Hi everyone. It's been a little while since a real update from me, but I think I'm ready to start chatting about this project.

I posted a month ago that I've started researching and prototyping a new pinball 2000 playfield kit. That thread can be found here http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/interest-check-new-pin2k-kits

The pin's theme is an unlicensed ghost horror theme. I haven't fully defined all the rules or the final story yet, but the information below is currently what I'm thinking about. There are many things that must be done before this kit can be produced. Obviously it needs to be built and programmed, but more importantly there are patents that need to be licensed as well as various other business related tasks that need to be handled. Don't expect this to be ready for preorder/sale/whatever until at least 2015.

That being said, onto the design!

STORY INTRO:
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You are a sailor lost at sea. Mist has risen around you. You see a ship and head towards it for help. As you get closer, you hear beautiful singing. The singing relaxes you and you slowly drift asleep, as you fall asleep you notice the ship's name: The Grand Douleur. You wake up on the ship's deck; Empty. Dark. Creaking. You feel as though the ship itself is alive. An apparition appears in front of you beckoning you to follow it deeper into the ship...

CAST:
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You, the player - A sailor lost at sea who found himself aboard this ghost ship. You're actively trying to find a way off the ship before you become the newest member of its permanent crew.

Trapped ghosts - Lost sailors and families who fell victim to the ship. They're often willing to help.

Mischievous ghosts - Playful spirits who mean no harm. They just want to prank you.

Fiendish ghosts - ghosts who want your spirit to become a trapped

Sea spirit sisters - 2 of them. Protectors of the ship, they have a soft spot for lost souls, but a hatred for mankind. These spirits often present themselves as either: alluring mermaids; beautiful women; or young villainous twin sisters.

The Grand Douleur - Feeding off the ghostly energy constantly surrounding it, the ship has gained a slight consciousness. It is very old and has seen many things. While it is saddened that it's decks are used to trap unknowing sailors, it also understands that it gains more consciousness with more ghosts that wander its halls. It will not actively try to harm living beings, but it will seize the moment if presented with an opportunity.

Current Layout
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PLEASE NOTE: This layout is still in the prototype/design phase. There will be features removed and/or added by the time the final version is complete!

As of right now, holographic overlay things exist on the upper table and normal pinball mechanical things will exist on the lower table.

3-10-2013_HauntedCruise.jpg

Let me know what you think!
-Linolium

I like the storyline and theme.
My first thought >> will you even be able to see the upper pf area/flipper since the projected image will block it?

The flipper is just below the projected image. Very easy to trap the ball and aim.

I like the storyline and theme.
Is there a VUK for access to the upper pf also?

Only the ramp goes up to the upper playfield, and that right ramp is not difficult to shoot.

what is the window in the lower pf to?

Special effects

I like the storyline and theme.
Do you have a cut-a-way to see the entire lower pf?

A very old one...

3-5-2013_HauntedCruise_-_Main_Only.jpg

Thanks everyone! I'm glad it's generally getting favorable reviews. I've spent a lot of time on this layout- years infact! I first sketched up this layout way back in 2010 http://forums.arcade-museum.com/showthread.php?t=161549

I've been drawing a lot of inspiration for the overall atmosphere and tone of this game from Fatal Frame 2 (my favorite ghost game) and the first part of Disney's Haunted Mansion... So the mood of this table isn't going to be a silly jolly-ha-ha joke filled romp, but more of a legitimately spooky ghost story out to *slightly* scare or unsettle you in some instances.

Heheh... There's a couple game modes I thought up that will spook me a little bit when I play this game in the dark

If you are worried that this may not be family friendly, please don't worry! If your kid can make it through the Haunted Mansion with a smile, then they'll enjoy this game as well.

A few people have voiced this concern. One thing to realize about RFM and EP1 is the screen is meant to represent fairly solid objects: Aliens, Space Ships, Spinners, Video Screens, etc... The really nice thing about ghosts is that they are generally thought of as translucent. This means I can add more lighting on the screen covered sections then normal and not destroy the ghostly apparitions/mists/orbs effects. Pin2K's GI lighting is also amazingly programmable! I can change the lighting of the upper table (or individual GI lamps on the upper table) based on mode or ball position. There are lots of possibilities available to ensure the shots, flipper, and ball are visible and fun to play. But, if needed, I will absolutely tweak the physical locations of things.

