Hi, As a few people know i've been working on rewriting Indiana Jones software for the last few years using the p-roc hardware and pyprocgame framework. I thought i'd create a thread on here to share info and show progress as things keep moving. There is a post on my blog here :

http://mypinballs.blogspot.co.uk/2014/07/indiana-jones-software-rewrite.html

with some summary info and a view vids etc. I also have a child board over on the p-roc controller here:

http://www.pinballcontrollers.com/forum/index.php?topic=259.0

The idea with this project has been to recreate the game to the original design and then add on to it. The premise is that the average player should not be able to tell a new feature apart from an original one unless it is pointed out to them. Anyway, that's the idea. It all started back in 2011!

See here for a quick game play video from awhile back to.

Note that this is all work in progress and not a finished item. There is a big list of bugs to solve and features to refine I'm nearly there on all the modes though, just the last 2 video modes to do (mine cart and revan bar). I got slightly distracted a few months back and added a secret werewolf attack video mode (from Dracula). love that mode!

I'm also working on a whirlwind software rewrite which i'll add a separate thread for.

Thanks for your ideas and reply.

Current skillshot added is in the same 'style' as Batman TDK where you hold the left flipper button in as you launch and the lamps in front of the right ramp strobe. Both top gates open and the ball is fed to the left flipper where you have a timed period to make the right ramp. Cool dmd graphic and sound callout then ensues if you make it!

The current progress is mainly to get things as accurate to the original as possible and complete all 12 modes, but there are some new additions including the skillshot, which are:

Random positioning for POA lamps at each round
Extra jackpot and graphics for the 4th film
Secret werewolf video mode from Dracula
Add a ball in quick multiball

I spent quite a bit of time recently getting the code to understand the concept of holding a path of adventure lit sequence until after multiball ends etc. Something that i never really noticed when playing the original, but there is an actual dmd screen alerting you to this!

If you have ideas for additions/changes then please do get in touch. Hearing other peoples ideas is also a great help.

Thanks for your message. Good summary

I've been working through it fairly steadily, first mechanisms and basic low level rules, then up to modes, mulitballs, higher level rules and such. Sometimes i take a small detour like the dracula video mode which is fun. Also i often come back to ealier dmd animations and then improve them as i've learnt better ways to do things. For exmaple i reworked the match sequernce recently, as the first way i did it wasn't that great. The dmd element really adds to the project length.

Must update the github area, as its really out of date and alittle crusty. I'm planning to do that this weekend. and sync to the latest build. Anyway the url for anyone wanting to view is

http://github.com/mypinballs

There's all my open source projects listed in there.

The thread i just created.

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/whirlwind-software-rewrite-the-journey

That would make a nice rewrite to. Plenty of scope in there to add onto the existing rules. My advice would be to start with the basics and any game toys, get them solid then move upward with the more complicated rules. Having the main Multiball working often helps straighten out the kind of player tracking vars you'll need to. Also don't underestimate the time the graphics will add to the project length.

Will need to have a look for that. I have found some interesting unused animations in there inc what looked like Jesus's face instead of Marion in the basket from the streets of Cairo mode!!!

Update:

Steadily working through things and improving the game logic, fixing bugs etc now the majority of the rules and features are in place. I still have 2 video modes to complete (raven bar and mine cart) but all other features are in and working (plus all the extras). I recently updated my github area with a newer build as it was massively out of date and i've started to work on another section which i always wanted to add - Colouring the DMD data. Massive thanks to Eric here, as he very kindly agreed to colour the frames for me and guided me through the colour setup/additions needed for my project. He is a genius and has a real keen eye for getting the animations to look perfect See below for a few sneak peeks. I also updated the main core code to use my database driven audits and diagnostics systems which i created on the whirlwind project along with sorting out proper file logging, which i hadn't added here (for some reason!)

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http://blog.mypinballs.com
http://mypinballs.co.uk

Yes, i will definitely add these features, no problem. They are all great options to have.

