Thanks to everyone who got to enjoy the first public debut of Queen gameplay this past weekend at Pinball Expo! To be sure, everyone on the Queen team was watching carefully the experiences that everyone had, both good and bad, and that feedback will play into the ongoing growth of the game. We're building on a timeless theme, great music and video assets, and some very cool playfield elements (Ramps with 4 exit paths! Drop targets a-plenty! Sweet upper playfield!). Of course, the software will continue to be fleshed out, and Queen will progress as a game that is super fun to play, whether you're a lifelong Queen fan, someone who loves great pinball, or both! I'm looking forward to seeing that journey through, and hopefully you all are also.

Adjustments > Coils > 11 Right VUK should allow you to strengthen that coil if needed.

Hi folks!

The A/V / software crew working on Queen still has a lengthy to-do list! There will be frequent and significant software updates ongoing for quite awhile. Everyone on the team is committed to Queen being a game that everyone loves. We certainly want to do justice to this epic band.

Thanks!

While there is a lot of tuning still to be done, the code is WAY past "blinky lights". There is actually a ton to do in the game -- properly explaining/guiding the player about those rules is much of the work being done at this point. But as I mentioned previously, there ain't no way we're gonna drop the ball on a killer title like Queen.

0.82 was a bit over-enthusiastic about how it ducked the music for sound effects and such -- already fixed for the next release.

I am. I'm an independent contractor.

Thanks to everyone who joined the JDL stream today. Hope you liked what you saw! There has been huge progress over the last couple months, with still lots more planned... I think everyone is going to be really happy with the game!

Don't hesitate to ask if you have any questions. Look forward to y'all enjoying it at a show or location near you soon!

No idea. If it's the rule sheet I'm thinking of, it's a very nice looking document, lots of diagrams showing everything it's talking about.

Getting a chance to work with all these wonderful creative folks again has definitely been a big perk of this project for me.

Absolutely. Queen is one of the most iconic bands ever. It's a privilege to work on the game that represents them. Everyone on the team wants the game to be terrific, to respect and honor what the band has contributed to music.

I'm pretty happy with where the game is today, but then thinking about how much better it is than just a few weeks ago, and then thinking where we will be a few weeks from now... yeah, this game rocks.

Hopefully they’re on 0.90.

Glad to hear people are enjoying it! It’s a super fun game, and as you suggest, will keep getting better.

Last big release was 0.88, a couple weeks ago. 0.90 is basically a TPF special build.

I believe in the next few days, we’ll be setting up plans for the path to final code, so I don’t know the exact timeline yet, but it’s gonna be much sooner than a year, I know that.

Yes, I’ve been on rules and code for GTF from the beginning.

There will probably be a steady stream of code updates over the next several weeks, as there have been over the previous several weeks. Glad you enjoyed the game!

To qualify to collect the Piano, you need to light all 7 of its keys/targets. Knocking down the drop targets (white keys) keeps them down for several seconds, during which time you can hit the standups (black keys). When you've lit them all, the Piano will be ready to collect on the Collect Instruments shot (just right of center playfield). (If you don't complete the black keys before the drop targets reset, you'll have to knock down the drops again before you can shoot the black keys again, but it does remember which black keys you had shot previously.)

OK, cool... so why do you care about collecting instruments? Because...

- When you complete an instrument's targets, it lights a hurry-up jackpot shot on the band member's shot associated with the instrument. (Piano = Freddie Mercury = center ramp)

- Collecting instruments awards points -- progressively more when you collect multiple instruments at once.

- Collecting instruments increases the shot value for the associated band member's shot.

- Collected instruments give multipliable end-of-ball bonus.

- Collecting all instruments lights Stage Set Multiball.

There is a crazy amount of stuff to do in this game.

You should get to the upper playfield by shooting the right orbit any time the guitar neck insert is lit. (Basically every other shot to that orbit if combos aren’t active.)

Sure, Adjustments > Coils > 4 and 16 to control the slingshot power.

