Your pinball innovations if you were a pinball machine builder.

Dutch Pinball ball

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May 5, 2012
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I played pinball whole my life, and i have see it rise and crash. And off course the machines looks and plays different 30 years back then now.

But when we look at the newest sterntables, the real innovations, i cant see. Ok, new software, not a small part, but for the gameplay, it does not really mather. (or am i wrong?)

We saw pinball 2000, with a cabinet and a mirrored videogame combined.


But after all, gameplaywise, barely nothing changed in whole those years.


For example, the flippers. Its push or dont push. And they go or dont go. Will there be in future a real machine who is gonne play with this? Make it analog for example? Or in some modes make them go faster, or slower, or in drunk mode swap left and wright. You can think of many things. (hmm, now i am typing they did something with the flippers, in some games you can use those buttons for a DMD game)

That kind of stuff. As far i know it never happened. I think this could work, and can be fun and adding to the gameplay.


Another new thing can be is the new screens which are currenlty in development: transparant screens. Now, this can be a bit pinball2000-ish, but its not what i mean.

You dont have a monitor at top, but the glass of the machine itself is a monitor, the wole part of it.

So when playing, and you get games, or you hit something, it can show it direct on the glas. It can show shots easy. It can disguise a part of the table for a while. it can do all sorts of things. It can be a trasparant touchscreen for all sort of stuff.


So, my 2 new pinball innovations when i was making real machines, i would take a closer look at those 2.

1. make options for flippers, analoog, more games, swap, drunk, fast, slow, etc.
2. use transparant screens as top glass. Adds a zillion features and options.



What if you would make real machines, which innovations or new things would you bring into your machine when you only look at gameplay?
 

Dutch Pinball ball

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May 5, 2012
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virtual pinball excepted... if we wanted video games, we'd play video games!

:)

Yes, ok, but thats not what i meant. Its still pinball, but only with new stuff. The videos in the post above me you see some possibilitys. I think it can work and be fun if implied good.

But the transparant screens..... omg, the options, so many news things are possible then. This is such an invention that at first you think: waht are we gonne use it for, and in 15 years you will see them all over. From every days news channels to adverts and in cars. It can be used in normal windows as sunscreen.. etc etc etc.

This is a big thing, and it can be used in future pinball machines. Cant wait for the future, ;-).
 
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Bowflex

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Feb 21, 2012
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They are starting to have color DMD for some older machines now. I would think Stern would have already be using this but apparently not.
 

RetroDude

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Mar 24, 2012
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The P3 machine is interesting, but it's basically going to always be a wide open playfield, just different spots to aim for based on the current video mode.
Without pop bumpers, ramps, roll-overs, etc... the ball reaction and aim is always going to be the same. Lots of flash, skill level for playing in different modes wouldn't be quite the same.

Doing much to change how flippers work (variable strength, swapping them, etc.) is somewhat like the change from the early wood-rail tables to what we consider modern machines. It was a game changer.
Personally, I believe that sort of change would turn it into something that's not really pinball anymore, as it is currently recognized.

Sure, some machines have more than two flippers... but they still work the same way.
 

brakel

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Apr 27, 2012
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I played a prototype of a vertical pinball table that is at the Pinball Hall of Fame in Vegas. I would really like to see a finished version of that. The mechanics of going up and down levels was good but they needed to add more targets and goals to accomplish.
 

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