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Whirlwind Rewrite - Update

myPinballs

myPinballs

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Nov 19, 2011
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Getting back to this project as i have finally found myself a game to continue the journey on. For those not in the know i worked on a software rewrite of this game a few years back, took it to a few shows along with indy, but had to sell the game i had due to some unforeseen circumstances. Anyway, now we are back on the road!! :)

The pinside thread about it is here:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/whirlwind-software-rewrite-the-journey

And, there's something new in the works to add to the project, which may be of interest to whirlwind fans. @Spandangler

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Noooooooooooooooo way. Mate I’m your man for this. Well excited. Good work Jim. Man that’s cool
 
In the far (far) future I plan on doing something similar with F-14 Tomcat. Like you've said in the pinside thread, adding an auto-launcher is a big thing to begin with for a lot of games that didn't have one, but I have a couple of extremely wacky and possibly fun ideas for how an auto-launch on F-14 would open up some very interesting options with the ball locks.

It's a very flat playfield with not many 'standard' ways to rewrite what's on the playfield, but I think it would be fun to have, say, a very stressing 'mode' where you have to hit a specific flashing target on hurry up, otherwise your ball drains a la Operation Thunder - but any pre-loaded ball locks would give you 'extra lives' for that mode and you could refill them during gameplay in modes if there was an auto-launch. I think you could even make the game a working seven-ball machine without any playfield hardware changes (beyond autolauncher addition) if the game went for a strategy of keeping all of the locks loaded at all times. A seven-ball multiball on F-14 would be nothing but a total gimmick, but it would be pretty damned funny. They could just be replacement balls for multiballs, but that's boring and practical.

A bit of wild creativity goes a long way even for a 'simple' playfield. Of course, whether the ideas are fun or not, is why you playtest...!

Sorry for the irrelevant ramble. I always get fired up by projects like this...
 
Some update pics on the prototype boards assembly. My first lot of proto boards arrived a few weeks back. Am hoping that testing of the boards hardware and the updated controller firmware can begin soon. Some improvements included on this board for audio grounds and separation from digital to audio grounds are being rolled into the indy controller boards to as they are based around the same design theory.

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Time to hoard some whirlwinds and wait for the prices to soar 😅 Just kidding - great job Jim, looks like a lot of fun actually.

Could you share some more info on that DMD controller board please? I'm curious and I don't see it on your website. The screen looks a lot like the ColorDMD hardware - are you reusing that?
 
Fubar said:
Time to hoard some whirlwinds and wait for the prices to soar 😅 Just kidding - great job Jim, looks like a lot of fun actually.

Could you share some more info on that DMD controller board please? I'm curious and I don't see it on your website. The screen looks a lot like the ColorDMD hardware - are you reusing that?
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The dmd panel is my own creation for use with my own hardware boards and the software frameworks that i use for rewrites. It is compatible with Cactus Canyon Continued to aswell and have recently shipped some for folks in the netherlands. The led displays themselves are the same that colour dmd use, which are jsut off the shelf parts for use in big outdoor led signs and advertising screens etc. The controller board is my own design as is the mount panel. The full panel i sell separately for around £150 plus vat and shipping. Much less than what a colour dmd costs to.
 
Experimentation with a process to create new dmd graphics and words from the game but in a style that matches the original art style and whirlwind font. Not an easy undertaking, but I have a process that works pretty nicely now (after more hours than i want to talk about, lol :)). It will create me cool new graphic frames now without too much hassle. Fully original work which i will hold all the rights to muhahaha. And no, it wasn't easy!

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Well Dr Evil..................if you've put in the R&D hours then you definitely deserve the rewards! Look like there are more than a few of us who'll be interested in the finished article.
 
Kman said:
Well Dr Evil..................if you've put in the R&D hours then you definitely deserve the rewards! Look like there are more than a few of us who'll be interested in the finished article.
Click to expand...
For sure, this is turning out to be a must buy for Whirlwind owners
 
Firstly

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Secondly i've worked out various combos for the game on loop and ramps. More so on the LHS side with the left loop, upper left loop and left ramp. On the RHS just the right ramp and right loop. Combos go up to 5-way with associated graphics for each

Screen Shot 2020-12-12 at 15.18.26.pngScreen Shot 2020-12-12 at 15.19.41.png
 
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