Regarding getting to the upper playfield, I'd suggest going into Tests > Switch Edges, roll a ball up the right orbit, and make sure that the Right Orbit Bottom, Right Orbit Middle, and Right Orbit Top switches are all triggering. Also try selecting Tests > Coils > 12 Right VUK Diverter, tapping the Start or Enter button, and make sure you hear that diverter activating.

Probably. You might check if the PCB underneath the playfield in that vicinity is securely screwed in, and cables all nice and firm. If the problem persists after that, check with Pinball Brothers support.

Good luck!

That is indeed the style of lock that Pinball Brothers uses. I know, I've never had a lock like that on any of my 40 or so coin-op machines except for Alien and Queen -- perhaps it's a European thing? Anyway, when it pops out like that, it should be unlocked. Stick your fingers in the speaker holes, lift up, and angle out, basically the same as any other pinball backglass. My backglass was verrrry tight the first time I removed it ... it got a little easier to remove thereafter, but is pretty snug.

Queen 0.91 update has been posted:

https://pinballbrothers.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/80001071955-queen-delta-game-update-0-91

There is an adjustment for "Red Special MB Virtual Locks" (sorry, don't remember the number right now, I think it's one of the last ones under the Queen section of adjustments). Short term, you can turn this on and see if that works around that post issue, at least.

Aflacjack Glad to hear that your issues got sorted out. Thanks for the detailed feedback. Happy to hear you’re enjoying the game!

Pinballer73 All of the audio is much, MUCH better than it was at, say, Pinball Expo last October.

It's not there yet, on the list for the home stretch of code work.

Thanks for the feedback, @HOOKED, appreciate it!

Please note that you can dial down the VUK kicker to the upper playfield yourself to suit your tastes: Adjustments > Coils > 11 Right VUK.

Make sure you file a ticket for that broken metal bit.

Audio has been improved in every update so far, and will continue to do so.

Nice unboxing / first impressions video, courtesy of RETROCENGO :

Code is quite deep, and not at all linear. Several unique rulesets across the 14 songs. Lots of choices for target and shot shooting to collect instruments, band member autographs, albums, posters, tour passes. Five main multiballs, some stackable. The Red Special multiball (locked and started on the upper playfield) offers the "do you want to defer the multiball for more balls and bigger points later -- but maybe miss out totally -- or will you cash in the multiball now?" dynamic, as well as balls-on-both-playfields multiball action. There's a frenzy, hurry-ups, different types of combos. And we're still improving the code.

It's the sort of game where you can just sort of shoot the blinking lights and have a great time, but if you want to be more deliberate about your play to maximize your score, there's lots of ways to do that.

Sure, I can add that as an option in a future release.

Howdy...

We do know that songs that were playing when a multiball starts, currently restart when the multiball ends -- we have a plan to improve that in an upcoming release. If it all works as planned, I think people will be quite happy. Stay tuned -- that's still a little bit away.

The missing ball saver light will be fixed in the next code update. Embarrassing glitch, mea culpa.

Please do feel free to provide feedback on the game ... certainly from the software side of things, I'm planning to polish this until it shines brightly in every aspect. I don't intend to let this game get anything but the, errr, royal treatment. Not every day I get to represent one of the greatest bands ever.

Happy to see more of these arriving in the USA! Have fun!

Bohemian Rhapsody is considered a mini-wizard mode … we do give generous ball savers at the start and for completing each section of the song. It should not have ended the game when you completed the song, though.

That is really annoying, @beelzeboob, I’m sorry. Heck, this is literally your thread, you deserve a game!

Not sure if you're referring to the Piano drop targets, the standalone ("guardian") drop targets, or both... either way, you could try increasing the strength of the affected coils via Adjustments > Coils, and see if that helps.

@beelzeboob, have you been in very recent contact with Cointaker about your situation? It really seems like it's well past the point where you need to be in constant communication with Chris and Melissa until your machine is physically in your game room.

