Author Topic: P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken for Lexy Lightspeed  (Read 53976 times)

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Offline swinks

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P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken for Lexy Lightspeed
« on: October 28, 2012, 07:58:41 PM »
The guys from P-Roc now Multimorphic are gearing up for a pinball of there own:

"We're fast coming up on the Nov. 1 deadline for the $1000 discount on P3 pre-orders. Since we'll be at the Houston Arcade Expo Nov. 2-3, we'll extend the discount offer through the 3rd. After that, pre-orders will be available at the standard price of $9995.

We're aware that it's quite a leap of faith to pre-order a new machine from a new manufacturer, especially before we announce our first two themes, and that's the main reason for the $1000 discount for early buyers. The prototype machines we took to TPF, PPE, and Expo served as proof-of-concepts for many of our new technologies, interactions, and gameplay features, and we appreciate all of the feedback we've received so far. We're especially thankful to those of you who see the potential of the platform and share in our excitement as we move forward. To those of you who have already pre-ordered, we sincerely thank you for your early support and look forward to delivering a machine that exceeds your expectations. Please note, all pre-order money is being held in escrow until production begins. It is not and will not be used to fund our current operations.

To re-iterate some of our plans...

- The P3 is a pinball platform... 1 machine, many games apps and shot layouts.

- We're planning for production in late 2013. If we're late, pre-order customers will receive compensation for each month production is delayed.

- The machine will ship with at least 2 complete software apps and at least 1 upper playfield module (shot layout).

- The machine will ship with multiple mini-games, including at least one that can be customized with customer assets (pictures, sounds, etc).

- In the near future we will be announcing more details on our first two themes. One will be licensed, one will be original.

- We'll be offering various cabinet options (artwork vs wood grain, optional backbox, optional coindoor, etc)

- The machine will be open-platform, meaning anybody can create games for the machine.

- The playfield spec will also be open, meaning anybody can design/build an upper playfield module (shot layout) for the machine.

Please visit http://www.multimorphic.com or email me for more information.

Thanks.
- Gerry"
« Last Edit: March 19, 2013, 02:57:47 PM by swinks »
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Offline Retropin

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Re: P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken (theme unknown)
« Reply #1 on: October 28, 2012, 08:24:49 PM »
OK- Got all that but im a bit confused as to what this is? Did i miss a post on an actual machine so i can see how the concept works?

Offline swinks

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Re: P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken (theme unknown)
« Reply #2 on: October 28, 2012, 10:05:05 PM »
agree it sounds confusing but it is there new P3 pinball with a standard layout for the front half with a lcd underneath that has apps (mini game programmes that can track the ball and interact with min games) and the top play field is supposed to be adjustable to add a bit of variation.

I think the owner has to programme and theme - bloody lot of money for something you still have to invest money and time in. But I could be confused, and I think they are coming out with 3 themes in the future.

Not one for me but posted purely for interest for others.




From Pinball News

"Last month we broke the news of plans to manufacture the P3 pinball platform by the company Multimorphic. Now we are able to reveal more details about the machine's design and unique features, and also announce the opening of pre-orders for a special edition model.

While most of the attention has focused on the P3's LCD monitor and the ball-tracking technology, one of the many unique features of the P3 is the upper playfield, which has been described as having an infinite number of shot possibilities.


The prototype's upper playfield

Multiple entrances and exits provide plenty of shot variation, but P3's modular design takes things one stage further. Instead of a fixed number of shots, the entire upper playfield can be removed and swapped for one with a completely different design and feature set.

Removing a large section of a pinball playfield is traditionally a job few would tackle unless it was really necessary, but the Multimorphic team have made it easy to swap upper playfields with just a couple of screws and connectors to undo.

Owners will be able to choose from a range of different designs or even create their own. Multimorphic are planning to produce a number of generic designs with themes such as "outer space" as well as several more specific themes. The P3's software automatically detects which upper playfield is installed and presents the player with a selection of pre-installed games which work with it.

Multimorphic's Gerry Stellenberg says changing the P3's upper playfield and game software is like transforming it into a totally new machine. "Each combination of the base P3 and an upper playfield is comparable to a complete single-themed machine from another manufacturer. One advantage with our system is we can and will create multiple, complete game apps for each playfield. Another is that the cost to own multiple upper playfields will be less expensive and require less floor space than owning multiple single-themed machines."

