I've worked on a variety of homebrew machines that have unique or interesting (to me) features, and usually something fairly complex on the software side.

Game like the Multi-Bingo https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/multi-bingo-machine and Multi-Races https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/multi-races-the-multi-one-ball-horserace-game were games that allowed for hundreds of machines to be playable in a single cabinet with swappable playfields and multiple unique mechanisms. The Multi-Bingo has been making the rounds since 2016, and Multi-Races since 2019. Very ambitious on the hardware/reverse-engineering side as I tried to replicate the pseudo-random mechanical movement as accurately as possible.

Robo-Frenzy (still in progress) is a scratch build EM arcade game. Wildly complex! https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-em-arcade-game

And one of my more ambitious software games was a remake of the original Quest For Glory/Hero's Quest computer game as a pinball. https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/p3-game-so-you-want-to-be-a-hero-quest-for-glory-pinball

This last was only possible because of the P3's unique and groundbreaking features (profile support, an open SDK, and interplay of the ball across a huge screen filled with dynamic targets).

As I wrap up my work on my first P3 game, I've decided to announce a second P3 game! It's called "Ranger In The Ruins" and will be more of a traditional pinball game with an Internet-based twist.

Your goal is to survive for as long as possible/achieve the highest score possible.

Acquiring an item will provide you some kind of assistance (usually).

Also, in a first, when you lose a game, if your P3 is connected to the Internet, some 'ghost' data will be written, which can then allow you to appear within another's game.

It will use the CCR playfield module.

The game is still in early/active development, but I've set up a website:

https://rangerintheruins.com

Thank you all for your comments!

100% agree. It's amazing to me how easily a game can be created, and really a testament to how well thought out the P3 is as a platform. Did you see the 4 player Internet gameplay of CCR that was streamed last night? Incredible that we can do something like that with a pinball machine.

Join ussssss. Every new announcement (and there have been a lot in the past few months, the latest being bluetooth audio support) has really added to the value proposition of the platform. I really love the fact that the same layout can be used in multiple ways, and is one of the many strengths of the platform. Spend a little and get a whole new game using the module you already own.

It's true, I can't. Time is my greatest enemy. I'm excited as well! I'll post a little rules writeup here shortly. Thanks for following along!

Haha, thanks solarvalue - I wanted to show some of the assets in a similar way to how the game will be presented. I set up the host for the internet connectivity portion and thought, "why not?".

A few thoughts - I think the idea of a roguelike is a great fit for pinball. An over-arching goal that most likely can't be achieved without every piece falling into place just so. The finality of death. Starting over. Unique elements each time you try.

And there aren't any pixel art pinball games yet (that use it consistently), so I thought I'd try.

Regarding money, let me finish the game first! The plan is that it'll be available for sale on the Multimorphic site. More to come on that!

Regarding artwork...

If you are familiar with an endless runner game on your mobile device, you will likely be familiar with this sort of style. The game starts and you take off running left to right. City and background scrolling. Certain events within the game trigger a change in background/scene, but the sense of speed is paramount with this playfield layout, and I wish to retain that sense of tension, and keep the elements on the screen simple and easy to understand or ignore as you'll be really following the ball very closely during play.

Regarding music...

I used to play a bunch of different instruments for a bunch of different bands. I have started composing the music for a few of the instruments and may go ahead and record myself playing them (who would know better how it should sound?). I want to layer tracks in such a way that you will get increasingly hyped up as your play session time increases.

Switching scenes/backgrounds will "reset" the music to a calmer/simpler tune.

Multiball will have its own themes.

I'm fully aware that I might not have time to get the playing of the instruments just right after so many years without playing, so I might farm that out. The composition is the most important part (for me).

Regarding gameplay:

The basic goal is simple. Survive. Doing so will require you to really think on your feet. Every shot counts towards your point total, unless you are grabbing an item.

To qualify an item, you spell "L-O-O-K" in the lanes (I know, original), then shoot the lit shot to snag it. The item (randomly selected) will show you a small summary screen saying what it does before spitting the ball back at you. I believe the scoop will be the item collect, but undecided.

Items vary from boosts (move faster, increase multiplier - or reduce number of shots needed towards multiball - or add a ball to your next multiball, etc., an extra ball?) to cursed items (reduce number of points per shot by a factor, remove other items). Some boosts are timed, for example the playfield multiplier will not be active until you drain.

Now draining... the concept of a roguelike is that you have one shot and then you're gone. In pinball today, we are conditioned to have multiple chances. I like to study the history of pinball and the concept of having a single ball is not new. In fact, Multi-Races has 36 games that use a single ball! From the factory, the setting will be for one ball on RITR, but I may/will likely add a setting to allow up to 3.

Multiball will require shots to the side targets to qualify. Then hit that magna ramp for physical ball locks. After you have achieved multiball once, side targets and smaller standups will be required to qualify lock. During multiball, there will be a couple of jackpot shots, but mostly it's about getting as many points as possible while active (like an 80s multiball).

Ball locks can be stolen for multiplayer games. Unlike Quest for Glory, you can add more than one player, but only one player at a time can play.

Now, let's talk about ghosts. Ghosts will appear at random in the form of a scoop. Music will change when one is coming up soon, and when the music piece is done, a random scoop will pop for a period of time. Hitting the scoop will award an item, passed on from a prior run.

If your P3 is connected to the Internet, the ghost data will be pulled from another player! If not, I will keep a local store of ghost data. The ghost is selected at random from all the ghost data available.