It does hit the post, bounces around, then usually ends up safely going down the flipper's inlane. I will be tweaking this section quite a bit. My ultimate goal is to have soft plunged or weak right orbit shots to roll directly into the inlane (as a power inlane). A controlled right power inlane will then allow for a roll over or bounce over to the left flipper. Once on the left flipper, the ball will be set up for a shot back up the right orbit to the pops or up the ramp to the secondary playfield. That's a little bit of a ramble, but I think you get the idea.

Hope this clears some things up!
-Lin

Usage of that technology would actually infringe. The patent covers the holographic technique. I cannot freely create a game using any form of that particular holographic technology without gaining appropriate usage rights. Other licenses would need to be acquired as well.

Lets not derail this thread into a legal debate. It's my job to secure whatever needs to be secured for this project to become a reality. Just go with the knowledge that, in the end, things will all be taken care of when production/preorders begin.

Ahh, good question! The other pin2k games did present the screen as more of a wall-of-image. Remember though, just because an image may be flat does not mean the final perceived illusion will be flat Position, rotation, scale, and lighting are invaluable tools.
More about that at a later date...

As mentioned in the other thread, I'm going to use Unity3D as the game's engine. This will require a new cpu box that has modern processing and video capabilities. This setup has already been tested and will work fine.

I've been doing some metal work this past week... Here's the right orbit rail being cut.

a.jpg
b.jpg
c.jpg

I have 4 more guides to cut. I'm not the fastest metal worker around, but hopefully they'll be done in a week or two.

Also, here's a little video showing that the ball is "safe" on the right guide. (I know someone(s) expressed concern about it.)

This month there will be, yes. Every month (give or take) I'm going to try to post a little something about it.

Here's a small update video. Don't expect another vid until sometime in December when much more progress has been made.

The shots will be tight but fun. There will be features/multiballs that only take place on the bottom or top playfields, and other features/multiballs that take place on both playfields. I can't release much more information then that right now since I'm still writing and tweaking the features doc.

Actually I can say this- upper table features will mostly start via a lower table "mode start" shot.

Hi all! The game is still progressing, and if all goes well I should have an artist on board very soon!
I mentioned I wouldn't have another major video/content update until December, and December is just around the corner now... so one will be coming... and it will have a bunch of screen interactions working.

I agree, but that wouldn't really fit with what I want to do with this table. I'll make sure to add that type of jet placement in kit #2 (assuming everything goes well with this kit). The pops will be used in game modes and other as well as have various visual FXs on the holographic screen (there's a window above them so you can not only see the ball when it's interacting with them but also so I can have some cool above/below special effects).

There's no *official* list yet. But also please don't worry about needing to be on a list early, I want to make sure everyone who wants the game initially gets one, even if it means an additional run of the kit.

Hi everyone, I'd like to give you a small update as to what's going on.

So as I stated previously, I plan on uploading a new gameplay video this month. Unfortunately the engine I'm using, Unity3D 4.3.1, stopped running on the computer I use for testing. I have been in contact with Unity's support these past couple weeks but it's unlikely a fix will be ready in time for me to make a video this month. The problem lies with Unity's current version not correctly detecting and configuring for the graphics card I'm using.

BUT! I really want to show some progress, so I just bought an updated graphics card that *SHOULD* fix my issue. The card should arrive sometime next week. Once it does arrive, and as long as it fixes my crash issue, I will prepare and upload a new video for y'all.

You've already heard some of the music in my last video. So, for the time being, here's the music for the difficult-to-get Grand Ballroom Multiball mode. Enjoy!

-Linolium

New computer. It will fit where the current computer assembly is and will use the existing video/parallel port/audio amp/power wires already strung throughout the game. Similar to how NuCore was a simple cpu swap.

It takes lots of shots and modes to light Grand Ballroom... You can, however, do it more easily if you purchase various table multipliers from the shop to mumble mumble multiply mumble mumble and mumble it's requirements combined with other mumble mumble...

I have a lot more to talk about in future videos, but here's kind of a filler video that shows some things you haven't seen yet. I hope to have a more complete video with an up-to-date build soon.