Another new feature of the P3 is the total lack of a switch matrix. Most modern pinballs use a 'matrix' arrangement, and scan the columns of switches to check for switch closures which connect the column to one or more rows.

Instead of a matrix, Multimorphic have developed a new serial switch board which connects upto to 16 switches and reports their status back to the main computer. Multiple boards can be daisy-chained, allowing the connection of as many switches as the game requires.

While this reduces the complexity of the under-playfield wiring, it also makes it easier to connect or disconnect additional groups of switches, such as those on an upper playfield. Connecting the switches to a local controller board also helps to isolate them in the case of an accidental short to a high power device such as a solenoid.

Another new driver board which is also about to be released helps manage single- or multi-colour LEDs. The LED driver board can drive either 84 single-colour LEDs or 28 RGB LEDs, with each output capable of being set to 1 of 256 brightness levels. In the case of RGB LEDs, that equates to 16.7 million colour combinations per device.


Boards from the P3

The LED driver board also includes some higher-level programming to make it easier for game writers to create dynamic multi-colour lighting effects without having to code them all individually.

And as if all these innovations are not enough, Multimorphic have redesigned some of the most basic elements which have been common to almost all pinball machines.

Rather than have a tilt bob, the game has an accelerometer to detect nudges, shakes and bumps. Sensitivity can be set through the software, with no danger of the tilt bob not being installed properly (or at all).

The built-in accelerometer also provides leveling information, allowing both the horizontal and vertical playfield angle to be measured and displayed, with audible feedback when the correct level is achieved, making it far easier to set the game up correctly and eliminating the need for a bubble level.

If all these advances have you reaching for your credit card, Pinball News can also reveal that pre-orders for the P3 will open this Wednesday, 8th August 2012, through the Multimorphic website.


The new-look Multimorphic website

The first P3s to go sale will be 250 special edition models at a price of $9,995, although this can be discounted by $1,000 if the full amount is pre-paid by 1st November, 2012.

For those who prefer a little more time, anyone ordering and paying in full by 1st January, 2013 will instead receive $1,000 in discount vouchers, worth 50% off a range of Multimorphic and PinballControllers.com products such as game apps, upper playfield modules, replacement parts and controller boards.

Anyone not taking advantage of either of these two incentives will be able to claim $500 of discount vouchers if they pay in full by 1st March, 2013.

Finally, if all 250 P3s are sold by 1st March, 2013 then one lucky buyer will be selected at random and receive their P3 for the princely sum of just $1.

The special edition model will include a number of unique items such as a signed certificate of authenticity, a special edition machine plaque, various unique animations and artwork, access to a private P3 discussion group and a special edition P3 T-shirt.

Special edition buyers will also get the opportunity to supply their own audio and video elements to be integrated into a mini-game which is unique to the special edition model.

Production is not expected to begin until the fourth quarter of 2013 but Gerry is adamant it will take that time to build the machine he and the team want to produce. "We're serious about building a high quality machine, and we're going to dedicate our resources to making sure that's what we do. Quality isn't just about making the physical machine feel solid and reliable, though that's a big part of it. It's also about delivering fun, complete, and well-tested software, and making the machine easier to set-up, test, clean, and maintain."

To help discourage any slippage in that production date, Multimorphic say they will give all buyers an additional $100 50%-off voucher for every month past 31st December, 2013 that it takes to start production.


With the pre-order phase now open, the P3 really is poised to become reality and Pinball News will keep you fully up-to-date with all the latest news on this exciting new pinball platform."
« Last Edit: October 28, 2012, 10:12:05 PM by swinks »
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Offline Retropin

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Re: P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken (theme unknown)
« Reply #3 on: October 28, 2012, 10:07:16 PM »
agree it sounds confusing but it is there new P3 pinball with a standard layout for the front half with a lcd underneath that has apps (mini game programmes that can track the ball and interact with min games) and the top play field is supposed to be adjustable to add a bit of variation.

I think the owner has to programme and theme - bloody lot of money for something you still have to invest money and time in. But I could be confused, and I think they are coming out with 3 themes in the future.

