Add me to the list of crazy people.
I'm building my own pinball machine.

The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Links to the Ruleset:
Part 1 - Overview - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-nightmare-before-christmas/page/24#post-4884234
Part 2 - Characters - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-nightmare-before-christmas/page/24#post-4884343
Part 3 - Holidays - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-nightmare-before-christmas/page/25#post-4884721
Part 4 - Oogie Battles - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-nightmare-before-christmas/page/25#post-4885911
Part 5 - Wizard modes - https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/the-nightmare-before-christmas/page/25#post-4886255

Stats:
Widebody/Superpin
LCD
RGB LED lighting
6 balls
manual/auto plunge
6 diverters
3 flippers
3 pop bumpers
2 ramps
1 target bank
1 magnet
1 spinner
1 drop target
1 kickout hole
1 VUK
1 scoop
1 kickback
1 Oogie Boogie
and a bathtub!

Mission Pinball Framework / python software

Barebones development blog with Future Pinball virtual version downloadable here:

http://www.incitti.com/pinball/nightmare

I've uploaded all the pictures and videos I've been taking along the way:

https://www.flickr.com/x/t/0097009/photos/132886609@N02/sets/72157652304614315/
IMG_0530.JPG

Oh, I forgot - videos here:

Working on some wireforms - the VUK that feeds into the right side ramp return:

https://flic.kr/p/ss1ta2

Yes, that's the Hinterland forest with the 7 holiday trees - Christmas, Valentines, St Patricks, Easter, Independence Day, Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving.
They are the 7 lights surrounding the door (between the slings)

Added the RGB GI driven by a nano.

I got the motor at a surplus store here in London. It was about $5 - came with the gearbox!
It's hooked up to 24V, but I ended up using the on/off patter to run it at a slower speed.

My RGB GI is serial neopixels using an arduino nano. Works really well so far.
I send it simple 5 byte commands over USB/comm.
for example:
I can address them all - '255 0 200 100 0' turns them all orange.
Or individually '254 3 200 0 200' turns LED 3 to purple.

I'll have to check the store and see if they have any left, but if they do, I could get one for you. PM me.

Thanks Atomicboy!

Working on software while waiting for the inspiration to form the ramps.

Here's a few images of the GI and inserts cycling through some colours.

image.jpg

Yellow card!

Currently programming the rules.
Been working with Kris (Gemini) from our league on rules.
He took a few rough ideas and fleshed them out adding modes for all the characters and holidays and some neat ideas for wizard modes, combos and 2x/3x scoring shots. 43 pages and counting!

Here's a brief overview:

Character Modes

Jack - What's This?
Frenzy mode where all switches award points and some increase the point value

Jack - Where's Jack?
Standard 3-ball multiball mode

Jack - The Scientific Method
Advanced multiball which starts with 2 balls but can be brought up to 4 (excluding add-a-ball)

Sally - Sally's Stitches
Spinner shooting mode

Doctor - A Marked Improvement
Clear major shots to win

Mayor - I Can't Make Decisions!
Must make a travelling shot, but it travels really fast, thus you have to shoot the mayor to hold it in place

Zero - Go Fetch!
Make random shots

LSB - Kidnap the Sandi-Claws
Standard 3-ball multiball mode

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Hinterland Door Modes

Valentines - Love is in the Air
Increase the spinner value by clearing lit shots/targets

St. Patrick's - Pot o' Gold
Use the pops to fill the pot of gold, then shoot for the Hinterlands to collect, can only collect once in the time limit

Easter - Easter Egg Hunt
Certain major shots will have eggs hidden for points

Independence - Fireworks Festival
Standard 3-ball multiball mode

Halloween - Trick or Treat!
Complete the LSB target bank as many times as possible but don't bug Doctor Finklestein!