Just a quick reply to the werewolf attack queries. This was added as a homage to dracula as i love that game and especially the video mode within it. It will be a secret addition in the final code, not a replacement for anything. Also I am a big believer in settings, settings, settings. So it will be 'disable able' if it really doesn't sit well with you

To answer the questions about sound, I am personally in the camp of having all the speech uncensored from the film, but i also see other peoples points of view and like i mentioned before i like settings settings settings as it gives everyone the options to set it how they like. I'm thinking maybe i can add a sound setting with 3 options, something like family, original williams spec and uncensored. I'll have to get the blue rays out and extract some of the quotes amended by wms to get all the uncensored and uncut stuff, so it will be a thing to work on later. Please do continue to send suggestions on the speech samples front and i'll keep a list to work from.

Another great piece of colourisation

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Update: Been working on the modes I have left to complete recently (after getting back from the UK Pinball Party) namely Raven Bar Video Mode. These modes take awhile to get sorted as there's a lot of sprites to sort out. Here's some screens of progress so far. I think the regular modes are easier to code than these. I've been adding some small tweaks as i go to, like better text at the bottom, animated score for shooting bad guys etc. I only just realised each bad guy is worth 1Million!

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Example of the animated text for a bad guy shot
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Going to have a game setting to adjust the hits for medallion. 20 (as per the original) seems harsh. Here I was testing it at a low 2 hits!
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An example of the settings now available for Raven Bar Mode.

'Raven Bar Level Start':
options: [1,4]
increments: 1
default: 1
'Raven Bar Lives':
options: [1,9]
increments: 1
default: 5
'Raven Bar Hits For Medallion':
options: [1,50]
increments: 1
default: 20
'Raven Bar Hits For Extra Ball':
options: [1,50]
increments: 1
default: 15
'Raven Bar Animate Scores For Hits':
options: ['Yes','No']
default: 'Yes'

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Let there be technicolour and gruesome head explosions

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Update: Working through cleaning up the sprite data as i work with Eric and get more of the mode animations ready for colour. I wrote a nice way to join the raw sprite data format from the original rom data and get it into a format pyprocgame understand better. Previously i was joining the sprite data up 'on the fly' as the mode was loaded. This way is much better

Also, i added a pause function like on TZ that someone mentioned above i think. Will shoot new vids soon hopefully as time allows. I also have to get the lcd panel installed and hooked up etc, as currently i just have a regular dmd in there.

I'm taking my 2 p-roc projects to a big event here in the UK in a few weeks - play expo 11th -12th October (http://playexpo.net), just before pinball expo i think. I'm hoping to show people there the power of custom rewrites and what can be achieved if you keep plugging away at something.

Oh an here's another new colour screen Eric just finished

Screen Shot 2014-09-18 at 12.09.04.png

_{Post edited by applejuice}

You never know i may have a look at that game after i get done with the williams one. No idea when that will be though at the moment.

Some pics of a new new mode i added for inclusion at play expo - moonlight madness

POWIE!

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A few people have asked about the Multiball 'ARC' typo present in the original game. Fear not, i have ammended it in my version

IMG_3002.JPG

and in colour

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Example of quick multi ball running in colour

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So we are back after the expos (UK and USA) and working on the colour screens again I will also update this thread with the details on how the demo went at PlayExpo shortly (was great fun showing people everything that had been done) but first here are some new screens from Eric.

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So this year at PlayExpo here in the uk i decided to run a kind of hacking lab for folks to see what i've been upto and what is possible with custom hardware and software etc. It's a big gaming show with lots of different genres, one of which is pinball. Here's a quick pic of the queues outside on the saturday.

NLP 002.jpgNLP 001.jpg

As you can tell the place was pretty busy and there were loads of games played on Indy. I pretty much lost my voice by the end of the day! Everyone seemed to enjoy the experience and most of the casual players didn't notice it was a rewrite and not the original game so i was pretty happy there. We also found a few bugs and niggles whilst the better players were having a go and also trying out the extra features etc. I was actively encouraging pinheads to try and break stuff and was a lot of fun!

Loops

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Thanks for the comments and feedback and that you like what we are doing Just catching up on the latest posts after a hectic halloween few days!

As Eric mentions we are trying to stick to the original dot art for the most part, but the process and system we are using does allow us to make changes if we think improvements should be made to the art. I agree here that as these scenes were during the day in the films they should have some coloured sky element to them. The loop animations are some of my favourite from the game to.

