Implementation of the uppers needs something more in code. Watching the ball drain slowly from..the... third down ...to...the ...second... To... the ...play field drove me nuts after a while.

I know they have a ton to code yet so hopefully they address it

I have to watch the stream again, but from what I saw ultra man looked better at this point by a lot. And I have no interest in that theme. I'm #367 HWN.

Lots of time to add what is needed, and I look forward to watching their progress. Good job so far guys!

Improving the code on the upper playfields is not going keep the ball up there longer, that's on the player getting more familiar and skilled at doing. The design of this game is going to require patience at times and that's not necessarily a bad thing.

On ACNC I rock a loose tilt so I can work the hell out of the upper pf. Adds a lot of fun IMHO. I anticipate doing the same here.

I know on most occasions, Jack let it roll over his flipper on the second playfield to drain to the main. Not sure if it was strategy or the flipper was off. It just seemed odd to me.

Hmmm... I have to admit if I saw this stream before commiting to a standard edition I probably wouldn't have.

Watching didn't do much for me at all. Really hoping Jack's setup acting up was a big part of that.

Now I'm looking forward to videos from people that get their games... and for the code to be developed of course.

Just watched the video. I was... well, I wasnt blown away. Disappointed, actually. :/

Just watched a few minutes of the early action--I like the quick entry to the nearest right upper playfield. I think there is too much R and G in the RGB lighting going on. The change from one color for a mood to the next is kinda jarring, but that can be adjusted as more people complain about it I don't think green lighting serves much for creating a spooky mood, so those instances should be less frequent.

I watched the stream. Based on the layout of the playfield this plays exactly how I thought it would….unfortunately.

This will definitely appeal to some as this pin will play much different than your average game. Much like GnR. You have to approach it with a different mindset

I'm neutral after watching the stream. Saw a lot of things I liked and some things I don't. I'll be patient and hopeful that additional video and animation will add a ton to the experience. My biggest issue was the upper playfield was too easy to qualify and therefor not very satisfying. With a more deliberate shooter I was hoping you'd have to earn your way to the top. I like the idea of qualifying the upper by playing the two muliti-balls (maybe even some incidentals??) but adding the "5 ramp shots to qualify" nerfs it for me. Feels very much like the Stern "see it all on one ball" approach. Yuck.

I'm still in and I know a lot can change. Very grateful to see the game being played and it looks like it will be fun to shoot.

Did anyone notice how many times they shot the ramp to get to upper playfield but ball didn't have enough velocity and kept coming back down?
Seemed like a lot. And that is with good players playing.

At least it does not fall sdtm.

I think it was just the way it was set up. UM seemed to shoot faster and when they were adjusting cameras, did you notice how well the ball was moving while they were just plunging? It was hitting skill shot by itself. So it looks like set up and level may be really critical on these 2.

Part of the issue here is that Jack is not a true flow player. Very few people truly are, especially at the high end, because it's generally considered to be a harder style of playing than trapping up and taking controlled shots. Get someone like Robert Gagno on these games and it's going to look very different, I think...not that most people are able to play flow at that level, but if you want to see the true flow potential of a game....

I generally consider myself more of a flow player for most games, and I don't anticipate having any issues with that. I'll probably trap up to make the far right and left bottom shots but other than that...looks like I'm going to be able to flip this thing willy nilly as I see fit without a lot of trapping up.

Should be interesting to see how they handle the ball staging once they get it implemented with no way to automatically populate the lifters.

One thing I'm curious about is why that center ramp feed to the left wireform return seems to be a little slow, and as Law said, rejects. I'm not sure if the diverter up there is slowing it down in some way.

Same -- I am neutral at this point. I think it shot pretty well. The right in lane needs to have a ball staged.... falling from the "house" playfield through the "asylum" to the scoop to the lifter was so terribly slow. That has to get sped up.

The animations were actually kind of terrible to me. I was hopeful they were just placeholders and either better animations or more movie assets would be shown instead. That's the part that worries me the most. The one of the hand reaching into the car was super cringe. You basically saw the same 4 screens the entire time. Ugh.

I'm still in for now, as Halloween is an amazing theme and I am a huge horror fan, but who knows if that'll change in the next 6 months while I wait.

It was great to see both games flipped. Happy to have watched them and think this is the last stream I’ll watch until getting hands on a game or coming back in 6 months and the code is ship-shape. Most welcome is that both games have a unique to the pinscape vibe to them. Hoping Halloween has STAB (inlane rollover triggered ball save), like all good Spooky games incorporate.

