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Monster Pinball 2 (MM Picked!!)

Archive: 34 posts

Hi all, I've finally finished my new pinball level. This is a pinball table with a haunted theme. It has two multiball functions. Free ball function, and 4 bosses to beat up. It's divided into 2 separate tables. One for the main table, and one for the bosses. You fight the bosses with multiple balls, and the speed of the ball feed, and monster attack ramp up when the monster takes on damage. If you can manage to beat all bosses, a mega bounus round is opened up. In this it's possible to earn seven digits easy. Are you good enough?

I am doing F4F, but I don't really want feedback on certain aspects of this one. Mainly I'm looking for feedback on difficulty, and of course if anyone finds any glitches.

Here's a vid...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJUCWnef_6g
http://lbp.me/v/x0keyx		2011-02-20 22:15:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

I simply love this one. Awesome job!! The design especially is so cool how it integrates with the table. Even the instructions at the beginning was just a great touch. I also really enjoyed the boss battle bonus table.

Wicked cool!!

One minor niggle.. I sorta wish the ball moved a bit faster.. maybe a touch less weight on the ball? Regardless. Really really cool!!!		2011-02-20 22:32:00

Author:
jwwphotos
Posts: 11383

Hey JW, glad you liked it. I think now that I'm done, I'll play with it a bit, see if I can get more speed without it hurting gameplay. Thanks!2011-02-20 22:37:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

That was the best LBP pinball level I've ever played. The design would sit well in a dedicated pinball game, let alone LBP. Lots of things to hold interest, and made me smile when I got thrown up into the top left to fight that monster. All I'd say is ball feels a little heavy. Otherwise this is polished to a mirror shine.

Please F4F me

https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=50397-Blast-Tunnels!		2011-02-20 22:58:00

Author:
Peabob_
Posts: 14

Edit: Left a more thorough review ingame. Great pinball though, very innovative. The effects were amazing and the boss was really fun, but on the main table it felt as though you clumped a lot of the "triggers" at the top, which left the bottom feeling a little bare. It also tends to go from really hectic and exciting in the boss's room, and then noticeably less exciting (but not exactly boring either) in the main table.

I loved the table though and it really lifted the bar on future pinball tables.

I didn't really find any glitches, but the difficulty seems easy compared to others (as in, yours is harder to die in, but also harder to complete).

Check out my level when you get the time
https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=49476-Defend-the-Castle!-(Looking-for-Pointers-Suggestions		2011-02-20 23:04:00

Author:
Unknown User

only thing i can say is: when this won't get mm picked than i don't know...
it's like a real one and it feels like a real one... even tricks work!

difficulty'? well its fine how it is! (maybe bit easy cause it takes a long time to play it and you won't lose that fast if you get used to it.)

glitches? yes, 2. at first a ball slipped through the flippers material... (the pads you controll) and i losed a ball cause of it.
and the second is the oppositive of that. it don't counted a dead ball once but i got a new ball... dunno why. made no sound or anything.
so one ball more one ball less. fine! heh

well good luck getting mm picked!
best pinball i ever saw on a ps3


if you like you can do a small review on this level:
https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=49851-LUMINES-Puzzle-Fusion-4.0
but i doubt you will like it if you create stuff like you did here!

~FW		2011-02-21 00:15:00

Author:
ForcesWerwolf
Posts: 475

glitches? yes, 2. at first a ball slipped through the flippers material... (the pads you controll) and i losed a ball cause of it.
and the second is the oppositive of that. it don't counted a dead ball once but i got a new ball... dunno why. made no sound or anything.
so one ball more one ball less. fine!

Thanks for the feedback! The thing about the flippers is, When you make pinball levels the ball will go right through the flippers sometimes. The reason it gave you a free ball is because of a system I have in place to counteract the crappy high speed detection. It works really good most of the time. Occasionally a ball goes through the tip.( I couldn't go right up to the tip because it would give you balls when it shouldn't.) So, less complaining about unfairly lost balls.

Thanks!