Correct. The computer system will be provided with this kit. The computer system would also work with any future kit I make as well- the game code would be software-swapped via the operator menu.

I will make another one as soon as I can get the latest code to run on the computer that's hooked up to my Pin2000 machine. Unity 4.3 broke some compatibility with older cards. The computer I'm currently using has a GeForce 5900 installed, I ordered a "new" GeForce 7800 last week that should be here sometime this month. I'm hoping the replacement card will work with the latest version of unity. If it doesn't then I'll need to buy new computer hardware so I can use a more contemporary PCI-E card.

Why am I using this older hardware? Because I had it on hand of course!
Also, I like developing and optimizing for a weaker platform because, in the end, things will be smooth as butter on the final more-powerful platform.

No. That would require an extra level of licensing and protection that is beyond the scope of this project.

This is my feeling. It is not unreasonable to have 2 cpu cases- one for legacy kits and one for new kits. Swapping legacy games using the traditional prism card setup is far more of a hassle then swapping the cpu box as a whole.

I'm sorry if this is a problem for some people, but the fact is it would cost far too much in licensing fees, software protection (via hardware dongle or some other method), and additional support software to support those products. Remember- Star Wars is now a Disney IP, and RFM is a Williams IP. To support both games agreements must be made with both those companies AND I also must develop or license an emulator/interpretor to run those games with a level of quality that the IP owners would accept.

Please realize I am not blowing this off because I'm "lazy" or such, I did look into the possibility of supporting those games and ultimately found it was not viable for what I intend to accomplish. I am interested in creating new kits for the Pinball 2000 platform using contemporary video and audio effects- I am not interested in supporting legacy products that are already supported beautifully via NuCore.

I hope this clears up the all the legacy support questions.

-Linolium

I expect so, yes.

I have been working on this. These are the things that are done to the point of just needing final graphics, sound, and playtest/balancing:
* 5 of the upper table AR modes (The Graphics blocked out for later embellishment)
* The 4 ghost modes written (Been done for a while)
* 2 multiballs partly written (hard to finish writing without running on the actual table)
* The shop is largely finished with temp art
* The inventory/progression information screens blocked out with temp art and some icons have been added
* A bunch of misc elements written (Combos, multipliers, etc)

I ended up spending a couple weeks completely redesigning and refactoring the game's gameplay mode architecture and the underlying AR mode controlling architecture. Now it's much easier to plop in features and modes

Also, it actually took me a bit to nail down how I wanted the primary story modes to play out. I now have what I feel is a good plan that allows for some mode randomization but will still tell a cohesive story.

BUT I'm still stuck with the graphics card issue- the one I ordered in Dec never arrived! So I ordered another one and, according to the tracking, that card should be here today. I'm knocking on wood that it fixes my issue. I'll let everyone one know haps, as they say, either tonight or tomorrow.

-Lin

Good news everybody! You're all going to gaigantica 5 to deliver over-sized pinballs balls!

...And the graphics card fixed the issue I was having~~ Expect a new video within a few days!

Small update- I've been finding lots of little ball/switch/device related bugs here and there with all my new code. As an example: there are times when a drop target needs to be auto-triggered but it isn't always behaving . I also spent the better part of the weekend optimizing and tweaking my driver plug-in to smooth out some issues.
Anyways, I'm weeding through all these problems now. Once everything is buttoned up I'll make a gameplay video.

Minimum GPU requirement will be 7800GT, though I plan on shipping with a modern PCIe GPU card, a gig or two of ram, dual or quad core cpu, etc etc... POWER! Gotta prepare for the future ya know!

Of Course.

Right now I'm leaning towards no ONLY because I'd be able to ensure consistent hardware between my dev machines and the retail machines. Also I would be able to more accurately plan game features for future kits. If hardware is too scattered there would be a *greater chance of* incompatibility issues. But, I haven't 100% decided on this yet.
Also the 7800 is what I'm using right now because my spare PC only supports AGP graphics cards. I will most likely ship with a GeForce GTX 260 or 560 or similar PCIe card.

