I understand you're changing the bright white LEDs by the slingshots and guides to the flippers, but are you adding plastics with artwork over the guides and slingshots? Looks very unfinished down there. Thanks for the video, I really couldn't see any blacklight art but I can't wait till you post a video to show it off and also show off the light show with the newly installed flashers.

Another question, I noticed at Expo a pic was shown with the skull and spine and there was another pic with a skull and spine that was almost life size, what is that for? Topper? Or am I imagining it?

Love the work so far, I was down on it from expo but I feel after the video and questions answered my spirits are back up. Thanks again.

Well there are not very many shots but from my understanding it has deep rules. I just hope it has good replay value or will we get bored with the limited shots? Only time will tell.

Great job skit b,loving the way the whole package is looking.

Just a couple of things,

what I thought was going to be one of the coolest toys in pinball and for sure what I was lookin forward to most was the hanging body. The body itself does it's part as it looks great and very graphic,but it now sounds as if that's where it ends,just a prop basically. This really needs ( in my opinion ), to have a mech that moves it when you make the ramp shot or less where losing a main toy?

Another thing,the claw is looking better than I ever imagined,again detail is great,but it seems to happen far to quick to even see what's happened. I get that it needs to happen quick and it may just be the video but it would be nice for the claw to say out briefly just to appreciate it.

Regarding your camera issues, you may get better results by just manually setting your aperture. That way the camera isn't constantly trying to balance the light level between the LEDs and the playfield. I have a $500ish camera that takes great pinball video in low light when I do this.

Thanks for getting involved with the community again, Kevin! Color inserts fo' sho!

Yes. ^^^^^^^^

I vote for the colored inserts.
#34

I'm watching Predator the movie right now.

I like color inserts
#113

Colored inserts please!
#164

Finally got to watch the video as I couldn't view it from work. Awesome! I love all the improvements, right down to the audio changes. I also agree with all of your plans for adjustments/fixes. This game gave me chills all over again. Really, the game could be mediocre and I would still love it because of the atmosphere it creates. I have a feeling it will be better than mediocre, though.

You may have seen that photo further up in this thread, me holding the life size skull/spine with Kevin in front of the game at Expo. I was told Matt will make these available and the skull/spine could be hung from the ceiling near the game, or possibly with a bracket of some sort yet to be devised... get this --- hanging off the sides of the head (notice I said sides with an "s"... I think someone envisions one on EACH side of the game head!). It was to say the least, VERY LIFELIKE. Creepy almost, but in a good way.

Another vote for colored inserts.

Spfxted is probably your guy.

What I'd recommend with what you have for your LIT shots to show playfield detail, is as much light as you can muster but only about 1/4 pointed directly at the playfield. The rest should be reflected off the ceiling, etc. Use only incandescent, no CFLs or florescents.

If you have a bunch of clamp work lights, those are cheap light.

For dark stuff that is punctuated by random bright flashing lights, it's just a whole nother level of equipment and lighting skills. But the cheap and dirty: If your camera has an auto-iris or auto-exposure you would turn it to manual. Then you'd have experiment to find a good balance between ambient lighting and exposure.

For UV light, this article might explain the challenges:

http://www.wildfirefx.com/resources/tutorials/uvforfilm.aspx

In particular:

"When shooting fluorescent effects, you’ll need much more light—a much brighter effect, in other words—than you would for a live audience. Human eyes are much more sensitive to the fluorescent effect than film."

I started a poll and thread about insert color preferences.

http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/playfield-inserts-an-informal-poll-about-color-preference

That's funny, because I took a shot with some UV LEDs the other night where the effect on the fluorescent Saturn flipper rubbers was way more pronounced in the photo than in person. I wish they really glowed that much!

image.jpg

+ 1 vote for colored inserts. Also, if possible, color-matched frosted LED bulbs for the inserts.

I want to say thanks for the video Kevin and for the Q/A session. Big smile for confirming clear ramps that will not have those covers. Im glad you were able to find a nice solution. Love the cc on the playfield and look forward to seeing the version with full UV coating. Is there a match on the game? The video showed the game kinda ending without much pizazz. As far as the inserts go...I am thrilled that you would still consider our input at this stage. Colored inserts yes.

Thanks Kevin for the updates, nice to hear from you!

