This is looking so cool!
(Topic ID: 299252)
Linked Games
TreeHouse Club
Stefan Mader, 2022
Topic Gallery
Reichenau Im Mühlkreis
How’s the visibility from the players perspective? Can you see everything that’s going on at once? Any hidden spots?
Quoted from TheSupremePapaya:Just when I think you're done building up, you add another level. Love it!
Hihi, yeah but thats as high as it gets, i am thinking that the top ramp to the left could have a spiral thing down.
Quoted from Nokoro:How’s the visibility from the players perspective? Can you see everything that’s going on at once? Any hidden spots?
I will try to make those ramps with either transparent plastik, or wire. With the cardboard mockups the visibility is not that good. On the back monitor i am not worried that much, there will be a suirrel at the bottom left, that is visible. The background will be trees. What could become a future problem is, that on the upper right playfield, there will be the walls of the treehouse. So it will be interesting how much of the upperflipper will be visible later. Hopefully you can see the ball coming for the shot.
Quoted from steve-o:Looking good! Great progress.
Thank you
Quoted from Prospekteur:Gets better and better! Very interesting design
Thank you
1 week later
hey stefanmader can I inquire what pc you are using for this game? Has everything ran smoothly on it?
I will have to look, don`t remember now. I think i had an HP desktop Pc with 8 gb ram and onboard graphics. But i will look next time i have a chance. Everything runs smoothly at this point. My code is still very basic though. No music, and just a couple of pictures.
Some progress. Made the middle ramp, that goes to a scoop that will shoot the ball up on to the top flipper. Had to cut out a piece of the playfield to make room for the scoop. The ramp is pretty steep,but i think it is acceptable. The ball does not always go up, i think this will be ok.
IMG_20220101_130515.jpgIMG_20220101_130521.jpgIMG_20220101_130535.jpgTrying out some stuff. The small screen will display 3 kids silhouettes, one per each ball.
i guess this could be one wall of the main treehouse, and beneath that, the platform with the upper flipper, could just be a platform not the house itself. That would solve the issue if you see the ball coming.
Also printed some parts where the ball can stay on the two top levels.
IMG_20220105_204708.jpg
Beverwijk
Quoted from PinPeet:Amazing!!
Thank you
Kansas City, KS
Quoted from Cmartin1235:Gorgeous.
Thank you
Quoted from ZooDude:Very cool, how are you doing the tree? Hand sculpt or printed? If you're hand sculpting and need product advice, let me know, I build trees for a living, been doing it over 30 years.
Here's one of mine
[quoted image]
Holy hell, you made this tree? I would be happy to have your advice! I do want to sculpt it somehow. Preferebly around the wood parts i use to hold the platforms up right now.
could you give me some insight how you built it? That looks absolutely amazing!
Quoted from stefanmader:Holy hell, you made this tree? I would be happy to have your advice! I do want to sculpt it somehow. Preferebly around the wood parts i use to hold the platforms up right now.
could you give me some insight how you built it? That looks absolutely amazing!
Thanks, yeah I made this tree, I've been designing and building Zoo exhibits and doing naturalistic sculpture all my life, this one is in the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco but my work is all over the world.
For smaller projects like yours I'd use armature wire, spiderLath, carvable spray foam, foam hardener and sculpting epoxy. Sounds like a lot but you should be able to track down everything at an industrial art supply house.
I'm in meetings today and tomorrow (someone broke into a Bald Eagle exhibit I did and I have to figure out how to repair it!) but will work up a basic protocol for you and DM you as soon as I have a chance. Look into armature wire (for sculpting) as that would be the first step, super easy to manipulate and will hold the shape you need.
I'll get something written up for you as soon as I can. Really cool build, very impressed with your work.
B
Quoted from ZooDude:Thanks, yeah I made this tree, I've been designing and building Zoo exhibits and doing naturalistic sculpture all my life, this one is in the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco but my work is all over the world.
For smaller projects like yours I'd use armature wire, spiderLath, carvable spray foam, foam hardener and sculpting epoxy. Sounds like a lot but you should be able to track down everything at an industrial art supply house.
I'm in meetings today and tomorrow (someone broke into a Bald Eagle exhibit I did and I have to figure out how to repair it!) but will work up a basic protocol for you and DM you as soon as I have a chance. Look into armature wire (for sculpting) as that would be the first step, super easy to manipulate and will hold the shape you need.
I'll get something written up for you as soon as I can. Really cool build, very impressed with your work.
B
Please share here if you want. I love these kinds of jobs and live to learn about best practices! Thanks for sharing!
Quoted from ZooDude:Thanks, yeah I made this tree, I've been designing and building Zoo exhibits and doing naturalistic sculpture all my life, this one is in the Conservatory of Flowers in San Francisco but my work is all over the world.
