Anyone thought of doing a team effort on building a pin for each team member

[swinks]

I have been wanting to build a pin for a while but hesitate because of some of the lack of skills - mainly some wiring (matrixes), programming and graphics.

Thought might as well put a idea out there to see if there are any others curious.

Have like a team of guys and I reckon it could these could be Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane - where ever.

guy 1 - has a router to make a cabinet / playfield for each member - I could do this
guy 2 - designs the playfield layout - I could assist
guy 3 - has the graphic skills to design
guy 4 - has the paint skills to screen / direct print the playfield and clear
guy 5 - modelling / engineering / welding skills for custom toys / wire form ramps
guy 6 - has the wiring skills to wire up the machine as a kit
guy 7 - has the programming skills to programme say a proc system ???
maybe guy 8 - to provide all electronic boards 
maybe guy 9 & 10 buy in a set figure to offset the cost of parts to everyone else but in the end limit of 10 custom machines



The idea is everyone pays for their parts at cost and maybe some of us have connections to get some discounts as we would be doing 7 machines. We as a team nut out a theme and features we would like in along with rules etc


Then the first guy starts making the cabinets and then sends them to each person of the team, guy 2 designs the playfield and sends the designs out to the team for review, guy 3 starts to nut out graphics and sends out for review and get some mdf whitewoods made for testing, all the way up to guy 7 who would do the programming then send the file to everyone and everyone can test out the revisions and once all happy we all have been involved in a custom pinball maybe at  $3-$4k but all chipping in some hours and what a experience.


Theme Ideas - I reckon it would be great if all original theme - no tv or band or movie
Cops and Robbers
World War (all countries against each other)
Fire Storm


a concept - for Cops and Robbers - a Joust sort of game that can be a 2 player head to head, with one side being cops and the other robbers - goal is to achieve one of 3 robberies and then get over the other side and if you make it into the opponents drain you escaped scott free, if you fall into your own drain you were shot and like wise for the cop side but if the cop ball drains on the robbers side he gets a ball replacement and maybe a extra ball as a cop is in place for a bust. If you want to play alone it is from the robber side only and have some sensors at the top that can be activated by a mode and send vertical blockades up to reduce the chances of getting the ball to the other side. Single play could a a rule variance where it is a timed breakin before the alarm would activate. - just ideas. This machine could be a cocktail style and maybe 1500 long - so 2 x 750mm long playfields.

a concept - World War - all countries are out to war for money and power - each ball is a different country and you need to achieve certain goals to have beaten that country if not they steal some of your money (score deduction) and power. Beat three major countries and there is a extra ball - country four to defeat

a concept - for Fire Storm - the back box could house a fire brigade rescue to a tall building - ladder growing and once it gets to the highest point a ultimate multiball starts dumping a shit load of balls down the back box to the actual playfield (represents the people you save) but the goal is to hit them around and send them to the hospital for care (backbox reload) and ultimate jackpot. Playfield could have equipment that you need to get, fire station, goals to achieve to get the ultimate multi ball.


it could be a APE Pinballs  (Aussie Pinball Evolution - Pinballs) 


If we did a regular pinball do a pinball cabinet like Heighway machine that has the perspex sides so if we decide to do another game in the future we could swap out the play field and the only costs would be a new playfield, parts and programming and some cabinet decal inserts and game number 2 could happen using the same electronics package.

I have said a while ago in some other thread that pinball should have proxy sensors that can detect metal (ball) meaning less parts replacement and less protruding through the playfield.


Interested in your thoughts

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Edit

[swinks]

Nooooo, enthusiasts....

I know the distance is a issue but nothing is ever impossible, just have to plant the seed and hopefully go from there.

[Homepin]

The 'concept' is good but I'm afraid that's about where it stops. As you can probably guess I have done a LOT of work towards this. Let me point out a few of the things I have stumbled at...some of these might seem small things but they can break a project. As you are proposing a private project not for commercial sale I won't mention licencing or copyright issues as they wouldn't apply.

Playfield - It has to be made from the correct thickness and grade of ply (that simply isn't available in Australia) OR you will run into hardware fitting issues and several other problems.

Theme - you will NEVER get 2 people to agree on a theme let alone a small group who are going to put a lot of time and money into the project. The theme MUST be chosen and stuck to. It is impossible to suggest that your machine will be "Cops & Robbers" and Billys' machine will be "Fireball". There is far too much that relies on the theme. Artwork (cabinet, backglass, playfield, plastics), Electronics (sounds, gameplay [programming]), etc etc.