Thanksgiving - Harvest Frenzy
An inverse frenzy where only one shot will award points but the value awarded is increased by all other switches

Christmas - Naughty or Nice?
Standard 2-ball mutliball mode where two shots are lit at all times, one worth a few points, the other a lot more

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Oogie Boogie Modes

Bug Bash
2-ball multiball mode where each standup target starts at a high value and decreases in value each time it's hit

Santa Vs. Oogie Boogie
Try to escape from Oogie Boogie by getting the ball off the playfield down a hole

Sally Vs. Oogie Boogie
Health-bar limited mode where health goes down constantly and must be recharged by making shots

Luck o' the Dice
Roll the dice as many times as you can without going over a cumulative value of 32

Jack Vs. Oogie Boogie
You must clear all the lit shots in a very short time limit while shooting the spinner to get more time

Oogie Boogie's Unravelling
Unusual 3-ball multiball frenzy which can't be completed until you're down to one ball

.

Wizard Modes

Characters - Deliver the Presents
Health-bar limited mode where you must make certain shots while avoiding certain shots

Doors - Holiday Rescue
Find random holiday individuals and return them to their proper realm through the Hinterlands

Oogie Boogie - Mega Oogie Showdown
Battle Mega Oogie with unlimited balls until someone wins

Ultimate - Christmastime in Halloween Town
Timed multiball frenzy where the more different switches you hit, the greater your scores are multiplied

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Features List

Toys
Running value advanced by the pop bumpers which factors into your bonus, as well as the Deliver the Presents wizard mode

Mystery Award
Gives "random" awards based on the state of the game

Add-a-Ball
All multiballs allow for one add-a-ball, qualified by hitting the mystery target and collected on the graveyard shot

Gate Keeper Multiball
Secret 2-ball multiball where you must bash the gate down with one ball and get the other ball past in the brief moment it's down

SANTA Award
These lights get more valuable every time you complete them over the course of the entire game

2x/3x Shots
The Soup Shot opens the shooter lane diverter briefly, upon getting the ball in you can multiply the scoring of the next major shot you hit

Soup Scoring
Hurry-Up started every 100+ spinner spins where you must make the soup shot for lots of points

Combos
Whenever you shoot one of the 10 major shots, the other 9 will light for a combo potential, with each shot made clearing the combo light

This is Halloween
Video Mode which plays like DDR or Guitar Hero, awarded as the third mystery award (then every 5 following)

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And here's a more detailed look at one of the modes:

.
Character Mode - "What's This?" Frenzy Page 14

Brief Description
30 Second timed frenzy mode where almost all switches award points. Hitting any of the JACK targets increases the frenzy value. You must reach a target score to complete the frenzy and progress towards "Deliver the Presents".

Scenario
Jack's fallen through the Christmas Town door in the Hinterlands and is wondering what everything is.

Details
To help Jack discover the magic of Christmas Town you must shoot everything! The base value for every switch starts at 40,000, but hitting any of the JACK standups increases this value by 5,000. The mode only lasts 30 seconds and you must score at least 2,000,000 to complete and end the mode.

Scoring
Frenzy Base Value 40,000
Increments to Base Value 5,000 / each

Lighting
The lighting in this mode is mostly just festive and fun and meant to distract the player. The JACK targets will be flashing yellow and will ALL flash green briefly when one is hit to indicate the increase in the frenzy value.

Difficulty Adjustments
Very Easy 40 Seconds - Goal of 1,000,000 Points
Easy 35 Seconds - Goal of 1,500,000 Points
Normal 30 Seconds - Goal of 2,000,000 Points
Hard 30 Seconds - Goal of 2,500,000 Points
Very Hard 25 Seconds - Goal of 3,000,000 Points

No Bill, not planning on going into production yet. Just the one machine for now. That is, unless you want to invest

Well, it's hard to think of anything else when the theme has been the inspiration for the past 2 years.

A bit stuck on the artist bit. I talked to Jeremy a few weeks ago, but I'm not sure if license, time & $$ are a problem.

well, you can have it now for $1M - it's 95% ready for production, just needs ramps

I really liked the Big Lebowski display. Wide, color - with dots.

The bill of materials might be too high on this. $1000 on circuit boards alone.
And, have you seen the price of bathtubs!?

Working on some ideas for the display.