I'll check out your level next time I'm on. Don't worry. I'm not a harsh critic. (only on myself)		2011-02-21 00:58:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

Wow! Greatest pinball level I've played in LBP.
Very good stuff, but much like others have said the ball does feel a tad bit too weighty. I felt like I wasn't able to get the ball up to the top very often.
Other than that tiny detail, everything else was amazing. Especially the details and the theme.		2011-02-21 01:25:00

Author:
Sack-Jake
Posts: 1153

Update. I gave the ball a little less gravity. It definitely feels lighter now. It also starts with 3 balls now. Still looking for more feedback on whether it's too easy or not.2011-02-22 00:13:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

By 'too easy', do you mean for casual players or pinball wizards? And is too easy defined as 'easy enough that one playthrough is so long it gets boring', or something else?2011-02-22 00:55:00

Author:
munrock2
Posts: 96

By 'too easy', do you mean for casual players or pinball wizards? And is too easy defined as 'easy enough that one playthrough is so long it gets boring', or something else?

So, it's too easy then?????

It doesn't get boring for people trying for a high score. That's the whole point of pinball. Just want to know if it's GENERALLY too easy.		2011-02-22 01:39:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

No, I didn't mean to imply that the definition I offered was also a description of your level! I'm still at work and haven't played it yet, I just wanted to know where the difficulty benchmark is set.2011-02-22 02:46:00

Author:
munrock2
Posts: 96

Just queued it up - looks amazing I can't wait!2011-02-22 03:39:00

Author:
MDAZZO
Posts: 15

Played this the other day as soon as it was published - wow, this Pinball game looks and feels professional. Most people would be happy to simply build the basic game, but with all the trimmings this "feels" more like a professional production. The boss, the multi-ball drop.

I'll queue it up and check it out now that you've made some changes, but what I saw was great!		2011-02-22 03:49:00

Author:
CCubbage
Posts: 4430

Overall it was brilliant. It does everything a real pinball table does, and competes with standalone electronic pinball games. Having said that some pinball games have a 'nudge' function to simulate bumping the table, complete with the table shutting forfeiting a ball from you for cheating if you overdo it. I don't think I've seen it in LBP yet. On the other hand, when I've played games with it in I never remember to use it.

Cameras
The in game camera and switching it on the d-pad: I didn't quite understand this. I worked out that up zoomed in on the ball, but couldn't work out the difference between left and right. Wasn't willing to experiment enough for fear of disorienting myself with the camera switching around, and I also got the feeling the level was auto-switching cameras for me whenever I launched new balls or switched tables.

In the help section, you used movie cameras to identify the different gates while you explained their functions. As a completely new visitor I viewed help... but when I started playing I had no idea which gate was which when the game started because the help cameras were zoomed in and didn't let me know where the gate was in the overall layout of the table. I'd need an eidetic memory to be able to work out which gate was which by design! Perhaps thos help cameras should slowly zoom in or out in each cut so that we can recognise them by location, rather than appearance.

Ball got stuck
The ball was pinging around those round bumpers at the top, and shot towards the joint of the upper-left flipper and vanished. I'm not sure if it got jammed into something (the flipper responded fine afterwards) or if it just broke. I had to restart. I couldn't replicate the event.

Boss
Visual overload! I guess it's deliberate that the bright lights are supposed to obscure my view of the table sometimes? It did get a little frustrating at some points as I waited for the explosions to clear. The game is incredibly fair everywhere else; having vision obscured seemed like a low blow (even if the table is in a lull while these things happen and I'm not missing anything, it still gives the feeling of having vision taken away and engenders the same response).

I couldn't work out what the red and yellow counter/timer gauges were that were next to the flippers. I don't know if they were important or not!

The red and green buttons appear to flip without warning (or I was so overloaded with light and osund that I missed the warning).

Lighting
The light patterns and effects are all great, and really make the table feel authentic. I think they're a bit too bright at the boss, though.

My eyesight is cack and the ball doesn't stand out too well - it's dull grey and a lot of the table is of similar hue and brightness. If you could make the ball stand out against the background somehow that would be fantastic, but I wouldn't ask for a change that would take away from the table's authentic look and feel.

Score Feedback
As I played I was trying to keep an eye on my score to see where the best places to send the ball were... but every time I looked my score was doing that annoying thing it does where it spins numbers around whenever it increments. It spent more time as unreadable spinning numbers than it did as information! I think you should enable visual feedback for the scoregivers, if possible. Or create your own.

Difficulty
Difficulty is fine. Games last longer than on real tables, but that's only 'cos real tables take cheap shots to stop you being there too long! The important thing is that I got the feeling my score was reflecting my skill: the aim is to beat other people's scores, rather than see how long you can go for, so feeling like I was earning a fair score was good.

I did find my concentration waned towards the end but that was due to eye strain more than lack of entertainment.

