Hell yes.
-mof

Are the odds still 0% of a visit to PAGG?
-mof

Killer apron...
-mof

Fire ! Fire !
Cool.
-mof

"Spock, what are the odds of making 9 shots in a row and scoring the Immortal Combo?"
"That depends, Captain. What are the player's odds of making each individual shot?"
"Calculate for 50%, 60%, and... 70%"
"The odds are approximately .2%, 1%, and 4% respectively."
"We'll... need to find a more skilled player, thank you Mr. Spock."

-mof

Great job on the second prototype... forming my thoughts now...
-mof

Amazing. Looks much improved over the last prototype.

Let me cut to the chase. I like this game over the other NIBs in 2014/2015 for 5 major reasons:

LOTS of ACTION

1. No upper PF pops that kill action.
2. No stop-n-go (other than the VUK, and it's very quick to return the ball.)
3. Three REAL orbits without a "sometimes" diverter to the pops that we've seen since (TOM or so forward) on many orbits.
4. Original lower PF. It borrows from Fathom/Viking on the right, High Speed on the left, and the fact that you can pass from the upper left flipper to the lower right flipper is very cool… I hope you integrate Points/Goals into that shot somehow.
5. The upper PF “toy” uses TWO flippers so you are STILL using standard pinball skills of shooting or passing to keep the ball in play. I always prefer TWO flipper uppers to single. In fact, I am not a fan of single flipper toys at all. I like how simple the upper PF “toy” is. You beat it quickly or get out. No dink donk up in there. Elegant solution.

@2:28 -- the ball flies into the lower right "horseshoe" and into the right flipper at FULL SPEED. This is awesome design, make sure you see this happen.

Now I'm going to be honest about some adjustments that I feel are required before you post your next video.

TWEAKS (before next video)

Definition: I call it "dink-donk" when there are design flaws that allow a ball to just “fall slowly into walls/posts at low speed, while you wait for action.” I have dink-donk in Cyclone on the left side sometimes when the ball slowly rolls back from the ferris wheel and dink-donks its way back to the flippers. Very ungraceful.

1) Eliminate Dink-Donk.

I strongly recommend that you Adjust Right Orbit Lane Exit Angle to focus the ball to the center of the flippers a bit more. (by moving the upper endpoints to the right) Without attaching a picture, I mean if you see // (as two parallel lines, then move the top dot to the right in both cases.)

In your video, every time I see the ball dribble out of the upper right orbit at low speed, the ball dink-donks into the right sling. I realize that you can't always tune a lane for high speed AND low speed, and no question if you have to choose between the two, you tune it for high speed. I would adjust the two straight parallel lines that form that lane, by moving the “rear posts” that anchor those lines 1/16” to the right or so to aim the ball a little more towards center. I wouldn’t touch your subsequent curves up top that appear to work well. (I recognize you’ve tested the flow in VP for a long time, and I think that’s an honorable path you’ve taken to “Beta test” in virtual first. Brilliant.)

Here's where the dink-donk happens: (100% of the time there’s a slow exit of the right orbit, every 15 seconds)

@00:15
@00:32
@00:45
@01:02
@01:17 -- I'll stop counting here, it's 100% of the time on anything but full speed orbit.

NOW, at 2:17 we see a FULL Speed Left-Right orbit, and it APPEARS the ball strikes 'right of middle' on the flipper, that means you DO have room to increase the angle 2’ perhaps and try to sneak past the dink-donk on the right sling. Will a few degrees do it?, I don't know -- I've never designed a PF. I just know that this is unacceptable compared to how I'm used to seeing other pinball machines flow at low speed. Any game I have that doesn’t return a slow-medium-fast ball from a left or right orbit to flipper — I adjust before anyone sees it.

2) Flipper Bounce.
You have ball bounce in the right flipper. Please adjust your right flipper down 1/8" or more before the next taping. =)

3) Make your lower PF “hotter” in terms of slings/pop sensitivity.
Get those slings hot, I want to see the right pop bumper kill a few balls. Make the pop more sensitive, I want to see it chew up and randomize a few balls. Show us how evil your brilliant lower PF is. It's not "shown off" in this video. It’s limp. Your old school, lower PF is a STRENGTH, and I recommend that you show it off.

4) Player sound.
I would recommend miking you while you play so you can explain a few things you are thinking, and even a little bit of grunting while you try to get control. It might sell the “fun-factor” for me a bit more to hear you enjoying the game.

5) PF glass.
If the glass was on, it made this video sound better than the last one (keep it on), if it wasn't -- put it on. The first video sounds more click-clacky, and that's just due to the glass being off.

QUESTIONS

1) Upper Left Flipper “money shots”
What is the "money shot" of the upper left flipper. I'm not convinced it has value other than a possible set-up shot to the right horseshoe to the right flipper. IF this flipper has a "money shot" -- show us in the video. If it doesn't happen in your 5 mins game play, then take the glass off and demonstrate how cool its shots are. It’s important you sell us on how fun EVERY aspect of this game is.

