The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => New developments => Spooky Pinball => Topic started by: swinks on May 09, 2012, 10:23:32 PM
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So the big news is we scrapped “Lost” pinball. This was for a variety of reasons, the main being we spent so much time trying to cram things into it that we didn’t spend enough time making it play well. So it’s a beautiful game with boring loops and bad ball returns.
But, much like our independent film projects of the past, we took this as a learning experience of how NOT to build a pinball machine. Since then we’ve been working with John Popaduik who’s taught us a lot, and is even putting me in his Zombie game!
Our next pinball project is a custom game inspired by the 2011 Halloween episode of The Ben Heck Show… Ghost Squad! It started as a way to test our new system, but is developing into a game as well. Here’s why we picked this theme:
Easy-to-create assets. Like everyone else, our pinball is going video and our backbox is basically one big LCD. One issue with this is you need far more art assets than an old DMD game. With Ghost Squad we already have access to our characters and can easily film content in front of a green screen. Compare this to a hand-drawn game like “Tesla Vs Edison” where we’d have to create everything from scratch.
Unlicensed Theme: While Ghost Squad is obviously inspired by the 94,000 Ghost Hunting shows on cable, it’s an original theme which means we can build multiple copies and sell them.
Humor Potential: The theme is great for satire, we can’t really insult anyone with it, and since women love those kind of shows, it might even be The Pinball Machine Your Wife Likes Too. (holy grail of collectors)
We’re also trying to have more ball interaction toys than our previous efforts. Special features include:
Spooky Door. A plastic door than opens, closes, traps balls or can be bashed open. Has a VUK (vertical up-kicker) behind it for ball locks or flow interruption for mode start.
Hellavator. An elevator from Hell. Balls can enter from behind (“first floor”) or enter via a ramp shot (“second floor”) The Hellavator can change floors, release the ball and also lock it. The ball can also fall through into the Basement of Horrors.
Basement of Horrors: A tunnel under the playfield that leads from the Hellavator to the Basement Scoop. Balls can be blocks and collected in the basement.
Spirit Magnet: A moving magnet under the playfield, like in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Playfield art in that area will be a Spirit Board (Ouiji is copyrighted so we can’t call it that) so the ball “moves by itself” to answer questions from the dead!
Ball Jump: One shot is up a broken staircase to a balcony, and you have to actually jump the ball across a gap to get there. We’re working hard to make this shot around a 50/50 probability of success.
So keep on eye on this site, my YouTube page and of course the Ben Heck Show!
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found the vid
http://www.viddler.com/v/faef1ba6?secret=102398922
has potential
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Unlicensed Horror Theme. I like it already.
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ghostbusters is copyrighted so ghost squad it is.....hmm, a very 80's feel to it....It didnt grab me at all but i do wish them well.
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a pic
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What happened to zombie adventureland?
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an extract from a comment made by Ben Heck referencing a difference between this pin and Spooky Pinball's first pinball.
"Yes, my new game, called GHOST SQUAD, is a humorous title about paranormal ghost hunting TV shows. You must complete 6 investigations (modes) and defeat the GHOST BOSS in each of them.
One mode is a bar haunted by a deceased prostitute, or, in technical terminology, a "ghost whore"
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Charlie from spooky pinball shared on his end of jan 2013 podcast about his new venture of spooky pinball and that he will also provide services to manufacture other people's pinballs, with a special comment relating to ghost squad. That said it's a wait and see but we might just see a run of these made by spooky pinball.
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All starting to sound like an "inner circle" of well known people pulling together to make a go of things.. all die hard pinball enthusiasts.
This is a real powerhouse of talents and could prove to be a serious market contender for the stale licenced theme... a dedicated enthusiasts market??
Has great promise.
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a few words from Ben:
"So I've been working on a new game myself for the past year called Ghost Squad. Just CNC'd a playfield a few days ago that I hope to have stuffed for Midwest Gaming Classic.
It's a humorous game whose premise is that you're a team of "Ghost Hunters" like all those green night vision shows on TV. I feel modern pinball is sorely lacking in humor and my game aims to address this.
The goal is to advance your "investigations" in 6 typical haunted locations / modes - a hotel, theater, bar, prison, hospital and war fort. Modes are advanced by shooting a path 3 times or collecting pop bumper hits.