Had some unexpected issues at work this week, so I was only able to get the parallax scrolling of the cityscape and background working, along with your main character and the title/attract screen.

I also wrote a couple of 'hooks' for songs with what tattered remnants remained of my free time, verified that that I could expound upon those hooks on bass and guitar.

I think the seeds of a main theme and a multiball theme.

I will be working on composing the music a bit more this week as time permits.

My main inspiration for music in this game are video games which, as a youngster, really provided a sense of isolation and loneliness during exploration.

Spent a few minutes recording guitar and bass lines for the main theme and multiball. The songs may not be everyone's cup of tea, but so far I'm pleased with how they sound. I did not have time to mix them, will try to do so early next week and then put them in the game and see how I like them.

Songs are punk. That feeling of loneliness and isolation you get from hearing the main theme to the first Dragon Warrior or Metroid are incorporated a bit, and as a subculture with alienation, punk seemed to fit for the theme.

If it's no good in the game (quite possible), then at least I got to write a couple of new songs. The difference for pinball is that it needs to be something that can loop endlessly, or I need to write a few dozen tracks. Over the course of development, I may do so.

Today I worked on the running and death animations for the player character. The game will now play the death animation upon drain, and the running animation picks up immediately upon starting the game.

I also wrote the keymap to allow me to test the game within the simulator. Multimorphic's incredibly flexible development environment allows you to bind any key in the simulator to any switch within the game.

I am also not a fan of bonus in a game. I prefer to play to the game itself rather than play as a means to the end of ball. As such, I usually have design ideas that don't revolve around bonus, and I've gone ahead and disabled the bonus system entirely for now.

Next up will be disabling the cool parallax effect when you die (stop running). I handle those with scripts attached to the GameObjects for the various background layers. Should be easy enough.

While my previous game required a profile to start, I'm going to make RITR more location-friendly by not requiring it. A randomized name will be assigned and saved to the Internet/locally upon death in that instance. I'll need to think of a way to integrate the profile support into the game and what it will mean. Regarding location play, I suspect a lot of profiles named creative curse words if I don't have some kind of restrictions. I may go with randomized names for each, or build a filter. This almost seems like a game that doesn't need a profile.

I'm working on the item list and what modifiers the game will provide, and which will be timed. I have a great, simple idea for communicating that something is timed. Hope it works.

Your name might not even be displayed or presented unless you are a ghost. Even then, I may not actually push the name to the presentation layer. Still ruminating. Definitely want a pick up and play experience with minimal interruptions.

Still working on graphics for various objects and thinking about use within the game.

I added a ghost graphic that will appear (sound will also change when near) when your game receives data from the Internet.

I've thought of a fun way to handle gathering items (same goes for ghost items)...

The game will stop forward movement for a few moments after completing L-O-O-K or running into a ghost. At this time, a random scoop from the wall/scoop assembly will pop up. Hitting the scoop will award the item.

I spoke with a friend last night about mystery awards and bonus. He is a fan of being able to win on bonus, but I remain unconvinced. His suggestion was to enable the feature for those that like the bonus, and disable it by default. I think that's probably the best of both worlds. I'll make a setting to enable/disable bonus.

Regarding items, he suggested that each item have a pro and a con. I'm concerned that a system like that, while making the playing field a bit more level, will cause issues with the simplicity and ease-of-understanding, pick-up-and-play type of gameplay that I want. I'll think on this for a while longer. I like the idea of a pro and a con, but the communication of this either through lightshow or in-game graphics would have to be pretty simple.

I wrote some handlers yesterday for the ghost animation that will stop you from running temporarily when a ghost appears. You'll start running again once the timer expires/almost expires for hitting the scoop.

Now I am working on the network connectivity portion. As I previously mentioned, I've written the server side communication piece, I just have to write the client side.

I've not worked with network connectivity in C# or Unity previously, but how hard could it be? I write network connectivity software a bunch, so it really shouldn't be a big deal.

At the moment, I've written a method that will call on game start to determine connectivity through a coroutine. Unfortunately, it's not working for mysterious (to me) reasons. It's async, but given really ample time it's not returning the result I want. There's something undoubtedly simple about why it's not working. When I find out what, I'll update here.

Hope to have a moment to work on music more this weekend and get the main loop complete or multiball complete. Between now and then, if I get networking working, I have a local API to write (for non-connected machines), and then the scoop timer routines to write, along with some graphics for the items you retrieve.

Lol, so I never program on Windows except to write P3 software. The built-in Windows firewall outsmarted me. I finally decided to do a packet analysis and see where it was failing... and the firewall was blocking everything. Turned it off and hey! It works! Haha

So now to figure out what the heck the firewall thinks it was protecting me from. Silly me, thinking that allowing the Unity editor through the firewall would be enough.

I'm doing a ping as a connectivity test, wonder if ICMP is totally blocked by default in Windows now?

They've blocked incoming ping for a long time, outgoing is the problem here. Yeah, my plan is to figure out why it feels the need to block that pretty simple request when the app is unblocked and turn my firewall back on. Just amusing.

Update: didn't build a special rule, but unblocked Unity Hub, which shouldn't have anything to do with this, and it worked... ah, Windows!

Very consistent response within my app, so I've written the handlers needed to go out and request data.

Writing the nuts and bolts of the client portion (and local server portion) of the API now.

I also wrote the randomized timer methods that will allow for ghost data to appear. Works great!

Once I have consistent data return from local/Internet, then it'll be on to writing the items themselves. Should be soon!

