While diving home with my recently purchased Hardbody, I was thinking about possible retheme ideas. The one that kept popping back into my head was Pandemic. For those that haven't played it's a board game where the players work together to discover a cure four different deceases before they spread around the world. That seems like it would fit with the four "stations" in Hardbody. In the retheme hitting the station targets would represent "research" or "collect samples" from each of the deceases. Collecting a sample three times or collecting each sample once would light one of the "cure" lights. The bottom of the playfield would essentially track your progress in the lab. See the right side of the attachment. The woman is holding an imaging chamber which would could be adapted to to fit the existing inserts. Above that there would be a beaker flanked by two test tubes. These would track your progress towards a cure. I really think there would be enough imagery available to create a cool playfield.

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So right now I'm playing through Pandemic Legacy. We're through May and it's looking like there will be some additional source material.

Mostly just posting this here so it's saved, but I'm open to suggestions if anyone has any. I think the rules fit the theme nicely. Start by collecting disease cultures. This progresses to creating more effective cures and eventual eradication. I'm working on a rough playfield design.

CULTURES: Complete TARGET BANKS to collect CULTURE
CURE: Collect one of each or three of a single CULTURE to advance CURE
effectiveness and light the RESEARCH STATION
CURE A: 20K points, 20K points, 20K points, and 40K points
CURE B: 20K points, 20K points, 20K points, and 40K points
SUPER CURE: 25K points, 25K points, 25K points, and 350K points
RESEARCH STATION: Shoot the CENTER SHOT to raise the RAMPS exposing
the LOWER LOOP
ERRADICATE JACKPOT: Shoot the LOWER LOOP to collect ERRADICATE
JACKPOT worth 50K points, 100K points, 200K points, and 400K points plus
EXTRA BALL
MUTATION LOOP: Make the MUTATION LOOP to advance the value of the ORANGE TARGET BANK
GOVERNMENT GRANT: Shoot the GRANT TARGET to double playfield value

Working on some ideas for the playfield artwork. The basic playfield is going to be the game board. The center area will be The Lab where you can track your progress. I was struggling quite a bit until I decided to eliminate the "circuit inserts". I may move the three main circuit inserts somewhere else, but I don't see the need for all of them. The grid pretty much tracks them anyway, plus when you complete each one the center arrow starts flashing. I will likely be taking some of the artwork from the cards to help theme more of the shots.

IDEAS:
Center Shot: Breakthrough (Raise / Lower Ramps)
Flex Save: Emergency Evacuation
Power Reps: Eradication Loops

Pandemic Playfield Sample 2 (resized).png

Still slowly plugging away...

Ideas:

* In line drop targets area is going to be the CDC; essentially you spell CDC to light the extra ball.
* Perhaps move the tournament inserts under the "bubbles" for Cure 1 (40,000), Cure 2 (40,000), and Eradication (350,000)

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Hardbody Display 2 (resized).jpg

Backglass

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I also might mix in some of the artwork from the game Quarantine, which seems to fit the theme.

Quarantine 8 (resized).pngQuarantine 5 (resized).jpgQuarantine 2 (resized).jpgQuarantine 9 (resized).png

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Thanks. I stripped my playfield yesterday. Pretty much using this as a diary to keep track of thoughts. My latest was to create an interactive topper that tracks the cure progress. Working within the rules of Hardbody this will have to be 12 markers with bonuses at 33% (40k), 66% (40k), and 100% (350k). I think that is a much better idea then using the bubbles.

Not sure if there is a better way of doing it, but I went and traced the playfield yesterday.

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A work in progress, but trying to work on a lower playfield with the new artwork. The smoke goes right over the double playfield insert and the petri dish goes right over the extra ball insert. Also added a second layer to the city background. Unfortunately, most of it gets covered up with the three figures.

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Testing out some color options for the plastics. Very rough, but I think I like this color pallet. Also decided that the "flex save" is going to be an emergency evacuation.

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Still working on the layout when I have time.Pandemic Update (resized).png

Still working on this as I have time. Keep in mind that a lot of the "blank space" here is covered by plastics and the upper playfield. The upper playfield will feature a different image from the box art between the flippers, which will be cropped to fit under the top of an old fashion timer / stopwatch which will form the arch between the two ramps. Above that will be the rest of the game board, including Europe and Asia. The in-line drop targets will still be the CDC, which can earn an extra ball. The "Tournament" inserts that were covered up with artwork will be as an interactive topper, which will track your progress with discovering a cure. It's finally getting to the point where I'm starting to like it, but please provide feedback or suggestions.

1 of 3 size Hardbody Playfield (resized).jpgBackglass (resized).jpg

Minor changes based on some local feedback. The "grid lights" will be reversed so they fill the test tubes from the bottom up.

1 of 3 size Hardbody Playfield (resized).jpg

I finally found some time to do some more work on this project. I'd say it's getting pretty close, but any feedback is welcome.

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Upper Playfield With Holes (resized).png

A quick mock up with my early plastics. I will likely add a bit more detail, but I'm getting close. The pink on the inserts is where they will be clear.

Mock Up (resized).png

I get to pick up the completed playfield from the printer tomorrow. The printer said it was a good fit, so I'm hopeful. I also recently did some water slide decals for another game and I'm excited to do that for these inserts.

Waiting for my dad to help unload.

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Starting to reassemble things.

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Doesn't seem to be much interest, but I'm documenting my progress anyway.

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So, for how long I've been working on this I noticed I screwed up the test tube colors. Fixed them with some decals. I also added decals to all the inserts.

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Yeah, I agree the Hardbody layout is awesome. I've always enjoyed it. Picking off those individual targets is always a challenge and I actually really like the "flex save" feature as well. It just takes time to get used to using those second buttons.

I'm still not quite sure how to do the sounds. One option would be to try to work on the ROM in Virtual Pinball. Another option would be to just add a new sound board. Anyway, if I do ever get that far I'm dreaming up a little script. I think I'll end up using some female computer generated voice like on Total Nuclear Annihilation. If anyone know a good process to swap in sounds, please send me a PM. I'd obviously love to tweak some rules too. Really just changing some scoring. I'd ideally like the lower orbit to be worth less and the cure percentages to be worth more.

Player 1: Scientist (If these roles could be randomized that would be cool.)
Player 2: Medic
Player 3: Operations Specialist
Player 4: Contingency Planner
Sample Targets: [Short Beep]
Blue Matrix Light: Blue Sample Collected
Red Matrix Light:Red Sample Collected
Green Matrix Light:Green Sample Collected
Yellow Matrix Light:Yellow Sample Collected
Workout Tournament Light 1: Cure Initiated
Etc: Cure at 10%
Etc: Cure at 20%
Etc: Cure at 30%
Etc: Cure at 40%
Etc: Cure at 50%
Etc: Cure at 60%
Etc: Cure at 70%
Etc: Cure at 80%
Etc: Cure at 90%
Etc: Cure at 100%: Collect any sample for Super Jackpot
Etc: Super Jackpot
Lower Orbit Switch: [Airplane Sound Effect]
Lower Orbit Light 1: Rapid Response Level 1
Lower Orbit Arrow 2: Level 2
Lower Orbit Arrow 3: Level 3
Lower Orbit Light 4: Level 4
Drop Target 1: L
Drop Target 2: A
Drop Target 3: B
Extra Ball Light: Extra Ball
x2 Value: Playfield Values Doubled
Ball Save: One Quiet Night
[Ball End Sound Affect]
[Dramatic Background Music]