When you have time, please return F4F via this one (https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=50003-A-Platform-puzzler-with-a-Party-System). Hope this feedback was useful.		2011-02-22 09:13:00

Author:
munrock2
Posts: 96

@Munrock2

Hey, thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely take some of that into consideration. My thermo is bursting though, so I'm limited. About the cam. Right sets it back to default. Default is where it scrolls up and down. Up raises up, and it sits still (for people who don't like a moving cam.) Left puts it on the ball. When you get a new ball it reverts over to the ball firing cam. I didn't think it would be too big of a deal for people to just switch it, as it would've taken plenty of work to make it revert back to the one people chose. About the ball getting stuck. Thanks! You just found a new spot. I have a system in place to counteract that, but I didn't know all the spots it might get stuck.

Overall great feedback. Thanks! I'll check your level out after work.		2011-02-22 10:02:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

I try it and leave a feedback, fantastic design of thentable and the special effect, i think it better with more speedway of the ball!

F4F https://lbpcentral.lbp-hub.com/index.php?t=50495-Sackboy-stunt-arkanoid		2011-02-22 12:28:00

Author:
samuxx87
Posts: 27

Awesome achievement. Reminded me of how much I used to play Pinball 3D on my old (really old) PC back in the 90's.

Some minor gripes:

1) Had more than a few run-ins with the ball passing right through the flipper.
2) The framerate was all over the place at times. I would have prefered fewer effects and better framerate.

But all-in-all an awesome level. Probably the best designed "level" I've played. 		2011-02-22 12:38:00

Author:
nerthus
Posts: 28

Played your level, absolutely loved it. Actually inspired me to work on a pinball-esque level my self (and by -esque I mean it has elements of platforming mixed in with pinball- should turn out to be pretty exciting I hope )
Only two criticisms to make- I hardly ever found myself using the upper flipper. The ball almost never landed up there. Also, the launcher charges up very high way to quickly. I tried to make the ball go just a little ways, but it seemed like it would go at full speed after just a half second of holding down X.

I recently developed a pinball launcher that uses variable speed that charges up as you hold X. It uses the parent velocity of a moving hologram and then almost instantaneously emits a pinball. I can show you it if you'd like to see it.

Also, what did you use to make your flippers? I'm working on my level, and I started out using wobble bolts, but even when they're not on, they create a weird buzzing/humming sound for me. Mind giving me some advice?		2011-02-22 17:13:00

Author:
dr_murk
Posts: 239

@Dr_Murk

Thanks for the feedback. I don't think there's much I can do about the upper flipper, but I can tweak the launcher easily. I'm using 2 movers, and a piston. The piston is a tether, set to zero strength. The fast mover is normally on with a not gate. The slow mover is hooked to X. The not gate is also hooked to X. When you press X it just switches between them, pulling it back. When you let go it springs back up. For the flippers I'm just using two gyros with the same setup. (minus the piston) Very simple. If you have more questions, or need help don't be afraid to ask.		2011-02-22 21:26:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

You should definitely tweak the launcher so that it "charges up" slower. Allow for more precise launches. Players would greatly appreciate it.2011-02-22 21:48:00

Author:
dr_murk
Posts: 239

You should definitely tweak the launcher so that it "charges up" slower. Allow for more precise launches. Players would greatly appreciate it.

Got it all fixed up. Should have much more control over launch now.

@everyone

I'm gonna make some major changes to the flow of this. As it sits, a game can last hours. The free balls are too easy to get, and the bosses take way too long to kill. So, I'm gonna make free balls harder to get. Make the bosses faster to kill, and just improve the overall flow of the game. I would like to get a good run to last about a half an hour. 		2011-02-23 00:48:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

Played this yesterday and I agree with everything positive people said -- it was mind-blowingly awesome. I can't believe the complexity and polish, both gameplay-wise and visually. I can't imagine the amount of logic that must be in there to trigger everything.

That said, I did find it a bit too easy. It gave me too many extra balls and went on too long. I got like 5th place (400,000+ pts), and I could have probably done better, but it was before bed and I was getting really tired. And I'm not even good at real pinball!

I'd agree with the changes you're proposing - make it harder to get extra balls so it doesn't last so long. I think that will increase the replayability and get people to get into that "just one more game..." mentality.		2011-02-25 19:39:00

Author:
Roo5676
Posts: 62

Mm Picked... congrats 2011-02-25 20:22:00

Author:
Thegide
Posts: 1465

Played this yesterday and I agree with everything positive people said -- it was mind-blowingly awesome. I can't believe the complexity and polish, both gameplay-wise and visually. I can't imagine the amount of logic that must be in there to trigger everything.