Lunchtime! Wrote the local API consumer and all handlers to pass the data back and forth between GUI and Mode layers of the game for ghost items (untested, but done). Next up will be testing and fixing the API (if needed), finishing up the items and planned uses, then implementation of the scoop to award the item.

Right now, all of this API stuff happens on a randomized basis, and will call out or stay in depending on if you're connected to the 'net. Once an item is acquired, the game just has to handle it (ha!). Now that I have the file format for local ghosts taken care of (it's a little simplified vs. the remote ghosts), I'll need to work through the game as a whole (that includes assets like music and artwork for the items) before working on an implementation of the saving APIs.

APIs!

This weekend, I'm not sure if I'm going to be doing much on the game, but if I have time, I'll be working on the music. Now that the character is running through the cityscape, it would be nice to have them jamming to some tunes.

I've had less than no time this weekend to work on the game, but I've attempted to set up drums to record.

I gave away my drum kit years ago... in fact, all of my recording equipment has been gone for a long time. I am no stranger to hacking things together and making them work, however, so that's how I've approached recording.

I still have an OK guitar and a bass I bought off a friend for $25 (it almost holds a tune). For drums, I don't have a real kit anymore, so I priced out a digital kit (I only have a couple of mics, and none are really great for recording instruments), and quickly backed away. They are still super pricey. I do have a Guitar Hero World Tour set... and those actually function as MIDI drums behind-the-scenes.

Regarding the setup, things get complicated. For the guitar and bass, I have a game called Rocksmith that teaches you to play guitar/bass and most importantly comes with a USB cable that acts as an audio input.

For the drums, to make my life interesting, I have the Wii version. The Wii version doesn't function without a Wii remote powering it, and that remote has to be paired to the PC you are using to record. Check! Next, I have a MIDI-to-USB cable that I had to get years ago to make the drums function properly. I fooled around with that for a few hours after work yesterday and could. not. get. it. to. function. Finally I looked at the one MIDI port on the drums, and noticed that it said MIDI IN. Yeesh. So I think what I have to do is map the keys of the Wii remote to MIDI notes, and ignore the MIDI to USB.

The Guitar Hero kit is surprisingly full featured, with a bass, snare, two toms, a crash/ride and a hi-hat. Velocity can be mapped to a different instrument. I should be able to make do with this, but of course, it needs to actually produce some noises first.

If only I weren't so cheap! I'll happily spend another hour or so fooling around with it and getting it to make noise vs. spending $400+.

Because of latency in the drums (they're not really made for this, after all), I will likely need to record the drum tracks for each song, then go back and re-record the guitar and bass to THOSE tracks to keep the tempo consistent. Worth it, as it should sound pretty nice. Well, as nice as can be expected.

Apparently later versions of the kit have midi out. Working through overly complex midi emulation setup now.

Update: doesn't work.
Seems like this should be a solved problem. Wonder how much circuitry would be needed to add a midi output? At this point, since I don't know any local drummers anymore, and wouldn't want to use someone else's kit at the moment anyway... Looks like I'll be trying to find the cheapest set of midi drums possible. Appears that demand(?) Has skyrocketed for these older drum kits (or maybe people discovered they were secretly midi controllers) as price is almost what a legit midi drumkit costs...

If I recall, there's a free drumming mode in one of the games that uses this drum kit. I wonder if I could take the audio output and route it to the input of the computer and record the raw audio. Hopefully there's not a click track in that mode. Haha!

Hmm, that does look like a nice drum machine software, but unsupported by any of the daw software I'm using. Might give the trial a shot and see! Thanks for the recommendation.

Well, I'm an old school Ardour user, but I'm trying to work on Windows to make life easier on myself when switching between Unity and vscode, etc. on Windows. I'm fooling around with the new Cakewalk (free, at least for now), and various MIDI sequencers. I spend a lot of time with Audacity normally, but of course Audacity isn't a traditional DAW.

But the main reason for not using a drum machine, is that playing the drums is fun.

EZ-Drummer is about half the cost of a cheap electronic drum kit, so it's the front runner if I need to spend money, but I do worry about hidden costs of a new DAW.

If you have recommendations, let me know!

@rdoyle you might be onto something. Maybe I should give up on hitting actual pads with sticks and move to a drum machine. Can't beat free (or $2). https://drumbit.app/

I hear you, believe me... maybe I'll give that convoluted setup I mentioned above a shot and see how it sounds. If it/me is awful, I'll poke at a drum machine. It'll be neat/less robotic to hear myself playing all of the instruments. Sorry in advance.

This is life-changing! Wow. I didn't know this existed. Been out of the recording game for a long time. Thank you!!!!!

Happily. Haha

Much appreciated, I don't have the drum kit for Xbox, and the old style Rock Band drums don't have separate cymbals. :-/

Who knew I'd be so picky about plastic drums?

I'm working on the list of potential items and their effects. Up to 11 thus far, hoping to hit 20 or so. Some pretty unique effects thus far, just have to program them.

I have not had much time to work on the game this week, but I was able to complete a solid list of 20ish items with unique/complimentary effects.

I'm really excited to get this programmed in. Now that local and remote ghost data is functional and returning the item, I can start programming in the effects, and flesh out the scoring based on those effects.

The game is basically flippable as-is, but missing audio and lighting effects, as well as item graphics and unique interactions. I am also torn on item searches that don't involve ghosts. I might scrap that idea as you would receive, perhaps, too many items per game? I'll need to test an implementation with and without to see what the best balance is for an average (or below average) player like myself.

