Community Digital Pinball |OT| - True Wizardry

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An update about Zaccaria Pinball, what's coming in the future, and what's with the "deluxe" tables they are planning.

From their facebook page:

«Hey everybody!
It has been a while since we shared some info, a few things have changed in our planning and priorities and we would like to share them today with you all. As some of you have already noticed some platforms have a delay with getting updates and still run old versions of Zaccaria, we will get around to it eventually and release some major updates later.
It is however important we make the right decisions and keep Zaccaria alive and that is why the planning has been changed.
Right now we are busy and focusing on the Playstation 4 version of Zaccaria and aim to release this between December 2019 and February 2020. After the Playstation 4 release we will also update the Xbox and the Switch version but the main focus for now will be to release Zaccaria on the Playstation 4.
Steam will still get updates in the meanwhile as this is one of our best performing platforms and fastest system to release updates on.
Then one more final thing we like to share. As you all know, we have many different tables in our game such as the Solid State, EM, Remakes, Retro and Award tables.
Each table category is unique and presents a different time or technology, the last period we have been making remakes and going for more modern tables (as all real Zaccaria tables have been recreated already) but at the end of 2019 we will also introduce a new table category called “Deluxe”.
Deluxe tables are even more modern tables then the remakes and will feature more unique designs and playfields. We will start off the deluxe tables with some remaining themes like Red Show, Cinestar, Soccer Kings etc. Themes that are not used yet in the remakes, but we may also come with other unique content (which is right now too early to talk about).
Thank you for your support.»

 

Deleted member 113

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A new Malzbie's Pinball Collection table, Ghouls, is out.



For those unfamiliar with the game, it's not as pretty as other pinball offerings (no surprise, considering the game is pretty much made by a single developer), but the tables are fun, and very inexpensive.

I already mentioned before that the previous table, Time Flight, is a lot of fun, and well worth the small price tag.
 

Ge0force

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A new Malzbie's Pinball Collection table, Ghouls, is out.



For those unfamiliar with the game, it's not as pretty as other pinball offerings (no surprise, considering the game is pretty much made by a single developer), but the tables are fun, and very inexpensive.

I already mentioned before that the previous table, Time Flight, is a lot of fun, and well worth the small price tag.
Installed and played yesterday. First impression was disappointing because of the graphics, but some of the tables are well designed. Thanks for the hint!
 
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Installed and played yesterday. First impression was disappointing because of the graphics, but some of the tables are well designed. Thanks for the hint!
The developer has stopped working on new tables (the new DLC is the last he had planned), and will now work on improving the current ones, including the graphics. :)
 

Ge0force

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The developer has stopped working on new tables (the new DLC is the last he had planned), and will now work on improving the current ones, including the graphics. :)
That's great news! Except for the low-quality textures and lightning, the tables also look a bit too "static". We need more flashing lights and dynamic camera options.
 
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That's great news! Except for the low-quality textures and lightning, the tables also look a bit too "static". We need more flashing lights and dynamic camera options.
The game is clearly working with a lower budget, and the production values are not anywhere near the main pinball offerings on Steam.

But, on the plus side, the layouts/playfields of his tables, all of which his original design, are actually very fun to play.
They are fast, simpl-ish (but with enough side-content/goals to engage people), and feel like pinball tables. The physics aren't bad either.

Honestly, I prefer some of the tables of this game to several of the original tables Zen Studios did for Pinball FX 2/3, which barely feel like pinball to me.
I know many people enjoy them, but most of them just don't click with me. They appear to go nowhere.
 
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The new table is really good, might be the best original thing they've done. Physics feel better as well. The default Zaccaria physics tend to be very floaty.
Yeah, it is. :)
Their last remake tables were very good as well.

They clearly got better as they went, and their later stuff feels a lot like "proper" pinball, you know, the physics and ball just feel right.
I wish they would go back to some of their older tables, and update things.

This is one game that has really improved as it grew.
When I first bought it, I thought the game felt a bit "cheap" and unpolished, and leaps below the other big pinball offerings.
While I haven't played a lot of digital pinball recently, Zaccaria is definitely the game I've been playing the most.

I haven't tried the new table after last night's update, but the only real complaint I have with it (pre-update) is that in the default view I'm using, that window that displays the animation and score (it's not really a DMD, since it's not dot based) appears too big, and obscures the top of the screen (so I don't see what's happening there, whenever the ball goes there).
I can place it to the sides, but then it changes that setting to all my other tables, where keeping things centred works perfectly.
 