Each mode has a unique "Ghost Boss" you must battle. Ghosts are animated on the DMD, and there's also a moving, 3D printed glow-in-the-dark Ghost Bash Toy on the playfield. This toy has a bank of 3 motorized targets in front of it, like AFM, a mini-orbit under the ghost, and in this orbit, a magnet to "catch" (possess?) your ball, and an IR beam so you can bash the captured ball out like BSD.
There is also a motorized "Spooky Door", a Motorized Scoop "Hellavator", a subway, and a ramp shot where you must JUMP the ball over a chasm.
Ghost Squad is fully ******ed with over 140 pages of dialog and 11 different characters including the ghosts. We have the voices about 70% recorded. The dialog is a bit more adult than an average pin but it's the kind of stuff that'll go over kids heads, like MM.
The idea is, take the game in hopefully a playable form to MGC, see what people think, and if there's demand, make it available for sale.
I'm happy to answer any questions, and can post more pics upon request.
PICS: "Final" artwork (plastics not shown), clay "bigature" model, 3D printed copy, CNC playfield."
Here is where I got the info from if you are curious
http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/ghost-squad
looks good, I'm interested and Spooky said they can make them as well plus found a guy close to Sydney that can import pinballs from LA to Sydney for $500 which includes all freight and customs, price only goes up if the machine is more than $5k.
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This is what Bryan Kelly had to say:
"People are going to laugh the f'ing ass off when they hear Ben's sound bites. Not only can the man make a game, he can ****** it also!!"
GLIR is Ghost Locating Infra Red
There maybe a issue with the name of Ghost Squad as Sega has a game out with this name and with that the next statement makes a little more sense.
"I used 8 ply Baltic Birch. Woodcrafters near my shop carries it.
Yeah the title doesn't need my name. I think the concept "sells itself" pretty easily. If not "Squad", Team, Group, Posse... something that sounds good. By all means, lend me suggestions!
The tagline of the game, regardless, is "To Them, The Paranormal... Isn't"
We still have a few parts available, specifically Bartender of Haunted Bar, Ghostly Prison Warden and Hippie Psychic Chick.
I'll probably do the voice of the demon for Wizard mode."
Here is a test video of a mode and music:
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Sounds like a fun pin, artwork looks good, relatively simple but effective. Look forward to some gameplay vids
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here is light test of the playfield, the playfield looks great - nice and glossy and really like the ghost sun glasses, this is shaping up to be really nice.
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Very nice looking PF indeed.. liking the colouring and the artwork... yes - it actually looks like a real pinball playfield!
Lovely deep clear coat.. looks like ceramic.
WOW - real pinball - what will they think of next?
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Looks good how much are they? Great to see so many making pinball!! That will look good great next to Tron and acdc :-)
Peter
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Playfield colour and depth Looks great. I love the lit Sunnys on the ghosts.
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playfield does look great. awesome.
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More videos of the progress ahead of the Midwest Gaming Classic this weekend (posted by Ben Heck on Pinside):
http://www.youtube.com/embed/YXrqQIi8mDs?autoplay=1&rel=0 (http://www.youtube.com/embed/YXrqQIi8mDs?autoplay=1&rel=0)
http://www.youtube.com/embed/DZU2YlsPmD4?autoplay=1&rel=0 (http://www.youtube.com/embed/DZU2YlsPmD4?autoplay=1&rel=0)
http://www.youtube.com/embed/IEcAc49zKmo?autoplay=1&rel=0 (http://www.youtube.com/embed/IEcAc49zKmo?autoplay=1&rel=0)
Looking very, very good. Enjoy, SV.
P.S. Also had trouble with the embedding thing, if anyone wants to try please go ahead.
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That's a great looking table and I love the theme! Looking forward to pricing.
Peter
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he has a long way to go......but i really like the artwork n toys, has a scooby doo cartoon feel to it, which is very fresh.
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An update from Ben
"New video, showing how to advance Abandoned Hospital mode and fight "Ghost Doctor" for 2 ball multiball.
Yeah I did the art, I used to be a graphic artist. Still need to do plastics, backglass and cabinet. You'll notice the game title isn't on the playfield in case we change it, I'm well aware Sega has an (albeit old) arcade shooter called Ghost Squad."