All that to say, lots already done! But lots left to do.

Just finished work, leaving time to play.

I set up the drum kit to see if the software had a freestyle mode. It does! Rock band 2 even emulates different types of kits. The freestyle mode doesn't seem to be velocity sensitive, however.

The different kit types give me some new ideas for songs, as well. One of the items you can receive interacts with the music, so I'll need to write some more stuff!

Regarding programming, once everyone's asleep tonight, I'll be fooling around with some of the stuff I mentioned above (unless I just fall asleep) haha

In case this comes up for anyone ever again, guitar hero world tour supports velocity in its recording mode (like rock band's freestyle). The samples it uses are of lesser quality, but the range of instrumentation is way better. Not sure which I'll use, but I'll probably start patterning out the drums in guitar hero.

Haha, thanks! Thankfully, the SDK does a lot of heavy lifting of having something that basically functions out of the gate.

Regarding the Doctor, that's a shameful oversight in my sci-fi studies. I've seen a couple of episodes classic and modern, meant to get back to it, haven't yet.

Had some unexpected stuff come up that required me to rearrange my game room and do a bunch of other stuff. That said, I just finished QFG! So today I plan to try recording the drums on my main loop and multiball track.

When shows happen again, I'll be bringing it around, if nothing else.

Drum recording complete - that was an insane amount of trouble (had to use a second computer). I think the second computer's input peaked constantly so I might have to re-record all of it, but I suspect I'll need to do that for all the instruments.

Added in a settings menu, along with default options and tested those... number of balls works for players 1-4 (max 4). Game ends when appropriate.

Added tilt - no warnings, just death. This is not configurable.

I'm working on some of the item uses now!

Here's what's left before I can test:
1) Flesh out all item uses (for items that require button/switch presses).
2) Add 2 Multiball modes - the SDK comes with a sample Multiball mode that I can use to review.
3) Add rudimentary light shows
4) Review ball launch stuff - ensuring that balls launch properly, theoretically.
5) Add simple music and effects (will take time to finish).
6) Add graphics for each item
7) Test.

I worked on adding graphics for each item today - I'm about 1/4 through the item list. Some may require refinement/replacement, but it's a start.

Almost all items have graphics! I've added the sprites in Unity and some delicious flavor text. Now to program the ability to see the images (with animation) and text...
Then number 6 in the list is done.

Ah, trying the eke out a bit of time every day to work on the game. Luckily, I still think the same as I did a week or so ago when I wrote the bones of the items - I post an integer along with the command to fire up the items and the meaning of that int is still the same. Go me!

I've got about 50% of the GUI methods written for items. Once that's finished, I need to do a bit more testing, then it's on to the next thing. Perhaps ball launch next? The SDK abstracts away so much of that process that I don't really know how it works on a lower level. I need to do some fancier stuff with this game, so I'll have to read, digest, and probably ask some questions on the pindev slack.

Well, I just took a peek at how this is configured for the stuff that ships with the SDK and it works as I expected. It'll be no problem to adapt to a different playfield. Stop making everything so simple!

Thanks! I feel I'm moving in slow motion, but trying to maintain some momentum.

Wow, thank you for your kind words.

I'm excited to share something fun with my kids, and hope that even if they don't have machines of their own, they'll have learned something about how to fix things or build things and carry that practical skill through their lives.

Hopefully they have fun while learning , too.

My back has healed up, so I was able to finish the game room changes today, relevel stuff, and do a bit more programming.

I have added in a lot of graphical flourish to acquiring items, to the point where that is almost complete.

The last touch for items is to add a background to make them stand out a bit from the cityscape.

It's taken a lot of tweaking to get to this point, but the game will automatically reach out and try to connect, if that succeeds, it will put it in Internet mode. Failing that stay in a local only mode and pull from a special file.

Items are acquired based on a random timer. When that happens, it polls and grabs the appropriate items. You should never see the same item twice in a row.

When the game determines it's item time, a ghost appears on screen. The movement stops once the ghost reaches the center, and after a few seconds, the item zooms into view on the lower screen.

After a few more seconds, movement resumes, and the item disappears from view. The ghost zips off the screen, adding to the sense of movement.

I'm pretty pleased with how this all looks and works. The background will make the item images slightly more visible, depending on which items appear. I have thoughts... We'll see how it looks.

I also meant to add to my list a generic method to pop up scores on the lower screen as you earn them. Easy enough to add, but I keep forgetting it in my list making euphoria.

So here's what's left:

1) Flesh out all item uses (for items that require button/switch presses).
2) Add 2 Multiball modes - the SDK comes with a sample Multiball mode that I can use to review.
3) Add rudimentary light shows
4) Review ball launch stuff - ensuring that balls launch properly, theoretically.
5) Add simple music and effects (will take time to finish).
6) Add score popups on lower screen.

Hope to knock out an item or two tomorrow!

I added this stuff today:
1) Sun parabola animation
2) Smoothed out ghost exit animation.
3) Ball Launch stuff (hopefully!)
4) Score Popups - not rendering, but calling and have all the GUI stuff written to take advantage. Some small thing needed to work - I use the same method in QFG and it works, so it's something very trivial.
5) Oh yeah, scoring... forgot about enabling that... Haha! That's done for each switch, including multipliers.
6) Item uses now function for the 2 items that require/allow button presses.

