Absolutely amazing! One suggestion is that the stairway should turn into a ramp during multiball, obviously no idea how to do that, myself...but seems like a decent idea. Happy building and keep up good work.
Man, that is playing slick. Also, seeing it fully inside the cabinet and under glass just adds so much to that final, professional look (which you only earn once you've come this far in the project!)
Great work Steve! It looks awesome! Good for you for persevering and getting your machine built. Few people will realize the quantum amount of time, energy and creativity a project like this takes. Cheers from Canada!
Also Steve, I forgot to mention you not only built this amazing machine from scratch, but you beautifully documented and shared the whole process. That in itself is an enormous amount of work above and beyond the build itself. You crafted quite an amazing body of work here all-round. Cheers once again!
That bug might be an opportunity. Seems like stairway to heaven multiball is a bit risky to qualify. Might be nice to have a hurry-up to restart it with three balls if it ends before you manage to hit a jackpot. Awesome concept and execution. The stairs are really cool.
Fantastic!!! Love the chaotic nature of the lower PF and how the modes are tying everything together. It's been so cool to be on this journey with you. Can't wait to see everything come to fruition.
Im 36, and grew up moving a lot so i remember arcade machines and pin balls being relatively common till about the end of elementary school haha anyways you took me back i mod gba's mostly and hobby 3d print ive never even considered building my own retro machine!!! Food for thought 😅 thanks for the inspiration look forward to seeing more
The way the upper playfield looks like a stage is even more apparent now; I suggest putting a drum kit in front of the back target on the graphic, accompanied by a guitar and a bass on either side - maybe a keyboard? - to add to the theme. Love the font on the lights. This is so close and so impressive... oh man!
Well i have been watching the show back to back this week. Somehow happy I got on late so I didn't have to wait for the next episode 😊. Greetings from Sweden
Fantastic, the artwork with the lights looks great! Never really thought about how much goes on behind the scenes of the game, getting all that code to run correct must be a challenge. Cheers!
Man this is so satisfying to watch. Really proud of you, Steve 🤘 I wanna do my own homebrew (thinking of doing Pantera since they’re my all time favorite band) and your videos are so inspiring :)
Awesome! Congrats Steve. For early code, it's running remarkably well. In my experience, it will take quite a bit of time to squash the remaining bugs - they get harder and harder to detect and investigate the more you fix things, but at least you get to play so it doesn't feel like work so much. I'd estimate you've got at least a hundred hours of work... err.. play... in front of you. I heard the music but not sound effects, I'm assuming you've yet to program them. The hits seems a little lifeless without sound, so it will only get better as you flesh out the gameplay. Venom starts multiball after 2 balls, but uses the lockbar action button to defer multiball, so you can lock more balls before starting multiball (you have to defer on each lock). That might be a nice compromise on Zep, since you have the action button, to let multiball start early for newbie players, or skillfull players can defer and try locking up more balls. Of course, you want your scoring multiplier to be based upon balls in play, to reward going for more balls. Black Knight (and others, I'm sure) has a Last Chance that will release any locked balls when you drain your last ball. That's pretty cool, and for a brutal drain monster like Zep it might make the game a bit more fair. TNA activates a very short ball saver for certain actions, like spitting out of the left scoop, to make up for occasional wild balls. You could do something similar with your pop bumper, activate a half-second ball saver on the left outlane, since there's very little chance of defending against it, if you get tired of it eating your balls. If that's too generous, you could do something like Firepower where you have to complete a target bank to activate the ball saver, otherwise that feature would be turned off. If you did this, of course you'd probably want an LED to illuminate when the ball saver is active (perhaps you can light the pop bumper itself). Did you create a skill shot?
No skill shot yet. Still have sound effects and light shows and slides to help create real pinball moments. And yes, TONS of hours of playtesting and bug squashing to come!