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This playfield art is just EXCELLENT. Very simple, but extremely effective. The shadow/silouhete people in black down the bottom, the ghosts wearing sunnys on each of the outlanes, the ghost up the top, all the other playfield art is very well thought out.
Then u look closely at the toys, mechanical n moving, like the door, the ghost up top, the ramps, the ball lift/lock, and all the other stuff, its an attractive proposition.
The ONLY negatives i see so far, from the players position, so far, u cant see the top right corner rollovers, or the top left pop bumpers, but a very simple fix, is to have the playfield backboard as a crystal clear angled mirror, and all instantly solved with some decent general illumination lights up there as well (someone send him my idea please).
This machine is coming along well. The cabinet art and translite art should be awesome-hopefully. Hope its something very close to the playfield art. If it is, I would seriously look at buying one for sure, just based on what i am seeing so far. The art on the playfield has sold me. ^^^
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I agree Cavey the art is excellent, he is a very talented guy
It might be better than you think as hard to tell with some of the shaky camera work but I love the layout, the inserts, the art - should be a great player and sure there will be game play vids soon with the Midwest Gaming Show coming up very soon.
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Yes, even if he takes another 6, 12 or 18 months, it doesnt matter to me if he gets it absolutely right.
!@# Can he match the programming requirements of the big boys like Stern and JJP with the code, and the dot matrix displays ?? !@#
IF he can nail that, he might have a pearler.......who is doing the code ?? are they on the ball like Lyman/Galvez etc....?
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pretty sure he is doing the code and also the dots - I think he is capable and probably picked Jpop's brain a bit I reckon.
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to help get a picture of the structure of the game he has a full ****** intergrated with the features and had all friends do different characters.
charlie jumped on and said this about ghost squad
"Wait until you see this puppy in person... and we'll be proud as hell to build some Ghost Squad games for Ben!
He's put a ton of time and effort into this game, and it really shows. Wait until you hear all the modes... I'm still laughing at Dennis's lines! My wife sure had some unique things to record too.
Back to work. Sooo much to do before MGC!"
and Bryan Kelly this to say
"I've got to tell ya Chuck, when Ben asked me do some voice work, I had no idea what it involved but it sounded like fun. Then you guys show up for the Ball Crawl and Ben pulls out his "******" and I thought holy shit. I forget how many pages Ben said it was, but I can't even imagine how long it took for him to write that, let alone build the game. After doing the recording, I could tell Ben put one hell of a lot of thought into how the voice calls were integrated with each mode in the game. It was insane and extremely well done.
I can't wait to see and hear the game this weekend."
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#*#another mode vid released
"Hospital Mode, running through with audio & DMD.
Sorry the music is a bit loud. Can't really dial in the volume until I play it with glass on."
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---- might be a little too much talking / story dialogue but the dots look alright
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A few people have also commented on the long speech and I think at this weekends MGC show the public will give thoughts and feelings allowing the game to be fine tunes.
Ben responded
Oh yes, this game has tons of dialog. I guess we'll have to see how it plays out at MGC, without any "glass off" cheating.
Maybe condense the "mode advance" dialog, and keep the Ghost Battles rich in dialog, so they retain character.
Going to try and have Haunted Bar (Ghost Whore) and Hotel (Pyscho Ghost) modes ready for MGC as well.
Dots are Photoshop images, manipulated in After Effects, output as Bitmap Sequences in Adobe Premiere, converted to DMD dots via a custom Java programmed by Christ Kraft.
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ghostbusters is copyrighted so ghost squad it is.....hmm, a very 80's feel to it....It didnt grab me at all but i do wish them well.
Will you have any issues with the Trade Mark on Ghost Squad by Sega... !@#
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Have u guys seen these before ?? !@# I found some more of Ben Hecks videos.
This guy is a crack up. He takes the piss out of everyone, how very cool. %.% %.%
After watching some of his 72 videos on his youtube channel, it has made me think that his pinball would be awesome and full of personality for sure.lol
Enjoy ! ^^^
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a grab from Spooky's facebook
"The King playing Ben Heck's "Ghost Squad" in our "Pinball Zombies From Beyond The Grave" proto cabinet. Our favorite quote of the weekend.... Steve Ritchie saying "Hey guys, this game DOES NOT suck!". ;-)"
a great endorsement
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a little update from Ben
"Ghost Squad as seen at MGC could only start 3 modes (a miracle we even got the programming that far) So there were a lot of shots that "did nothing" that will indeed advance modes in the final game.