Here's a good example where new graphics can really add to the project. This is a new graphic frame that Eric did for me, based on some of the stock williams ones. I probably don't need to explain which feature addition its for!!

Screen Shot 2014-11-04 at 23.33.55.png

I will be using the updated scenes that Eric is working on. We've been discussing what to alter with the loop set of anims and have got it pretty nailed down now. I think these tweaks will really add to the game. I haven't decided yet whether to maintain 2 sets of assets for non colour use. That will be a later decision

Update:

Some new pics of more coloured frames. Note the sunset on the horse loop animation. We really pushed the limit here Eric worked his magic yet again based on my ideas from the end of the grail film and nailed it perfectly.

Screen Shot 2014-12-01 at 14.42.31.png

On the truck loop animation, we added sky and better ground colourisation which really added to the depth
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Some more text based colourisations to:

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And the start of the extra ball animation:

Screen Shot 2014-12-01 at 14.43.02.png

As fosaisu said this thread is about my software rewrite of indiana jones. the thread posted in fosaisu's reply is more suited to your question. thanks

Added a small extra to my service mode today to show a similar type screen inspired from the later wpc-95 games.

Quick pic of it on my dev machine

Screen Shot 2015-01-03 at 15.05.32.png

and quick vid of me opening and closing the coin door on my game. (Was taken 1 handed so not great quality!)

The lower info text which scrolls through stuff, will also show logged errors like bust switches & mechs in it. There is a background diagnostic mode which looks for any issues.

A serious amount of work to get this updated, but looks bloody amazing now

Also, just re-wrote the get the idol scene with proper sprites and progressive background. This was one of the first scenes i wrote way back when i started the rewrite in 2011 and i know a lot more now on how to put them together.

Some pics of the get the idol mode running on the dev laptop now all the layering is working (colour to be added.)

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Also, some pics of the streets of cairo mode that we coloured awhile back. Modes really come to life when colour is added

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And, a screen shot of the end of the plane chase ramp shot with the points layer

Screen Shot 2015-01-10 at 09.35.32.png

Update: few new pics

Get the idol now in colour and with 3 difficulty settings (variable number of shots needed):

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And a very nice coloured animation for the path of adventure instructions

Screen Shot 2015-01-15 at 22.50.17.png

Rope Bridge now in daylight. Just fine turning some of the font masking, but this is how its looking so far

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Update: Some new coloured screens for the three challenges mode. Also I fixed the issue with the original game where i believe the mode ends before you get to see the final challenge lit up and the screen completed. I am also contemplating some alterations to the way the path lamps lite during the mode.

How do you feel about this mode? Room for improvement?

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Yep that's the stock rules and its usually 1, 2 and 3 lanes to hit on each pass respectively. I want to make the lane positions a bit more random each time but still fixed and obviously not have it break after you get the first pit award.

Update: Some new pics of various modes and award graphics during them. Been working with Eric on sorting out some of the niggles with masked fonts. Indy has a lot of layered modes with multiple font layers so i really wanted to get this fixed. The mask helps to isolate a font when a graphic layer is underneath by placing a 1 pixel black border around. There were some old issues with fonts missing the last pixel column off these and other missing pixels. Eric and Rosh worked out a really nice solution to fix the issue within pyprocgame's framework, so i'm glad to be taking advantage of this Eric also helped again by fixing up a lot of my fonts to be fully compatible with the new update. Thanks Eric.

Tank Chase

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Get The Idol

Screen Shot 2015-02-27 at 11.54.16.png
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Street of Cairo

Screen Shot 2015-02-27 at 12.01.15.png

Well of Souls

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Rope Bridge
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Screen Shot 2015-02-27 at 12.31.21 2.png

Update: Been fine tuning my secret video mode (werewolf attack from dracula) which i've added in to the game. You start this by holding down the right flipper as you enter the mode start hole for raven bar. Have been improving the modes logic somewhat on detecting a wolf's position and which gun sprite to use depending on that position. Also the scoring awards are now higher if you shoot the wolves later, i.e closer to you and i've also added a custom kill screen for when you don't make it. Eric has sorted out the colourisation on the frames and all is looking rather good now.