Crazy how my school starts a project to build a pinball machine (year 12 engineering class) so I search up some videos and you’ve created this prototype 3 years in the making
it's mostly painful to watch you play pinball... but this looks fantastic. i'm still watching through your clips. might be a little tight in some spots (hard to see) but overall it looks like a fun game. would be very interested in seeing you do a video recap on how you'd do things differently on another one ie. lessons learnt and such. i'm just starting to scratch out my machine on paper so i'm gathering tips from you :)
One observation, Steve. The balls don't stay on the upper playfield for very long, when they are deposited via the staircase, so it might be an idea to have the ramp diverter change direction to allow you to shoot them back up there. Looking really great now - starting to have the look and feel of a pro machine!
@@thepinballroom Oh, okay - cool. I wondered if it would change when the staircase started delivering the balls to the upper playfield, but shooting the ramp makes sense!
@thepinballroom I still haven't decided about expo yet. Trying to wrangle a nyc crew into the excursion. That's awesome that you'll be there this time around! They're gonna love it there. 😀 especially the staircase mech!
You're right, the flickering of the lights is an ongoing battle that I have yet to conquer 😩 seriously the single hardest thing to perfect out of my entire build 😞😖😩
The Stairway multiball was very underwhelming after watching you bust ass to get it. If you can find a way to trap the balls up there longer with some posts on the left/right of the stair, or maybe try testing out: shoot one ball in stairway, advance ball all the way up. Ball hits targets, lose ball eventually. Repeat, and after hitting all the upstairs targets some number of times, stairway multiball happens. Another design: I think most wizard modes are timed multiballs that I've played. Make the upstairs the same, lock the balls in for 10 seconds and see how high a score you can get in 10 seconds up their, then all the balls just drain and you have multi-ball on the lower playfield now.
Thanks for the feedback, I don't think you're wrong - I'm not loving the upper pf when all 6 balls are up there. I made the upper pf as big as I could, but yeah, something needs to be tweaked to make it more enjoyable / satisfying once you get up there. I don't want to take away from loading the stairs fully and seeing them dump out but... 🤷 but something needs to change, I agree.
This is going to sound completely wild, but to add a dimension to your stairway ramp, could you not make it flat somehow so it becomes aramp you can hit in multiball to give you another way up
Cool idea, not sure how to achieve that, but I suppose it's possible, right now, the right ramp has a diverter that allows you to make it back up top during mball.
@@thepinballroom You can make colours pop by using the same colours but fiddle with the gradients between them. I'm no expert, just love what you are doing.
Next step for me is to finish it 😅 still have some coding to do, still need to get plastics with artwork on them created and installed, I need to install the final upper playfield, flashers, etc, etc. Assuming everything on my to-do list was done, my next step would be to take it to shows and let people enjoy it 😃 if you're asking what the next step would be for mass production, it would be to find a manufacturer who would be willing to build them for you at a price you could afford I guess 🤷
Ok Steve i have quite a few things to say. Firstly congratulations on making it this far this was the part i was most looking forward to and i have to say you have an absolute banger of a game you got there looks very fun to play even at this stage. Now onto the issues 1. The artwork actually looks amazing but its just not vibrant enough it needs to absolutely pop. 2. Like others have said the stage is absolutely underwhelming,the balls drain way to quickly and something absolutely needs to be done about it because its the only part of the machine that is really quite weak. 3. Your pinball skills suck 😂 Also it would be good if you made that bug that gave you a free multiball a feature by having it randomly occour. Maybe you could incorporate a mechanic where you could increase the likelyhood of getting it. Also how are you going to incorporate the mechanics into the story ? For example why are the balls on the stage ? Also i think some artwork on the inside of the walls of the playfield would look fantastic. Maybe you could have a blacklight lighting up some graffiti or something or have music notes or something like that, to make your table even more unique. Otherwise its a solid table and im really proud of you.
Thanks Alex!! Yep I'm not a very good player, haha, inconsistent at best 🙃 Agreed that the artwork needs to be more vibrant and if love to add some art blades of some sort eventually, planning on replacing the 3d printed ramps with metal at some point too, but mostly just want to get it playing solid first, then will add some toys and polish Agreed that the upper pf needs help in some way, not sure what exactly just yet, but this is the biggest thing to solve rn I agree.