It's less so what could run it and more so what the engine will run on. Unity3d would more likely drop support for a mini system like that sooner then typical desktop equipment. I ran into this problem in Dec when Unity3d dropped support for some pixel shader 2.0 cards (the card I was using was one of the dropped devices). It would be devastating if I used a minimalistic setup and the engine drops support for my hardware not long after the game's release.

I need to assume not everyone who buys the kit is computer savvy enough to do that kind of upgrade. Most will be, but many won't. How horrible would it be for someone to get the kit and 3 months later have it rendered unplayable because hardware support is dropped. I rather not go down that road. Eventually, no matter what, the computer system hardware will need to be upgraded... look at the Pin2k computer issues we have now with its 15 year old hardware. As far as I'm concerned, the computer system that ships with the kit needs to last at least 3-5 years before upgrades are required. At which point I'll offer some kind of system-swap/upgrade support.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on the matter as of now.

PS. I know I'm blowing this issue out of proportion a bit, but I rather be safe then sorry.

Heres a new gameplay video. Please pay no attention to my horrible bricking, flailing, and overall failure to actually make shots

I will post a few more videos tomorrow detailing specific features currently in the game.

Small progress update: I've finished all modifications and tweaks to the playfield design. I've made many little changes that I feel are all for the better. I'm going to cut a new white wood this month which will be representative of the final production layout.

-Lin

Happy day after Valentines Day!
In this video I primarily discuss the hurryup modes. I also mention a few other changes as well- Specifically the new plunger lane and skill shot.

Thanks all for the kind comments! I play competitively myself in local leagues and such, so I'm doing what I can to try and bring many playing options and lots of risk/reward opportunities. It's a difficult balance to make the game both walk-up friendly as well as competitor friendly.

I'm not really a fan of this idea. I see where you coming from, but 1) All the "cool" stuff happens up there and 2) The modes on the upper table are the story modes that bring you to the final wizard mode. It seems a bit counter effective to add a feature to effectively forces the story elements to be disabled for a few seconds. I feel that there are other ways that the game's difficulty can be tweaked in a more natural way.

Hmm I'll ponder over that idea a bit...

They've been programmed for a couple months now . Next video I'll talk about them.

Here's a 2 part video set that talks about a whole bunch of various modes and features. Magnets, multiballs, artifacts, end of ball bonus, etc.. As always, please don't mind my horrible playing

I purposely spread the magnets out quite a bit compared to a game like Addams Family. The left and right magnets are right near the inlanes, and the top magnet is right in front of the yellow targets. While they may "play" with a ball as much as a closer set of magnets would, instead they "throw" the ball and add a lot of "OMG! no! not that way!" moments.

I've been thinking about getting glass like that, or cutting a 1/2 sized smoked plexi. I guess the desire to finally do that isn't high enough *shrug*

I'll get Bowen to make the next vid for me

Hi all!

I've been working on more modes as well as a new whitewood and associated lamp pcbs and such. I'll show off the new modes in another week or two, but until then how about another music track?

I may as well start at the beginning this time, so here's the plunger lane music! w00t!

I've been busy lately. I have added a few more modes and multiballs/mini-wizard modes. I'll post another video update as soon as I can.

The music? No. I wrote all the music for this game.

I'm thinking of doing a live stream on ustream tonight or tomorrow while I work on the game (kinda like what Ben does sometimes). If I do, then it'd be around ~10:30+/- pm EST (~7:30pm PST). I'd post here before I go live.

I'm working on it! I'm working on it! My day job's been kicking my ass lately

I do not plan on building full/complete machines (kits + cabinets)- only kits. You will need to get a complete cabinet. Basically what you could do is buy an RFM or EP1 machine and sell the computer + translite + playfield as a kit; at which point you'd be left with the cabinet, driver board, etc... then you pop in my playfield, computer, and translite (and side decals if desired).

I plan to have it as a complete programmed whitewood (with real plastic and metal ramps ) at the October Expo this year. I may have a poster of the playfield art there as well, but the gameplay and in-game art are my #1 priorities right now.

One wire ramp done, one more to go! ...that too far longer then it should though, the solder just didn't want to stick very well.

photo 1-1.JPG

Toilet paper eh? Hmm... maybe.... Actually though I want to make real vac-formed ramps. One of them needs to be transparent for an effect I'd like to add in...

