Quoted from PanzerKraken:Most folks I've met in the local scene all seem to go "ew" at Halloween cause it's not your normal fast shooter, they see it as a "slow" game cause of how objective mode focused it is. They typically like the constant scoring ball hitting games where you are just always scoring cause the targets are always active everywhere. They really took a unique direction with Halloween, which I like but it's also a bit too much in that direction I think, which is why I would love for more gameplay and scoring to be opened up all around as some modes really shut off too much of the game playfield where the shots are totally worthless unless really focused in select areas. You can bat around the ball for long periods of time in Halloween and not drain, yet you barely will score if your not getting the objective targets hit, whereas many games that the tourny community likes, just are always pouring points at you for every little thing so the longer your playing the more points in general you are scoring.
I'm fine with Halloween being different, and the two upper level fields alone immediately sets some folks off as upper playfields can be kryptonite for some pin players. I think they got a good basis and ideas, they just could open up some aspects more to allow more gameplay variety, and getting that code more fine tuned. But just the way the game is setup will never please some players
Code can offer so much more than just scoring points. Pinball has evolved far beyond what your Granddaddy used to play. Video games did away with 'playing for a high score' decades ago. Why? Because the video game industry is full of fresh, young talent, each bringing in new ideas and innovations. And thank Christ, otherwise we'd still be chasing high scores in God of War!
To be frank, I don't play pinball for points... never have, never will. I play for the excitement of the game, making progress and enjoying the audio/visual experience.
So what can modern code do? First, you need young and gifted coders with creative imagination. Not just coders... anyone can code, it's actually very easy. No, you need creative coders. Think of a pinball coder like a film director, they are in charge of everything... the lights, the sets, the actors, the audio... it's all theirs to manipulate into an enjoyable and unique gameplay experience.
For example, Lonnie D. Loop coded Apollo 13 into a standard and very familiar pinball experience - shoot stuff score points. But my code adds much more creativity, including 3 new game modes: Classic (the original game), Movie (13-minute mission to beat the game in film order), and Music Odyssey (the original game but with emotive songs of the era added).
Here's the movie mode in action, which I think would be great for Spooky's HWN; giving the player an option to play the game in movie scene order with a time limit (when the time is up, Michael kills you).
In a single game of pinball, you can provide code that caters for everyone - young, old, amateur, pro... whatever. Don't be fooled into thinking pinball is just a physical game of hitting stuff to score points. That was decades ago.
Monson, MA