Watched the stream this morning. I really like what I see. There are some soft areas that need to be ironed out which I’ll outline below but overall I came away impressed as it flows more than I was expecting.

+love the custom music tracks. They sound very much like the original soundtrack. I was worried about this but it def was a stand out.
+ fake Donald was good!
+180 hidden ramp shot - HELL yes! What a nice surprise shot and it’s so fast. Great job there
+ lighting looked good although I would want more red/spooky effect.
+ side art of the town looked good
+ flow baby - with two uppers it was a concern and although I like the ball to come out quicker in some spots it def has enough there. Reminded me a ton of white water which I always liked. Now it has a better theme haha
+ giant knife on the right of pf looked very cool. Would love to see the topper in action.
+ sound effects seem really good. Ball save sound and I really liked how that hospital mb started with that bass effect. Almost all effects were good EXCEPT

- OVERUSE of that one high pitched chime effect that plays in two different chords - back to back use is WAY too much. It’s played at bonus, when you hit that pumpkin shot and some other times (jackpot?). Spooky please don’t use it that much as it’s very Annoying. Use it but not overkill.
- video assets or lack there of. Probably my biggest disappointment but I know they are adding more. Animations could be a little more interesting too.
- Center ramp had too many rejects for my liking. Spooky please double check this.

Overall great stream. Sound for me in the replay was perfect. Excited to get this

Video assets shown on Halloween were disappointing.

Hopefully just early code. Look forward to seeing more movies clips and sounds integrated better into game play moments.

Agreed. I wasn't concerned until I saw UM, which I thought looked much further along with the animations and light shows. Then Bug said they were both at about the same point in code development. I hope he was just referring to the rules and not the player feedback and asset use. I know they mentioned there's a lot more to be added still, but I do think Halloween is a difficult theme to translate into pinball, so I wouldn't say that what was shown makes me feel better about it exactly.

I did love the remixed John Carpenter tunes that were used. The music was a concern of mine until I saw this. More variety would still go a long way, though.

This sort of response always confuses me. If none of us had played pinball before, it would hold water, but often times I am able to watch a video of pinball and say "that looks awesome/awful" without playing and be right. Some games on a stream are definitly more fun to watch than others, however.

I was hoping to hear some custom callouts from PJ, but thinking need to an applicable mode. Or maybe there were some that I didn't hear.

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Hey, if you want to say you're not feeling it, more power to you. But to call it an 'entry level design' or bad shooter based on a stream you watched from your couch 3 beers into your night is just being hyperbolic. Need to at least play it.

I was surprised when I heard bug talk about the 5 ramp shots to qualify. Seems like there would be more creative ways of qualifying the upper pf.

That would be great, because it really needs to be sped up.

Even more stoked to get this bad boy home.

So far super pumped. I may be in the minority with thinking halloween has no problem translating to pinball but guess I hadn't thought hard on that before? So happy for this theme, light show I liked. I am just an average player having fun so I thought it looked awesome. Totally agree hoping animations/lcd show is just early I was thinking we'd see plenty of movie clips etc. Otherwise just as excited as I was before. I

A whole lot of people in here who come across as impatient. Like as if most games that come out now are done and polished on release, when that simply isn't the case 99% of the time. Rick And Morty in it's current state is very different from how it was on release, for example. It has gotten a lot of updates, polish and things added...but it was fun on release too, it's just better now. I'm okay with a game getting updates that add and fix things after release. Spooky actually puts out updates pretty regularly, unlike other manufacturers. The layout is solid and any qualms I have can be fixed with code. Along with that, Luke and the rest of the spooky team have been very open about the state of the game now and where they want it to be and are working towards that. Be patient.

-They mentioned that there are a bunch of modes that are almost (or actually) ready to be added. Maybe not on release, but they will be.

-They mentioned that the video assets (and most likely the sound assets, but I don't think they specifically mentioned that) are going to be improved, and what's in there already is encouraging that they have a generous license. For a licensed game, that's probably the single most important thing. The music (original and edited/alternate stuff, as well as original being used is a good sign), the sound clips of jamie from the movie, the video clips that are in there from the movie...all those are good indications as to what they can and can't do. Obviously I don't know the details of that, but it's a good sign.

-They mentioned tons of specific things that are going to be resolved with the code and were upfront that the game will not be 100% on release, you're not honest like that if you want to move units and have a stance that the game is "done" so you can avoid releasing code (*cough* stern *cough*). They've already moved the units, now they can focus on manufacturing and coding and implementation. I doubt the guys coding have to worry about getting down on the factory floor to help much, so calm down, they'll do some coding. They mentioned specific things they want to fix or add, were open to suggestions (midnight madness) and you can tell they just want the game to be solid. Be patient.