How's this look?

nbc.jpg

I just grabbed the title from DVD cover. Scaled it down to 128x32. Then scaled to 2048x512 (no smoothing)
Then dropped a black hole mask on top. Will probably work the assets all at the low resolution then scale up 16x and apply the mask at render time.
Oh, forgot apps - msPaint and Photoshop.

Found my mayor figure. He's got a rotating head which should work well with a micro servo.image.jpg

Thanks!
But nope, just used a router and a template. Just followed Josh/Rosh and other guys on the pinballcontrollers.com site.

I want to get it in shape for expo. Anyone have a large oven (I can fit my ramps into) that I can borrow?

Ok, how many am I making? I think I'll focus on getting this ONE done for now.
Don't even want to think about finding the parts. Maybe Scott's hoarding them

Making good progress on the programming side. Got all this roughed in, some complete.
Combo system in place. Shot Multipliers. Skill shots.
Add-a-ball, mystery prizes.
7 character modes and a mini wiz
6 oogie modes and a mini wiz
7 holiday modes and a mini wiz
Several MBs in there.
MBs can be stacked - one mode from each of these can be running together.
Complete the 3 mini wiz modes for the Ultimate wiz mode.

Hope to get some video together this weekend.

Frank, I've got many of the sounds (voice clips, music, sfx) over 220 clips and counting all ready to go.
I've got ideas for many of the backgrounds and animations.
But, yes, I'm getting the rough game in place and then I'll put the lipstick on it.
I have a bunch of ideas for light shows, but I'm waiting on MPF to support things like LED coordinates for easy sweeps and effects.

Progress Report #2314: Continuing journey into the uncharted waters of Softwareland.

I'm on the bleeding edge with mission pinball framework, but making progress.
Here's a list of what's working so far (with basic lighting effects - much display and lighting work to do)
(* these are partially coded stubs)

General:
Combo shots - chain the main shots for 2, 3, ..10 way combos
Multiplier shots - after soup, return to plunger, next main shot will be 2X for rest of ball. 3X if Zero helps
Add-a-ball - when MB running, Gravestone or Saucer adds another ball
Ball save - variable grace period
*Mystery - random? selectable? rewards (extra time, extra ball, toys, pts, etc)
J-A-C-K - complete targets for up to 12 X bonus & gifts
SANTA - complete rollovers for various gifts
Soup Hurry - after 50 spins, soup countdown starts
*Skill shot - 2 of the 4 are coded

Character Modes:
Mayor - fast moving jackpot (big points), can be frozen for a few seconds (fewer points)
Doctor - collect 5 body parts to make a 'Decided Improvement' Sally replacement
Jack - (Where's ) - ramp for jackpot, 2 other shots to make it a super, JACK to relight
Sally - Sally's arm (upper flipper) is disabled - complete stitches (spins) to re-enable
Jack - (What's This) - frenzy mode
*Zero - Fetch - 3 shots to make (revealed one at a time)
*Jack (Scientific)
*LSB - tub MB (working except for scoring jackpots)
*Wizard

Door Modes:
Christmas - Naughty or Nice MB - 2 lit shots, one red, one green. Complete 3 in a row of the same for jackpots
Valentines - Collect pink hearts (all targets & shots) to increase spinner value
St Patricks - get to the pops to increase pot of gold jackpot in the forest
Easter - 10 shots are hiding various jackpot values. Make 3 to reveal values. Keep shooting to score.
*Independence - frenzy
*Halloween - hit LSB but not Doctor
Thanksgiving - soup for jackpots, all other switches increase soup value
*Wizard

Oogie Modes:
Bug Bash: MB - squash bugs (11 targets) hit repeatedly for diminishing points, complete all to reset points
*Santa
*Sally
*Dice
*Jack
*Unravel
*Wizard

*gateKeeper
*video mode
*Ultimate Wizard

New Ideas
Zero - fetch mode. throw a bone (make a main shot) Repeat shot to collect jackpots

On the hardware side :

Cut out a big chunk of the mayor's back. Inserted a micro servo. Spinning head!

