Are we taking bets Jef?

The ONLY thing this thread has accomplished is ensuring JJP never EVER releases a game with a code version NAMED less than 1.0.

#wheresthecode

People know if a game has bugs or not and if it’s feature complete or if a mode is missing, especially if the missing mode is shown on the rules map they create for the game. Code version number doesn’t matter.

Lol, unfortunately that's pretty much on point

Judging by the amount of TS selling, they should have a lot of time on their hands soon...

Lol, they'll just stop doing TS updates and move on to the next project as though TS doesn't exist

I would love a code update but who here actually completed(or even played) the 5 mini wizard modes in a 3 ball game? Curious to know cause my best is 2 that's it

I'd be happy with the beta update. ( always had problems when I had telegram to get it in the beta testers )

LTG : )

I played 3 for the first time the other day. I can barely live through any of the wizard modes let alone perform well in them.

It’d be great if in the code update you could change the amount of movies needed for Wizard mode. Take it down from 5 to 3. Give the owners a chance to get to the end of the game once there is a final wizard mode available.

I doubt it will happen, but I think this would be interesting. The mini wizard modes are the best single ball modes, but I usually don't start seeing them until I am deep into a long game. It could be better to have them break up the regular gameplay more frequently like the crank-it-up modes in Metallica or something.

Amen!! Exactly what I would love for the code evolution.

The last time I really focused for about a week on trying to get there (around the end of 2020) I started to get very close pretty regularly. One time I played 4 and only needed a chapter or two to light the final one. Then I stopped focusing on trying to play through the whole game though and just play it for fun now (taking ill advised shots & greedy risks) because I don't want to get to the end with nothing there.

This was me. I got 4 a cpl times with 1 time only a cpl chapters away of getting all 5. I try to progress and "beat " all my games but without the final wizard programmed in yet I gave up until it actually is released. Now I just go with the flow and try different strategies and objectives.

Pick Norrington, stack modes with multiballs and plow through the game. Your score won't be great but it's a good strat to get through it if your goal is just to get to the end. If/when the game gets finished that's going to be my first plan of attack.

They are also where the code is lacking. Mostly there appears to be placeholder art. The only fleshed out one is the one where you have to hoist the gunpowder to blow up the Kraken (great fun, I love this one). The Aqua Vida one is hardly programmed.
Best I have seen played is 3 wizard modes in a game.

I've gotten 3 once and been through 2 a few times. The point isn't whether it's hard to complete all 5 to get to the final wizard mode, the point is that there IS a final wizard mode which currently there is not...

Jeff

All I want for Christmas is my pirates code , my pirates code, my pirates code.

All I want for Christmas is my pirates code…

I want a Pirates code for Christmas
Only a Pirates code will do
I don't want a doll, no dinky Tinkertoy
I want a Pirates code to play with and enjoy
I want a Pirates code for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring it through the WiFi
That's the easy thing to do
I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my Pirates code standing there
I want a Pirates code for Christmas
Only a Pirates code will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like Pirates code
And Pirates code like me too

LTG : )

Aren’t there only a 1000 total JJPPOTC in the universe? That must have been a total financial disaster, so much development effort for 1000 games.
How does a manager at JJP justify allocating super expensive software engineers to a commercial flop like that just for updates (and yes, I think the game is awesome but wow, can you imagine being attached to a product flop like POTC. At my employer that’s the career kiss of death).</blockqu

I want a Pirates code for Christmas
Only a Pirates code will do
I don't want a doll, no dinky Tinkertoy
I want a Pirates code to play with and enjoy
I want a Pirates code for Christmas
I don't think Santa Claus will mind, do you?
He won't have to use our dirty chimney flue
Just bring it through the WiFi
That's the easy thing to do
I can see me now on Christmas morning
Creeping down the stairs
Oh, what joy and what surprise
When I open up my eyes
To see my Pirates code standing there
I want a Pirates code for Christmas
Only a Pirates code will do
No crocodiles, or rhinoceroseses
I only like Pirates code
And Pirates code like me too
LTG : )

Bravo Bravo!

Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, pirates code. Na na na na, na na na na, hey hey hey, PIRATES CODE!…

When I saw 44 unread post my hopes went through the rough then doh… please finish that code for completeness sake
Or make it free of right and accessible so that we do it ourselves

I’m sure a pinside could do it if they’d allow it.

Coming up on 4 years of owning my game. It's incredibly sad that this masterpiece is left incomplete. How you can craft something this amazing, and not finish it....it's just sad, man. This design team really put together something special. I'd say it's the best pinball ever created, but I can't b/c it's incomplete.

No joke: years ago, I was getting near the end of the game. This must have been early 2019. I was just about to get to the last mini-wizard mode. I cut my game short because I didn't want to get to a dead end. I figured, back in early 2019, "surely, the wizard mode will be here soon". So I stopped playing the game. And waited. And waited. And waited.

This game is incredibly fun. It has loads of depth. It's not easy whatsoever to get to the end. But I believe I can, at some point, get to the end. And so, I wait.

It really is crazy. I have to think they’ve truly abandoned it. But shortly someone from the usual crowd will come on here and say “give them time….”

It's mind boggling how the code team at JJP can't seem to keep up with the code on their games even though it's usually well over a year between new games. Of course, the lone exception being 8 months between POTC and Wonka. Still, it's incomprehensible that they wouldn't be able to find some time between April 2019 and now to update POTC if they at all cared about prioritizing it.

Instead all we get from the designer and programmer is "no update until the wizard mode is finished" and then the last couple years they leave it with nothing more to say about it besides that. Unfortunately that statement, their subsequent silence, and 3-1/2 years with no update seem to be the most reliable indicators we have to go on of how concerned they are with delivering the code development their POTC customers deserve. They don't seem to want to be bothered with it.

Here are the release dates of JJP games.

WOZ 4/2013
Hobbit 3/2016
Dialed In 6/2017
POTC 8/2018
Wonka 4/2019
GnR 10/2020
TS4 6/2022

And if/when it ever is done, there shouldn't be an outpouring of congratulations because their disregard for this game the last 3-1/2 years has been really unacceptable.

Lol, yep

I want JJPOTC code finished but know I’ll never get to the main wizard mode. The issue is a red herring. True it’s not done but oh well. Keep in mind the game has 5 movies each with a mini wizard mode. There is so much else going on when trying to have a great game that a player gets little sympathy noting the wizard mode is missing. Maybe JJP will add it if we give them more time but really, there’s no excuse for not having it in yet.

Hey JJP, where's the code?

No skin in the game here but since I'm on the sidelines catching up on this tennis match I am curious reasons behind why you say this with such confidence? Or is it just reciprocal " intuition " to the post from @stef95?

My take: with the larger user base of their games, they are letting releases cook a bit longer to make sure they don't unleash problems.

More users, more risk with each deploy.

I mean, your guess is possible of course but to me that just doesn't seem that it would be the most likely reason. If this slow baking were a new or more recent trend/problem at JJP then maybe. But history shows that even when they've been putting out games on average once every 1.5 years they've still been very slow in their updates.

- Hobbit came out in early 2016. In mid-2018 it got its big code update.
- POTC came out in late 2018... and, well, we know how that one is (not) going
- Wonka came out in April 2019. It got a big refresh/improvement update in August 2021. And I don't know the facts but some people in the POTC forums have said that the coder went out of his way on his own time to get that update done. If that's true then I'd say it seems likely there's something fundamental at issue with how JJP is operating/allocating their coding team.

So the fact is that even when the user base was far fewer people (prior to GnR and Toy Story), JJP was still relatively slow (taking 2+ years to get to a final resting spot). Again I don't have a coding/software background and you could be correct, but given that this is not a new phenomenon I'd put my guess that there's a different reason than the increased user base.