Maybe you could add a post between the flipper and the diverter and then redesign the diverter so if a ball goes into it it will guide the ball to the post. That might keep the balls up there a bit longer. Also what is the grey plastic lane at the very top left of the playfield for ?
@@alexhetherington8028 it's the return from behind the upper pf, the balls get shot through drop targets into a trough that catches them and then returns them to the pf via that gray tray on the left hand side
![[TH] VALORANT Champions Seoul - Semi-Final - SEN vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/IewhVY9cAmQ/mqdefault.jpg)
![[TH] VALORANT Champions Seoul - Lower Bracket Final - LEV vs TH](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/fyYkI80GG4o/mqdefault.jpg)
Absolutely amazing! One suggestion is that the stairway should turn into a ramp during multiball, obviously no idea how to do that, myself...but seems like a decent idea. Happy building and keep up good work.
Man, that is playing slick. Also, seeing it fully inside the cabinet and under glass just adds so much to that final, professional look (which you only earn once you've come this far in the project!)
What a great table! Love the coherrent rules, terrified by the speed and drain potential. This is going to be a leg kicking monster. Excellent work.
Great work Steve! It looks awesome! Good for you for persevering and getting your machine built. Few people will realize the quantum amount of time, energy and creativity a project like this takes. Cheers from Canada!
Also Steve, I forgot to mention you not only built this amazing machine from scratch, but you beautifully documented and shared the whole process. That in itself is an enormous amount of work above and beyond the build itself. You crafted quite an amazing body of work here all-round. Cheers once again!
Pretty amazing seeing it come together. Congrats, my friend.
That bug might be an opportunity. Seems like stairway to heaven multiball is a bit risky to qualify. Might be nice to have a hurry-up to restart it with three balls if it ends before you manage to hit a jackpot.
Awesome concept and execution. The stairs are really cool.
awesome, a lot of hard work you did, and also I liked a lot to see you play the pinball, you play very well pinball
Fantastic!!! Love the chaotic nature of the lower PF and how the modes are tying everything together. It's been so cool to be on this journey with you. Can't wait to see everything come to fruition.
Impressive!
Great to see how the process went from where it started to where it is now. You did/do some truely talented work!
Im 36, and grew up moving a lot so i remember arcade machines and pin balls being relatively common till about the end of elementary school haha anyways you took me back i mod gba's mostly and hobby 3d print ive never even considered building my own retro machine!!! Food for thought 😅 thanks for the inspiration look forward to seeing more
The way the upper playfield looks like a stage is even more apparent now; I suggest putting a drum kit in front of the back target on the graphic, accompanied by a guitar and a bass on either side - maybe a keyboard? - to add to the theme. Love the font on the lights. This is so close and so impressive... oh man!
Awesome!! You've really came far and made a great table!! Fantastic prototype, can't wait to see the final version some day!
Well i have been watching the show back to back this week. Somehow happy I got on late so I didn't have to wait for the next episode 😊. Greetings from Sweden
Fantastic, the artwork with the lights looks great! Never really thought about how much goes on behind the scenes of the game, getting all that code to run correct must be a challenge. Cheers!
Awesome work!
Looking great. Love the work
Man this is so satisfying to watch. Really proud of you, Steve 🤘 I wanna do my own homebrew (thinking of doing Pantera since they’re my all time favorite band) and your videos are so inspiring :)
Awesome! Congrats Steve. For early code, it's running remarkably well. In my experience, it will take quite a bit of time to squash the remaining bugs - they get harder and harder to detect and investigate the more you fix things, but at least you get to play so it doesn't feel like work so much. I'd estimate you've got at least a hundred hours of work... err.. play... in front of you.
I heard the music but not sound effects, I'm assuming you've yet to program them. The hits seems a little lifeless without sound, so it will only get better as you flesh out the gameplay.