Redid the left ramp in plastic. It's sturdier and easier to measure or to make a mold.

Pictures and video later tonight.

Very cool. PM me.

Let's see, Skellington shooter rod, bathtub, BSD coffin

Here's some of the modes in action. Sorry about the crappy quality.
Gameplay video - part 1 -

Gameplay video - part 2 -

image.jpg
image.jpg

Yes, if you get into the soup, the gate opens up for 10 seconds - allowing you to get back to the shooter.
Next shot you make has a 2X or 3X multiplier attached to it for the rest of that ball.

Screenshot_3.jpg

Unobtainium Makeyerownium
image.jpg

I have a 20 second ball save whenever a ball is launched - just for play testing. I'll balance that out later.

Everybody scream!

Oh, to have one of their budgets...
Scrounging around for parts, information, tools, time! I'm exhausted.

image.jpg
Swapped out the Gottlieb drop for the Williams style one that fills the hole completely. No more air balls.

This Frankenstein has pieces from: Paragon, TZ, Dracula, Baywatch, Maverick and many more.

Here's a rough list of parts from donors: Panthera, TZ, Roadshow, NBA, Dracula, T2, Maverick, Baywatch
- pop up triangle post from Maverick not installed yet
- 2nd spinner fom Baywatch not installed yet

1 manual/auto plunger - new
6 diverters - 2 X TZ, RS, door lock, my copy of TZ, modified Panthera pop
3 flippers - 2 X NBA FB, ?
3 pop bumpers - new
1 pop up post - new
1 target bank - new parts, home made frame, surplus motor
1 magnet - new
1 spinner - new
1 drop target - Dracula
1 kickout hole - Pathera
1 VUK - TZ
1 scoop - RS
1 kickback - T2

Panthera parts came from Patrick in Kitchener.
Most of the other stuff from Dragon in Bulgaria.

Hardware: Spent the weekend doing major surgery to the underside. Removed 10 boards. Replaced with 4. Full details in the next few days.

Software: continue to add more stuff. End of ball bonus, more modes, etc.

Any publicity is good publicity !

Brain & nervous system transplant almost complete. Patient is communicative and responding well. Update when the lights come back on.

Some LED shows:

And a template for the metal apron:
apron2.jpgapron1.jpg

image.jpeg
The new FAST lighting system.

She's got legs! And a body!image.jpeg

Places everyone! image.jpegimage.jpeg

Got my display mounted in the back box. Jack approves.
image.jpegimage.jpeg

Yes, Frank. That's the plan. As rough as it is - it's a good reference point before the art's done.

I'll be in the FAST booth.

"Everyone loves a box of lights!"

Hire a driver - work in the trailer. Put those 30 hours to good use!

I'm putting speakers up there. No back glass art. I want the title silhouette cut in metal. and some animated figures in the orange 'T' section.backbox.jpg

image.jpeg
Glass, speakers

Rough guess...

cab 350 (based on TZ)
trim 400 (trim kit - legs, rails, door, hinges, etc.)
pc 100 (refurb)
display 50 (used Dell)
ps 150 (70/24, 12/5)
wood 200 (playfield, misc)
alum 50 (guides)
wire 200 (several colours, 18, 20)
fast 1000 (3208X2, 1616, Nano, LEDs, fuse, servo)
parts 1500 (flippers, trough, inserts, posts, etc.)
art ??
Time 20000 (~4 hrs/day X 8 months X 30 Days X $20)

Don't ask me to add that up!

You missed a couple zeros on the end there Mike!

Cutting some plastic tonight.
image.jpeg

Yes, the PC runs mission pinball framework software (free) which talks to the controller board (Nano) which communicates with the driver/switch boards (3208s, 1616, and servo boards) Those boards connect to the coils, motors, switches and LEDs.)
Those other components I listed under 'parts' - (flippers, VUK, Scoop, magnet, targets, opto switches, diverters, buttons, etc.)
The game rules are on top of the framework. My friend Gemini fleshed out a rough set of game ideas I had into a huge document with tons of modes and cool ideas. I'm in the process of coding them using MPF and Python while trying to finish the physical construction. This is a bit much for a one man show.
Maybe I should have built a cloning machine first.

