An Afternoon At FarSight Studios

Thanks for doing this. It is very much appreciated and a great read. Very informative about bug fixes. What a nightmare it must be to have to go back to WMS, Stern + other license holders for every fix. Did you get to see the WII U Version of the game?

Wow. Great read. Well done!

This ...

karl said:

.... Did you get to see the WII U Version of the game?

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... any news at all about that during your visit?

Thanks!

Thanks for posting this. I am sure many of us would love to have gone to their studios. Thanks for sharing it with us. I am not sure what the future tables will be, but man am I loving STTNG. I think it has been their best release to date. I am very much looking forward to all future tables. Merry Christmas to everyone.

Excellent job at reporting Chris Friebus! You captured the same passion, enthusiasm, creativity, and pinball geekiness from FarSight as I did at the Texas Pinball Festival FarSight attended last year! FarSight has so much passion and love for their product.......and it continues to amaze me how far they have come with DLC within a year. Of course there are some hiccups and development issues (some are beyond their control), but what game developer has continuous contact with their fans and community along with fixing issues and improving performance? The answer.....very few. I hope everyone who reads this informative article has an even more understanding of the undertaking of this great project. I will always remember the first conversation I had with Norman Stepansky about the Black Hole table. The Texas Pinball Festival was held at the end of March, and from playing the Pinball Hall of Fame: Gottlieb Collection, one thing that I noticed missing in the new updated version of The Black Hole (the mobile app, the console version wasn't out yet) was the "whoosh" sound. Norman knew exactly what I was talking about and said it would be updated, and it was fixed! Of course not having the "whoosh" sound isn't a deal breaker, but it was so appreciative that Norman along with the FarSight developers listened and talked to every pinball fan. With the in depth report on the forum today, this is another great day for the 12 days of info. Thanks again Chris (shutyertrap) for the amazing and very informative info!

Great Write up. I didn't realize the extent of the liscensing issues even with squashing bugs or changing anything on the table. That's a bit ridiculous but I can be a patient man.

With this info It's nice to see that they are really looking at issues etc. The old cliche of 'Can't wait' still comes out of my mouth. As it is, Can't wait till STTNG comes out on the Ps3. TZ, Scared Stiff, and Big Shot I'll be happy to get, but they're not my most wanted tables of late. Still play NGG, MB, MM, TAXI, TOM mostly. That's still a good amount of tables that I cycle through.
Merry Christmas all!!!

Well done. I learned some things & also was able to confirm some things I had already assumed.
Its almost upsetting to learn how many roadblocks there are to just doing bug fixes. I have no clue why, say WMS/BLY as well as Universal as well as Sony would have to approve, say a ball through the flipper fix on MB (example). What, like they would actually say "no, we'd rather have the ball travel through flippers"????. Yet I've seen FS fix game breaking bugs very quickly, so I really wonder if the above might only be true when dealing with, say an art udpate/fix.

After reading some of this, I won't be surprised if no company ever again wants to tackle recreating tables. It might press more people into wanting to just go rogue & work around PinMame instead. When businesses make things too difficult to deal with them, they almost force people into doing things by themselves.

Im pretty sure that the table on the left in the conference room with the orange border is Genie.

Gary

GREAT read! Can't wait for the new table announcements!

Methinks I see an RCT ))

Whirlwind, Victory, Pinbot, with Firepower right in the foreground.


Dr. Dude in the back, don't know the foreground but it looks familiar. Possibly White Water in the back of the left lineup?


Genie.

Great write up! I really wish all the trolls would take the time to read something like this. I don't even go through the comments anymore when FS posts an update. It has gotten to be just pathetic!