For smaller projects like yours I'd use armature wire, spiderLath, carvable spray foam, foam hardener and sculpting epoxy. Sounds like a lot but you should be able to track down everything at an industrial art supply house.
I'm in meetings today and tomorrow (someone broke into a Bald Eagle exhibit I did and I have to figure out how to repair it!) but will work up a basic protocol for you and DM you as soon as I have a chance. Look into armature wire (for sculpting) as that would be the first step, super easy to manipulate and will hold the shape you need.
I'll get something written up for you as soon as I can. Really cool build, very impressed with your work.
B
Wow very cool of you thank you! I have sculpted a bit before. And i do have milliput which is epoxy sculpt. I am new to the other things so any insight would be helpful. Oh and good luck, hope everything works out ok!
1 week later
Sorry I haven't gotten back to this, busy these days. I tried writing up a basic protocol, but man, it's wordy and I use a bunch of industry terms and products that are only available in the US and I realized that the OP is not in the US.
Maybe the OP and I can find a time to chat on the phone? I'm happy to share, just not sure if my ramblings will make sense.
B
no worries, haven't had much time lately either. maybe i can ask you specific thing when i get into it? still many other things to do, so i am not fully into making those details yet.
Connected the upper flipper, the vuk to the upper playfield and the 2 top level shooter.
The vuk works surprisingly well. Did expect more trouble from that.
I can see now that it would have made sense to make the panels around playfield all the way to the top. I have some stuff screwed to the cabinet insides now. So pulling out the playfield isn't that easy anymore. On the otherhand it is pretty heavy already. Don't really know how i would do it better next time.
Anyway another ramp is in.
IMG_20220126_073301.jpgIMG_20220126_132925.jpgIMG_20220126_132936.jpgWhen I look at this, I kind of have that feeling of being a kid again and seeing a pinball machine with all of its complicated mechs and just being amazed and dazzled by the mechanics of it all, wanting desperately to play it to see if I could make things happen. I have a feeling that if you could actually produce this and put it on location in places with a lot of young foot traffic, it would rake in the money. I can't wait to see more videos of how it all comes together. Really well done so far! 
thank you very much. It's the same for me hehe. i have the feeling that when you build a homebrew you have this fantastic complicated ideas you want to have on it. But in the progress of building you will find that some stuff is just not doable or it doesn't fit and you will make cuts of what you initially wanted.
So far in TreeHouse Club, there is not that much that i had to cut 
. and there is even one new thing that i just thought of recently that could fit on the far left inlane/outlane.
Quoted from Mbecker:This looks like a lot of fun! I love all the levels to it
thank you very much,
i hope to put in the last view ramps the next days to finally play a real game with all the pathways
Quoted from Nokoro:When I look at this, I kind of have that feeling of being a kid again and seeing a pinball machine with all of its complicated mechs and just being amazed and dazzled by the mechanics of it all, wanting desperately to play it to see if I could make things happen. I have a feeling that if you could actually produce this and put it on location in places with a lot of young foot traffic, it would rake in the money. I can't wait to see more videos of how it all comes together. Really well done so far!
Agreed. There's such a great sense of mystery/discovery. Kids and Big Kids at Heart (like me) would love this.
Quoted from Mbecker:This looks like a lot of fun! I love all the levels to it
thank you very much,
i hope to put in the last view ramps the next days to finally play a real game with all the pathways
Quoted from TheSupremePapaya:Agreed. There's such a great sense of mystery/discovery. Kids and Big Kids at Heart (like me) would love this.
I appreciate that thanks
The one missing ramp from the top shooter to the other, just wouldn't work.the direct way to the next higher shooter was to steep.
so as a solution there will be another vuk that shoots it further up.
And the ramp that goes directly into the giant funnel will work i think. Just have to fix it somehow in place and the plastic ramp needs a cover or the ball will jump out when hit with the upper flipper.
IMG_20220130_161033.jpgIMG_20220130_163225.jpgIMG_20220130_193357.jpgIMG_20220130_193412.jpgLooks like you use two kickers to get the ball all the way to the funnel. Are you thinking of using those kicker locations as ball locks for a multi ball that feeds the funnel?
Quoted from Cmartin1235:Looks like you use two kickers to get the ball all the way to the funnel. Are you thinking of using those kicker locations as ball locks for a multi ball that feeds the funnel?
Would be a cool idea, but there won't be multiball. I decided that when i started, because i wanted to shoot the ball up through the flippers. So the design right now is that there is a scoop as drain that receives one ball from the playfield and also from the lower playfield.
i thought about it some time ago if i would change it, but i`d rather have ramp switches etc. I have one switch left, all other ports of the cobrapin are spoken for.
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