Guess that makes you n00b

Everyone who is anyone knows anyone who doesn't use and worship vi is just lazy and a hack!

/s

Not to beat a dead horse but in this interview: (there are some season 2 spoilers in the interview)

https://ausretrogamer.com/interview-with-the-mandalorian-pinball-designer-brian-eddy/

Brian Eddy states "The programmer, Dwight Sullivan, is doing a fantastic job achieving that feel while adding in some long-term strategic elements for the more skilled players, like saving Beskar to trade at the Foundry for features."

In my humble opinion, I would use the term "software developer" or in Dwight's case "lead software developer" instead of programmer. That's all. Either way, Dwight and his team are some talented people.

Totally agree on this. Science in general is largely 'people standing on the shoulders of the people before them'.. And it tends to work best when they aren't getting their ankles bitten out of spite while they're at it. Gatekeeping your knowledge is selfish and jaded, imo.

I understand the sentiment of bitterness and the "kids today have it so easy" viewpoint, but it's important to remember that expectations and system requirements are scaling up as the tools/libraries/modules are. There are better tools today, sure, but end users are also asking for more and more every day.

There are hard workers and lazy people in all fields and across all "eras" in those industries. Totally unfair to make sweeping generalizations about the work ethic of the people who came after you.

The kids today argument is just silly. I put it in the same pile as lazy. It’s just so stupid and untrue it doesn’t even register. I didn’t watch the stream but just caught Carys Good, Bad and Ugly and code/rules is the first thing about this title that has actually interested me. The addition of RPG elements is awesome and hopefully we see more of it. I’m not great at pin history but this seems innovative. Not sure how much of what Cary spoke of is going to be in the pin or how much is wishful thinking but it caught my attention.

Everyone knows that software engineers, programmers, and coders are ALL the laziest people on the planet. All we ever really do is take the code/program/architecture from somewhere else, hack it to do what we want it to do now, and save the results to be used or hacked on later. We are always trying to do the most we can with the least amount of work as possible, what with keeping libraries, and archives of our previous work to draw from so we rarely have to create something from scratch. Reusable function calls, subroutines, classes, methods... every thing we do, we only ever want to do it once.

So get with the program, people... I bet every game developer, game programmer, game coder, or entertainment engineer (call yourselves whatever you want, I personally call myself a software engineer, the exact title my employer gives me) started with a framework that came from a previous iteration of a pinball controller operating system. Everyone starts with "Hello world", and from there its all downhill.

Please entertain me with a topic related to Stern's Mandalorian pinball machine...

Is anyone concerned with the ball dribbling off the right wireform? It seems to be from where the up/down scoop's wireform meets the one coming from the right. Hope that is getting sorted in production.

It is important though that people get credit for their work. There are some rare and valuable people in engineering who are original idea/original solution/innovators and preyed on sometimes by more vocal co-workers or bosses who take the credit to themselves instead. That's a mistake, real problem solvers need to be retained and valued. I don't think that's the argument here at all, but it should be noted. Software development tools have evolved for productivity and financial reasons, collaboration reasons and others. The engineering problems to solve may be different but the problem solving skill set is still and should be, much valued in the right environments. In that sense, it is nice in today's software environment that you can work for a boss that did your job in the past. That boss has a keen understanding of what your value is.

You’ll need to tweak it at home most likely. Shouldn’t be a big deal. And yeah, seems to only occur with the up down ramp.

Also dropped a lot just on the return from the right where plastic meets wire form. Someone slowed it down on the video when Mike V was playing.

Feel free to purchase that suit for big money. But if you weight over 150 lbs, you're never fitting into it. Plus you'll spending alot more for voice modulation, cooling fans, rifles & all the rest. Off the shelf armor is for people looking for a fast shortcut & will eventually end up disappointed. That's my experience at least.

The smart move is purchasing your own parts & assembling yourself. Guaranteed custom fit for thousands less.

Every pin will need to be tuned up a bit. They are all the same but play slightly different unless you tune them a bit with some adjustments to make them shoot like butter. If you cant do it yourself find someone who can.

You would have thought they would have dialled the game in perfectly for the stream. Hope it is just an easy home tweak.

If you’re buying a premium stern, expect adjustments. Some games are worse than others, but always expect it.