In my opinion, any time a game has any kind of upper playfield(s), you get the same old broken records jerking off about flow. Listen, early 80's solid states had great flow, go play those and stay in the stone age. I want something different, something unique, with interesting ball-flow, not fast ball flow. You want to know why a series of loops on a flat surface are easy to nail and give you all the flow you want? Because it's easy. I want to support companies willing to take chances on something unique, and if it means that all the kinks are not ironed out right away, so be it, the important part is that they care about those kinks being ironed out and are willing to work at them. By all indications I have seen, Spooky seems to care about that, so I'm content. I do hope they can get the ball moving a bit quicker as it goes from playfield to playfield, but if they can't it's not going to kill the game for me. Not every game needs to be lightning fast to be good.

Anyways, nice work Spooky, can't wait for #154 to get here! Ultraman isn't my thing, but it also looks really great.

Also felt amazing hearing Jack talk about the factory and overall enthusiasm for the MANUFACTURER!!! I swear a huge breath of fresh air for me in pinball land, with all the absolute bullshit going on elsewhere. Not saying they (Spooky) are perfect…but the company vibe, coupled with a great game is just what is needed….I really feel good about buying this game and supporting a company that certainly seems to care…

Whoa….spot on!!!! Just read this as I was adding a comment…….completely agree….

The main issue I have is that we didn't see this stream before having to make a purchase decision. I for one regret purchasing Halloween. I'd have picked Ultraman had I seen the stream first. Spooky, please don't do this again, and I hope you haven't started a trend other manufacturers follow.

Spooky didn’t start this trend. LE’s, preorders, and FOMO started this.

Not every model though, you can always still get premiums and pros for example.

For anyone possibly interested.

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They are creating FOMO, however. They're a good company, but if you don't order you don't get one. But you won't know if you really want it until it is too late.

Just give it up. Nobody likes your videos.

Well said!

Not sure which I prefer after watching the stream.

Prefer the visuals/screen on Halloween.

Glad there will be a setting to turn down led strip as adjusting lighting at home for spookiness is a must.

I think all the pinball companies have realised that 'show less, sell more', is the way to use FOMO.

We create the pin of our dreams in our minds, and then hit the buy button!

Godzilla LE will be a sell out way before we see gameplay.

Agreed. I’m just commenting on “spooky starting this trend”… meanwhile I bet the next Stern LE is already mostly sold out. This really isn’t a new trend.

That’s why I ordered a CE for my wife. We talked about it and both of us wanted to see game play video before making the purchase. Did not want to miss out on paying retail for one. I am not a Halloween fan, but the wife wanted it.

Do I regret placing a deposit down? Partially. But it’s early code and look how games like GOTG, STh, and EHOH improved greatly with code updates. So I am going to sit back and wait for my wife’s #790.

It’s a beautiful pin and I have hope the issues with video assets, music ect will be addressed. My wife overall was happy with it and my daughter loved it. My wife’s big complaint was the Halloween song used so much.

RobT did you see the hidden skill shot near the beginning (that Jack managed to nail) that unlocked the UPF?
You drop the middle DT and then goal post the other two so you can hit the ramp.

Likely true on the LE but you definitely can get another version. Like what we’ve seen so far or not, it’s not a very pro consumer move to create a situation where the buyer has to join a club and put up a non refundable 2k deposit on a game based on a 30 second preview or have no chance of buying any version of it (although I think a couple distributors may still have a few left, but there was no way of knowing that on launch). If the game wasn’t ready to live stream until yesterday, why not wait a few weeks to open deposits? I hope the trend stops…there is only so much room in a house for giant pinball machines that cost 6-10k. Would be nice to get a better flavor for what we’re buying before committing 2 grand and limited real estate. With that being said, Halloween is an awesome theme and I’m hopeful everything comes together.

For the inlane lifters, specifically the right one, I don’t see why when a player starts a game and falls in the right subway, the ball stays there and another one is launched from shooter lane. That way, whenever the ball falls back in the subway, there is already a ball there to kickout right away.