What's left:
1) Add 2 Multiball modes - the SDK comes with a sample Multiball mode that I can use to review.
2) Add rudimentary light shows
3) Add simple music and effects (will take time to finish, but put some basic stuff in there).

I believe I've got the multiball modes added... though I don't doubt that one of the two will need some fairly massive tweaks once I test in game.

I am now working on the music, and then it'll be sound effects and light shows.

I have a plan for some sound effects that I think is pretty cool.

I added some music at lunchtime, and updated the high score entry to be themed to the game. Tackling the small things as I come across them, on the way to the larger things.

You know what time it is: lunchtime! I added more sounds and music to the game, still in the process of mastering my tracks. Also added a results page (lists final scores of last game).

Working on adding a high scores page now, then it'll be on to light shows. I'm really interested to dig into those with the CCR playfield module.

First flips maaaaay slip to the following weekend. Heads up!

Well, I am tabling my songs for now - after spending a lot of time editing them into something sorta reasonable I was still nowhere near happy enough with them. Good news is that I have quite a lot of other music in the game.

I've added some light shows to the game for various events, and hopefully they work like I expect! I'll find out when I test.

So what's left?

1) I discovered a bug with rapid restarts of the game after dying while a ghost is on the screen. (I know, right?!) It seems the game loses track, somehow, of the ghost and can't animate it any longer. I have absolutely no clue why this is happening, and it has never happened to me previously... The object exists, I can see it in the editor/inspector, and it's at the coordinates I expect, but it's like the game completely forgot it exists. I am going to try mapping the object in a different way and see if that makes a difference. This bug mussssst be fixed or else no ghosts will function until the app is restarted. Pretty annoying. You'll still receive items, but the positional audio does some weird stuff and you won't see it coming. Invisible ghosts! Maybe I should detect if that happens and only give you negative items.

2) Add a few other sound effects for certain switch hits. My audio is going to be based on point value. One of the things I love about EM audio design is that, while shots are not contextualized with video clips, the audio is consistent. A small bell is a small point value, a large bell is larger, etc.

3) Add a backglass image! I keep forgetting to do this...

4) Prep the app for build. This requires a few extra little pieces (some artwork and a callout for starting the app).

5) Add ghost upload to the code for when you drain (RESTful service is there, just need to call it).

So... not very much! The bug is the most pressing concern, because it's really obnoxious and logs a billion errors when it happens.

I stayed up a little too late last night and finished everything except for number 5.

The rapid restart issue was corrected by making the ghost object public. Super duper weird. I'll have to dig into why that is at some point later on.

Hey, it's lunchtime, and you know what that means... I had a bit more than one line to write as I debugged sending the items via the Internet to the server, but that's all done. It works, it's great, and I love it.

Hopefully you all will as well. I hope to have a moment this weekend to build an Alpha and test it out!

First test! Some bugs, mostly with light shows and multiball, but otherwise worked about like I wanted it to! So rewarding to start flipping a game you've been programming for a while.

The P3 SDK allows you to go from concept to execution extremely quickly.

IMG_20200808_200008_704 (resized).jpg

I fixed a couple of egregious bugs last night.

Today, I played at least 50 games in a row (and really loved it) - I hope others will enjoy it as well! I have a few improvements I'd like to make before filming, though.

Made another build that fixed several of the outstanding issues and... I still really love it. Hard to stop playing, almost what I wanted from the game. Looking forward to sharing it, but with each new build, new bugs reveal themselves. Still deep in alpha.

Video coming soon - I am still tweaking things and making it play well... but anecdotally... my family all played last night and loved it.

I wanted to see their reaction and get their input on a few things. I made some of the tweaks they suggested and they were all excellent.

While not every run will have ghost data written to the server, I pulled up a list, and of the 3 dozen or so games we played last night, 12 had ghost data written.

I've been testing various operator settings making sure the game is ready for anyone to drop in and play. You can now increase the number of balls per game above 3 if you prefer.

One still feels the most balanced to me. I may take another cue from EMs and change the point values based on the number of balls per game. That way your high score table won't have one score of 100,000 vs other average scores of 10,000 without merit. This is the type of tweaking I'm doing at this phase.

You can add a near-unlimited number of high score tables if you desire, but I like to keep things (like that) simple. It's more work up-front to balance scoring, but makes for a better, more easily understood experience, IMO.

I'm sure, if I were making a head-to-head game (or even a Mario Kart ghost track), I could match settings like that and prevent you from starting until they were adjusted. You can detect pitch as well. Other methods of detecting cheaters are also possible (I can think of a few ways to do it off the top of my head, and I'm sure the team at Multimorphic has a ton of thoughts on the matter).

I've been working to bring a fairly reliable game to a small number of beta testers. Yesterday, I pushed a version out to one to start to accrue feedback which I will incorporate into the game.

Some great feedback and interesting bugs already! Gonna work through those and then bring the other testers on board.

CCR

Join usssssssss. When have I ever steered you wrong?

Definitely understand - it's a wild time. That said... join us (and I hope you are well - great to hear you back on the airwaves recently).

Sent a second beta test today... some of the release notes:

* Added menu item to turn off EBs
* Added menu item to turn off physical ball locks
* Added menu item to turn off instant multiball mode.

* Added intro movie (skippable by launch)
* Tilt ends game (but operates properly in a multiplayer game)
* Disabled tilt through (until launch).
* Added high score table for number of items collected
* Added backglass items collected/EB count.
* Graphical improvements
* Lots of reliability improvements and scoring fixes.