Current factory isn't setup to build wide body games (known "fact"), the license has expired (not a known "fact" but seems to be that way), and the game was super expensive and challenging to build from a manufacturing standpoint (known "fact"). To be clear, I do not work for JJP and am speaking of my own opinion putting together bits and pieces of information over time.

How does that square with Stern having a much larger user base and doing such frequent and impressive code updates, even (on occasion) for games that are retired from the line?

My guess is that JJP simply doesn't think it's profitable to support a game that is not their current title.

Stern releases so many code updates that they sometimes have to issue a quick second update right away for a discovered bug, so JJP could easily do the same.

Fair point. I'm not saying it's impossible to launch code with high user counts, just saying the risk goes up.

Tolerance for that risk depends on a lot of factors including personal gut.

So I guess if we entertain this train of thought for a bit and expand on it, then what might be the hangup/hurdle that needs to be overcome and what would be a likely fix for it? How much extra risk might there be there in pinball code for 2,000 users vs. 500 users that they'd need to start pumping the brakes?

There's been a POTC beta for I think 2 years (or at least close to 2 years now). I've read that there have been a lot of betas for GnR recently also. So why does JJP appear unable to put together release updates based on these betas and get them out the door? Lack of testers? It seems like there's decent participation in the beta forum, so I'd think JJP is getting adequate feedback on the betas.

It just seems more likely to me that either the JJP coding team simply has a slow cadence (supported by their history) or their assigned priorities are other tasks that keep them from pushing these updates forward (also very plausible).

Regardless of the reason though, it's way beyond time for trying to rationalize excuses for them, especially with regard to POTC. It's time for them to address whatever issues they have and deliver some sort of bug fix & code improvement update for POTC, even if it doesn't have the final wizard mode.

And if licensing or anything else is any sort of a roadblock issue, then it's (beyond) time they fess up to their POTC customers and say where they're at with it and what they will and won't be able to do for it going forward.

Sadly I think this is closer to reality than we'd like it to be. Absolutely JJP, like any business, has to manage their financial returns. And from the time Wonka came out it was pretty clear to me that POTC updates were going to take a back seat for awhile. It's just a shame that it has now dragged out this long for POTC and that it seems they've maybe started the same approach on GnR where a game that isn't on the line isn't going to get code attention, regardless of how much it needs it or deserves it.

I'm not rationalizing anything, just giving a guess as to why we're seeing more beta activity than general release.

They clearly haven't stopped working.

they are updating beta users and working out bugs daily for GnR and TS4 on their telegram.

Ok for all the things you explained. You have your opinion but your comment was rather radical. Things are changing and the manufacturing cost was perhaps too high compared to the selling price at the time, but it may not be today. A POTC reissue would sell for 15k without issue. Moreover, it does not seem illogical to me to say that if it were to be reissued the final code should be up to the task of being able to motivate new sales. I don't see what's funny about that

I have YET to figure out how the heck to get added into their telegram group
I emailed a beta address and the email bounced. If anyone for sure knows how to join the GnR beta group please share.

There's also the Disney factor. You can throw any reasoning out the window, because they aren't going to be motivated by royalties on a pinball machine. If they don't want it to happen, it's not going to happen. Then there's the whole legal mess with Johnny Depp and the fact that all of the PotC actors retain the rights to their likeness, including still images. I would stop short of saying it's impossible, but I wouldn't bet on another run at this point.

Send a PM to pinball_keefer for help.

LTG : )

At the limit that they make a reissue or not for me it does not change anything. If it happens so much the better for those who missed the first series. My POTC is at home and I'm enjoying it. apart from the spare parts which I hope will be a little easier to find. But get us that code or at least give us an approximate date. This game deserves it so much.

I don’t think JJP will ever rerun POTC. But if they decided to make another 500, I am posotive it would cost at least $15k and more likely $18k-$20k.

Do I need bata code for Scorbit? I bought the WiFi adapter.