I am going to trim down the dialog yes. It's really tricky to convey information quickly!
I'll post backglass and cabinet art once I get around to making them."
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a little combined video with Charlie with Pinball Zombies and has Steve Itchie at the end checking out the game
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Steve Itchie.lol %.%
Dont ya just love auto text on a I Phone. @.@
But I knew what you meant. Steves Itchie just sounded funny. %.% %.%
^^^ ^^^
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Didn't even notice %.%, gave me a laugh too
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anyone interested in a Ghost Squad can email Charlie
charlie@spookypinball.com
to be put on the list (no deposits required)
He is expecting to have finished ones ready and going out the door before expo which is in October.
You can also email Chralie about getting on the list with Charlie's Pinball Zombies by simply emailing Charlie as well.
In Spooky Pinballs recent podcast he talked about Steve Ritchie visitng their booth at the recent pinball show and he said that he has played alot of custom one off homebrew type machines, and GS definitely did not suck and thought it played quite well
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here is a video with Ben talking about building a pinball (very light over view but does focus on his board set design). The board is for his Ghost Squad so it is featured.
Homepin might find it interesting, probably nothing new but down his line of work
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Very interesting project and enjoy the way he sort of dumbs it down for me to try and understand what he is doing.
His enthusiasm and passion is highly contagious too! He might do a NEW surfing themed pin Swinksy? ^^^
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I brought up the subject with him of 5th Element and it was one of his top 5ers to do, but no surfing - can't remember the other 4. Maybe we have to work on a surfing theme and then contract spooky pinball to build. As they say made by surfers for surfers.
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Due to some legal issues Ben couldn't use the name "Ghost Squad" and now will be released as "America's Most Haunted".
So if you see the name pop up in the pinball circuit this was going to to be Ghost Squad.
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Meet the "ghost squad" of... America's Most Haunted! Behind the scenes from yesterdays photo shoot for Ben Heck's game.
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here is the potential logo and a RGB led lighting update for the ghost in the game
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Any of these coming to Australia??
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Any of these coming to Australia??
Spooky Pinball is going to be producing them and Charlie has told me there is interest for both America's Most Haunted and Pinball Zombies from Beyond the Grave in Aus so there will be some coming it is just working out the freight whether all in a batch in one container or individual which will work out dearer.
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pretty good incite on this pin, nice to see the vid how it all started ()
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here is the potential logo and a RGB led lighting update for the ghost in the game
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Thanks for posting! Love game development vids :)
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Here is a another new vid showing the development of the wizard mode
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statement by Ben
"Initial run of about 25, to cover everyone who's already committed to buying one. Then we open it up to new buyers.
Would like bring 1-2 to Expo and not come back with them
Cabinets have recessed RGB strip lighting (where you'd normally put mirror blades) for general illumination. This allows the whole game to "go green" for night vision ghost hunting, red for Demon Battle Wizard mode, etc.
STL files of all 3D printed toys will be available to print your own, make replacements, use different colors, etc.
Flash new code to PCB using a USB cable, or make your own rules using well-known Arduino IDE.
I also plan to export ALL animations, music, and voice to a large video on YouTube, so people can get an idea of the theme and rules."
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parts are starting to be made
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Latest video, demonstrating the Wizard Mode:
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Price: We don't want to say until we get a complete BOM in hand. But it will be competitive.
Progress: We'll have production units at Expo. All of the art and features will be revealed beforehand I believe.
I think people will get a kick out of the game. It shoots fast, the mode goals are all different and there's lots of humor.
Plus you get to hear Dennis Nordman say "Stop slapping those balls around!"
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another video of the lighting effects, flush mounted rgb strip lighting for GI - this will be great and whole game changes for different modes
The game is about 85% programmed. Basically polishing stuff at this point, adding combos, etc.
One thing I'm working on is the RGB lighting. This game has RGB GI built into the cabinet.
This video demonstrates how this lighting works with game play.
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Charlie from Spooky Pinball jumped on Pinside and made this comment for those interested in this pin.
