Multimorphic P3 / LLGG play-testing session: Sat 2/28: 1pm-6pm

Just a quick note to invite you all to participate in monthly P3 play-testing sessions. As the P3 and Lexy Lightspeed - Galaxy Girl continue to mature, it's important to get feedback from all of you. Our decisions are guided by our internal goals/roadmap and by your feedback. The primary goal is of course to make a game that you enjoy playing.

The first session will be held at my house this Saturday (12/13) between 1pm and 5pm. Please PM me for the address.

Come alone or bring your family. Kids are welcome, especially pinball-loving kids! Feel free to stop by for a game or two or spend the afternoon with us.

We'll have some snacks and sodas. Please BYOB. If you plan on attending, please RSVP so I can get an approximate headcount.

Thanks. Hope to see you there!

#2 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

I've been asked what's new in LL-GG since Expo. Well... a lot!

- Bar mode
- Active ball trails
- Progressive scoop mode for various awards
- DoubleShot Multiball
- Respawn
- High Score Entry (scores and achievements)

... and you'll get a sneak peak of the guts of our new, fully re-engineered pinball platform. Come see how our machine will offer an improved experience for players, designers, and owners.

#6 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Reminder - This event is tomorrow.

Please send me a PM if you plan on attending.

#7 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Thank you to all who attended. We had a nice group of folks show up, play the P3, and talk pinball for a few hours. We'll look forward to doing this again next month.

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#12 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Quoted from Zitt:
As of yesterday.... I'm on the preorder list
:Happy dance:

Quoted from trapper08:
As with Zitt, I too am on the preorder list .

I can't thank you guys enough for your support!

Quoted from RyanClaytor:
Gerry, since you'll be doing these "open house/play tests" monthly, from the sounds of it, would you mind updating a single thread (that we could all favorite/follow) with additions to the machine each month? Maybe you could even comment on some of the play test feedback that was helpful and made it into the next round of revisions.

Good idea, Ryan. I'll do that.

Quoted from Zitt:
Remov-a-playa' - Option to Remove a player if start button accidently pressed during ball one.

Zitt, should I tell people about your attempts to launch a ball by hitting the start button, resulting in the addition of unwanted players and therefore this idea? BTW - This idea is implemented as of yesterday (and it can be fully disabled via a setting). Hold down both flippers while hitting the start button and it will remove the last player added to the game (as long it's ball number 1 and the current player number is less than the player being removed). It even returns the credit when not in free-play.

Quoted from Zitt:
Save a game - Option to save current game progress - IE allow debug/fixing of machine then resuming said game.

An idea many have discussed over the years. We have definite plans to implement this one, hopefully in conjunction with player profiles.

#15 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/lexy-lightspeed-galaxy-girl-progress

Quoted from RyanClaytor:
Gerry, since you'll be doing these "open house/play tests" monthly, from the sounds of it, would you mind updating a single thread (that we could all favorite/follow) with additions to the machine each month? Maybe you could even comment on some of the play test feedback that was helpful and made it into the next round of revisions. Just a thought.

Done:

3 weeks later

#19 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Yes - I expect to get a public announcement out later this week. (EDIT: It's looking like early next week for the update.)

Jan 24th
Feb 28th
TPF (March 27-29)

1 week later

#21 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

For those not on our email list, the next session is this Sat. 1/24 from 1pm-6pm.

If you'll be in or around Austin, TX then, please come by. PM me for the address.

#25 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Oh wow - that's the original concept machine... 4 prototypes ago. Obviously the focus was on proving out the lower playfield concepts (ball tracking, wall/scoops, floating slingshots, etc) versus crafting a nice upper p/f (which was about a 6 hour rush job in my garage, well before we had a team of folks who actually knew how to fabricate).

There are a couple of things we're keeping from that upper p/f concept for CCR, but the final version will be quite a bit different.

If you come to the testing-session/party tomorrow, you can see the row of prototypes and the progression of designs as we 'morphed' the concept from an idea to an advanced pinball platform.

#34 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Great day, great turnout, great feedback and suggestions. I'll try to get some pics up soon.