This was really the first time I attempted to solder any large object like this. Usually I just solder simple little circuitry. It was a learning experience for sure, but the second wire ramp (the more complex one) should go smoother now I think. I kinda figured out a little bit of a process that worked for me.

I'm going to paint both wireforms once I'm done. Not sure what colour yet though. Possibly gold or black.

I can't remember... so much has happened these past 2 months I'm lucky to remember my name right now XD . PM or e-mail me a price for one; I may be able to grab it from you this afternoon or tomorrow morning.

Wire ramp #2 complete. Next up- vacuum formed ramps!

photo 1a.JPG

photo 2a.JPG

I have some time this coming weekend to futz with oven-heated forming. The upper left ramp has actually been redesigned a bit again to remove the diverter. It just flatly goes to the wire ramp that crosses the playfield. This was done for a few reasons, but since the ramp is smaller now its footprint is small enough to fit in my oven. The right ramp... I dunno yet, those really need to be clear plastic for effect reasons... I may split it into 2 molds for now and rivet them back together. Ultimately I want it to be one large formed ramp though.

The right ramp is actually twice as long as that first page image now. There is a section attached that goes from the plunger lane up to the ramp shown in that image. Big big ramp! I have it made with a metal bottom and paper sides right now. It works fine but looks like crap

I spent some time this weekend updating the left paper ramp as well as starting the process of cutting out shapes for the playfield's plastics. I also updated the upper flipper solenoid so that left ramp would actually work
You'll notice the left ramp is smaller and no longer has two paths. Due to space and usage I removed the divertor from the ramp. It was used in only a couple situations and just didn't add enough to the game to warrant keeping it (also it'll help keep within the playfield budget!). Also this change definitely allows for greater visibility of the left scoop- a semi important shot.

photo 1-3a.JPG
photo 2-3a.JPG

Yes- my drawing it does that, my hand-bend is a little off.

Here's a new video. This is just a gameplay video. You will see a few new things happening (skill shot, balcony escape, wip door mode, wip Grand Ballroom Multiball) as well as some ramp usage.

I agree completely. I'm not a graphics artist, I'm just a programmer with a little bit of art skill. My primary goal right now is to write the game and block out the important features and effects using simple models. I've been talking to a 3d artist lately and I'll hopefully finalize a deal with him soon. I know his work and am very confident he'll add lots of additional life to the various sets as well as much better visual effects

God I'd love to do something like that but there is zero space under that playfield for a disappearing post, and making a semi complex contraption above the ramp may take too much out of the playfield construction budget. The playfield-set is already pretty complex as it is.

As far as virtual balls go... I already have plans for some fun real->screen->real effects

That window is gone in the new design. There are now inserts and flashers there that I feel is better for the game as a whole. The window was going to house an idea that would be used like once or twice if you're lucky... not really worth all the space and cost in my opinion. I took the cost savings from that effect and used it for the cross ramp as well as some other effects not yet shown

Hi everyone!
I had a great talk with Paul from Pavlov Pinball the other day, and The Haunted Cruise is currently featured on Pavlov Pinball! (www.pavlovpinball.com) I hope y'all enjoy it

A lot of people say that, so next time I make a show-off-modes video I'll block some lanes off

I'm bringing the machine to a fairly large annual summer arcade BBQ party next week. To say I nervous is an understatement
But I've been tying up some loose ends because of this.
1) I've added many more cardboard representations of plastics around the table (largely so the ball doesn't get stuck inside a rubbered off section).
2) I've been cleaning up some long standing program issues that, until now, I've lived with
3) I've added rough working controlled lamps (so people know what to shoot). Ultimately I plan on using PCB based bi/tri-colour leds, but for now I'm using vanilla incandescent lamps.
4) I added a rough portal cutout in the upper playfield so you can see the jet bumpers. This viewport is supposed to be there, I just didn't have a desire to cut it out when I initially made the upper playfield. I kinda wish I did now, it's really nice being able to see the ball bounce around in the jets.

photo - upper-s.JPG

lamps.jpg

Yes, yes it is OMGWTFBBQ.

3

This is more of a stop & go game, yes. Partly because of the video animations, partly because of how I designed it. There is a continuous 3 way combo you can shoot that has minimal stop & go on it. I will try to trim down the stop time in some situations.