...but bashing a baby is a good idea?.....

I'll just share my thoughts from watching the stream last night. I'm a huge SW fan, yet after playing every SW title, I've never been compelled to purchase any them. I should also make it clear that I don't suffer from new tile FOMO either. If I really like a game, I'll consider getting the premium or the pro. I'm still searching for the right NIB releases that checks all the boxes for me. That said...

You can put me in the camp that the Grogu area & the Mini playefield appear to be a letdown in design choice. That mini playfield, rotating or not, just doesn't look that fun & it takes up alot of real estate. Same goes for Grogu, as that's alot of space for a static toy/rollovers/pops. And this type of licensed title puts the designers in a box & we've seen this all before. Straight forward use of video clips linked to modes & multiballs, one actor for custom callouts, etc. A fairly straight forward rule set & mode progression. Appealing to all ages & easy to understand. There is nothing wrong with that & this title will have great success I'm sure. I'm looking forward to playing it.

But FOR ME, I prefer the way Elwin designs his games. Lots of crossshots, loops, & combos...while taking advantage of every inch of space on the playfield. Playfield design & coding rulesets are integrated from the beginning. He picks licences that give him lots of freedom to do what he wants. Iron Maiden integrated classic album covers & music into a complete package. Jurassic Park was based on the park itself & a unique your choose-your-own-path to escape the island. Comic Book Avengers wasn't stifled by incorporating actors voices & showing movie clips on loops. He uses massive bonus countdown calculations on all his games. He takes the money that would have gone to big licences & puts it to the game itself. Elwin won't be boxed in on Godzilla either. No big actors to deal with, just take big monsters fighting/destroying shit & let your imagination run wild.

THIS is what I prefer. If I want to watch the show/movie, I'll go sit on the couch. Take a licence, boil it down to its core elements & make something new with it. Lyman does this as well. Just look at what he's done on Elvira. Incorporate all the things people love about the older Elvira games, take her TV Host history & make something new. But it also feels like a 90's game with modern integration. Extremely well done.

So yet another new release will come & go but my core principles remain the same.....only Elwin or Lyman games for me. And others can buy whatever floats their boat too. Plenty of pinball variety for all.

I’m curious about the mini PF modes they said 3 modes with 3 levels per mode. I’m just curious how much difference they could be, I really didn’t watch too closely but do you think anything will feel unique about the upper PF modes?

I’m kind of intrigued about the upper PF think the tilting mechanism will make it stand out and make it play faster when the PF is more upright. Plus it looks cool to me, just not sure if it’s going to be fun for a long time or will the novelty wear off.

From what I’ve seen the players don’t keep the ball alive long on the upper PF so you will need to put the ball back up to finish the missions.

I was firmly on the buy this title but now I’m not sure. Mainly, upper roll overs just don’t do anything for me. I get it on Woz or AFM etc because they are out of the way don’t take up much room but this magnet/doll area might not be that exciting for the how prominent they are in the game it’s almost the focal point of the game.

The upper PF looks great to me but I’m worried if it’ll get old fast.

I’ll probably wait for next pin to be shown and play Mando before I buy.

I'll wait for the Book of Boba Fett pinball in 2024. Take that eventual Stern release to the bank someday.

Great tip!

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I know there are 5 missions. Will they be the same 5 missions every time you play?

It would be cool to have a pool of 5-10 or more coded, and the game randomly selects 5 for a particular game.

Oof I'm not a fan. H

That would be nice if they did it like JJP POTC with random missions selected for each chapter.

Now a picture of stormtroopers taking a class on weapon shooting accuracy, that would be funny. Seems like they only exist to find creative ways to shoot them down in Star Wars movies. They can't hit the broadside of a barn from a foot away.

As it is right now, I believe they are the same 5 every game.

I like the roll playing aspect, you can complete some missions more easily or buy an add-a-ball or even an EB.

It was bouncing off after being dropped onto the wireform. There is a rail on the player side of the wireform there, but not on the other side. So fast moving balls were hitting the side rail and boucing off to the top side. This means speed is a factor. It's possible that it's something exaggerated by game setup. Considering the hours they play on the game every day, it certainly shouldn't be news to them if its a real problem. Optimism says they should have it sorted, or that game setup will minimize it.