Electronics - no problem with this in a 'general' sense however, the economies of scale work against you with a project like this. The most cost effective run size is usually a run of 100pcs BUT most components are supplied in bags, usually of several thousand. This isn't a 'deal breaker' but it needs to be kept in mind.

There are many many many many (did I mention MANY?) other things that will cause grief and cause the project to stall. Billys' wife will get the shits after 3 months and demand he pulls out of the project leaving someone else with a screaming baby.........etc etc etc

OK - that's some of the negative stuff. Some positive.

I have spent a LOT of time working through this concept and have settled on a 'way' of presenting to people like yourself the building blocks for the electronics to make a machine happen on a 'build one machine yourself' basis.

There are a LOT of compromises that you will have to accept up front or the project will stall. One is the playfield. The ONLY cost effective way is to make it from MDF and cover with a digitally printed graphic for the playfield. Purists will not like this BUT I point out that back in the day when SS machines were introduced I would spend hours covering the playfields of freshly unpacked machines (Playboy, Kiss etc) with clear contact - so what's the difference??? None really!

Forget about running ANY project from a PC (apologies to Coconut Island) - PCs are unreliable, change every five minutes, become obsolete and are generally a real pain in the arse! Look at the headaches people have getting virtual pins to run ar pretty well ANY MAME setup you have ever seen - forget PCs. The ONLY way is embedded, just like EVERY commercial pin ever made.

I am working on a series of boards that are 'stand alone'. For example, my pop bumper board takes the switch signal from a PB assembly and controls it 100%. It knows when to drive the coil, for how long (adjustable by you), sends a signal to the main MPU for scoring, sound generation etc and has an output to fire a flash/LED/lamp etc. It also knows if the switch has stuck and disables the coil so it can't burn out and reports a fault via the onboard LED.

Add to this separate, small autonomous boards that control kickers, drop targets, ramp flaps and any other feature you wish to incorporate - all talking back to the main (general purpose) MPU and you have a machine - well, electronically anyway.

It eliminates all switch and lamp matrix issues as there are none! It simplifies construction and faultfinding as any fault is contained to the sub-module.

I have PB, drop target and kicker modules working right now.

That is the direction I am heading at the moment......input welcome.

[swinks]

Thanks for taking the time to respond Mike, very much appreciated

Ok some feedback.

I know a Sydney company and a Newcastle distributor that will custom laminate Canadian Maple plywood to my specs - so the playfield is covered or would be damn close. TICK  
I have a cnc router so cutting is not a problem for the playfield and cabinet. TICK  

I agree with you on theme, it would be hard to get a team to agree on a theme but you never know if the right theme came along everyone could go yeah, though probably like the odds of winning lotto, I started this topic as it is a good healthy discussion instead of some of the mindless crap (not that AP goes down that road all that often) and also nice to dream and strive.    

I agree with you with the wife and baby thing, hence why I was thinking a small team

If you had a easy to assemble building block kit that is stand alone from a computer that a guy with half a brain and a bit of technical nouse could fit and assemble I will be your first customer and purchase and test - electronics just isn't my thing when it comes to innovation, designing etc - once you have a complete kit can you steer me in the direction of what you have and how it works

Maybe this will be a dream of one guy building    over a few years developing a machine contracting out graphics, programming and learning lots of other things along with making certain parts for certain items so a small special order run could be made (behind the scenes) - BTS Pinballs  

please keep me updated with any electronics side of things, especially a stand alone kit.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Edit

[swinks]

good point - sound bites etc - brother is a muso with his own studio at home 

[Retropin]

You would need somebody to provide the music for the background

Other themes;
Wild west

Gay

[Homepin]

Gay

Yes, so you're Gay - not that there's anything wrong with that...........

[Homepin]

You would need somebody to provide the music for the background

Other themes;
Wild west

Music and soundbites are dead easy as you could use anything at all for your own machine (refer my notes about NOT for public sale etc).

Making the music work electronically is another thing altogether. I do have some things working here but I am not 100% happy with sound yet.

[Retropin]

Gay

Yes, so you're Gay - not that there's anything wrong with that...........

Been a while since ive dressed in my cowboy outfit and gone clubbing

[Homepin]

Been a while since ive dressed in my cowboy outfit and gone clubbing

Here's a reminder for you...

[goodolddays]

 

[Retropin]

Been a while since ive dressed in my cowboy outfit and gone clubbing

Here's a reminder for you...

aaah yes... my pyjama's you gave me for Newcastle

[swinks]

thats just wrong

slightly off track   definitely no gay cowboy themes