Yup, the skill shot is the upper left ramp.
If you want to get back to the upper playfield again you can
1) Hop the ball to the left flipper from the right flipper->shoot the ramp to the upper table.
2) Shoot the left orbit->kicks out of the left wireform->feeds the left flipper->shoot the ramp to the upper table.

Grumble, yes, grumble, that's the intention. The damn windows box never gives me consistent solenoid power... which is a PIA I've been working on a legit sys driver for the machine but that isn't really working quite right yet...
The desire is:
1) Hit the plunge button and the ball goes directly to the upper playfield. Hit the skill shot or do other upper playfield stuff.
2) Hold the left flipper then hit the plunge button and the ball will go to the lower playfield. Get the secondary skill shot or do lower playfield stuff.
Sadly this isn't working 100% yet.

All you need is a vanilla RFM/EP1 machine. No upgrades are needed. I am building this game using a basic ep1 machine. CRT, regular driver board, etc. A new pre-setup computer module will be included with this kit. If you happen to have an updated LCD then you'll have higher resolution images (1024x768 instead of 640x480) but it is NOT required. Nor is the monitor video amp needed, though it may help display some darker images (I don't have one so I cannot confirm this)

Come on over and test my friend!

You can see a couple posts up that there is a little window in the upper playfield so you can see the jet bumper area. The 3d-effect would be lost if the whole thing was acrylic. Also- most of what is down there is a big empty hole so one can access the upper playfield mechanics without needing to completely take the upper playfield off.

The lamps are using typical pin2000 lamp voltages (6v unreg matrixed I think?). The camera I believe blooms out the lights brighter then they actually are.

Anyways, the game is packed in a van and ready to go today.

14468794064_0266e99040_z.jpg

Surprisingly (for me) the machine faired very well today. No fuses blew, nothing caught fire, no lights burnt out, and the ball only got stuck in a way that needed the glass removed once in 8-hours. Sadly the solenoid power was still very flaky, but I kind of expected that a bit. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, though there were a few questions/concerns about a couple things. All-in-all I feel it was a good soft-reveal

Oh, I didn't record video or take pics, I didn't even think about it when I was there

Here's a small update-

* I finally got the windows driver working about a week ago, and now solenoids are working significantly better then they were! The ramps are 100% hittable now and the auto-plunger typically gets the ball to the upper playfield
* The game now has 3 GI sections:
  1) A controlled spotlight for the upper table's flipper
  2) 3 controlled lamps for the jet bumper area. These lamps turn on only during single ball play and only if a ball is bouncing around the jet bumper area. Otherwise they're turned off so the light doesn't interfere with the screen image.
  3) General GI around the flippers, slingshots, under plastics, and around orbits.
*I painted the paper (soon to be plastic) ramps black and purple, and I painted the wireform ramps gold. No gameplay change, but definitely a cosmetic cleanup

Unfortunately the GI, along with all other lamps, still flickers (curse you 15ms+ time slice!) but that will be fixed in the coming couple months. A new video will be posted probably around or after mid July I think.

As always, if anyone is in the area and wants to play The Haunted Cruise, let me know. Unless timing doesn't work for me, my door will be open for testing.
-Lin

First thing I thought of when I read this was Magenta and Columbia during a particular song in the Rocky Horror Picture Show

So I've had 6 people play The Haunted Cruise these past 2 weeks. I'm happy to report all who've played it has liked it and often for different reasons! I am quite happy

Anyhoo, Here's a new video. I discuss controlled lamps, controlled GI, and the map/level-select.

WARNING: There is a lot of GI flashing caused by timing pulse issues. If flashes bother you, I recommend not watching this video directly... minimize it and listen to the audio or something

EDIT: I noticed this morning the video uploaded only in 480p. I will re-render and re-upload a higher res version tonight.

Something I've been thinking about for months is how to add flipper staging to The Haunted Cruise. I generally stage flippers during multiball and this game's lack of staging has been really buging me. The platform doesn't have 2 switches attached to the main flipper button, so I can't do traditional staging... This morning I finally figured out how I want to handle flipper staging. I'll make another video tonight describing this method.