Maybe they'll add some...it certainly seems like there is enough existing content to add more than 5...or add more from seasons in the future (but seriously doubt that happens)

This is always a possibility, but has never been done. I wouldn’t expect anything else to be in the game outside of what was talked about on stream or what is shown via inserts on the playfield.

Agreed. Managed expectations. Unless like Spooky with R&M said out of the gates they will continue to add additional modes I wouldn't assume Stern is doing more then they showed. If you like what you see its a win.

See you and I are in the other camp, I'm a not a tournament guy, I don't care about the scoring aspect, or different paths to increase it etc. I want something that draws me in when I play that machine....yes, a good mech or toy is a basic requirement. The other is you need to make the rules to match the theme...you can't just invent stuff that doesn't fit with the story. All of these SW movies have a story built in....just need a little finesse to port it into a pin. Look at TWD, The Horde mode is a perfect example. there is a whole feel about it....the lights, the sound, even the challenge itself changes with flashing arrow urgency. That mode personifies good theme integration in the rule set. I don't want to shoot static Tie Fighters on the screen with the action button.

DLC...

This is the future.. err. the way

Horde Mode.....Lyman once again. You just can't go wrong with him. Ever.

Possibly! But I would be surprised if that does happen outside of very simple stuff.

Yep, I’ve bought the last couple of new pins and each one required adjustments some more than others. Stern, American and jjp it didn’t matter the manufacturer

Any word on the next stream from Deadflip, or a Pro stream?

how can he fix it? Stern wants him to work on other stuff...

You are complaining at Dwight when its Stern you should complain at. Although I doubt you'll get jack shit.

tournament guys (and gals for that matter) also want something that draws them in. why do you think we celebrate when hobbit is not in a tourney?

LOL - someone give that man resolution STAT!

Huh?

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Could we drop the Dwight/Munsters code discussion? This is the Mando and as coded now has a lot more to it.

Dwight coded T3, which has a similar feature in the backbox. There's a progression of modes. Hit every shot, hit the moving shot, etc. They're unique enough I guess, but I wouldn't want to give up playfield real estate for it. T3 backbox is the most fun when you have to hit one during multiball.

T3 is a good game too

Maybe. But remember on Mando there are bonus rounds too (purple shots), after completing the current encounter level. Will be interesting to see how all that works once people are able to stay up there for more than a couple seconds.

No such photos exist because those classes never happened

Oof, didn't know that, was hoping for as little upper PF as possible. Can't wait to watch Aleksander & Escher's two-hour game of Mando in the Expo finals.

Not particularly. I’ve had Addams games and others that do that while the game is freshly shopped / lightning fast. Wouldn’t worry about it game will settle in, if not just start bending things savagely with pliers you’ll fix it eventually. It’s pinball !!!

Haha. Well this one seems like there’s less time to react. I doubt it’s that bad. But it’s a major part of the game. Hell 1/3 of the way to the wizard mode is up there and I think some of the multiballs or wizard modes use it.

Okay show us the evidence that Dwight was suppose to make a shallow no depth throwback game to last in the home environment? Who at Stern told him this: prove it! Suppose some people believe this nonsense because it’s been repeated enough times. John Borg never said or indicated this to be a so called throwback game, nor did Dwight. At no point did Munsters fall into the category of being known as a shallow no depth game, till Dwight suddenly announced the game code was done. Then a “worst code ever” thread was created here on Pinside. No other Stern game as ever had a thread created like that. No consumer of Stern products wants to pay the same price as all the other well supported Stern games and be ripped off code wise, i.e., making a so called “throwback” with today’s prices is absurd and Stern knows this.

Munsters was simply abandoned by Dwight and he didn’t even have the decency to clean up and fix various bugs, etc. Well acknowledged Dwight is a top programmer, but his flat out lackluster coding for Munsters is almost criminal. For Stern to charge the same high prices on Munsters as let’s say SW or TMNT that has code galore is criminal. There is no excuse that Dwight has not increased the value of Munsters as he’s done on all his other games.

OK, on a serious note. How do I hide my LE from my wife? I figured out the "don't have it delivered while she's home" thing, but not how to camouflage it once it's in place.