If you are on the list... you'll be the first to have a chance to buy Ben's game (or ours when the time comes). Like Ben says, we need a 100% complete BOM including labor before we can give a final price... and I don't want to be sitting on a nickel of anyone's money until we have a clear path to get you your game in a timely fashion.
It's closer than you think. - kt@spookypinball.com is your contact to get on the list. No deposits... nothing down. Everyone that wants one will get one.
Ben has done something unreal. Yeah I've helped, but in the grand scheme of things... it's all him. I want to see this game in production for selfish reasons. I WANT ONE!!!
We'll get this done... and we'll increase production as we go. Come talk to us at our Expo booth and we'll be able to answer a lot more questions then.
Sincerely... THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE KIND WORDS AND SUPPORT!!! I know I stay pretty quiet on all this... it's my job to not let Ben down and make sure his game gets out there the right way. He has more than earned it.
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Ben Heck posted this update:
This is the latest PF. Shows playfield plastics, but not ramps or mechs.
Main changes since MGC:
1) Uses standard 3 bank Target mech like Spider-Man, AFM or Tron.
2) Art has "no print" zones around holes to avoid chipping.
3) VUK that whacks ghost with a ball is gone. Slowed things down too much. (it used to be where "Advance Theater" text is now.
4) Chamfers around Spooky Door saucer and Spirit Guide hole, to help the ball "get in there!"
5) Added text wherever possible explaining rules
6) PF plastics have art now.
7) Has a manual plunger and a real Skill Shot (go for Pops, ORB rollovers or Basement)
Mode lights show progress towards Fight Demon wizard mode.
9) Super-atomic 14 amp 48 volt power supply.
click on the image to make it go bigger for a better view
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he added this in relative to the sound and voice bites as some thought the voice quotes were a bit long.
Won't be under $5000, but BOM willing, not Premium/LE price either.
Voices: Yes they're just WAV files on an SD card. I'm also going to make the code public. Almost every line of code is commented so it's really obvious what does what. It's in C and programs just like Arduino. The A/V is on a co-processor and has a lot of assembly but you shouldn't have to touch that.
We'll have a download section on Chuck's site for:
1) DMD SD card files
2) Music/SFX SD card files (there are 2 SD cards in the game)
3) Game kernel (HEX file and source code)
4) A/V kernel (there's a port to flash that, or we can send you the EEPROM which is socketed on the PCB for that reason)
We'll have to add a legal disclaimer that modifying the code is at your own risk as you could, for instance, activate coils long enough to burn them out, or drive a servo past its mechanical limits ignored the limit switches.
We may also sell the PCB as a single-board game building solution, but that's not a priority at the moment.
I agree the game has a lot of dialog, my next one will have less! Deal?
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Spooky have started getting the Ben's - America's Most Haunted machine ready for Expo &&
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some serious progress towards getting the expo machine ready, nice to see a pin with white rubbers installed from the beginning and yes the flippers are set too high
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another new video of a mode.
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some dmd dots development videos
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some programming prior to Expo
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here is a pic from Expo showing the full game, though I am hoping they tweak the cab art and translite, almost needs to cartoonised (should be a word) to blend in with the playfield as that looks great, though sure he still will.
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slightly different angle shot, still hoping the decals were just a rush job for the show
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last 2, and Ben made a remark saying the translite and cab art was going to the final one and knew some people would not like it. He also said that he may offer an another option to get. Alot people said the game has pretty good play but many were not fans of the long speech lines - game talks too much.
I personally think the playfield graphics look very good and Ben is a graphic designer, and it is almost as if he doesn't want to sell lots of these, time will tell on changes made etc.
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I was offered to buy in on the first batch of America's Most Haunted but unfortunately due to lack of income I will be bumped back down the list. Here is the brochure, with price being $6250 USD for the game not including shipping with the first batch due to go to customers in the next 90 days.
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I was offered to buy in on the first batch of America's Most Haunted but unfortunately due to lack of income I will be bumped back down the list. Here is the brochure, with price being $6250 USD for the game not including shipping with the first batch due to go to customers in the next 90 days.
It looks like fun hopefully a few come to Australia :-)
Peter
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I was offered to buy in on the first batch of America's Most Haunted but unfortunately due to lack of income I will be bumped back down the list. Here is the brochure, with price being $6250 USD for the game not including shipping with the first batch due to go to customers in the next 90 days.