Yeah, that is fun to watch.

The right ramp isn't that hard. I my aim just sucks at 1am

"I was born humble, but luckily grew out of it"

I will say for sure this kit will be less then $6k. I mean, this is A KIT. Why should I charge an arm and a leg for it? Could you buy 2 Haunted Cruises kits for the price of 1 Stern Premium? Dunno, we'll see. There are a lot of costs that go into producing one of these things, I don't want to go bankrupt before I start but I also don't want to out price myself

You need a functional cabinet shell (working monitor, driver board, transformer, blah, blah, blah) no playfield or computer is needed. I will be supplying a drop-in playfield, art package, new computer with game software pre-loaded, and manual. This would surely be at least $6k (if not more) if an entire new cabinet were included.
Remember, I said this too "Could you buy 2 Haunted Cruises kits for the price of 1 Stern Premium? Dunno, we'll see." I'll yet y'all do the math for that.

Phew! The lamp's disco fever is gone. The GI and controlled lamps are solid as a rock now. I'll make another video when flipper staging works... possibly sometime this weekend.

No. For a variety of reasons this is not compatible with the NuCore system.

I've been busy with other things this past month
I want to have another video update soon though.

I haven't touched this project in over a month at this point. My day job has really been working me to the bone lately. Come Jan I should have more free time again to pick this up. Every time I play it with buddies I get the itch to work on it again, but every time I finally get a moment to work on it it's wicked late and I'm exhausted from the day.

So I'm not dead (yet) just really busy right now.

I'd like to try to get Haunted Cruise to Pintastic New England, but I have neither registered for a booth yet nor can I promise that I'll have the time to actually be there.

As always though, anyone in the area is welcome to PM me for a viewing. The more people who play it the better it will become!

I'll figure out all these details when the time finally comes. It's still quite a ways away though. I can't imagine I'd want to do something like that though.

I know I know! I really do need to make another video. I do have new stuff in the build that hasn't been shown. To say my day work schedule has sucked the past 4 months is an understatement. Maybe I'll make one when my buddy is play-testing it tomorrow

I swear I'll make a new video soon! I swear! I've been very busy with real-life and just haven't had a lot of time to write more code for THC (or do anything productive on it really). Once the weather gets a bit warmer hopefully I'll be in the garage more often again.

Getting a mode in THC is not trivial. Each mode, even in rough "grey box" form (which is all that's in there right now), takes a lot of synchronization between 3d modeling and programming. DMD pins can just print text in places for modes, but virtual pins MUST have something represented on the playfield for the mode to make sense. So the need for 3d assets is somewhat unavoidable on this project.

I do play the game often though, and any pinsider is welcome to come over and play it. Just send me a message so we can try to coordinate a time.

Actually it has a lot to do with Williams/Bally... for the next 5 years at least.

I'd like to. I'm buttoning up some loose ends with it to make it "show-stable"

So I have some good news and bad new...

Here's the bad news:
I'm begining to steer away from Haunted Cruse being a kit for the Pinball 2000 system.

"He's a witch! Burn him!"

Woah Woah! Before I'm burned at the stake hear me out! P2K is an amazing system... for it's time. The truth is, as I've developed Haunted Cruise more and more, I've found more and more time limitations of the setup- meaning, technology has changed enough that what once was great for 1999 is no longer that good in 2015. Also, many contemporary things (such as native USB) are missing from the cabinet. Sure I could include a usb wire for peeps to string throughout the cab, but that's a tedious labor that would need to be reversed when an older game (RFM for instance) is put back in.

In addition
-I HATE HATEHATEHATE the fact I only have 1 true flipper button. Not being able to do traditional flipper staging in this game SUCKS.
-The monitor is small and doesn't cover a lot of playfield area, so I'm REALLY limited in where I can put effects. This kinda sucks too... again, great for it's time but not so much now since we have cheap large-area lcds available which blow the pants off the active area of a traditional p2k display.
-The sound setup is good, but could be much better (4.1 maybe?)
-It'd be nice to have more cabinet lighting options
-Etc, etc..