Not one for me but posted purely for interest for others.



So its like Virtual pin with a real PF as an upper mini PF?

Offline swinks

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Re: P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken (theme unknown)
« Reply #4 on: October 28, 2012, 10:14:20 PM »
nah real pinball, with a lcd under a clear plastic playfield that can also track the ball and has some funky targets and at the top of the lcd then the top playfield is a real pinball as well.
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Offline swinks

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Re: P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken (theme unknown)
« Reply #5 on: October 28, 2012, 10:19:00 PM »
maybe this will help, a bit of old school asteroids


notice the sling shots mechanics and flipper mechanics can not go through the screen so operate very differently horizontally to the apron with lever arms. The lcd would allow you to do different graphics and I suppose lots of new things.

this vid shows some of the subways and targets


and a old vid to explain the design
&feature=related
« Last Edit: October 28, 2012, 10:48:17 PM by swinks »
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Offline chillie

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Re: P3 Pinball - pre-orders being taken (theme unknown)
« Reply #6 on: October 30, 2012, 02:45:13 PM »
Played it at Expo, very cool concept but has a long way to go before it is ready. It is a full size machine fun and fast, very clever actually.

Offline solar value

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Details about first two themes (announced at Texas Pinball Festival 2013) here:

http://www.pinballnews.com/games/p3/index5.html

and on the Multimorphic website here:

http://www.multimorphic.com/index.php/p3-platform/p3-themes

SV

Offline swinks

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thanks for the update, nice find
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Offline swinks

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here's a updated vid of the game system, it will be interesting how graphics will be merged into playfield, but for me not sure on the tubes and slings / flippers operating via rod extensions.

[ Invalid YouTube link ]
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Offline delarge

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I really like this idea. Would love a programmable pinball machine. Price seems a bit steep though. Good to see all these new pinball games.

I always thought AC/DC could have benefitted from an LCD underneath the playfield in place of Angus's head/Hell. It could have played live footage of the band and a virtual pinball game instead of the physical lower playfield.

Cheers!
Adam.

Offline solar value

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Checkout this seminar by Gerry Stellenberg (creator of the P3) at the recent Texas Pinball Festival, this guy is the Steve Jobs of pinball (looks a little like him too).

http://www.youtube.com/embed/cSsOq47Uht4?autoplay=1&rel=0

After watching this, I'd have to say that Multimorphic is, by far, the most innovative pinball company I know of at present.

Offline swinks

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How is this not being discussed *at all* ?????
_________________________________________________________
I know it's been a while since our last public update, and I apologize for the delay. I know many of you are anxious to see our progress, and I'm anxious to share it.

In November of last year, we organized a focus group to collect opinions on not just specific things about the P3 machine and the games we're developing, but also on the way we're releasing information and how it's been perceived. We have a number of other discussion topics planned for the focus group to address, but we've already gotten some very valuable feedback.

One of the more common responses by focus group participants was that the prototype P3 machine and 'software' we've been showing doesn't look polished enough. It's clear that while many people see our vision and are willing to follow along our journey to realize it, others simply want to see a final product with new innovations and amazing gameplay.

The unfortunate reality is that we can either reveal in-progress development in the form of our prototype machine and demo software, or we can remain silent until the machine is fully developed. I personally see a lot of value in releasing information early and getting feedback, but I also think that Multimorphic suffers from the vocal minority publicly expressing negative opinions on things that haven't yet been flushed out. The good news is we're approaching the end of our early concept days and can start showing real game developments.

Hopefully it's obvious to everybody that we are not just another traditional-style pinball startup. There are a lot of companies putting development teams together and announcing new single-themed traditional machines (many of them using our control system products, like the P-ROC and driver boards), and the industry is better because of them. I personally think it's absolutely great for the hobby to have all of these new machines on the horizon, but I remain firm in my opinion that the industry won't grow and advance by building traditional machines.

In order to advance the pinball industry and help it grow the customer base, we have to innovate. We have to design new playfield mechanics. We have to design new types of interactions. We have to design modern assemblies. We have to design new types of rules. We have to modernize the control system. We have to modernize manufacturing techniques. We have to make games easier to service. We have to improve the price-per-game value. We have to improve the customer experience.

That's what Multimorphic is about, and that's what we're doing.