That said, I did find it a bit too easy. It gave me too many extra balls and went on too long. I got like 5th place (400,000+ pts), and I could have probably done better, but it was before bed and I was getting really tired. And I'm not even good at real pinball!

I'd agree with the changes you're proposing - make it harder to get extra balls so it doesn't last so long. I think that will increase the replayability and get people to get into that "just one more game..." mentality.

Thanks! Yeah. I'm working on it. I'll have a new version up maybe Friday night, or Saturday for sure. I'm shooting for about a half an hour play time with seven digit scores.



Mm Picked... congrats

Thanks a lot man! When I saw it I had to do a double take. I just couldn't believe it.		2011-02-25 20:39:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

Hey!! Congrats on the MM pick!! Very much deserved!!

Quite an awesome machine!! Love all the tweaks you have done and the lighting stuff is phenomenal!!

I'm hoping mine ends up half as fun. 		2011-02-25 20:45:00

Author:
jwwphotos
Posts: 11383

Hey!! Congrats on the MM pick!! Very much deserved!!

Quite an awesome machine!! Love all the tweaks you have done and the lighting stuff is phenomenal!!

I'm hoping mine ends up half as fun.

Thanks!

If it's anything like your beta version it should be awesome!		2011-02-25 21:03:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

When I played this last week I left an in-game comment saying "best pinball in LBP history, this is MM pick material". Congrats man, you deserve it 2011-02-25 21:06:00

Author:
OCK
Posts: 1536

When I played this last week I left an in-game comment saying "best pinball in LBP history, this is MM pick material". Congrats man, you deserve it

Thanks a lot man. It's complements like that that keep me going. Before today this pinball only had 150 plays. It's been published for a week. Sometimes it gets a bit discouraging when you put over 100 hours into a level, and it gets hardly any plays.

Thanks again!		2011-02-25 22:31:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

Yup, more than 100 plays now.... heh..... This is not only a great pinball game, it's some of the best visuals and special effects I've seen.... period. Earlier today I saw the other pinball game as an MM pick and I said to myself.... "you know, Smasher's pinball game is gorgeous. In a fair world his would get an MM pick too". Well, there ya go! Today.... the world is fair! .

If video games have taught us anything, there's room for an unlimited number of pinball games - I NEVER get tired of playing pinball!		2011-02-25 22:37:00

Author:
CCubbage
Posts: 4430

Great job, looks impressive. Makes me want to go change the lighting on my pinball level (the other one to get Mm picked at the same time)2011-02-26 00:58:00

Author:
Strangepom
Posts: 445

Was pretty fun. Nice lights and stuff.
Multiball was cool.

Only faults where the explosions on the boss not clearing fast enough, but it's only minor.		2011-02-26 01:21:00

Author:
midnight_heist
Posts: 2513

Yup, more than 100 plays now.... heh..... This is not only a great pinball game, it's some of the best visuals and special effects I've seen.... period. Earlier today I saw the other pinball game as an MM pick and I said to myself.... "you know, Smasher's pinball game is gorgeous. In a fair world his would get an MM pick too". Well, there ya go! Today.... the world is fair! .

If video games have taught us anything, there's room for an unlimited number of pinball games - I NEVER get tired of playing pinball!

Thanks man. Yeah, I never get tired of playing pinball either. I try pretty much every one I see. Well, with LBP 2 we should be seeing many more good pinballs! Get your quarters out!		2011-02-26 02:09:00

Author:
smasher
Posts: 641

I played this level before it has been picked by MM. You made another great pinball game.

VISUALS:
Looks exactly like a pinball machine. The creepy visuals looked amazing, and the color details are jaw dropping. I liked how you got a game over as the face thing pans in and out.

SOUND:
Awesome music choices and good sound usages.

GAMEPLAY:
The pinball gameplay is excellent, and a boss battle is a blast. One problem I had in this level is that after you launch the pinball, I don't seem to remember where it supposed to go because of so much dark lighting.

OVERALL:
It's pinball game that will have your jaws drop. A yeah vote and a heart.

F4F "Prius_Recycle Rescue"		2011-02-26 18:15:00

Author:
JustinArt
Posts: 1314


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