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Hot wheels thread

  • Thread starter Deleted member 2463
  • Start date
D

Deleted member 2463

Watched the stream last night - have to say it looked like a load of fun - the videos are hilarious and it’s really fast / love the Tacho link to scores and the fact that it’s all about multiball.


Neil.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
 
kevlar said:
Ordered one Neil?
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would prefer to play it first although not sure how that will be possible unless a miracle happens and I get to the US in October. Plus I've got two games inbound and not sure what to move on.
 
So when I watched the SDTM unveiling of this machine I thought what a load of crap, theme and animations. After watching the dead flip stream I must admit it has changed my mind. This game just looks like a lot of fun, some tougher shots but all makeable and being able to back hand a lot too is always good. Tachometer is cool for ramping up points and so glad that the car above the RPM is not constantly spinning as that would have driven me crazy. Not so big on the sound and callouts nothing really memorable but a nice light show. Still don't get the animations I mean with the king Kong and dinosaurs but the game looks FUN !!!
 
Yeah, I agree, I liked what I saw! Shots looked nice and some like achievable for an average (at best) player like myself!

I actually really like the theme too!

This or Turtles..........What do we think?
 
JAG555 said:
This or Turtles..........What do we think?
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New unknown manufacturer vs established firm who finally seem to be getting on top of code? Neither theme appeals to me but if I was going to buy one without playing first I think I’d play it safe. I love my Alice Cooper due to the theme but it made me realise how polished Stern/JJP games are.
 
johnwhitfield said:
New unknown manufacturer vs established firm who finally seem to be getting on top of code? Neither theme appeals to me but if I was going to buy one without playing first I think I’d play it safe. I love my Alice Cooper due to the theme but it made me realise how polished Stern/JJP games are.
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Totally appreciate what you're saying there John but AP to me seems to give 1000% more of a **** than Stern. 3rd pin, no pro, premium, le bull and watching the game play this looks like a blast to play and whats not to love with the Robot Chicken style graphics?! Their team are all over pinside helping anyone with issues and or general questions, Stern on the other hand have cut any corner possible and treat customers pretty shamefully when they are asked to address issues on a 7k product.

I have 3 inbound 2nd hand Sterns as they do make great games but I won't buy nib again until I see a major shift in their qc and customer service, but AP really have my respect and probably soon some of my dosh too!!
 
What was the end result of the Jurassic Park playfield issues? Was it over blown? Or was it a mess that Stern did/didn't sort out?
 
JAG555 said:
Yeah, I agree, I liked what I saw! Shots looked nice and some like achievable for an average (at best) player like myself!

I actually really like the theme too!

This or Turtles..........What do we think?
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Get a Hot Wheels John.
Stern QC shocking!!
Let me know when you’ve got it and I’ll pop down. 😀
Assuming the COVID measures have been relaxed by then
 
huggers said:
What was the end result of the Jurassic Park playfield issues? Was it over blown? Or was it a mess that Stern did/didn't sort out?
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I think the majority of the UK machines were ok, but if you look on Pinside there are lots of people still waiting for replacement playfields In the States.
 
I would of expected companies like American Pinball and Spooky to have their own boardsets after the first couple of games.

PROC stuff is not cheap!

If Chicago gaming can come out with the remakes using a small board computer placed onto an I/O baord and a linking to a solenoid board I really am shocked both of these companies have not done this. From the looks of things Jim at MyPinballs has made his own boards for his re-writes. Cone on - even HomePin had its own boardset (stolen from Mr Hecks).

Back to the subject matter, the screen looks like it is animated with about 10 frames per second. At least the car doesnt spin all the way thru the game. Some nice shots.

Has anyone thrown a deposit on it?
 
I thought what you saw on the stream looked very good. It was only later when i saw the whole machine did i realise how ugly it all looks. The screen should virtually fill the back box for my money.
 
AP and Spooky don't have enough volume to make creating their own control boards worth while. I like the fact that they are PROC and you can just order them and sharable between games.
 
Yeah surely with a fledgling Pinball company it makes way more sense to use a standard board set than a bespoke one. Plus if they go tits up the boards are still available and not hoarded up by worried owners.
 
Neil McRae said:
AP and Spooky don't have enough volume to make creating their own control boards worth while. I like the fact that they are PROC and you can just order them and sharable between games.
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it’s all about the software frameworks not the hardware. Pyprocgame is underpinning everything here at ap and spooky and proc hardware is the off the shelf board that runs this. A big chunk of the bom though for the proc hardware. Tricky prospect to for 20 years in the future as you need to have 2 companies still exist not just one!
 
I quite enjoyed the stream. Though I’m not sure if the theme is more about defending a city from mad scientists and dinosaurs than hot rods. Thry obviously needed to expand the theme a lot. Looks more like a Lego movie type story than anything else

I’d put a £1in it though if I saw one on site. Agree that the display position and size looks pants! I wish the backbox generally looked a lot better 😂
 
Not sure I understand Jim. pyprocgame is freely distributable? But the PROC boards don't need it the framework; I had to swap one on a game at TPF last year; just whatever CPU board you use with the software, Spooky use UP intel boards which are also available. Not sure what AP are using for CPU boards.
 
Neil McRae said:
Not sure I understand Jim. pyprocgame is freely distributable? But the PROC boards don't need it the framework; I had to swap one on a game at TPF last year; just whatever CPU board you use with the software, Spooky use UP intel boards which are also available. Not sure what AP are using for CPU boards.
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Ok let me expand alittle on what i was getting at.