FunnyJay

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Pinball Fantasies from Digital Illusions will forever be my jam. It might not have real physics, but it's a blast from the past (read: my childhood) and holds up really well, even though it's been like 25 years.
 
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Ge0force

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I've bought Pinball Wicked at 50% off. I really like what I've played so far. Game looks great and runs extremely well @144fps in 1440p on my gtx1070. I'm looking forward to more tables from this developer.
 
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Here's a recent video for Malzbie's Pinball Collection:



The game is a one-man effort, so the graphics are not as pretty as most games (he is working to improve them, though, now that he finished all tables), but some of the tables are a lot of fun, like Time Flight.

 

Ge0force

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When visiting my parents last weekend, I've discovered one of my favorite toys from my childhood on their attic: a small but fully operational pinball machine. 😍

For a toy, it's surprisingly advanced. There's a digital display that keeps the score and balls remaining up to 4 players, with a high score memory and options to set the number of balls, sound volume etc. The 3 blue flashing triangles in the playing field have built-in electrical kickers, kicking the ball from the bottom left one to the right one, and then again to the top left. All rubber bands have electrical contacts for scoring, and there are several roll-overs with different point values throughout the playfield. The red button on the bottom side brings a new ball to the plunger.



I took the toy to my house - you know, for my daughter - but I've been playing daily on that thing as well ☺
 

Deleted member 113

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There are 2 new DLCs available for Zaccaria Pinball:

One is a new table, the second in the "Deluxe" series:

And the other is a new mode:
 
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Snakethesniper

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Hey guys, started recently playing Pinball FX 3, and I wanted to ask you PROS a question!
How do you control the ball? I've noticed that I can never hit the objectives for the various tables when they're lit.
The only "trick" I learned from the tutorial is how to swap the ball from a palette to the other using the tilt option up.
 
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bobnowhere

bobnowhere

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Hey guys, started recently playing Pinball FX 3, and I wanted to ask you PROS a question!
How do you control the ball? I've noticed that I can never hit the objectives for the various tables when they're lit.
The only "trick" I learned from the tutorial is how to swap the ball from a palette to the other using the tilt option up.
Catching really is the most useful trick but to be honest, practice makes perfect or at least better. Each table plays a little differently, with the later packs the physics gets better the newer the table. Some tables have different flipper angles and sizes and some are just difficult.
 
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bobnowhere

bobnowhere

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New Zaccaria Pinball "deluxe" table:

The plunger is broken on the new table, you really have to smash it up on a controller to get the ball on to the table. A few of their older tables have this issue as well. Works fine on keyboard.

Good table, up with the first two of these more advanced ones. The 3rd one was pretty poor.
 

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Good table, up with the first two of these more advanced ones. The 3rd one was pretty poor.
I'm yet to play it (will do so today). :)

I've been having fun with the "deluxe" tables, especially the first 2, except for one thing: the "screen" that shows the points and animations for the table is placed on the top center of the screen, and in my resolution it obscures what's going on at the top of the table.
I can change it, so it is placed on one of the sides of the tables, but then I go back to the older tables, and I really dislike having that "screen" on the sides.

They should have these settings save per table, and not apply them to all tables.

But, I have to say I'm constantly surprised about how well they managed to turn their game around.
When I bought it, the game felt "clunky", and lacking polish everywhere, even in their menus.
But now, after their continuous work, it's actually the pinball game I play with more frequency. There are tables where the ball seems to behave in a more realistic manner than other games, it actually feels like playing a pinball table.
 
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Here's a new one: an adventure/RPG (done with RPGMaker?) with... pinball mechanics for its battle system?!

It looks nice, though, and it costs less than €1:




 
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bobnowhere

bobnowhere

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The Pinball Arcade might not be dead after all. The newest patch added some interesting file names apart from breaking the game a fundamental directx level. Wouldn't be a patch without a complete fuck up!



Playboy would likely be the '96 Stern table, not the much earlier Bally one. Big Bang Bar and Pinball Magic are capcom tables, a couple of updates and a couple I'm not sure about, Construction set and TAGSoccer. The last one could be a gottleib table, World Cup Soccer maybe.
 