The end is in sight, at least!
Hope it all goes smoothly and you love the game.

You know you can start Red Special MB with as few as two balls, right?

Glad you’re loving the game!

Evvvvverything stacks in this game. When you get on a roll, it can really be insane. So much fun.

Congrats on blowing it up! Don’t worry, plenty of polish is coming for rough edges like you mention.

Yeaaaahh, that wasn't even unbalanced scoring, that was just a plain ol' bug. Already fixed for the next code release... but appreciate Eric shining light on the problem.

Thank you kindly, so glad you’re loving the game! I truly think people will see this game as a hidden gem, especially as more of them reach the USA.

There’s a new code release upcoming that adds… well, a metric ton of stuff. And probably resolves the problems you describe.

I doubt tomorrow, but soon. Trying to wrangle a few lurking issues. I do think people will be happy with it when it’s ready, though… I think every inch of the game has seen improvement since 1.0, from audio to video to score balancing to rules tweaks.

That's the crazy thing about a mega-popular band like Queen ... there are so many amazing Queen songs, everyone's gonna have a song they wish was in the game! We would love to include absolutely every Queen song, but that's just not reasonable. But we think Queen fans will completely love what they experience with this game!

Thank you so much for the kind words, really appreciate it -- that's certainly the sort of feedback that makes it all worthwhile.

While I'm still blushing a bit from reading all that, I ardently want to emphasize that it's the work of the entire team that makes the game shine. In particular, Kelly Mazurowski on animations and David Thiel on audio spent countless hours polishing every bit of A/V in the game. And Shawn, the rock star of Support, did an amazing job testing and reporting bugs and enhancement requests, large and small. Awesome team.

We've had a few reports of this -- we're reviewing this and hope to have a fix soon.

The only situation I know of with this description is end-of-ball bonus on games where a lot of progress has been made. This has been fixed for an upcoming release. If you're having other video resets, please provide as many details as you can about the situation so we can figure out what's going on. Sorry for any inconvenience!

If you test the autolaunch coil in the service menu, does it have similar weak performance? If so, this may be a physical/mechanical issue with the autolaunch kicker... examine it to ensure that it's nice and tight (no wiggling). If anything is loose, try tightening it up with a screwdriver. Otherwise, please submit a service ticket, and the awesome service team will help you out.

If you can provide any additional info regarding these issues, that would be very helpful.

Maybe. Every song is split into a few sections (typically intro, verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, ..., perhaps outro). If you drain on the last section of a song, you won't be allowed to continue it. Longer songs have more sections and therefore more opportunities to continue; shorter songs are more likely to lock you out if you drain.

Thanks!

damienwibaux - Winning songs is definitely the long term point monster, as Lamoraldus said, but there are a LOT of ways to get big points. Collecting band members and instruments can give permanent shot multipliers on their shots, which is definitely valuable long term. If you like multiballs, Red Special lets you lock up to 6 balls before starting it, which is really hard to do but is a point bonanza. There are some semi-secret awards too: for example, if you collect an album and a signature at the same time on the left VUK, you get a Signed Album, which is 10M for the first, 20M for the second, and so on... that adds up! (Hmmm, in fact, I'm just now thinking that we really should have a "Signed Album Champ" on the high score boards... )

BTW, even after you've "won" a song ("8/8 Shots Completed" or whatever), you can keep making the green shots for more points -- which continue to contribute to your Song Completion Bonus. So the risk/reward is to make lots of the green shots, but be sure to collect the Song Completion Bonus at the album lane before draining, and before the song ends.

Also one year ago at Expo, the programmer had never played the game!

It is SO much better today in every aspect. I hope everyone loved playing it.

If and when I get the appropriate artwork, that can happen.

And David Thiel is as much a pleasure to work with as it is to listen to his audio packages. Awesome guy.

I just tried this and could not replicate it. It showed 2/5 shots made when I continued the song on ball 2. Is this consistent for you?