Planned feature improvements for next test:
* Score balancing based on number of balls 1-2, 3-4, 5+
* Improved shot score balance
* Physical ball lock improvements
* Light show improvements

I have one very minor known issue that I plan to fix, but haven't got that figured out just yet.

Thanks Gerry. I can't stress enough how great the toolset is for making P3 games (everyone should do it!). Also, I follow the rule of A-B-C (always be coding).

Hopefully soon!

New day, new update

Abbreviated release notes:
* Tilt now actually waits for the ball to hit a scoop, vuk, or drain before moving to next player or ball (one of those obvious when you see it things)
* Scores have been re-balanced slightly.
* Side targets now lock when locks are enabled by item - each cluster of two on each side has to be hit to enable lock at the scoop.
* Scoring is divided based on number of balls (1-2, 3-4 and 5+)
* Item that allows instant score +/- now divides based on number of balls
* Multipliers now function with the side targets
* Lots of light show work this update. Wanna keep some surprise for now.
* All scoring switches now have tilt protection (d'oh, another obvious when you see it).
* Graphical fix for score popups to make more attractive
* Added popups for lock enabling/disabling/number of balls locked/tilt.

Maybe this weekend!

Aw yeah, my new lightshows work properly (after a little tweaking tonight). I managed to introduce a tilt bug somehow, but once I find that, we should be moving towards release candidate status. Hopefully this weekend (I feel it's more likely now)

Finished another update today, narrowing in on a finished product, I think...

Release notes:
Improved all light shows
Tilt handling issue no longer crashes game (a multiplayer game with 1 or more balls would crash if the final player was the tilter).
Orbit scoring now prevents phantom scores and has been tweaked further, super reliable now!
Positioning of text for popup text has been improved (especially apparent during tilt and MB messages)
Positioning of opening text also moved.
Tilt handling - huge changes to graphical options when player is tilted on multiplayer with multiple balls set in options (this was causing the crash, but also looked funny).
More Scoring tweaks
Side target tweaks

Well, turns out that I'm no longer 18 and staying up all night programming causes me to introduce some mistakes (it did then, too). Haha!
I've got a few patches that I'll be pushing to testers today, but hopefully this is nearing the last round.

I added a protection to multiball drains during launch that prevented more than a 2 ball multiball for example. Very proud of that one...

And my protection against the tilt crash may have been a little overzealous as the death animation no longer played. Haha!

I came home from work last night and slept for about 13 hours. I've been moping around the house nursing a major headache, but I'm fixing a few bugs. Gonna take a little break tomorrow and relax, but hoping to have these things worked out before then.

Alright new build pushed to testers:

* Fixed some bugs related to one lamp show on ball start
* Lots of multiball bugs fixed
* Some graphical bugs fixed related to death.
* Sound fixes for smaller scores for games with multiple balls.
* Some graphical bugs fixed related to pop up text
* Ramp scoring reliability fixes

Got some great feedback from my testers this weekend. I did take yesterday off, as I mentioned, but this morning made a few of the changes they suggested. I am almost ready to work on finalizing the game!

I've been working on RITR, as you might have come to expect, and have made tons of changes, some bigger, some smaller, in the process of finalizing the game for release.

I managed to create some pretty awesome item stacking bugs that required me to make special builds to test, for example. Still working through the testing process and squashing any issues as they arise.

In the mean-time, Multimorphic just announced a new feature that I may add in an update!

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/twitch-connect-viewers-can-affect-gameplay-on-real-machines

This will not make it in as part of the initial release, but I do have a couple of interesting ideas for integration that might prove fun on stream.

Multimorphic keeps adding more and more to the base platform, really quite incredible from a developer (and player/owner!) standpoint.

RITR-Reveal (resized).jpg

Join Kevin from Buffalo Pinball and I on a reveal stream -tonight- at 8PM Eastern and see Ranger In The Ruins!

As part of the stream, if you own a P3 and would like to receive a time-limited demo of the game, post the type of item you would most like to find in a post-apocalypse within the Twitch chat, and I'll pick a winner at random at 9PM!

I'm looking forward to seeing you all there.

Thanks Kevin for showing off the game so well, and thank you to everyone for tuning in and chatting!

I am glad that others seem to enjoy it as much as I do. That's always the hope.

RITR has been added to the Pinside database! Now you can rate/review and add to your collection or wishlists as well!

I'll be working on adding it to Pindigo as well, so that you all can set unattainable goals for me to try to surpass.

Thanks you guys! You're too kind.

@rdoyle I am not sure I answered your question on the stream about music. I wrote a few tracks for the game, but getting them into shape was a very time-consuming challenge. I haven't played or recorded any music since the early 2000s, so it's been a while.

It just wasn't shaping up quickly enough for me to get my programming ideas down, so I ended up going the easier way and looking for music to license that fit the gameplay.

In the Buffalo stream, you might have heard about 5 or 6 different tracks - there are more available as well. Some are slow builds, some are driving like the main theme. Each was included for a specific reason, and to cater to different tastes.

I am excited that the game has been so well received! I have received a couple of minor suggestions, thank you for those as well, and I am taking them all seriously. If I can answer any questions, I am more than happy to do so. I am enjoying seeing people play with either the default or modified settings. I tried to make a game that would appeal to many tastes (including my own).

Lastly, if you have Cosmic Cart Racing, why not treat yourself this weekend and grab a copy of Ranger In The Ruins?

There are some spoilers in there! If you'd like to experience the game as I intended, better not to watch too much.

