"The only digital pinball guide you'll ever need" - Zen Studios

shutyertrap · Feb 3, 2018

Hey gang. I got asked to write up an article for thisweekinpinball.com about digital pinball. They are a site about real pinball, but a lot of their readers have been asking about the thing those of us in these here parts know all too well. The site gave it the title, 'A beginners guide to virtual pinball'. It's currently up as the first thing you see when going to the site, but will soon be put into the 'guest posts' section. Give it a read, let me know what you all think. I've already gotten some good response, including Zen Studios tweeting out "The only digital pinball guide you'll ever need", which pretty much made my day.

Heretic · Feb 3, 2018

More than i made your day? Im hurt.....

Blkthorne · Feb 3, 2018

Dragon Slayer???? Did you mean Dragon's Lair

heh Pretty good read, think you went over all the good and bad of the digital world of pinball.

shutyertrap · Feb 3, 2018

Blkthorne said:
Dragon Slayer???? Did you mean Dragon's Lair heh Pretty good read, think you went over all the good and bad of the digital world of pinball.

Dammit, yes! Fingers clearly did not understand the difference in my brain. Great movie though!

Blkthorne · Feb 3, 2018

shutyertrap said:
Dammit, yes! Fingers clearly did not understand the difference in my brain. Great movie though!

Yes, very underrated movie, can remember seeing it in 1981 when it came out in my little town's theatre that no longer exists.

movie trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHJ-gZUqD2o

shutyertrap · Feb 3, 2018

It’s one of my most memorable moments in a theater, seeing it double feature with Clash of the Titans. When the king stabs the dead dragon and is pronounced dragon slayer, some dude yelled out in the utter silence, “F&@$ you!” and the whole place just lost it. To a 10 year old, this was the greatest thing ever.

Blkthorne · Feb 3, 2018

shutyertrap said:
It’s one of my most memorable moments in a theater, seeing it double feature with Clash of the Titans. When the king stabs the dead dragon and is pronounced dragon slayer, some dude yelled out in the utter silence, “F&@$ you!” and the whole place just lost it. To a 10 year old, this was the greatest thing ever.

Clash of the Titans was another awesome movie for me, think the internet really did spoil things figuratively and literally for today's kids for upcoming movies. Just the sense of wonder seeing Star Wars or Jaws for the first time, I started shrinking down into my seat when the Jaws music would start playing. lol I was only four years old in 1975 when my mom took me to see the movie, I was totally afraid of any pool of water for quite a long time after that.

shutyertrap · Feb 3, 2018

Yeah, you and I are practically the same age, so all the stuff I remember in my article would be the same for you, in terms of impact I imagine.

Citizen · Feb 3, 2018

Good article. Kinda disappointed not to see Full Tilt! though, since it had things like 3D pre-rendered graphics and ball bounce a year before Pro Pinball, not to mention its legacy of introducing many people to digital pinball via the free Microsoft Windows version of Space Cadet. Seems noteworthy enough, even if Pro Pinball was a step up from it.

superballs · Feb 3, 2018

Of course it's always about you eh?

jaredmorgs · Feb 5, 2018

You can play Space Cadet on Android now!

It's actually still a lot of fun.

The loafer · Feb 5, 2018

A fun read, thanks. Some inaccuracies on the VP front (VP dogfood 3 build was the first build I think that worked with VPM) but that's being picky, you did a decent job of covering your own experiences. My own are different and would have included references to the Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions series (especially on the Amiga!) and for the PC, the old Eight Ball Deluxe by Amtex, I think the first real life pin recreated on the PC.

If you are curious, Randy Davis (creator of Visual Pinball) still has his site up and you can see the history of the early builds here: http://www.randydavis.com/vp/

Very well done!

shutyertrap · Feb 5, 2018

The loafer said:
A fun read, thanks. Some inaccuracies on the VP front (VP dogfood 3 build was the first build I think that worked with VPM) but that's being picky, you did a decent job of covering your own experiences. My own are different and would have included references to the Pinball Dreams/Fantasies/Illusions series (especially on the Amiga!) and for the PC, the old Eight Ball Deluxe by Amtex, I think the first real life pin recreated on the PC.

If you are curious, Randy Davis (creator of Visual Pinball) still has his site up and you can see the history of the early builds here: http://www.randydavis.com/vp/

Very well done!

Yeah, there was no way I was going to be able to write an accurate history. They always say write what you know, so that's why I emphasized my experience as you point out. I'll have to do a Google search with the titles you mention to better inform myself. It's long since slipped my mind, but I'm sure an entire piece could be written about Randy and Black(?) regarding VP.

Kolchak357 · Feb 5, 2018

Finally got around to reading this. Good read, well done SYT.

Gorgias32 · Feb 6, 2018

Great job! Really enjoyed it. I first got into virtual pinball by the "Crystal Caliburn" table on Mac in 1993 (would be a great mobile port today, great table with deep rules), and as others pointed out Full Tilt on Windows was/is pretty excellent as well.

Your coverage of the history is great and I really like your writing style, nice work.

jaredmorgs · Feb 6, 2018

Gorgias32 said:
Great job! Really enjoyed it. I first got into virtual pinball by the "Crystal Caliburn" table on Mac in 1993 (would be a great mobile port today, great table with deep rules), and as others pointed out Full Tilt on Windows was/is pretty excellent as well.

Your coverage of the history is great and I really like your writing style, nice work.

I thought Crystal Caliburn was released on iOS?

Heretic · Feb 6, 2018

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/pinball-crystal-caliburn-ii/id533037359?mt=8

Jeff Strong · Feb 7, 2018

Don't forget Pinabll Tristan by the same devs. It was the best pinball you could get on iOS before TPA came along.

"The only digital pinball guide you'll ever need" - Zen Studios

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