If you can provide a specific example of a situation that causes the problem you describe, I’ll be happy to dig into it for you.

Well, since I just replied to @musketd's question that he DM'ed me, I might as well copy the response here too ...

There is a progressive audio fanfare and a vivid light show when you make a song shot. On-screen there is simply a panel that shows the points earned for the song shot. I do have some ideas for having some more flare for that score display, but there are no current plans for a full screen animation. Doesn't mean it won't happen, just not currently in the queue.

No, not yet.

One of the attract mode displays fills out the backglass image. That adjustment correctly color coordinates that image for your game model.

That song does have a somewhat slow paced intro. Great opportunity to focus on autographs, or instruments, or frenzy, or lighting some Wembley locks, etc.

No extra diverter. It has the same ball path options as the left ramp: pops, lock, return to left flipper, or return to right flipper. It is a ramp, so like all ramps, sometimes your shot just doesn't make it, but since most of the ramp is under the Red Special playfield, you don't get the same visual feedback of the failed shot as you would for a missed shot on the left ramp.

Not currently expecting one. Is there a bug that's been biting you?

Kinda sounds like a bug. If it happens to you again, if you have a USB stick available, after the game resets, go into the operator menus, Reports > Debug Report, and follow the prompts to save the logs to the USB stick. I'll be happy to take a look.

Unfortunately, I don't think I can do anything about that -- it's a firmware thing out of my control.

Generally there's not a timeout for the "guardian" drop targets to reset, but they do reset if you drop all three of them.

Yes, pretty much all of the multiballs can be stacked. How valuable each of them is depends on other stuff you've done in the game... for example, Wembley's jackpot values are increased by collecting posters, which is typically done by completing the three guardian targets. Red Special is worth more if you've locked more balls for it -- if you add it to another multiball, you don't get the choice of start now vs. lock more balls, so the trick is to first lock a few balls, THEN start Wembley or something else, THEN start Red Special. Autograph Hunt becomes much more valuable when stacked with Stage Set (i.e. collecting all band members and all their instruments).

But it's also intentional that the real key to huge points in Queen is completing the songs -- the songs are the stars of the game. Completing a song qualifies Song Completion Bonus at Album Alley, and also increases the value of all song shots for the rest of the game! Also adds end of ball bonus, which can definitely add up over the course of a game.

Another thing to know is that one of the biggest ways to help your score is by earning shot multipliers on the four main shots. When you collect an autograph or an instrument, the corresponding band member's shot lights for a hurry-up which is worth points, but more importantly adds +1 shot multiplier to that shot for the rest of the game.

Have fun!

Hmmm. Someone else on this thread mentioned that bug with Killer Queen losing track of progress, so I have to imagine it's actually a bug, but I haven't been able to reproduce it myself, and the poster here also said they couldn't repro it. OK, thanks for the report, I'll take another shot at digging into this one. Sorry for the inconvenience, but happy to hear that you had a killer game!

It's more than that: with most of the songs, the game rules are tied to the song. For example, in some songs, the Freddie shot is lit while Freddie is singing, and the Brian May shot is lit during a guitar solo -- stuff like that. At a casual glance, you might think it's just random "shoot the flashing shots" until you realize this -- the song selection screen does offer guidance -- but once you're familiar with each song's rules, that provides major clues about what to shoot "now" and "next". Even if you hacked the hard drive to swap audio and video, you wouldn't be able to update the game rules to match.

I totally understand wishing that a favorite Queen song of yours was in the game -- I have a couple on my own wish list! It's really a lot like going to a live concert... you can have an amazing time and love everything the band played, and still think "Dang, I wish they'd played XYZ." With the pinball, even if you think "Dang, I wish it played XYZ", we certainly hope you have an amazing time and love everything about playing it.

Not me, nor has this been reported to me before. My Queen is in the front hallway of my house (right outside my office) and often stays powered up for days at a time, so both my wife and I would have gone insane long ago if this adjustment didn't stop the attract music.