It looks like fun hopefully a few come to Australia :-)
Peter
going off the first 25 people group email looks to be a few coming to OZ as noticed the a few names and a few au's on email addresses.
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Ben has been listening to critics and hs mocked up another option of the cabinet art, which personally has that classic pinball feel, goes with the playfield art and looks great….
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promo video just been released - humour and slightly cheesy (but it is meant to be) but better than What Stern did for Star Trek %.%
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I really like the look of this game and the theme, seems like it will be good fun.
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the guys now have 2 art packages to pick from. Personally I like the ghost one as it blends with the playfield and has that classic Bally / WMS feel.
Also for the sound they have a simply file replacement system so you can customise your game with own music, call outs etc - very cool.
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here is the close to final art, looks good
as for production they are going down the reserve list in order of enquiry and taking deposits from the first 20 people. They will only be doing 100 machines and then switching to Pinball Zombies production run and they said if the demand is there they will produce more AMH late 2014 or 2015.
from Ben Heck
"Backglass isn't quite finished yet but this will give you a very good idea of how it's going to look. I included a composite photo of the new cabinet for the full effect.
The tombstones and the "wall of ghosts" still need to be re-done and the title graphic needs some tweaks. Just wanted to show everyone what we had before the holiday break.
First 20 games will be a "Founders Edition" with signed artwork, numbered plaque and special price of $5750 (Just like Kickstarter!) People already on our pre-sale list have first priority for deposits. After that, price reverts to $6250.
Want in? Already on the list and ready to get started? Email kt@spookypinball.com or visit http://www.spookypinball.com/games-swag for more information."
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This games really coming together nice can't wait for a finished game play video :-)
Peter
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What would the price of one of these be landed in Australia, shipping...customs...the lot?
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thats the big question but Charlie did write to me and said he is looking into it as there are about 10 aussies signed up and was going to look into a combined shipping deal for the lot but only after the first batch of 20 are done.
Just put your name on the list and when they come to your turn, you can wait to the next batch or pull out at no cost.
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thats the big question but Charlie did write to me and said he is looking into it as there are about 10 aussies signed up and was going to look into a combined shipping deal for the lot but only after the first batch of 20 are done.
Just put your name on the list and when they come to your turn, you can wait to the next batch or pull out at no cost.
I have no intention of buying one.
Just curious as to how much it would be to get it over here...be pretty pricey I would imagine after everything involved.
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there is a guy in between Sydney and Newcastle that allows you to purchase pins and help fill his container and he charges $500 for all shipping, taxes etc up to the value of $5k, and anything over $5k has a certain percentage added to it. Then maybe another few hundred for shipping from the source to his storage area so maybe $1000 to $1200 from what I have heard and emails from him. then maybe another $200-$300 for shipping to you, though a little hi risk for my liking. Thats the good thing with a distributor that it's guaranteed to be in good nick up to say AMD end.
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first game play vid, in which they are still polishing code and dialogue, they also are going to back the hippie girl on the backglass hotter.
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they released a new potential backglass as they wanted the physic girl to be hotter….
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game play video - mode walk through - heaps to do ^^^
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Final Art and Pricing is in…..
"Here is the final backglass art for AMH, illustrated by local Madison area artist Kevin Hill.
We've completed our BOM, built a few units already and have the PCB design finalized, so we're feeling confident that a price of $5995 will be sustainable for the production run of this game.
Once we have time to document it, we will also sell the single-board "pinheck" pinball system, for other homebrew pinball enthusiasts. This will probably retail around $350-$400.
For more information on ordering please visit: http://www.spookypinball.com/games-swag/
Spooky Pinball Shop tour:"
- The backgalss translite is done with gravestones having details of the ghost.
- The price dropped a little as the price of the Pinheck controller system came in under price and there is no computer system
Some videos
background info on the game design
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History of where it all started
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A tidbit of the pinheck system
http://longhornengineer.com/2014/01/02/pinheck-pinball-platform-rev-4-prototype-complete/#respond
app for creating dots
http://www.benheck.com/Downloads/dmd_convert.zip
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AMH Updates:
Chuck is building the first 5 games now. The public will be able to play a "completely completed" one at MGC in April, with final board set & GI lighting. They will have started shipping by that time as well.
