Here is a review of it....
I have a feeling the VP of Marketing being interviewed has never seen a batman episode.
And some gameplay....
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Here is a review of it....
I have a feeling the VP of Marketing being interviewed has never seen a batman episode.
And some gameplay....
Quoted from Drano:For anyone keeping score, Monkeybug is the other (obviously more shy) half of this dynamic duo
Maybe we can get him to talk a bit more about his experience with the FAST hardware and Mission Pinball Framework so far.
The introduction
I am the other half of this project and doing the programming, audio, and (some) electrical. I have a technical background in software development so this is a natural fit.
Like many here, I had a dream of making a custom pinball. The stars aligned when meeting few other local pinheads and the seed was sown. There are a few other ongoing projects but this is the only one worth reporting right now.
The Hardware
When researching for hardware, I checked out all possible avenues. I looked at the obvious choice of P-Roc, considered something like FreeWPC and talked to talented engineers who were making other custom hardware solutions. In the end I had a lot of discussions with Aaron from FAST pinball and decided their offerings were the best fit. I saw a few advantages in what I wanted to do with their product that wasn't offered by the the others. While FAST is still an ever evolving company and things are still being worked out, Aaron and Dave have been a joy to work with. Very helpful, supportive and have shown an amazing industrial strength product that is ready for prime time. I was one of the early adopters and had a chance to play around with a prototype board which was a great experience. Aaron and Dave are still working on newer offerings like servo motor controllers and RGB displays and it seems the sky is the limit for their hardware offerings in the future. You can check out there official website at http://fastpinball.com but its better to check out their social media for cutting edge items like twitter (https://twitter.com/fastpinball) and Facebook. If you really want to geek out there are a few twitch broadcasts building hardware and realtime Q&A (https://www.twitch.tv/fastpinball).
The Software
Since the hardware side was determined, I had to consider the software. Do I write my own software or do I look for an established solution and/or framework? In the end, I thought Mission Pinball had the most promise and started playing around with when they where at version 0.9. Having a long tenure in software design I have seen the common issue of people trying to re-invent the wheel. Either they fail or sometimes fail to leverage what is in front of them. With an open source solution, I was free to examine and even assist in contributing to the software framework. Over the past year I have had the experience in working with many of the core developers on the Mission Pinball Framework. They are an extremely talented bunch and have been extremely helpful with my questions and comments. Gabe has given me a lot of information on electrical aspects of EM machines and Brian has been amazing at discussing the finer details of the platform and has never failed to correct/address an issue within days. His passion is phenomenal. There is a still a lot more features that can be added to MPF but it is an amazing and ever evolving framework that will be killer when it hits its next milestone. You can check out the details and forums at https://missionpinball.com. They are always looking for people to add to their group. If you ever thought of writing your own framework (and have no serious aversions to Python) check them out, they are a great and welcoming bunch regardless of your skill level.
The Summary
As for the project, Drano has come up with some great rules. We are trying hard to keep that 60s theme while keeping the game fun. This means no wizard modes but having ball times longer than 20 seconds, like many EM machines.
I will now slink back into the shadows and get back to work on the FAST/MPF solution driving this project while Drano does his magic on the gameplay.
We are still working behind the scenes on putting the bits and pieces together. Things have slowed down since the summer has come to Canada. We are all now enjoying the two months of the year when our lakes are not covered in ice and we are getting more than 12 hours of continuous sunlight.
Stay tuned. Same PinTime, Same PinChannel.
We are still slowly working away on this project after a brief summer hiatus. More information will be posted when things start coming together. A few of the custom changes to the original playfield have added some challenges but it will be worth it when it is completed.
For now here is a picture of the playfield that was being worked on a few days ago.
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