Just to offer an attempt at a solution: you could try doing a Factory Reset and see if that fixes the problem... unfortunately, that will also reset all your adjustments / audits / high scores, so I'll leave it up to you if that's a path you want to try.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Also, to your DM'ed question about sending crash reports (replying here since others might also be interested) -- if you or anyone have crashes or other bugs you'd like to report, please insert a blank FAT32 formatted USB stick into your game, and navigate in the service menus to Reports > Debug Report, and it should copy a log archive with the indicated filename to the USB stick. You can email that file, with as much of a description of the problem as you know, to me at pinballbrothers <at> joe.tater.org, and I'll be happy to take a look. Thank you!

If you can tell that it's firing the Piano drop target reset at start of game, it must think that one or more of those switches is down and needs to be reset, because it shouldn't try to reset the bank if it thinks they're all up. It's possible you have one or more "fluttery" switches. If you'd like, feel free to start a game that has this problem, then pop into the service menu, Actions > Debug Report, collect the logs onto a USB stick, and send 'em to me at pinballbrothers <at> joe.tater.org ... I'll be happy to take a look and see if I can help you diagnose.

That's pretty wacky. Thanks, added to the bug list.

The final wizard mode is not in the code yet.

I don't think this is something that I can do. For one thing, my machine is not afflicted with any flipper power problems. For another thing, I'm not aware of anything the code would be doing to cause an unexpected drop in flipper power. If you haven't already, I'd suggest you submit a ticket to Pinball Brothers Service <https://pinballbrothers.freshdesk.com/support/tickets/new> and have them help you diagnose your issue, whether it's something mechanical, electrical, etc. Of course, if it turns out that it IS something code related, I'm happy to lend a hand, but for now I'm just not aware of what that might be.

The official rulebook published by Pinball Brothers covers pretty much everything.

https://pinballbrothers.attachments-euc7.freshdesk.com/data/helpdesk/attachments/production/80196086069/original/PB_QueenPinball_Rulebook_1_0.pdf?response-content-type=application%2Fpdf&Expires=1708491228&Signature=Up-b0C7ZejyyqbA2rhOoCgnVkkd3f80CVXVwVXraNvTWCGKpp4JOYm-nNvd8XLpWd7xYpcPR8jHlqwPPvwE~t5dGfrU24t1mumjIaLm62sXLZ2YU4IFxw8isCpUsi-X2fzoB1eARPZIFSFwyZTlu8Cb-dNO-vGZoheTBpvuhOOtQRtMCg9A2M5SIzb5ITuCwPKK-4xJzeEQpinxIwP-Cl59fTntW1sa71-pnzd2m~PEuTrDIzdI9T4M8lDyo9Op77YfUypPzL64x6X~ZCR4HXR7c37--oDiY-NKSNViqLVUxBSBtn5j8NqhjsD4kOx5avBrRr66SMPb9K93d3rwyWQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJ7JARUX3F6RQIXLA

I'm sorry to hear that, @psw757. If you (or anyone) have a problem like that, please do feel free to send me debug logs at pinballbrothers (at) joe.tater.org -- more data is always helpful. Thank you!

Actually, I don't remember OTTMH the configuration of how long logs are retained before the oldest ones rotate out, but it's not too much. If you wish to report a problem, always best to capture the logs the next time you start the machine. The synopsis provided by DeathHimself above is correct (thanks!).

Appreciate the feedback as always!

One does not forget one of the world's greatest bands.

Step by step instructions are available on the Pinball Brothers website. (Sorry, on the move right now or I’d give the exact link.)

Yes.

I apologize if I didn't respond to some bug reports that were sent to me, though it's very likely I have the notes and logs filed away (and no, I don't mean the circular file ). If anyone ever expects a response from me and hasn't heard back within, say, a couple business days, please feel free to ping me again.

@psw757, what was your crash scenario?

Gotcha. I wasn't disputing it, but I don't have an easy way to correlate Pinside names to specific bugs. Thanks.