Venom starts multiball after 2 balls, but uses the lockbar action button to defer multiball, so you can lock more balls before starting multiball (you have to defer on each lock). That might be a nice compromise on Zep, since you have the action button, to let multiball start early for newbie players, or skillfull players can defer and try locking up more balls. Of course, you want your scoring multiplier to be based upon balls in play, to reward going for more balls.
Black Knight (and others, I'm sure) has a Last Chance that will release any locked balls when you drain your last ball. That's pretty cool, and for a brutal drain monster like Zep it might make the game a bit more fair.
TNA activates a very short ball saver for certain actions, like spitting out of the left scoop, to make up for occasional wild balls. You could do something similar with your pop bumper, activate a half-second ball saver on the left outlane, since there's very little chance of defending against it, if you get tired of it eating your balls. If that's too generous, you could do something like Firepower where you have to complete a target bank to activate the ball saver, otherwise that feature would be turned off. If you did this, of course you'd probably want an LED to illuminate when the ball saver is active (perhaps you can light the pop bumper itself).
Did you create a skill shot?
No skill shot yet. Still have sound effects and light shows and slides to help create real pinball moments.
And yes, TONS of hours of playtesting and bug squashing to come!
Fwiw, YOU ARE THE BEST PINBALL PLAYER I HAVE EVER SEEN/KNOWN!! 💯💯💯
Hahaha you're too kind, Phoebe - and clearly you've not seen/known more than 1 😂
Awesome work, Steve!!
Come play it tonight at Kiitos if you can!
Crazy how my school starts a project to build a pinball machine (year 12 engineering class) so I search up some videos and you’ve created this prototype 3 years in the making
so awesome!! I wouldn't know where to start. great work
it's mostly painful to watch you play pinball... but this looks fantastic. i'm still watching through your clips. might be a little tight in some spots (hard to see) but overall it looks like a fun game. would be very interested in seeing you do a video recap on how you'd do things differently on another one ie. lessons learnt and such. i'm just starting to scratch out my machine on paper so i'm gathering tips from you :)
GREAT JOB Steve !
Congratulations
🥳🥳🥳
Great job brother it's been a heck of a journey!
Looking good and looks like a really fun layout. Congrats!
A LOT like my Strange Science machine. All about that multi ball - 5 ball multiball. Only beat by Indy Snake Pit or Apollo 13.
One observation, Steve. The balls don't stay on the upper playfield for very long, when they are deposited via the staircase, so it might be an idea to have the ramp diverter change direction to allow you to shoot them back up there. Looking really great now - starting to have the look and feel of a pro machine!
Yeah I didn't ever make the ramp during mball, but that's exactly how it works, you can shoot the ramp and it'll divert into the upper playfield 👍
@@thepinballroom Oh, okay - cool. I wondered if it would change when the staircase started delivering the balls to the upper playfield, but shooting the ramp makes sense!
I want to play this game so badly!
Will you be at Chicago expo this coming year? It'll be there, and also the NWPAS show in Tacoma in June! Or you could come visit Salt Lake City 😉
@thepinballroom I still haven't decided about expo yet. Trying to wrangle a nyc crew into the excursion. That's awesome that you'll be there this time around! They're gonna love it there. 😀 especially the staircase mech!
Is there a possibility (if you make another project) to go into more detail? Like kinda every step on camera 😅 and maybe do like couple sizes smaller
Steve I think when a coils is activated some of the lights flash for a sec (the lights right of the stair case) look it up
You're right, the flickering of the lights is an ongoing battle that I have yet to conquer 😩 seriously the single hardest thing to perfect out of my entire build 😞😖😩
The Stairway multiball was very underwhelming after watching you bust ass to get it. If you can find a way to trap the balls up there longer with some posts on the left/right of the stair, or maybe try testing out: shoot one ball in stairway, advance ball all the way up. Ball hits targets, lose ball eventually. Repeat, and after hitting all the upstairs targets some number of times, stairway multiball happens. Another design: I think most wizard modes are timed multiballs that I've played. Make the upstairs the same, lock the balls in for 10 seconds and see how high a score you can get in 10 seconds up their, then all the balls just drain and you have multi-ball on the lower playfield now.