Originally when all homebrew/custom proc projects started (around 2010) the proc hardware board was born which lead many software and hardware guys like me, koen, eric, scott etc to use python to write pinball games. Now though (10 years later) its almost like the opposite way round and the fact many commercial games have been created using python and the frameworks written for them means the proc hardware is still the go to i/o hardware piece.

As time progresses though games are going to be locked to needing support from 2 different suppliers, the proc creator and owner and the game creator and owner. So fast forward another 20 years or so and we may be in a tricky situation if 1 or both companies no longer exist for these games. ie you need to have 2 companies survive instead of 1. Just an observation. Companies making their own i/o hardware now could save them in the bom and also address their above concerns, ie future proof themselves.

* the i/o hardware board and computer system are seperate hardware pieces, similar to how JJP games work
 
I see what you are saying but less sure if its a pro or con, I think its a pro and its not really that much different though is it? except that the software is open source so you can download the game libraries and if you had to you could re-write the code for the game or make middleware that make the python platform work more portably- so it could run on other hardware there are plenty of folks in the world that could do that if so motivated (£).

If I think about Williams and Stern they would/are reliant upon compilers for the C/C++ code, or you are using disassembly to edit the code (not impossible but a much more demanding skill set). Plus make your own boards and ala stern, put your own programable microcode on them so that unless you can get the code; doing a reverse engineer of the board is a waste of time because you need to programme the nodes.

I think I prefer a single board set and as many folks leveraging it as possible so that pricing gets lower and risk around failed hardware is more manageable. Get to a stage where the boards are so popular they are commodity and you can release the schematics so anyone can make them and focus on making money from making games rather than the boards, more folks able to enter the pinball design and build market without the upfront devel costs. Sure there will always be custom light boards and the odd custom motor/sensor board but relatively straightforward to copy and mass produce.
 
Neil McRae said:
I see what you are saying but less sure if its a pro or con, I think its a pro and its not really that much different though is it? except that the software is open source so you can download the game libraries and if you had to you could re-write the code for the game or make middleware that make the python platform work more portably- so it could run on other hardware there are plenty of folks in the world that could do that if so motivated (£).

If I think about Williams and Stern they would/are reliant upon compilers for the C/C++ code, or you are using disassembly to edit the code (not impossible but a much more demanding skill set). Plus make your own boards and ala stern, put your own programable microcode on them so that unless you can get the code; doing a reverse engineer of the board is a waste of time because you need to programme the nodes.

I think I prefer a single board set and as many folks leveraging it as possible so that pricing gets lower and risk around failed hardware is more manageable. Get to a stage where the boards are so popular they are commodity and you can release the schematics so anyone can make them and focus on making money from making games rather than the boards, more folks able to enter the pinball design and build market without the upfront devel costs. Sure there will always be custom light boards and the odd custom motor/sensor board but relatively straightforward to copy and mass produce.
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In an ideal world yes a common board that is open is a great idea. the proc board itself is closed to and has its own closed firmware/microcode (as you put it) to so its the same as the stern board and 1 company then controls all the games from multiple manufacturers
 
Neil McRae said:
would prefer to play it first although not sure how that will be possible unless a miracle happens and I get to the US in October. Plus I've got two games inbound and not sure what to move on.
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Why would you not go to the US ?
You have more chance of being hit by a bus than getting c19.
 
Cryptkeeper said:
Why would you not go to the US ?
You have more chance of being hit by a bus than getting c19.
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oh another professor :D. Cryptkeeper can you give us your workings on the odds please? ;)

(in other news - I won £800 on the gee gees today!)
Screenshot 2020-06-16 at 16.55.04.png

Florida’s New Cases Rise to Highest Level (10:50 a.m. NY)
Florida reported 80,109 Covid-19 cases on Tuesday, up 3.6% from a day earlier, compared with an average increase of 2.5% in the previous seven days. Deaths among Florida residents reached 2,993, an increase of 1.9%.

Seen on a rolling seven-day basis, Florida’s new cases reached 14,109, the highest level ever. For most of May, the state had been reporting about 5,000 cases a week, but the numbers have been elevated since early June. New cases have now exceeded 1,000 a day in 13 of the last 14 days.

Governor Ron DeSantis has attributed the uptick to isolated outbreaks in agriculture communities and increased testing, although the latter explanation is contradicted by the rising positivity rate among test batches.

Cumulative hospitalizations rose by 191 to 12,206. On a rolling seven day-basis, they reached 1,021, the highest level since May 25.

In Miami-Dade, the state’s most populous county, local leaders including county Mayor Carlos Gimenez and City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said Monday that they have no plans to revert to lockdowns of their economies at this time. But they said the main metric that could trigger a re-evaluation of the reopening policy would be a concerning rise in hospitalizations.
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In other reasons, and yes its a while away but:

1: Florida's main way of coping with the virus is praying and hoping.
2: Getting on a plane for 8 hours is super high risk given the O2 recycling. (don't even start me with masks).
3: US has closed its borders
4: UK recommends no travel - thus pretty much all insurance policies won't cover you abroad.
5: The event I'm going to might not happen (Apollo XIII 50th anniversary (several guests are >80).
6: UK has two week quarantine requirement.
 
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