Deleted member 113

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The Pinball Arcade might not be dead after all. The newest patch added some interesting file names apart from breaking the game a fundamental directx level. Wouldn't be a patch without a complete fuck up!



Playboy would likely be the '96 Stern table, not the much earlier Bally one. Big Bang Bar and Pinball Magic are capcom tables, a couple of updates and a couple I'm not sure about, Construction set and TAGSoccer. The last one could be a gottleib table, World Cup Soccer maybe.
Great news!

I honestly prefer their version of some of the William tables, compared to Pinball FX 3.
The game is very fun, although "clunky" and in need of some polish. Some new tables, and a few engine updates, would be awesome.

And naturally, like usual, they had to mess up something with an update. :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:
 
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didamangi

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Some pinball games on GOG is on sale.


Bought the first 2. Too bad the pro pinball games are not on sale.

edit: OK, pure pinball 2 just hangs at startup on windows 10. and apparently you have to wait 10 minutes for it to run. avoid it like the well... you know.
 
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bobnowhere

bobnowhere

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Someone made a far more detailed version of the Zaccaria rankings:


There will probably be new FX3 tables announced in a few days on the 1st of August. I suspect at some point in the near future they'll also announce either an epic integration or will move the entire game over to Epic, likely killing it off on PC.
 

Ge0force

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[UWSL]I suspect at some point in the near future they'll also announce either an epic integration or will move the entire game over to Epic, likely killing it off on PC.[/UWSL]
What? Why would Zen do such a thing? 🙁

For what it's worth: Zen denied last year that their pinball tables will go EGS exclusive.
 
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1upmuffin

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How is Pinball Arcade doing recently? Feels like they fell off the map once they lost the licenses.
 

Ge0force

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How is Pinball Arcade doing recently? Feels like they fell off the map once they lost the licenses.
I'm not sure they make new tables anymore. Their latest dlc is two years old. Their client on pc is a huge mess and the game room still has ps2 graphics.

So sad they f*ucked up. I had most of their tables on ps3.
 
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bobnowhere

bobnowhere

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How is Pinball Arcade doing recently? Feels like they fell off the map once they lost the licenses.
Pretty much dead and abandoned. They might still have the Stern license but Zen have been photographed with the Stern owners so they might be picking up the license.
 

1upmuffin

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Pretty much dead and abandoned. They might still have the Stern license but Zen have been photographed with the Stern owners so they might be picking up the license.
That's a shame, I bought a lot of the tables on there, don't know how many I feel like rebuying on Zen.
 

low-G

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Williams Volume 6: Old School Alpha numerics!

Dr. Dude, Funhouse and Space Station, the third one was never done in Pinball Arcade so is completely new.
Wonder why it took so long for them to do a table that hasn't been done by Pinball Arcade...
 
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bobnowhere

bobnowhere

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Wonder why it took so long for them to do a table that hasn't been done by Pinball Arcade...
Wonder why it took so long for them to do a table that hasn't been done by Pinball Arcade...
I think they were concentrating on the DMD ones, the newest of the Williams/Bally tables with the Dot Matrix Display and there aren't many of those the Pinball Arcade didn't do that were free of outside copywrite. Only the 3rd Jackbot which is more of a gambling machine and a "holographic" Mars one if I remember right. Now that they are going back to the older Alpha Numeric style there should be more unique stuff.

Pinside Game Archive » Williams (manufacturer) | Pinside Game Archive

Pinside Game Archive » Bally (manufacturer) | Pinside Game Archive
 

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It's been a while since this thread was updated. :)

OK, new release:



---

Also, NSFW warning:

I found it funny, but it seems pinball has finally received the pinball equivalent to one of those 80's Strip Poker games we used to have.
It's... strip pinball!



For those unfamiliar with the formula, you basically go through a lot of trouble, just to get the minimal amount of nudity. :grinning-face-with-smiling-eyes:
Yeah, if you win the tables the virtual ladies end up fully naked, but the images are of the classy "pin-up" variety, not in a cheap porn-ish kind of way.

I bought it on a recent sale out of curiosity, since I found the idea funny, and for the cheap price I paid for the game it was a nice diversion.
The tables have a few small gimmicks, related to undressing the girls, but besides that, it's a serviceable game, but not much more than that.
The physics are a bit "floaty" in the default mode, but again, for the price of a DLC table for some of the other games (which is what I paid for it), it kept me playing for a few hours.