Some screen shots of latest testing

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Cheers Mark, your F14 is looking nice to. I'm tempted to see what rgb leds i can add to indy to but that is for later!!. If you need help on the font mask front, drop me a line direct and i'll see what i can help with

Thanks This project is a serious labour of love and insane on the hours front, but getting nice comments always spurs you on In my 4th year working on this now, though i haven't been doing it constantly. I fit it in amongst my other work

So then, RGB LEDs. What do people think of maybe adding this to the tasks list on my indy rewrite project? At first i was a little disappointed Indy doesn't have more clear lenses, as most are either green or yellow.

However, then i was thinking yellow arrow inserts could be turned yellow, orange and red where the colour could signify some sort of additional progress or points score, like timed combos or more detailed jackpot award shots for example

Update: So i've started work on the final mode yet to remake. Number 12 of 12 - Minecart. This is my 4th video mode that i've redone.

Here are some pics of progress so far. I have extracted all the dmd data that i need. 15 separate files for this one and i got a basic mode coded up tonight with the basics working. Getting the layering positioning correct is a tricky bit of it, so that will continue tomorrow. Also, no colour yet, as i need to pass the frames to Eric.

minecartinfo1.pngminecart info2.pngminecart5.pngminecart2.png

Update: Got the mine cart running pretty good now and feels pretty much like the original i remember. Going to shoot a video i think later this weekend hopefully, to show it running. Hard to get a good still screen shot of this one.

So on the tech front, i now have complete control of :

- How many tunnels to start
- How many track sections per mode
- The point at which the bonus award is applied
- The value per tunnel
- The point at which to start double barriers
- Complete randomisation every time of the barrier positions

Had a few long evenings building it all up. 20 hours in roughly on this one so far

Video showing the operation of the new mine cart mode addition

Yes, I may add an option to turn off video modes, which would reduce the number of modes to 9. Settings are great as they allow pretty much and combination, or option to be a possibility.

Yes, there's a few backups and yep over 4 years on and off now. (I have written my recreation of whirlwind to in that time )

All the game code is available as open source on my github area: http://github.com/mypinballs
The sounds and coloured dmd frames aren't. They are backed up privately.

I will try and get an updated video of the mine cart mode taken soon, as i have full colour in there now. Here are some screen grabs of the main background . I have added lanterns to the tunnel walls, to match the movie a little closer

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You can use an original dmd and not a colour screen if you so wish. The graphics still work in monochrome. I personally like the colorisation that myself and Eric did so much, i don't think i could ever go back to 'orange'.

I terms of computers I use intel socket based ones, as the rPi doesn't have enough power to run games with dmd animations or lcd screens.

This project is not yet complete and i only list the source code for it, as this is the part i own and wrote from scratch. I offer it out to the community as open source so others can see how i wrote things and write their own games. I don't include any of the customised graphics or sounds at the moment.

Update: I finished adding all the mine cart coloured graphics in and shot a video of it all in game play

Also, now i have pretty much everything in place for the game rules, i though i'd shoot a few full length game vids to start updating my bugs list, missing items etc and also to show an updated game play. Please excuse the poor playing skills by myself, it seems i'm not too good when the camera is on! The following vid has a few games played by myself so i can show you a few different film modes and some of the multiball modes etc. There's bugs in there to fix still, as its all work in progress. This game is complex Enjoy

Organising my day so i can have an anfteroon hours playing some more and working though some bug fixes and things. Also looking at adding mode timer pausing in, as i noticed yesterday that this is still to be added. Also i fixed a 'bad' font that crept out into the light yesterday (Thanks Eric for picking this one up)

Screen Shot 2015-05-22 at 11.55.18.png

And here's a better video of more game play and i actually got to shoot some of the new features i've added. Stacked Multiball (Main and QM) and Add-a-ball on normal QM. So the way it works is if you get qm running first then you can still start the main multiball by locking balls. You can't do it the other way round. If you just have QM running then you can add-a-ball by shooting the mode start hole.