Kernel Updates: Now that the game rules are done (imagine that!) I am going back and improving the audio/video kernel. This greatly improves sound effect fetch time, DMD playback, adds 16 shade support, many new graphic and number display options, sprite support, etc. Not only will this be helpful for Chuck's zombie game, but for anyone else who might want to use this system in their own homebrews.
Joe Anderson is recording his lines as the new "Team Leader"
I believe I will have enough time to switch AMH over to 16 shade mode. There are a lot of animations, but our new converter tools make it easy (a year ago it was command line!)
Andrew (Blue Shirt) and I are having a President's Weekend Code Jam. We're going to debug even more, and add some cool diagnostics features. One will be an optional "Voice Switch", where the game speaks which switch you're hitting, in case you've got the PF up and can't see the DMD
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Spooky shipped out there first sold pin with a wizard mode and fairly polished code, and it looks like it is getting a good review at recent shows. Proper boxes are coming next week and once they get up and running they are going to see what they can do about getting they to Aus freight wise.
I was on the list for one of the first 25 but had to bump back due to no job at the time of payment required 3 months ago. But I am still on the list for later on once they can work out who / how they can bring a batch in to Aus.
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Long video, but a showcase on how good this game really plays. I like the theme and the modes. Very cool !
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A quick gameplay from Allentown pinball show. The sound was a bit off as they blew a speaker trying to beat all the other games near them.
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Here is the promo video, with gameplay explanation and nice high quality close ups of the games features.
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love the little touches
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Thanks for the video links. The 5yo loves the combination of two of his favourite things - ghosts and elevators!
I'm guessing all 100 are sold/allocated?
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they won't be stopping at 100, rather start building batches of the next game and then switch back to ones still in demand. If interested send you name as he is delaying the Aussie ones as wants to send in one batch (thats the intention anyway). I am still on the list, waiting but probably a good thing to let me save the dollars.
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papa video of Americas Most Haunted
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Game play looks like great fun, lots of flow.
Nice work. Ben and Charlie have done a great job.
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Now THATS a player! Original and funny and some fantastic looking shots.
I think I want one.
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Now THATS a player! Original and funny and some fantastic looking shots.
I think I want one.
totally agree, I'm on the list
still gotta listen to pinheadz podcast to learn about ones coming to Aus but know that Charlie wants to do it as a batch...
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apparently it is now sold out, with 10 only allocated for Aus with only a maximum of 150 total production.
latest code for Texas Pinball Show March 2015
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When the game is set to Tournament Mode, the following changes:
1) "Spirit Guide" awards given in order, not randomly. However if the next award is something you've already done (ie, "Start Prison" but you've already beaten that mode) it will jump to the next. If you get past Award 18 - somehow - it rolls back to Award 1.
2) Photo Hunt shots are always the same sequence.
3) In Hotel Ghost, the control box location isn't randomized, instead is always found on the 3rd clean shot.
4) During attract mode, tap a flipper button to show the last game's score for 20 seconds, to help you write them down.
Ben Heck Hacker Tips:
1) During normal play pop bumpers advance War Fort and Bar Ghost. Once those modes are complete pops always advance Jackpot value. So beating those modes early gives you more jackpot building time later on.
2) In Hotel multiball, hitting the Ghost Targets adds a 2x, 3x and up to 4x Jackpot Multiplier. It's risky, but can score big. When you're ready to collect, shoot the Hellavator to drop the targets and hit ghost loop to score!
3) There are alternate goals during all Ghost battles. Try shooting the door, loops and other flashing shots to find them.
4) When you make a shot, a camera icon will flash to show you the next shot in the Combo Chain, which can go up to a 9x Combo.
5) Standard Hellavator Multiball can be stacked onto Hospital Ghost, War Fort, and Bar Ghost modes.
6) Hellavator MB and Minion MB can be stacked if you have Hell MB active as you kill the 3rd Minion. (but it doesn't work the other way around) Those modes by themselves are 3 ball, stacked they can be up to 4 ball.
Enjoy, and good luck!
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I heard today that the Australian 10 are not fully sold out. There are a few left.
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I think the books closed on this with under 10 coming to Aus.
Aus Spooky distributors are Pizza n Pinball in Newcastle.
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There's now one on site at Pizza N Pinball