I'm a software developer who is part of a very large team. I can tell you that it is never an easy task to manage a complex project, and you have to give credit to FS where credit is due. We don't even have to deal with licensing issues like they do, so my hat is off to them! When people work on a project with passion it shows in the end product.... Just remember that folks! I'm envious that you had the opportunity to meet them. I got to meet some of the staff at iRacing a few years ago, here in Homestead where they were going to crown the first ever iRacing NASCAR Champion. As I mentioned above, the quality of that product is reflected in the passion of the guys working on it. So here's to you, FS! Thanks to you guys, I don't know how much time I've wasted - especially when I'm out and about with my iPhone!

blurred photos. the red one is gottlieb VICTORY and who cant figure out that red top on PIN*BOT but in the next picture the DR.DUDE is blurred even though its been pictured before and the SPACE SHUTTLE isnt? I am so excited the closest blurred table is..... THE CHAMPION PUB! YES!! YES!! YES!!! and in the darker room you can see a blurred GENIE. Great write up SYT and thanks for risking your life to get there and because of you I actually got something for christmas! YAY!

Thanks for the write up, nice PR stunt from FS. Informative read.

karl said:

Thanks for doing this. It is very much appreciated and a great read. Very informative about bug fixes. What a nightmare it must be to have to go back to WMS, Stern + other license holders for every fix. Did you get to see the WII U Version of the game?

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I didn't get to see the Wii U build. They had just got new computers in all the offices, and the computer with that build was transferring everything over at that particular time. Did confirm that the DMD would be on the controller, so the TV screen would be clean of it. Asked if they could do that using a Vita for PS3 and the Smart Glass app for 360. Yes, it 'could' be done. Fairly low on the priority board.

robx46 said:

I have no clue why, say WMS/BLY as well as Universal as well as Sony would have to approve, say a ball through the flipper fix on MB (example). What, like they would actually say "no, we'd rather have the ball travel through flippers"????. Yet I've seen FS fix game breaking bugs very quickly, so I really wonder if the above might only be true when dealing with, say an art udpate/fix.

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The flippers, that's a global fix across all tables, so no that wouldn't require the companies signing off on it, other than the platforms. That's why those kind of things are submitted with newest table releases, 'cause if it works for one, it works for all. If it is a table specific fix, whether it's art or widening outlanes, that is when it needs approval from your Stern or Williams people.

SKILL_SHOT said:

blurred photos. the red one is gottlieb VICTORY and who cant figure out that red top on PIN*BOT but in the next picture the DR.DUDE is blurred even though its been pictured before and the SPACE SHUTTLE isnt? I am so excited the closest blurred table is..... THE CHAMPION PUB! YES!! YES!! YES!!! and in the darker room you can see a blurred GENIE. Great write up SYT and thanks for risking your life to get there and because of you I actually got something for christmas! YAY!

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The Champion Pub, yes it is! I couldn't tell what this one was but, yea, your right. Fantastic!

SKILL_SHOT said:

blurred photos. the red one is gottlieb VICTORY and who cant figure out that red top on PIN*BOT but in the next picture the DR.DUDE is blurred even though its been pictured before and the SPACE SHUTTLE isnt? I am so excited the closest blurred table is..... THE CHAMPION PUB! YES!! YES!! YES!!! and in the darker room you can see a blurred GENIE. Great write up SYT and thanks for risking your life to get there and because of you I actually got something for christmas! YAY!

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I swear, you guys are like CSI investigators or something! All I can say is I blurred the photos myself for anything that wasn't officially announced. FarSight signed off on my blurred pics. Next you guys are gonna post side by side pics of unblurred versions next to the blurred as proof of your guesses! And as far as other surprises, there were tables in offices too!

Thank you so much for this great report! Loved it!

Yeah, definitely a great read! Not enough info on the PC release (there never is ) but a great insight. Had no idea about the patch/bugfix approval process having to go through Stern/Williams first.

Dont see a Attack From Mars table anywhere, i thought that was coming out Jan/Feb time??

I knew it was a pain submitting to the console manufacturers for approval, but I had no idea that they had to get approval from the pinball companies and license holders every time a simple tweak or bug fix is made. How excessive and annoying!

I honestly figured that most of these big companies were more like "thanks for the cash... now go have fun with your little pinball game and keep it coming!"

That does explain so much.