The 'Suggestions for Zen' thread!

[Cloda]

That is what I attempted to do with the MARS pinhead review. I saw a lot of the reviews from known sources were extremely lacking in letting you know how a table plays. Once I get a little more time on F4 I am going to post another "pinhead" review for it.

Video guides and reviews are a great idea Cloda... If I had some sort of video capture card I would be willing to do video reviews and tutorials on certain tables. Maybe in the future...

I really appreciated your Mars review, especially as you did it a couple of days before the official release... that is exactly the kind of review I would like to see before I decided to buy a table or not (I'll buy all ZEN's tables anyways for that matter... but you know what I mean ). The part of the review that you did which I think will mean the most for guys looking to buy the table is the issues section e.g. for Fantastic 4 that is an important aspect to look at with the difficult rollover targets, glitches etc.

The reason why I did the Fantastic 4 Wizard mode approach guide (apart from the fact that I was a bit bored and not able to do anything else at that moment) was because that was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for when I first started with pinball fx 2. It was a real steep learning curve and it is only in the last month or two that things started clicking for me... but I had to scour the internet for bits and pieces to try and figure stuff out. I really hope that more of the forum members would consider doing stuff like this as the stronger the community is that play, the more incentive ZEN will have to keep on churning out the tables and the better the tables will get.

Please continue with you pinhead reviews and hopefully ZEN will pick up on it and sticky it under pinhead reviews or something.

[ShoryukenToTheChin]

Watch in replay how a table gets abused by grinding? No thx

Yeh but im sure others would enjoy this feature as it could show them tips and tricks in action instead of just using written guides.

[Lukky NL]

Yeh but im sure others would enjoy this feature as it could show them tips and tricks in action instead of just using written guides.

Yes I know wat you mean. I was being sarcastic. I would also like to see how the best play their games and learn from it.

[Cloda]

a further suggestion from my side (which I really like if you can't tell by now ):

Gameplay

Additional leaderboard: In the interest of having a more complete idea of a players skill and to encourage players to focus on a more balanced and complete approach to playing a table I propose that an additional leaderboard be added to the game - table ranking. The premise of the leaderboard is that your table ranking score is determined from a combination of your high score, maximum modes/missions completed in a game and the maximum amount of times you have completed wizard mode in a game. A simple calculation can be presented to the player the same way superscore is presented e.g.

Score - 500 million
Missions/Mode's - 7 (out of 13)
Wizard Mode's - 3 (1 + amount of times you have completed Wizard Mode)

Calculation: 500 x 7 x 3 = 10 500
Table Rank Score: 105

Follow this link to see the thread where this was discussed fully (including a suggestion for a second additional leaderboard structure that work on a point system): http://forum.zenstudios.com/showthread.php?t=3323

ZEN response: None

[IndyRC_Racer]

Here are some thoughts on a tutorial mode or skills challenge (with achievement points).

I would suggest using a core pack of tables to implement a tutorial mode. During tutorial mode, have a brief video showing exactly how to complete the shot. Audio might be nice during the video, but at least pause the video at key points to describe what the player needs to do to accomplish the required task. Use arrows and text boxes on screen to help describe the task. When it is time for the player to attempt the task, set the ball exactly where it needs to be and start live play.

Here is an example of what I mean. If you are learning on how to do a back flipper shot, start with the ball already trapped on a flipper. If the player fails to make the shot, reset with the ball already back on the flipper.

You could also make tasks progressive in nature. An example would be the first skill you learn could be trap the ball. Once you mastered that skill, then your next skill might be trap the ball and make a back flipper shot. Or you could have trap the ball, make a nudge flipper pass, trap the ball again, and finally make a back flipper shot.

As you train each type of basic skill, the table used should/could vary to help the player master basic shots. For example, a back flipper shot is very useful on a table such as ROME. A good table to highlight how to bump/nudge the table to save a ball in a flipper outlane might be Excalibur.

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You could handle the Tutorial mode as basic pinball training. If the player completes this mode, they might earn 5 achievement points. Next you could have an intermediate skills training, which would earn 15 points when completed. Finally you could have advance skills that would earn 30 points when completed.

For the record I do not use pinball skills such as flipper nudge passes or death saves because I have never been presented with a mode to practice them in.

[Casio]

My two penneth.

How about the high score input board remembering the last three characters entered, so you don't have to go trawling through the whole alphabet to input your initials every few games. Its very annoying yet simple to rectify surely.

Plus, give the PS3 users the option to try new tables out before purchasing as initiated on the XBL service. Why should I buy blindly while my XBOX counterparts can try before they buy.

[LarrysFunnyBone]

How about the high score input board remembering the last three characters entered, so you don't have to go trawling through the whole alphabet to input your initials every few games. Its very annoying yet simple to rectify surely.

I have thought of this one every time I sit there and hit the right button too fast and the cursor goes left and I ask myself why doesn't it remember me from 15 minutes ago....or from my Gamertag?