Um, let's see, I played pinball before this.

Background: some electronics, lots of game programming, very basic tools skills.

Arrived.
Man, it's windy here!

At expo all weekend. Drop by, and say hi.
image.jpeg

Thanks for posting that toyotaboy. I'll get some good video up onc I get her home and set up again.
My audits say over 275 games played. 15000 right flipper presses.
Lock pin on the right flipper pawl fell apart Sunday just before closing time!

It was an amazing experience. Met so many nice, encouraging people. Thank you!

Yes, it will have some spots lighting up the characters (only the mayor is there so far)
I am also adding more gi lighting, and the forest in the back will evolve a bit - lit trees, maybe more player interaction.

Not much to show at the moment - refining some game play a bit. Will work on getting a proper video together. My last few attempts using my phone were crap.

Project continues...

Maybe a pico projector could fit in this dome...image.jpeg
Cleaning up my ramp lines a bit before going to plastic.
2 new inserts added to playfield.
image.jpeg

A 3D printer would be nice to have. Alas, I don't even have access to one in the area.
I'm trying to make an 'exact' version of the ramp with this matte board. Bottom, sides, mounting tabs. From those pieces a mold can be created/sculpted. And then a vacuum formed ramp made from that. "Help me Freeplay40, you're my only hope!"

A bit tricky to change them now, I think, but they can be made harder by removing the rubber rings. Maybe I could do the 3 close post holes to adjust the vertical position, but not sure how it will be easier/harder?

Thanks Linolium. Lots of good ideas in there.

Here's what's happened in the last month. This photo only shows the new ramp. I'll have to take some more recent ones.

1 - new ramp - smoother flow, proper height, better diverter angles, ready for plastic mold
2 - moved post 1 cm right - protect back of standup
3 - ramp switch mounted to wireform
4 - orbit aligned with left flipper NOT between them
5 - dedicated light for Mayor Mode
6 - dedicated light for Doctor Mode
7 - moved apron wall down 1 cm
8 - mounted kickback coil with connectors facing down through table
9 - redone diverter - new shaft and beefed up mounting to bracket
10 - not shown - more coding

iphone-jan-19-2016_456_-_Copy_(resized).JPG

Mark, Aaron says: "build that oven!"
Small Oven says: "get in ma belly!"

image_(resized).jpeg

image_(resized).jpeg

Ha! I didn't even mention the angle change!

I'm going to magically fill the inside of my ramps to make them into molds. Hopefully freeplay40 can then use them to form some plastic ramps.

I just found out I can import my futurepinball table into Blender!
This will make the transition to CAD quite a bit easier.
Just had to share.

Screenshot_17_(resized).jpg

The pops are where the toys are made!
There's a popup post at the top to get orbits to drop into the area.
It pops up when a mode requires you to collect pop hits (collect toys, gold, spinner multipliers, etc)
It's also a good place to send balls during a multiball.
Can exit out to left orbit or the inner orbit.

Not sure. Was thinking of a funnel between the trees - somewhat like the White water whirlpool, but visibility and space up there is limited.

Ha, anytime. I could use the help!

I'm trying to update the sim table to match the small changes I had to make on the proto.
Mainly so I have something I can send to a CNC to cut new play fields and models for the ramp molds.
I haven't spent any time updating the gameplay. It's too different between VB and mpf/python.

I have a swizzlefish in my tub! Thanks Mike!

tub_(resized).jpg

Thanks for the input!

I was planning on having the whole tree area change color to reflect which mode is selected. They can more reflect the upcoming mode, whereas the playfield inserts can show the status of mode completion.

I do want to reclaim some space up there so I may change the tree 'poles' into 1/2 cylinders placed against the walls in an semicircle ~3 on back, 1 in corner and 3 on right side. The extra space gained can maybe be a shallow bowl the ball will spiral around. Ball can be spun out of bowl with carefully timed nudging.

something like this?
Trees will have holiday doors on them. Whirlpool will light up in the holiday color.

whirlpool_(resized).png

Screenshot_18_(resized).jpg

You can play with it now. Grab the 2016_01_26 table and sound files here:

http://incitti.com/pinball/nightmare/

I'm only using this to work out design issues. I'm not updating the rules on the virtual game.