I do intentionally not answer some questions on there, and not every item was found on the stream. Actually quite a few are still undiscovered.

And thank you!!

I -may- be working on one...

I very much appreciate the support, and hope you enjoy it thoroughly.

Hey, what's this? Ranger In The Ruins is available on Pindigo! Log those scores!

I appreciate that your company has made this amazing modular machine, given away the development tools that allow anyone to make their own games, and support those creators.

Thanks so much to you and the entire Multimorphic team for all of your support.

Anyone thinking about making their own game for the P3, you definitely should. The platform supports games of infinite complexity. The freedom to create a game without having to worry about cutting a cabinet, fitting brackets, wiring the boring stuff (start button, flippers, etc.) - it really puts you miles ahead on homebrew.

There is also a pinball development slack channel that we use to discuss development questions. Extremely helpful.

I am always always always happy to answer questions about P3 development and help you onboard if you need it.
I can't wait to play what others create!

Now back to writing code rules for the next game.

Had a decent run this morning. Encyclopedia first item, energy drink second.

PXL_20200912_143839199 (resized).jpg

I have no doubt that most of you will blow this score out of the water. (Prove it!!)

Nice job! I definitely feel the same way, haha!

Excellent work!

Still on the fence about Ranger In The Ruins? Jeff at This Week In Pinball just published a deep dive!

Check it out!

https://www.thisweekinpinball.com/ranger-in-the-ruins-deep-dive-in-depth-overview-of-the-machine-features-rules-and-code/

Awesome, thank you! That means a lot.

I believe there is, it may be in system settings... Toyguy or gstellenberg can you confirm the menu to go into to reset it? If they are unable to respond before I get back to my game tonight I'll find out and post back!

It's rare, and it sounds like you've got some rough luck. There is nothing additional you need to do to see the data from it.

Again, I truly appreciate that you're enjoying it as it was intended to be enjoyed. Tell your friends!

I try to make every game as different as I can, and at this point, I can say that I hope everyone will enjoy the next game as well!

Nope, I was wrong. Only way is to zero out both score tables.

It is under Settings->statistics

Thank you! I may come back to my original compositions at some point...

Yes! There are 8 different tracks.

RITR has been updated to v1.0.0.1.

This release fixes a few graphical issues and corrects a bug for some local-only users.

https://www.multimorphic.com//manager/p3_release_notes/RITR_1.0.0.1_ReleaseNotes.txt

Thank you so much. It's such a thrill to see people enjoy something you've made, and getting feedback like this really makes my day.

Multimorphic just released a new version of the SDK and I am already at work on some new RITR upgrades (along with other games). More to come!

Thank you - I look forward to hearing your feedback!

Wow! That is a huge compliment. Thank you!

Good feedback! I seeded the item allotment for internet-connected P3s a bit differently than those on a local machine, and intentionally made the encyclopedia fairly rare. Good news is that I can tweak the seeding at any time without the need for an update (behold the power of the Internet). I've made small tweaks here and there since release, but I'll go in and make a larger one when this update drops.

Regarding how many - there are (were?) 21 unique items.

...and regarding cataloging items, I was hoping that some would start doing exactly that - throwback to graphing out a dungeon on graph paper or writing down scroll or potion effects in nethack or rogue.

Uh oh. Haha! I believe I have the final(?) bug in QFG, which means I can contact Activision and see if they are willing to allow release commercially or as a fan game under license (free). I'm leaning towards the latter, so that should keep you busy for a minute, hopefully!

Regarding another game - well, I have a couple in development already!

The next minigame (which will use the Heist playfield module) just got a name and a domain. My younger daughter is working with me on the design. My current plan is to make it 3D, which has necessitated my going back to Unity school to learn how the engine works with another dimension. I've written rudimentary 3D engines in the past, so I've got a small leg up, and have worked in prehistoric versions of Blender. Long story short, that's gonna take me a bit longer than 72 days if I stick with 3D!
My daughter and I have the basic rule structure worked out, and I've started looking into how the ball interacts with the mechanisms on the Heist module.

I just have to program it, get all the assets loaded and rigged and animating, and figure out why this camera won't display anything but the skybox when it's pointing right at the scene I've made.

Uh, so all that said, you'll see something soon...ish?

But again, thank you - I really value the feedback and the fact that you want to see something else from me makes me pretty doggone happy.

Thank you, very honored just to be nominated alongside the major players.

Congratulations to you as well - hopefully you'll add Rookie of the Year to your list of accomplishments soon! Heist is an incredible game and deserves all the accolades.

If anyone is interested in the other game I've made for the P3, I will be streaming Quest For Glory tomorrow, 1/3/21 at 10 Eastern.

I'll be attempting to show a large percentage of the game and will be inviting folks from the classic computing / adventure game community to join. It will likely be a couple of hours or until I get tired of dying.

Keep in mind that I'm not a streamer by trade, but I am proud of the work I've done and want to share it.

https://youtube.com/nicholasbaldridge

Thanks to everyone who tuned into the stream on QFG - if you're not following that thread, the game is ready for another serious round of physical testing after some rewrites necessitated by a few bugs that popped up on stream. Rewrite complete, and now I just need to see if the changes I've made are for the better...

RITR update is proceeding well! Features I have left to build are shrinking, and testing is proceeding well in simulator for the new features I am adding.

My punch list contains 8 more items - I hope to be finished and testing on the physical machine this weekend.

A new distraction arrived in the form of Cannon Lagoon today, though...

Ranger In The Ruins 2.0.0.0 is live!