2) SUTM.
In my opinion, the most important shots in pinball are SUTM (straight up the middle). How the designer makes use of this shot — it makes or breaks the game. I am not convinced that you are having fun on your two middle shots. From what I understand the middle shot hands the ball off to the VUK, the shot right of middle is the VUK. I don't see you making these shots in the game more than a few times. Why is that? I see lots of outter ramp shots spoon-feeding back to the flippers and a few orbit shots at full speed to set up the upper right flipper to the upper PF “toy”.

3) Pop up Toy.
I never saw any toy? Where is it in the video...

Keep up the great work!
-mof

Thanks for the kind words...

Scott (and team) deserve a lot of credit for designing such a great game, and anything but a carefully written and re-written (and re-re-written) review wouldn't be appropriate given how much effort they've put into this project.

=)

I look forward to hearing others' thoughts and questions on the video. I really want this pin to be the best it can possibly be...

-mof

I'm right over here.
-mof

I appreciate that Scott incorporated feedback from his Pinside audience, and crafted a minor tweak that doesn't impact the finished game design. Options are a good thing. I'll certainly leave it to Scott + co. to determine if the new option for that return lane is more fun or not.

=)
-mof

Awesome work. I am a novice when it comes to understanding DMD wizard modes and the expectations people have around them. A few questions...

How many other games on the market have this many wizard modes? Is this a first or second or third ever -- being this thorough and varied in the ways you can play out the ending?

Has any other vendor allowed the "try wizard mode first" option, or is this a first -- I think it's a fantastic idea. The other day, I got the genie for the first time ever on TOTAN, and I muffed it -- cause I didn't know what to do. What an upsetting experience. LOL.

"Code completion" has been a loud and disappointing topic in a few other threads for other vendors.

Forgive me if you've already addressed "code completion" in this or other threads.

How % complete is your code base (0-100)?

The fact that you started as a virtual pin -- did that give you an advantage when it came to programming the game? Were you able to re-use anything, or did it just mean you had your "outline" complete and tested, which gave you a huge speed advantage?

thanks,
-mof

LOL. Hi, musician.
-mof

Today's announcement from the vendor:

1. 90%+ finished code!!!
2. (I mean, TWO!) wizard modes!!!
3. Innovative Wizard Mode Practice now possible
*positive*

Today's result from the peanut gallery:

1. Unsolicited sales advice.
2. Cheap shots taken at fellow pinsiders.
*negative*

Does anyone have interesting questions or comments regarding today's announcement of new code and modes?

-mof

I'll listen now.
-mof

Perhaps -- but... it's really only neat if...

1. every vendor coded a virtual version first - (like a standard)
2. (in this case should Riot innovate and put $ and time into being the first to do it?)
No... If only there was free $ and time to code it.
The "real" game is now eons past the "virtual demo" so it would be its own project starting from scratch. Working on that virtual project, would only delay real production further. So, actually, not a good idea.

-mof

There's going to be a way to get this project rolling... keep the faith!
Keep rotating that rubik's cube until it's solved...
-mof

I'm not typically one to go nuts and attribute causality to every event in the universe, I'm too busy for that crystal ball nonsense. I don't see any "outside factors" sinking WOOLY. I don't see anything as being "sunk."

Scott made a commitment to 'obtain 100 pre-orders by 1/1 or it's a no-go'; he achieved 50% of his goal, which I think is quite impressive, and he's sticking to his promise on the no-go.

I just see a guy keeping his word, and acting accordingly. In my eyes, this is a man building substantial trust and integrity through this move. Even if with my "very limited vision" of the situation over here in SF, I wished he'd gone forward with 50, and trusted that things would succeed like how AMH has unfolded positively... I honor and respect his choice.

Once all ~50 people have received their refunds, I think you'll be sitting here in this thread, staring at the most drama-free, full-of-integrity, business man in pinball -- someone you can count on when he comes back to the table with a new plan.

I believe he will be back with a plan.

With patience,
-mof

Best sketch of all time.
If SNL had done the sketch, it would have been 7+ minutes and beaten to death.
-mof

That looks really nice.

I love how the group of controlled lamps in the lower PF above the flippers, are asymmetrical. Very well done.

-mof

this is genius

I'll never forget the one time I made it to the genie battle in TOTAN (most likely it was on my android) and I fought the WRONG way, and moved the progress bar in the wrong direction, thinking I was helping myself win. Of course I thought I had won, and the game ended and I was a noob.

An experience like that is one negative aspect of a deep-programming DMD game -- I might have been good at pinball that day (physics), but I was not good at interpreting dots on a display (knowing the programming) -- dots that I would only see if I had ever made it that deep in the game before.

I was then left feeling awful -- not thanks to the physics/layout/my pinball skills, but thanks to the programmer, who assumed I'd understand his DMD animation the first time through.

-mof

Still hoping this pinball gets made. The world deserves it.
-mof

I think the apron is a big positive.
-mof

Best one ever is the Fathom cackle laugh for TILT...
-mof

Sounds like you are adding depth to the choreography. That's what sets the greats apart!
-mof

This is the BEST pinball news of the year, I don't give a F*** who disagrees with me.
-mof

I hope more good news follows from this.
This is pure passion at play here.
-mof

I'm really impressed. Only something good can come of all this work and passion...
-mof

Many people agree with you.
-mof