-What does this mean?-
For now I'm still going to develop the game with my p2k cab (because it's convenient), and for now at least I'm going to use it when I bring the game places, but nowhere on the cab or in the game will you see anything that mentions pinball 2000, williams, or related material. So... black painted cab (maybe with art eventually), and only my name in the game (as I am the creator of Haunted Cruise and own the game and it's design).
I am also going to start a new Haunted Cruise thread in the "Homebrew" section to start fresh.

Now the good news:
Over the next year or two so I'm going to be building a *Next Gen* (whatever that really means) pinball cabinet, which I hope will also be game-modular. I want the cab to be contemporary with the ability to seamlessly upgrade as technology changes. It will contain expected features such as a location for a playfield, PC system, boardset (P-Roc or Fast... not sure which yet), great audio system, coin door, and a tilt mechanism.... w00t! Of course a holographic display will be native to it, as well as a bunch of other "nifty" additions I have in mind. The thing I have envisioned will be very cool, trust me on that

So....
Haunted Cruise will not be for sale within the next 4 years I can guarantee that. But it will be completed, and it will be an awesome game when it is done even if it ends up being just a 1-off! I think it's wicked important for this game to get completed. Not only for my sanity (soooo many years!) but also for the industry to see what can be done with this type of technology. It will also begin going to shows starting very soon. I really want Pintastic New England to be it's first public appearance. Hopefully I can button up it's current iteration in time.

Sorry if some of you are disappointed. Burn be or throw me out if you want
But when I come crawling back in I'll have cool shit to show. I don't think I've let y'all down yet in that department

-Lin

I'm bummed too, but I think ultimately (long term) this is a better choice. Believe me when I say it wasn't an easy choice to make. I've been wrestling with the thought for a couple months now weighing the pros and cons. As I've been making the thing and people have made sugestions to me I often find myself saying things like "I can't do that because the cabinet is XYZ" or "Doing that would not make this kit an easy swap because of XYZ". Great ideas come from limitations, but being limited because the chosen vessel is legit-antiquated is not the good type of limitation IMO

I see some problems with the P3 system's screen implementation. Also I personally prefer the holographic/Pepper's Ghost system.

To honor the parallel port used in P2k: My system could be called LPT1. Lin's Pinball Theatre v1. Or it could be called LPSS. Lin's Pinball Stage System. One of those two.

I don't think Highway's cab could support a large peppers ghost module. Maybe I'm wrong :: shrug ::

Yeah, thought about that idea. Very cool but I also see some issues. I'm picky :S , but settle eventually. I'm in no rush, have no one's money but my own. I'm going to do what I do best and tinker a bit. Worse comes to worse I use some other system, but haunted cruise NEEDs pepper's ghost or similar. Otherwise it just won't work as designed.

Thanks for mentioning them

Tru dat yo. Tru dat. I hope it blows everything away, but who knows All I can do is my best and if that ain't good enough I'll stick to kick-ass homebrew one-offs

Man, I really want to work on this project again. I've been cooped up in my office for months with no time or energy for any late-night pin dev.

Naw, working with Jpop. Preorders coming soon! (I'm joking)

Not going to be used with my stuff for quite a while. Cost and light pollution are big negatives in that approach right now.

Driver code updated! A Teensy 3.2 microcontroller is now driving the hardware rather then a win32 driver. I can now more easily develop and debug holographic/pepper's ghost effect pinball games! w00t! Also I can deploy and run builds in linux now

Expect more updates with Haunted Cruise and King of the Arcade in the coming months

I just swapped out the original CRT display with a 22" lcd. I should have done this years ago!
Developing now is so much easier- I use dual monitor setup with the second monitor as the machine's screen

More stuff to come.. :3

Nope! ...

Naw, Life is hard

No. Working 3 jobs and having a family doesn't leave much time for side projects right now

No work on this yet. I'm pushing through on frozen at the moment... I can see the light at the end of that tunnel unlike this beast.

I do want to rewrite Haunted Cruise's progression though, but I haven't decided in what way yet.

Funny thing about the dead, it doesn’t mean they’re gone just because you don’t see or hear them… they could be watching… waiting…

muahahAHAHAHA!!!

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Busy night!

Also, my new ramp tools fit nicely. I’ll have pretty formed ramps soon (not for November unfortunately )

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Old mini vs New mini

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Happy Halloween Folks! See you at Pintastic