The new version adds a wizard mode + game end, Twitch Connect support, some new items and very very minor display bug fixes.

This version requires an updated module driver, 2.2.0.5 (or higher), also available today on the Multimorphic site - be sure to install along with the new version of RITR!

The wizard mode is tied to the number of items you receive in a game. I've modified the default item high scores to make them (much) lower. Reset your high scores if you're having trouble getting to the new mode. You'll be constantly compared against your best run, though, so make it count!

Twitch Connect was fun to add - I've added the ability to bring in a ghost, reverse or invert the flippers, change the radio station, and immediately grant an extra ball (if EB is allowed in operator settings). Each of these can be gated behind an amount of bits (if partnered) or disabled individually.

https://www.multimorphic.com//manager/p3_release_notes/RITR_2.0.0.0_ReleaseNotes.txt

Download today!

RITR2Update (resized).jpg

Well, well, what have we here?

Version 2.0.0.1 is live. It contains fixes for a ball launch bug and Twitch-Connect improvements. You can download it from the Multimorphic site!

RITR21Update (resized).jpg

Thanks @northvibe! Very glad to hear that you like it. My next game is deep in alpha now.

Each player holds an item (if they picked one up during their run). In that way they do function as chests. But they're not randomized.

As in a game like Rogue, there's a single (seemingly simple) goal. The items you find along the way help you get to that goal (hopefully).

Once you get to the goal, another task occurs. This is similar to the final task in Nethack. The items you've found have a big impact on if you will see this outcome.

So as in Nethack or Rogue, the way you traverse the 'dungeon' is only one factor. I've removed the traversal aspect as a way of streamlining the gameplay traversal becomes automatic, as in an endless runner. The ghosts are like hero's corpses in Nethack, but streamlined. You don't pick up every item they were carrying. The item presented is the last they were holding when they died.

I hope that makes sense. I'm trying not to give away too much of the endgame.

--edit-- I should also mention that previous successful runs change the endgame of future runs.

Well, it took longer than 72 days, but my new game is out! Silver Falls is available here: https://www.multimorphic.com/store/p3-game-kits/3rd-party-game-kits/silver-falls/

and some more info and fun streams of the game are available here: https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/p3-game-silver-falls

Thanks again to everyone for their support, and Sophia and I hope you like the new game as well!

Hello Rangers:

I've started a newsletter that will be sent approximately once a quarter (though an out-of-turn update might occur when a new game is released). If you would like to keep up with games, books, and podcasts in which I play a part, feel free to sign up here:

http://eepurl.com/hFW5aX

I'm always working on tons of stuff that I'd love to share with you.

Version 2.0.0.2 of Ranger in the Ruins is available for download now - primarily this release adds Flipper Upgrade Kit support. Download it over Wifi directly to your P3 or install via USB in System Manager.

RITR2002 (resized).png

Hey all, reminder that the White Rose Gameroom Show is happening in York, PA next week(!) October 7-8.

I will be on hand with all of my P3 games, homebrew and commercial, released so far, including:

(Homebrew) Quest For Glory in its first public appearance! Play, save your progress, come back and resume your game later! Earn achievements and try to finish the game with all three character classes!

(Commercial) Ranger In The Ruins (this game) - the popular pinball roguelike playable on the Cosmic Cart Racing playfield. Run through the ruins of a former civilization to find the sum of all knowledge, acquiring items from the ghosts of past players from all over the world!

(Commercial) Silver Falls - choose your avatar from dozens of choices, furnish rooms, and clear special modes to progress through your home! Play Team Games with other attendees to make more progress and hear more of the excellent Scott Danesi chillhop soundtrack!

(Commercial) Flipper Foxtrot Rhythm Explosion - sometimes the P3 just wants to dance! Choose a song, and one of five difficulties, then show me your skills! Happy to play a game against you and see how I stack up.

I will have a TV display (this is my first year trying this, so we'll see how it holds up) with a countdown timer showing when the game will be changed over. Come back often!

--Non-P3 Games--

I also work with bingo collectors and help maintain and teach people about bingo pinball machines in Bingo Row. As part of that I'll be bringing two custom games.

(Homebrew) Multi-Bingo - 142 playable games, total, this year with a 20 hole playfield installed (which limits the number of games to 15, but they are very unique).

(Homebrew) Multi-Races - 39 playable games, total, a mixture of payout and replay versions. This is the first year it will be shown with Joel de Guzman's excellent backglass artwork! Win a custom token that you can keep!

Earning a 4 or 5 in a line on any of the games in Bingo Row will allow you to win a unique promo item for my next game: Drained. This game has not yet been released (and will not make an appearance this year), but I'll be bringing a very limited number of vinyl postcards containing a medley of the songs from the game! These postcards can be played on a record player, and include a QR code for streaming.

Beyond all of the games, I'm looking forward to meeting more of you and hearing your thoughts about the games I've made. It's very rewarding to be able to share a creative work with many people. Please say hello!

Thank you to all who played Ranger In The Ruins at the White Rose (York) show this past weekend!

It was a lot of fun to watch people play and figure out the games' rules on-the-fly. The initial game would typically be over fairly quickly, but additional games were queued up immediately, over and over again. Once the player started accruing items, the game really opened up for them.

I look forward to bringing it again to the next show I attend!

An update is available for Ranger In the Ruins in System Manger!
Earn Medals and explore the new features in the Ruins.
Enhanced operator functions, improved light show performance, and lots more.
RITR Update (resized).png