Give it another try. I had to change them to zip files - my web host changed something and it doesn't know what to do with that .fpl file extension.

Whirlpool portal thingy. Heading to printer.

image_(resized).jpeg

Hmm, well, don't know what's up with my server. It doesn't like .fpl
So I have renamed them yet again. Have another go.

The sounds.zip is for use with the mpf code. FP uses the libraries above.

EalaDubhSidhe suggests rearranging the pops like so, and adding a magnet instead of the popup post. Gonna give that a try in FP.
newpops_(resized).png
This should fix the problem of balls passing by the pops and not hitting them.
oldpops_(resized).png
But it might also cause other problems such as magnet timing during multiballs. How to catch a 2nd ball that's orbiting without re-capturing the one we just dropped into the pops?

Maybe this new configuration would work just as well with a post? Hmm.

Been patiently waiting for the postman to bring me my plastic models. Hurry up!

Still waiting. This is Canada. In winter. The poor dogs on the sled team need to rest between cities.

Installed! See Facebook for videos of them in action.

image_(resized).jpeg

Sorry, thought I had posted it....

https://www.facebook.com/markinc

The square cutout is parallel to the playfield, but the bowl is actually level to the ground. The bowl intersects the playfield at 6.5 degrees to counter the playfield slope.

We're entering the slow grind part of the process.

My partner is working on artwork for the playfield, cabinet, and plastics as well as some ideas for the backbox.
I'm working on code (mpf 0.30)

Will post more updates when there's stuff to show.

dots, dots and more dotspresents_(resized).pnglock_(resized).pngtub_ready_(resized).png

I'm using mpf. I use lower rez images and video clips. They are rendered at a higher rez with a dots shader. The stretching/scaling is all automatic thanks to the work Brian has done with mpf.30

I've been grabbing various images and tweaking them to what looks good - cleaning them up, removing backgrounds, adjusting size, contrast, etc.

Cleaning up my optos - new 5V driver boards and receivers designed by Jan. Printed in China through seeedstudio - delivered to Canada in 1 week. Other parts from digi-key.

optos_(resized).jpg

Getting closer to it.
jack_bonus_(resized).png

Progress.
Got all the character and holiday modes mostly figured out.
Here's a sneak of the Doctor's mode:
a_decided_improvement_(resized).png

Kidnap the Sandiclaws!

kidnap_(resized).png

crowded_house2_(resized).png
Excuse the crappy blurry stuff - still work to do on fonts, text, colors, etc.

But, I finally settled on a screen layout that works.
Bottom will show scores, player, balls, and related details.

Middle strip is the character row. It will pop up when a character is qualified, completed or character mode is running.

The rest of the screen will be the modes that are running - Door, Oogie or even Character (when no Door or Oogie running)
When any mode starts, it will get the whole screen for a brief time.
If no other mode starts, it stays full screen.
If another mode starts, the 2nd mode gets the full screen for a bit and then splits the screen.
Once one of the split modes ends, the remaining one will go full screen again.

In this example you see 'Halloween' Door mode running along with 'Boogie Bug Bash' Oogie mode.
On top of that, 'Zero' has just become qualified and he's highlighted in green.
If 'Zero' is hit again, starting that mode, it would go full screen for a few seconds and then reduce to the character strip above the scores.

Lots to do still, but should be much easier and faster to complete now that the pattern is set.

Good question. I thought I had posted a multiplayer pic before, guess not. They'll show up in the empty space in the lower right.
Here's an earlier image that shows the other scores.
nbx_2016-06-30_(resized).png

Got your nose!
tri-mode_(resized).png

Careful now!
tilt_(resized).png

Captured some video (sorry, no audio) of my display. I'll try to redo it later on my other computer without the busted audio drivers.