Plus, give the PS3 users the option to try new tables out before purchasing as initiated on the XBL service. Why should I buy blindly while my XBOX counterparts can try before they buy.

Didn't even realize that we couldn't test the tables out on PS3 side...That would be a great feature for their next release for PS3. Having both systems I do like to be able to play the tables prior too purchasing...even though I will probably just eventually buy it ...

[UranusIsBroken]

Fix your 502 bad gateway error.


Now.


That is all.

[LarrysFunnyBone]

I grew up playing pinball on Air Force Bases as a kid and one of the things that drew me to them was the ability to EARN a free game by reaching a set score and getting that wonderful POP sound that you can feel through the whole table. YES I earned a free game. Sounds was loud enough to attract the other pinball player's notice of envy...LOL. Then the next time you played the score was harder to reach and "EARN" a free game but the challenge was always there.

Then if you failed at earning a new game there was always HOPE for that ending number match. You watch the random 2 digit number bounce around hoping it MATCHES...YES...save another quarter. (Yes I said a quarter...that's how much it cost to play back then. )

Now we can just play a table forever without having to earn a game or get lucky with a random number but I miss that anticipation of trying to reach a certain goal and earn a game.

What if on the table they had a set goal to reach that maybe held a multiplier over or gave an extra ball to your next game if you continue. maybe a random prize or event... Something that makes it a fun goal when I am just playing to have fun on the table and not trying to go for a high score.

Same could be done with the MATCH at the end....some random prize that really doesn't matter but makes me feel like I got lucky...LOL!

The ultimate was when you earned your POP and got a match...2 FREE GAMES...LOL. That was a good day of pinball...

[IndyRC_Racer]

I can remember winning 4 free games on one quarter on some machines. Not only could you win a free game for beating the set score, some machines would reward you 2 free games for beating the all-time high score. And then if you got really lucky, you would win another free game getting a match.

It was always funny watching people looking around to see what the heck you were doing to that poor machine.

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Williams Pinball Classics does have the free game "pop" sound and reward you with a max of 999 credits. You can use those credits to play tables that you haven't fully unlocked. However, I think this is a poorly implemented feature for a virtual game.

Maybe Zen could use an extra credit feature for unlockables in the game, such as Gamer Pictures or Avatar rewards. This could be an alternative option to unlucking the Avatar rewards for players who either don't or can't play online (Alternative to unluck Avatar reward from Wizard Score). Achieve a certain score or goal and earn a credit. At x number of credits, you can buy something within the game. The items to buy wouldn't affect gameplay for newer players, but could be something that dedicated players could show off.

[Cloda]

Other

"Call attendant" option: On certain table e.g. Fantastic 4 the ball can get stuck in such a position that the game can't continue. The table also doesn't recognise that the ball is stuck and thus do not reset the ball for a relaunch. There should be a "call attendant" option in the game for situations such as these so that your ball can be reset. I don't know how it can be done so that people do not use it as a cheat... but something should be done so that a perfectly good game don't get messed up by a glitched situation.

ZEN response: No

[Cloda]

Continuation of discussion

A similar thread was started if you would like to see what further suggestions have been made.

Other

Forum Revamp: There are so many discussions and information available on these forums, but it is very difficult to know what is available when you first start (or even later) on the forum. I suggest that further sub-forums are formed to ease navigation. This is discussed in this thread.

Zen Response: No

[Postman]

The newest Call of Duty has a feature where you can set either Campaign, Spec Ops or Multiplayer as your default load when the game starts....

I would like to see this option in PFX, where you can pick a table to auto load, since I tend to hammer away at a table until I get the achievements - or if a tourney is running, you can set it to boot up that table right away.

[lasvegaspinballhalloffame]

I can remember winning 4 free games on one quarter on some machines. Not only could you win a free game for beating the set score, some machines would reward you 2 free games for beating the all-time high score. And then if you got really lucky, you would win another free game getting a match.

It was always funny watching people looking around to see what the heck you were doing to that poor machine.

-----------

Williams Pinball Classics does have the free game "pop" sound and reward you with a max of 999 credits. You can use those credits to play tables that you haven't fully unlocked. However, I think this is a poorly implemented feature for a virtual game.

Maybe Zen could use an extra credit feature for unlockables in the game, such as Gamer Pictures or Avatar rewards. This could be an alternative option to unlucking the Avatar rewards for players who either don't or can't play online (Alternative to unluck Avatar reward from Wizard Score). Achieve a certain score or goal and earn a credit. At x number of credits, you can buy something within the game. The items to buy wouldn't affect gameplay for newer players, but could be something that dedicated players could show off.

Extra ball "pop" sound for the FTMFW. Why have you never added this to any tables Zen??

[Dicepticon79]

hi together, i would like to suggest Zen.... that we need some cool Zen'Logo & Marvelpinball - Avatars for our Accounts (and maybe a seperate Pointmatrix to stick on top of our Arcadepinball-Televisions ? )