(Topic ID: 269058)

Where to start

By grimboys

3 years ago


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Topic Stats

  • 11 posts
  • 8 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 3 years ago by matthies
  • Topic is favorited by 4 Pinsiders

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    #1 3 years ago

    Hi all!

    My brother and I would like to try our hand at building a pinball machine but don't know where to start looking. We want to use an lcd screen for the display but cant find much on how to code for that. Any documentation or help would be so very appreciated! We just need a good starting ground of resources to begin looking in to this project. Thank you so much

    #2 3 years ago

    First you need to figure out what board you're going to use to drive it. A small pc? Raspberry Pi? Etc. And then what software framework (mpf, skeleton game, custom, etc) you'll use. That might also depend on your coding experience. Those will determine how you handle the lcd screen

    #4 3 years ago

    I second the P3 idea. You can start with an existing playfield or create your own. Thriving community working on them. Check out the Quest For Glory thread for one example.

    #5 3 years ago

    Know thy self. Seriously, this is not an easy project and not for the faint of heart.
    1.) Do you have the budget
    2.) Do you have the time
    3.) Do you have the technical ability
    4.) Are you better off just buying a new/used pin?
    5.) Are you better off buying a pin and re-theming and creating your own code?
    5.) Think how much more pinball you get to play if you don;t build one

    #6 3 years ago

    Would the p3 board be better or the p-roc? Whats the difference between the two? Is one easier to code for than the other? I really appreciate all the replies

    #7 3 years ago
    Quoted from grimboys:

    Would the p3 board be better or the p-roc? Whats the difference between the two? Is one easier to code for than the other?

    gstellenberg is the best source for answers about all things Multimorphic.
    Basically it depends on what you're doing. If you're creating games for the P3 system you'll be using a P3, coding in Unity. See https://www.multimorphic.com/p3-pinball-platform/3rd-party-developers/ for more details.

    If you're re-writing rules for an older game you'll use a P-ROC
    https://www.multimorphic.com/p3-pinball-platform/hardware-control-system/
    https://www.multimorphic.com/software-development/

    #8 3 years ago

    Pin wiki for building pinball is a great starting point. Consider, if you are hoping to do a modern style game complete with art and lots of mechs and animations.. you’re looking at probably $5k invested and years of work. Not sure what your current pin experience is, or what tools you have and coding, anaimstion, etc. knowledge.. it’s doable but a lot of people underestimate the commitment.

    I believe the p3-roc is what you want for a custom game from scratch, and then you’ll need the rest of the boards and a power supply, etc.. you can start designing w/out this, get a piece of wood cut and start with cardboard and hot glue. It works surprisingly well. Or start CADing or start designing in visual pinball — there’s multiple ways to tackle this depending on your preference and skills.

    #9 3 years ago

    http://docs.missionpinball.org/en/dev/ and http://missionpinball.org/ might be worth a look too. Display documentation is here: http://docs.missionpinball.org/en/dev/displays/index.html. Let us know if you have any questions.

    Jan

    #10 3 years ago

    I appreciate all of your replies! After a lot of talking and logistics, it might be hard for us to start a project this large, but these resources have made me determined to build one sometime in the future! I DO want to design and maybe create a virtual game on either visual pinball/ future pinball but am unsure of which one might be easier. Any suggestions? Again thank you!

    #11 3 years ago

    I suggest creating a game in Visual Pinball and code it using MPF as explained here: http://docs.missionpinball.org/en/latest/hardware/virtual/virtual_pinball_vpx.html

    With this approach, you design and tweak your layout in VP and code your game's rules, sound, and display graphics in MPF.

    The big advantage of doing it this way is if you go ahead and physically build your game, you can use the code you created in MPF for your real machine.

    It's a great way to see what it's like to design and code for pinball without having to spend any money on hardware. It's so much easier to change and experiment with playfield layouts and designs in VP compared to a physical build. If you look through other homebrew builds, you'll see people go through 4+ playfield versions over a few years - which is a massive amount of work. In VP, you can effortlessly create as many playfield revisions as you like and refine your ideas.

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