because I didn't finish a winning sequence feature. But it means you can do a challenge-the-winner contest. The winner keeps playing, and new opponents jump in to challenge on the empty machine with full health. This happened by coincidence a number of times, and the winner can see through how many opponents he can survive.

An interesting tactic for the winner in this case, is to store up crystals, even over 200. Then when his shields are hit, they are used to regenerate the shields. The crystal count is shown on the vertical scale with the center bonus lights. When a shield goes down, if you have at least 10, they'll be shown draining down on that display in the regenerate process: it's not totally instantaneous.

The crystal count is really just switch hits: so you can gather a lot with the spinner and pops. Right inlane to spinner combo will reward double crystals for the flashing spinner!

Here's some video from the show. I met a lot of nice folks that came up to play: this is Zack and Lauren playing here. You'll notice pretty early on Zack gives his machine a shake and tilts: a moment later, you'll see his shield lights all go off on Lauren's machine. Then you'll see his crystal count which was already at 10 drain to regenerate a shield that pops back on at Lauren's machine. Zack also starts a multi-ball shortly after but the ball keeps bouncing right back in the lock: hadn't seen that before, something I could have taken care of in the code.

I've noticed an unfortunate idiosyncrasy with the videos. My phone takes poor video, so I used a real camera, but the viewfinder shows a full-screen image, and the video records in wide-screen format. Guess what happens? The top and bottom of what I see on the viewfinder which often includes the power and shield displays get cut off. Damn. Not only that, the differing refresh rates of the displays and camera are producing that weird wiping effect as well. I'll check through the others. I think Mbecker who beta-tested with me, also got some video, maybe his turned out better.

Sure, I can at least do a walk through of the rules and show that on the machines, even if it is just myself, to give you guys a better idea.

The funnest thing about bringing this project to the show was the nice folks I met, and the smiles it put on many peoples faces. By the way, the guy I invited to the show, Rob Kahr, of Kahr.US Circuits and WPC-power-fix fame, has got to be one of the nicest guys in pinball I've met. But there were lots of nice and enthusiastic people I met telling them about Firepower Duel. Through pinball, I get to meet all types, and some types that I wouldn't otherwise meet. A good example was Jeff, super nice guy, pierced-up Seattleite, in goth-style attire. He read the rules and was trying to figure things out. I gave him some insights. He really got into the game and appreciated it, and hung around to watch the next couple play. He jumped right in and explained everything to them, instead of me doing it again. So shout out to Jeff, who plays at Add-a-Ball if I remember correctly, it was great to meet you!

Alright, did a walk-through video last night. It was after midnight, and this was about take-3, as stuff kept going wrong: kind of like when you try to demonstrate something live the first time. I think my energy could have been better, but I'll blame that to the late hour and multiple takes!

Watching it back, I see why the middle-drain didn't register the first time I tried to demo it. It never registered that the ball was properly advanced to the shooter so it was still in the drain logic from the previous drain. Second time, you hear the shooter effect, and then the next drain registers damage.

Hey! I haven't check in here for a while myself. I had some ideas for updates to reveal at our NWPAS this year, but that got canceled along with everything else, and I kind of lost motivation to pursue that without somewhere to bring it.

Ideas about it are still brewing in the back of my mind...

Wow, can't believe 3 months have passed. Thanks for the interest bump! I'm not abandoning it, it's just on pause.

Summers aren't that long in the PNW, so probably won't be long before I'm back in action on this.