A question for owners of indy and people interested in this rewrite. What do you think about QM play and the POA interaction. Currently I am following the original rules in terms of POA lit after multiball play ends, but what do you think about it the other way round. i.e if you start QM whilst POA is running? Should this be possible??? Should QM start and POA be cancelled and re-queued???? Should they both remain active???? Thoughts welcome.

Yep, on and off for about 4 years now. I work on it when i can fit it in between all my other company projects. I have created a whirlwind rewrite in that time to. Indy is my all time favourite game, so i love working on it.

Update: Been working on the mode pausing. Got it working on the poa adventure timer and the first of the main film modes - get the idol. Working on the laptop, now to update the game and play some games.

Mode timers will pause if the ball enters the upper lanes, jets, mode start, or a ball is locked.

Quick pic of a new setting related to mode timer pausing. This is the length of time before the timers will start up again if no other 'pause mode' switches are hit. Adjustable from 1 to 4 seconds, default 2 seconds

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Update: made a few tweaks to the POA and mini palyfield code and added a new screen to show when you continue your adventure instead of showing the playfield instructions again.

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Also fixed some mode layer stacking issues which were stopping the progress animations from the mini playfield being shown on screen

Also added a new setting to set the pit lit level on adventures.

Update: Been working with Eric on sorting out some of the more advanced animations so that they match a little more authentically. For example the Hand Of Fate animation is pretty complex, using a masked transition to change screens and also reveal the selections. As well as that a further animation is overlaid on top to sync with the masks. Here's a screen capture video of my progress to date on this. I will add another game play video once its updated into the game and i've got all the possible selections setup correctly. Notice that the eternal life award isn't actually yin the list. I set the award as fixed so i could test awards that play animations once revealed.

Update: Thought it was about time i added a new video of some game play. Been trying to get a decent video showing a few games with different modes and achieving a good few things. This is what i've managed so far. I got the new hand of fate transitions in there to!

Update: So i did a few tweaks recently and i think i finally sorted out the interaction of the path of adventure whilst other modes and features are running. I added a flag to determine if the path of adventure should be cancelled if lit and requeued whilst certain specific modes and multi balls are running. There were a few bugs will this, which i have now got to the bottom of.

Would be interested to hear what people think of allowing POA whilst quick multiball is running or not. With the setup i now have i could add a setting to turn this on or off etc in the game adjustments

Also, i have been improving the mode pause stuff for modes and features when a wayward ball goes into the jets and up to the top lanes etc.

And in other news, i have finally bought a Stern Indy! I have a spare p-roc board to, so i am thinking about what to do here. Some suggestions are to port over my game here to run on this game to. I am interested to hear what people think and what ideas you have for it. I will hopefully have something up and running with it all being well for my stand at Play Expo here in the uk in October.

New thread created for the journey with the stern version of Indy. Visit my ramblings here - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/indiana-jones-stern-software-rewrite-port-over-the-journey

A few! In terms of software i now have 3 open source p-roc game rewrites and my custom controller board set framework for early Bally and Stern games. Then there's the hardware stuff, like my cpu and sound boards and everything here: http://mypinballs.co.uk/electronics/store.jsp. Definitely keeps me busy and i have plenty of other ideas for the future to

Quick shout to 'This Flippin Podcast'.

A friend of mine here in the UK mentioned that i got a mention on their show regarding this project , so i checked it out. Great chat. Really enjoyed the first 2 episodes on iTunes. Looking forward to hearing more about one of the guys Indiana Jones restorations. I really enjoyed restoring my wms one (quite awhile back now) and we all know how much i like the game The stern indy restoration is going good to over on the other thread, with the custom software port over starting soon to

So i got to chat with the 'this flippin podcast' guys last night on their show and had a great time talking about my pinball history and projects such as this that i've been working on. Coming soon to iTunes

Thanks Tommy, looking forward to it. Also following with interest your Indiana Jones restoration project Plenty going on with the Stern indy at the mo, over on my other thread

Thanks Tommy. Really enjoyed chatting with you and looking forward to when we get to chat again. Hope everyone enjoys listening to me and my stories. Its quite strange hearing your own voice More Indy updates soon