As I'm sure you can imagine, the details in engineering an entirely new platform infrastructure to support our modular game configurations and the new features the games utilize is an involved process, and we're working through it. People ask us all the time why we aren't using an existing cabinet, existing flippers/slings, or a traditional ball trough configuration. The answer is, quite simply, it doesn't make sense to. We have to break the mold in order to advance pinball, and we're not afraid to do it.

It's important to emphasize that while we *are* breaking the mold on the engineering side, we're not breaking the mold on the gameplay side. The P3 can and will present games that play similarly to traditional games. However, it can also do and present so much more. In fact, our first game (Lexy Lightspeed - Galaxy Girl) is set up very much like a traditional game (intentionally), but we're enhancing the gameplay with a few of our innovations. Other games, such as Cosmic Cart Racing, will experiment with slightly different gameplay paradigms and further explore how diverse games can be with the P3.

Operationally, we've made a few changes. Because of the overwhelming desire of the public to actually see and play our vision, rather than being forced to imagine it, we've serialized development of our two games (LL-GG and CCR). We're concentrating first on Dennis Nordman's LL-GG concept, and we're doing our best to get it into a feature-complete (physical features) and playable game (2-3 modes) by the Texas Pinball Festival at the end of March in Dallas, TX.

We also hear the feedback on our pricing structure, and we've begun evaluating ways to alter the structure to make the platform more affordable. We've always understood that a $10k price tag was very high, but unfortunately it's just very expensive to re-engineer a pinball platform and deliver a product with the number of innovations we've designed into the P3. That said, we have some ideas on how we can hopefully lower the price and compete at parity (or better) with many of the traditional game manufacturers. Rest assured, if you've already pre-ordered a P3, we will absolutely ensure that the pricing advantages you received by ordering early remain, even if that means refunding part of your purchase price.

OK... now onto some game status! I'm incredibly excited to start discussing LL-GG in more detail.

*** LL-GG Playfield ***

As we've been saying, LL-GG is intended to be a mostly traditional-style game with certain gameplay enhancements. As you can see in the attached playfield image, the LL-GG playfield has mostly traditional features, but we've still put the Multimorphic vision into the design, and we're doing some things no production pinball machine has ever done before.

The design is a mixture of high-speed flowing features and features that give the player some time to rest and appreciate everything that's happening in the game. The left and right ramps are very smooth and fast and return the ball to the right flipper. Also, because of our unique trough design, we can 'create' flow to the left flipper (more details on that another day).

Clearly one of the most exciting two features on the playfield is the 8-ball physical ball lock. Yes, that's an 8-BALL PHYSICAL BALL LOCK, and as cool as it is, the way we're integrating it into software is even cooler. You'll have to stay tuned for that. 

The other main feature is the 5" LCD in the middle of the playfield above the center targets. Multimorphic is all about dynamic artwork, and we love having the ability to vary the graphics above the targets and change what they represent during the game. Incidentally, the 4 insert lamps in front of the targets will be removed from the design after we implement the software to drive the small LCD.

*** LL-GG Gameplay and dynamic p/f artwork ***

At Expo 2013, we demo'd a concept for a static p/f image, complete with an image of Lexy Lightspeed surrounded by traditional-style inserts. The intention of the static p/f image is that it'll be on the LCD when no game mode is active. So it will contain the main game status, the mode inserts, etc. Since expo we've totally re-vamped the static p/f to achieve the same goal in a much more interesting way. See the two 'map' images, which both show our static p/f image in the in the context of the full machine.

The image is showing a map of the entire game setting, which is an alien research facility "area 53.1", hidden deep in the swamps of Florida. The upper half of the map details the facility. That's the 'bad guy' area. The lower half of the map is the 'good guy' area, where two local boys (Ronnie Earl and Little Larry) live. The overall game theme involves Lexy and Lookie (their saucer crashed while orbiting Earth) befriending the boys and working together to Escape the 'evil' facility and get back into space.

The first map image shows an unhighlighted view of the game features. Most buildings or regions represent a game mode. As you can see, there are no traditional style insert lamps on the basic map layout. We're using the benefits of our huge dynamic display to highlight and label things in a much more informative way. See the 2nd map picture.