Thanks for the feedback, I don't think you're wrong - I'm not loving the upper pf when all 6 balls are up there. I made the upper pf as big as I could, but yeah, something needs to be tweaked to make it more enjoyable / satisfying once you get up there. I don't want to take away from loading the stairs fully and seeing them dump out but... 🤷 but something needs to change, I agree.
Maybe put another stair lock up there :)
This is going to sound completely wild, but to add a dimension to your stairway ramp, could you not make it flat somehow so it becomes aramp you can hit in multiball to give you another way up
Cool idea, not sure how to achieve that, but I suppose it's possible, right now, the right ramp has a diverter that allows you to make it back up top during mball.
Playfield colours need way more contrast and maybe some black lining? Looks really nice but in a retro way.
Yeah, I agree, ok hoping to get the final version to have a bit more pop
@@thepinballroom You can make colours pop by using the same colours but fiddle with the gradients between them.
I'm no expert, just love what you are doing.
What tool are you using to bend your ball guides? I was going to look at getting one and curious what one you have.
Check my earlier videos about ball guides and you can see the different things I've tried
Thanks for your persistence. Do you plan on trying to mass produce these somehow?
No, I don't have the rights to sell anything with Led Zeppelin in it, but I would like to potentially sell future designs I come up with.
@@thepinballroom got it. What if you did an all original pin and made it this far, what would the next step be? What an accomplishment
Next step for me is to finish it 😅 still have some coding to do, still need to get plastics with artwork on them created and installed, I need to install the final upper playfield, flashers, etc, etc.
Assuming everything on my to-do list was done, my next step would be to take it to shows and let people enjoy it 😃 if you're asking what the next step would be for mass production, it would be to find a manufacturer who would be willing to build them for you at a price you could afford I guess 🤷
how much money does a pinball machine made from scratch cost?
In straight parts I've spent around $5500, I have a list of materials linked in my description
Ok Steve i have quite a few things to say. Firstly congratulations on making it this far this was the part i was most looking forward to and i have to say you have an absolute banger of a game you got there looks very fun to play even at this stage.
Now onto the issues
1. The artwork actually looks amazing but its just not vibrant enough it needs to absolutely pop.
2. Like others have said the stage is absolutely underwhelming,the balls drain way to quickly and something absolutely needs to be done about it because its the only part of the machine that is really quite weak.
3. Your pinball skills suck 😂
Also it would be good if you made that bug that gave you a free multiball a feature by having it randomly occour. Maybe you could incorporate a mechanic where you could increase the likelyhood of getting it.
Also how are you going to incorporate the mechanics into the story ? For example why are the balls on the stage ?
Also i think some artwork on the inside of the walls of the playfield would look fantastic. Maybe you could have a blacklight lighting up some graffiti or something or have music notes or something like that, to make your table even more unique.
Otherwise its a solid table and im really proud of you.
Thanks Alex!! Yep I'm not a very good player, haha, inconsistent at best 🙃
Agreed that the artwork needs to be more vibrant and if love to add some art blades of some sort eventually, planning on replacing the 3d printed ramps with metal at some point too, but mostly just want to get it playing solid first, then will add some toys and polish
Agreed that the upper pf needs help in some way, not sure what exactly just yet, but this is the biggest thing to solve rn I agree.
Maybe you could add a post between the flipper and the diverter and then redesign the diverter so if a ball goes into it it will guide the ball to the post. That might keep the balls up there a bit longer.
Also what is the grey plastic lane at the very top left of the playfield for ?
@@alexhetherington8028 it's the return from behind the upper pf, the balls get shot through drop targets into a trough that catches them and then returns them to the pf via that gray tray on the left hand side
@@thepinballroom oh yeah I remember now you designing it I just couldn't remember it and thought have I missed something here what is that for ha ha
A popper right above the in/out lanes..... yuck
Yeah it's not for everyone, but I'm liking it