This is somewhat of a bummer IMO. To me nothing is confusing if some lights in certain modes change a different color than the regular. It adds to the overall ambiance of the mode it coordinates with. If different colors indicate progress on different modes especially if they stack it can actually be very helpful. Stern did a pretty good job on this with ST and hopefully will refine it. Not to put too much of an emphasis on it but I do remember you said there would be some color controlled lighting a while back. Way too monotone to put bright white in all the GI if there will be no color changing going on IMO. Bright white has a way of washing out the art on plastics.

I really hope you do include some colored inserts especially if there will be no color delivered via lighting.

I like the clear inserts allowing us to do different colored LED`s etc but I think I would like the colored insert look better then the clears while sitting static.

Maybe colored inserts for the lanes near the ramps (top left & right portion of playfield) and clear for Predators arm controller area.

I agree, but I'll add that I think ST is the ONLY game so far whose use of color-changing is intuitive and helpful. ACDC doesn't feel clear at all. Woz is very purty, but it's color changers have not helped me understand the rules.

Thus, I'm more in the Skit-b camp on this one. Unless the color is really being used to heighten the effect, I'm indifferent about its inclusion.

Kevin, the suggestion about the lights sounds awesome. Wasn't a huge deal but it sounds a lot better than coding.
Thanks for coming back and addressing everyone's issues.
I could make out the predators head under the black light and i think it's going to look amazing. Especially when we see those guys pop orange. Let's face it, hunt mode is what attracted me to the project. (On that subject, don't borrow anything from viper night driving. Ever)
Those glow balls feel like bouny balls. Plus when I played that game, they didn't even glow.
Solid looking game. That dmd looks awesome. That shot of the predator alone compared to last year looks 50x better.
I think the ramps flowing right is going to be crucial when tied in together. It sounds (haven't played it) like it might be an easy game so multiple wizards per game is a possibility. Actually, I'm curious if there is a difficulty setting upping the amount of shots for things. Again, open source I know.
Little more light in there would be great as well. I actually like the art and it'd be a shame to darken it.
Did you say you were going to set the body up to be hit by the ball? I'm curious to see how that plays out when all said and done.
Guys type Huey helicopter toy into google. I'm sure you can find some ideas. I'll bet someone can even wire it up to spin the rotors.
Unload blind fire is a pretty slick idea.
Am I the only guy who noticed? Comic Sans was completely absent this time!
Can't wait to see that translite light when finished.
For you guys missing Anna, 5:55.
I'd have to say colored inserts. I can always add colored lights instead of whites based on personal prefernce as well.
I've read every post in both threads but don't remember if the post in the back that you can choose to keep up or set down actually effects gameplay other than personal preference. What I mean is is there like a combo loop bonus or anything?

I think I'm done rambling for now. Thanks for making your presence felt on the forums again. This thread is the only reason I come to pinside anymore. Good luck finishing up

I think some color changing type of lighting effects for some different modes would really help immerse the player in the game. It's not the 90's anymore with many pins pushing the envelope looking to come up with some new things. It wouldn't hurt to try and use a little programed LED color changing technology to draw people in. They did mention that they would use this a while back which is why I was a bit disappointed. Just putting bright white LEDs in for all GI is kind of an easy way out. I guess we will have to wait to see how effective the UV layer is. Some colored inserts would be nice especially if all the light will be simply bright white. Each buyer has their own expectations after somewhat disappointing non-reveal at expo I want to be excited about the project. Still big fan of the project without a doubt but at the same time I have some concerns.

Please tell me you are going with the Mousin' Around style ramp exits! That'd be F'in sweet. If you've never played one before (I'm sure you have) the ball literally has no slow down upon exit, always throws people off for at least a ball or two with how fast it is. I agree, the bounceback from many ramp exits is annoying as shit, completely ruins the fabled "flow" everyone always talks about.

_{Post edited by The_Dude_Abides : Profanity.}

Another vote for coloured inserts

#62

Oh, and I'd vote for a mix of both colored and clear inserts (wherever appropriate). That way we get the best of both worlds!

I vote color inserts with some clears here or there. You could always do the gi lighting as color changers the way acdc does it. No need to do color changers in the inserts if you think it confuses things.