I hope spooky can keep it true to the movie feel as far as movie assets/modes go and not have them appear randomly to please some players desire for movie clip overload. Initially the movie is a very open landscape feel with Michael running the country side, and as you progress the scenes get tighter and tighter and closer and more intimate until eventually you end up face to face with the most claustrophobic closet scene as worst case scenario. That's part of the feel and suspense build on the "he is coming" aspect. So personally I like the qualifying ramp aspect. And that also translates to not seeing that much early on in the gameplay, similar to alot of other pins.
I know it's early code but I like what I see so far! I would bet that's one of the reasons why they kept the art on a more Autumn side of things instead of going dark, for better rgb lighting integration. Look at Stern Pirates, should be a darker game IMO but pretty colorful and still works.

Just watched the stream again with a pair of nice headphones on. The sounds, original music and Count D’S additional music especially sound phenomenal. The one house theme is a bit repetitive but I’m sure they’ll end up adjusting that down the line. The game looks like it shoots great, the uppers look fun and challenging and the return to flipper time is excellent considering what the ball has to go through to come back. The dirty pool house qualifier shot is AWESOME as well as the player staged physical extra ball at the Meyers grave that can also be utilized as an add-a-ball in modes or multi at the player’s discretion, these are the kind of clever rules/coding that help makes a game special. Overall I’m extremely impressed with how HWN looks at its current code stage. The addition of more original footage, music and polish may turn this thing into a masterpiece. Congrats to the Spooky team, your passion is showing strong in this game.

I do understand the point but they are a business, and by almost everything we've seen they communicate and treat customers well. No ill intent here truly, however spooky didn't say buy it without seeing gameplay. I mean hey...that's life. You can wait and see and get one later or commit. It's hard I agree but I think overall they have been fair with everything. Just my half assed opinion

If he releases the clown I'm in

Hey! Thank you all for tuning in to the stream! Just wanted to answer some common questions I'm seeing.
First of all, thank you all for your feedback! Positive feedback lets us know we are on the right track, and the negative feedback does genuinely help us know where you want us to improve, and we give serious consideration to all of it, and in fact, appreciate it!
To that point, yes, on camera the LED strips washed out the image a bit. In person, we feel it looks amazing though. That said, I believe we are still going to add a menu option to set the brightness level on them.
There was mention about a lot of letting the ball drain off the middle playfield in the stream, and yes that was strategy; there are modes/multiballs that will restart if you get the pumpkin shot, and that lower left outhole on the middle pf drains to the pumpkin scoop.
In a similar vein, we realize that it's not the most exciting thing to intentionally let your ball drop through 3 playfields. We are definitely looking to address that; as Bug mentioned on stream, the code is actively being improved and deepened, and we aim to make every second of gameplay engaging.
Regarding the 6 shots to get to the upper pf, if I recall correctly, we actually added that so that first-time players at shows would have a better chance to get to the upper pf with the game set to 1 ball. Offhand, I don't know Bug's stance on keeping/changing that particular method of access (there are 2 other ways to get up there, possibly more in the near future), but I know he is constantly considering more and more creative ways to structure progression through the different stages of the game.
The same goes for audio; we are improving it daily. A few comments here validated questions we had with particular audio clips, so we will certainly be looking to address those. As for the audio hiccups during the stream, (quiet callouts) we apologize! We did have some technical difficulties there, but I assure you the games will be plenty full of callouts (including English and Japanese callouts on UM, for those interested)!
Regarding the timing of the stream, we are of course aware of the implications that timing of the first gameplay reveal has from a marketing perspective, but I can personally promise you that we did this stream as soon as we were possibly able to. We called up Jack to make it happen as soon as we had the green light! We've been itching to show off these games for a long time. And honestly the sooner we show them, the more practical it is to implement improvements based on your feedback!

Are the PJ Soles callouts not yet implemented? Or were they there on the stream, but during the part that the audience couldn't hear callouts? Can't wait for my CE!

Thanks for the stream as well as chiming In on this thread. I’m very Happy with everything so far, but if I may give a negative- that sound effect in 2 different pitches has 100% got to go. Definitely Keep one of them, but the back to back w the pitch variation on certain shots sounds terrible. Maybe Replace one of them with something else?
Any comments on an “adult mode”?

I’ll be an early code adopter due to my # and am looking forward to see the game progress. Keep up the good work!

Yep, good point, and that is pretty cool.

I guess that is a good alternative to hitting the ramp 5 times.

Can you comment on animations? It didn’t seem that far along is that fair to say?

Just watched again with headphones on and volume cranked. Sounds amazing !! So much I missed while watching live. The callouts are good, but the sound effects are awesome. Cannot wait till # 245 gets here,,,,,,,unless someone wants to trade down and I can move up!!