The 2nd map image shows the 'Weapons Lab' highlighted. This is what you'll see when a mode is lit. Whichever mode will start next is highlighted with a short description. The mode start hole is the hole just above the upper right corner of the display, and you'll notice some arrows that will animated brightly to tell you to shoot that shot. Notice also the LITE LOCK letters over the agent barracks. Some of them are opaque, and some are transparent. We'll use these different presentation styles to inform you of your progress.

Incidentally, now that our static p/f design is nearly ready, we can start working on upper p/f artwork that will tie into it. That's why the upper p/f is still a whitewood. Once our artist finishes the cabinet artwork, he'll start working on the upper p/f artwork (including plastics).

Note also our 'apron LCD'. That's where we'll keep scoring and overall status information. In this game, there's a row of icons at the bottom of the apron LCD. These are the items that Lexy and crew are collecting in order to battle the facility and Escape. They therefore represent your overall progress through the game (similar to the blue lights in AFM). Note that this image shows two icons (engine parts and a fuel molecule), representing that you've completed the warehouse mode and the swamp mode. Because those modes are complete, both the warehouse building (to the right of the crop circles) and that part of the swamp (top part of the good guy section surrounded by trees) are greyed out (and can't be restarted until after the finale is attempted).

When you actually start a mode, the playfield image will change and become more dynamic. See the warehouse picture. In the warehouse mode, you're trying to navigate through rooms in the warehouse and collect parts to repair the ship. Because the game is a mostly traditional style game, ALL of the modes are based around physical shots. In this mode, the walls and scoops are used to create a set of doors. Your goal is to shoot through the doors necessary to navigate through the warehouse. The number of rooms depends on your skill settings. While navigating through the rooms, we're enhancing the gameplay with some virtual interactions, namely blowing up virtual crates with the physical pinball to uncover ship parts.

Because we're using the walls/scoops in the warehouse mode, play is confined to the LCD area, but that's the only mode where that's true. All other modes make heavy use of the upper playfield shots. For instance, the swamp scene involves shooting the pop bumpers, both ramps, and the side hole (though it's also enhanced by virtual interactions on the screen). Other modes like alien attack, will be purely physical, not involving virtual interactions at all.

*** Translite ***

Last reveal is our new LL-GG translite. This is not the final version, but it's pretty close.

******************
As I said above, our goal is to have LL-GG playable at TPF. We're playtesting the warehouse and swamp modes now, and we'll soon be integrating the static playfield concept and working on additional modes.

As always I appreciate all of you supporting our efforts. Feel free to email or call me with any questions, comments, concerns, etc.

- Gerry Stellenberg
Multimorphic, Inc.
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Offline swinks

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and the translite - Dennis Nordman is featured
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Offline solar value

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This is really starting to look interesting.

Here is an old clip showing the way the playfield can be disassembled for cleaning/maintenance:

&feature=player_detailpage

Here are some pictures  from a showing of the latest P3 prototype at the creator Gerry Stellenberg's house ahead of the Texas Pinball Festival in a couple of weeks:






Here is another view of the upper playfield module:



And here is the flipper area showing the player's score and other information:



Here's a list of features posted by Gerry:

Re-engineering a pinball machine is no small task, and as you can imagine, there's no shortage of details to address. I think it's safe to say that no other manufacturer has attempted anything close (by a wide margin) to the engineering effort we've tackled, just as no other manufacturer can offer many of the innovative features we've designed into the P3. We're almost there. The efforts are paying off. The machine is starting to deliver on the promises we've been making. But... there's still work to do, and we're doing it.

Let's talk about some fun stuff!

- 8-ball physical ball lock
 - Rapid fire ball launching out of multiple VUKs
 - Interactive lower p/f artwork
 - The smoothest RGB fading in the industry
 - Dynamic shot labeling
 - Transparent flippers with dynamic coloring
 - Scores / status / animations in the playfield (where you're looking while playing)
 - 10-second cabinet artwork swaps?
 - 60-second physical playfield swaps
 - How about a 14+ ball multiball that's actually playable (no-joke, it's coming)
 - Open source code
 - Open platform mechanicals
 - Network connectivity
 - Best-in-breed servicability

... and the list goes on.

- Gerry
http://www.multimorphic.com