Quoted from solarvalue:
Do you mean the system for changing the upper playfield? Please explain for those who couldn't be there.

As promised, we gave everybody an early look at how our MFG prototypes are coming together and showed off how the system is designed for modularity and serviceability (not just upper playfields... everything). Traditional playfields (large pieces of wood with mechanisms bolted to them) don't adequately fit the needs of the platform; so we engineered a setup that does. These new MFG prototypes are the realization of our long term vision.

Sorry, we're not quite ready to release all of the details to the public, but we will soon.

#38 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Quoted from jeffspinballpalace:
Gerry,
Wondering about the programming side of the business - how far along would you say each pin is?

If you're not already on our email list, please PM me your email address, and I'll add you (this offer goes out to everybody of course). I send regular status updates.

LL-GG is fairly mature. Except for a wizard mode (that nobody's come close to reaching), all of the modes and most of the gameplay rules are in. It's mostly about tweaks, bug fixes, and polish at this point, plus voice callouts and mode introductions. Of course we're also continuing to add new features (like the player profile system) that will give people more ways to enjoy their machine.

When might we see a hd video showcasing finished games?

I can promise you this: we'll release an HD showcase video before the games enter production, and we're hoping to start the pre-production process in early Q2, with production following the approval process. Of course, those estimates depend on us raising some more operating capital. So far our efforts have piggy-backed on the passion the team and our supporters have for the corporate vision and for what the P3 can do for the entire pinball industry.

1 month later

#40 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

The next open house is this Saturday 2/28 from 1pm -6pm. Our MFG prototype is playable! There'll be 2 playable P3's and birthday cake. Join us!

#42 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Quoted from solarvalue:
Awesome, does this mean it will definitely be at Texas?

It will be there.

#45 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

3 birthdays, 2 P3s, 1 party.

The MFG proto is on the left. The GI is completely configurable and looks great in person (looks bright in the pic).

- Gerry

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#50 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Quoted from solarvalue:
Is that different trim on the MFG proto? Besides the upper-playfield differences which have already been discussed in the T-shirt thread what else has changed since the last prototype?

It has the same trim. By and large, the machine looks the same from the outside. The guts are very different. Previous prototypes were made to prove out concepts. This machine was built almost entirely to our solidworks model(s). It's super modular and consists of all the features we need to deliver on our platform and serviceability goals.

I realize we have to deliver P3 games before people will fully understand the value of all of our innovations. The gameplay innovations are the easiest to see and enjoy by playing, but the platform innovations are what have the potential to truly revolutionize the industry.

The party turnout was pretty disappointing due to the bad weather conditions in Austin, but we accomplished our main goal of getting a full day's worth of test time on the new machine before SXSW and TPF. We now have a nice list of things we need to address... some hardware, some software. Thanks to all who attended.

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#53 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Quoted from Coyote:
Gerry -
A possibly idiot question -
Why the different lighting between the two machines? One looks cool-white, one looks warm?

The old machine's backbox uses a white LED strip for light, whereas the new machine has fully configurable RGB lighting elements. The new machine also illuminates the upper p/f with fully configurable RGB GI elements. Even the P3 in the backbox is separately RGB lit.

Customers will be able to dial in the color of each element separately to their liking.

#54 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Quoted from Zitt:
The only constructive thing I have to say is I'm not a fan of the multi-button lane switch mode. I just couldn't wrap my head around using the other buttons during ball play (other than flippers). Maybe a setting to enable "traditional" lane select via the flippers would be my desired setting.

Request and ye shall receive. I'm pretty confident most, once they have a chance to adapt, will prefer using alternate buttons for moving the inlane/outlane icons, but having a legacy option is no big deal / easy to implement.

Having multiple buttons gives us the opportunity to control features in ways that make more sense. In traditional 1-button-per-side machines, there simply aren't any options. Another example is our accessibility feature that lets people control both flippers with one hand. We simply re-map the buttons such that two buttons on the same side can activate the flippers.

#58 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg

Quoted from mjfisher:
Maybe it's time for another video (hint hint).

This one will have to do for now!

#60 9 years ago

GSS

gstellenberg