It does seem as if the inserts writing is hard to make out. Not sure if that's due to the video quality or the font used or what. But I'd like to hear what you say about that and if you have a picture of the inserts.

I love the claw mechanism.

That's awesome. I definitely didn't mean to suggest placing them where Mousin' Around does, just simply the design of the ramp itself. You guys really do seem to know what you are doing, and I have faith that the end product is going to be fantastic. I'm glad you guys are so open to feedback, because I know what it can be like with your nose to the grindstone, it's easy to completely miss something obvious just because you are so close to the project. I think the one thing that helps you guys tremendously is that you are players first, designers second, so you are designing with the player in mind the entire time.

Really almost every game has a mix of both. There's always some clear or white inserts where you can customize easily, but they shouldn't all be that way or the playfield looks kind of bland. There should at least be some red ones.

Yeah, I really think a mix is the best option. As they are, it's just a bit plain looking. Anyway, I found the poll and voted.

Any chance you plan to do a bit more with the hanging body other than the ball knicking it to make it move a bit?

I think my magnet idea is bad ass. You have my permission to steal it.

Inserts: I'll go ahead and be the first to step out in favor of the current monotone khaki. I think it looks pretty slick and it's neat to see the color suddenly bloom from underneath.

I like the white translucent inserts.

i agree, better solution.

also, the bumper caps scream for red.

WOW !!!

That looks so amazing. What great work.

bb

I love the "Predator vision" effect, looks badass! Also love the translight.

I like everything but the looks of the ramps and the lay out. Ramps should be wired and i kinda miss a main target toy. But thats a personal taste i think.

The claw is something special, that is a great feature.

I vote for colored inserts

I think i'd have to see a picture of a playfield with each style of insert in order to vote, but my gut says colored, i supposed i could watch the newest video and compare it to one of the old ones?

Yeah, that would be best.

Good idea on the red. I was thinking how the prototype looked with green, yellow and red. It looked like stop lights in the playfield. I think some reds would look pretty sweet.

Awesome game!
Good to know you are listening to your customers and fans.

Keep the faith and send us some pictures (natural light - don't bother with UV - I doubt one could get a decent rendering: one has to see the damn thing... and I know I will)

I like the ramp diverter: the abduction sensation must be great. With slightly improved ramps, this will be a great game.

Can't wait (but take your time...). Proud to be onboard ! Am I the only one in France?

Back to unanswered question: Do you plan grouped shipping to Europe? Will you use Ministry of Pinball, even for those who preordered directly from you ?

I like the neutral inserts. Gives the hope of one day being used with colour changing leds and more superb light shows.

Out with the old, in with the new!

few Hueys off ebay, the corgi ones are diecast 1/48 scale (about 25cm long) which may be a bit big but who knows as its quite a big space to fill of where people seem to be saying theyd put it

$T2eC16h,!zIFIekv,ISJBSObJ1r9Cw~~60_12.JPG

this one is 1/72

$T2eC16V,!yUFIbiQwPR2BSMgSio52w~~60_12.JPG

this one is 5.5 inches long,whatever scale this is? and is said to have spining blades

$(KGrHqVHJ!0FI9!p,BoOBSUq9WdLh!~~60_12.JPG

and this one is out of a magazine

$(KGrHqQOKp0FGQf--5qCBRsiuhOFLQ~~60_12.JPG

so plenty of options

After watching the latest videos I have to say its been decades since I have had the feeling that I had when TAF, T2, HS2 came out. This game has bought back that feeling. Just brilliant work incorproating the music and voices into this game. I love the look of it as well. WOW... Another thing I love is the scoring... FINALLY some decent structures for scoring rather than this BS 20-25 mill stuff for a good game.

2 things:

When is the release date??? Q2 2014?
Will you be making more pins??

This is a great point and why I keep going back and forth on the inserts. With the code being open source, you can almost be guaranteed someone will rewrite code to enable the RGB LED's for the inserts (and if not, you can still put in colored bulbs/LEDS to give correct color). Plus, the only reason for colored inserts is to make the pin look pretty when it's not turned on.

But will it be wired for RGB LEDs?

Colored inserts or not = don't care. What I DO care about is that you take your time and produce a great machine. Don't let a 'time schedule' make you rush through things just to get it 'out the door'. We can wait.