The 'Suggestions for Zen' thread!

[Flynn74]

I posted this in a seperate thread but I'm impatient and worried that any Zen employees might not see it hidden away in an unrelated topic. UranusIsBroken thinks there should be a practice mode so you can get better at certain shots/angles etc through repetition and having no pressure on you too. This is a brilliant idea. Here is another one:

I would also suggest having a tutorial mode where you can earn achievements or superscore points by completing certain pinball skills. Like every single skill that is featured here:

http://www.ipdb.org/playing/skills.html

For example: earning x amount of superscore for completing 5 bounce passes and then successfully hittting a ramp, orbit or target within x amount of time. You can make them levelled, 3-5 levels for each skill, each level getting more challenging. Earn a trophy/achievement after mastering each of the skill classes: Novice, intermediate, advanced, wizard and Multiball. How about scoring challenges for each of the tables with similar rules to the online multiplayer modes?

Lots of other games do this. Why not Pinball? I think it would entice novice players into playing more once they have learned some of these skills. How many casual pinballers know about the bounce pass for instance? Yet it is a really useful, even fundamental 'advanced' skill that is very easy to master when you know how and when to use it. Competition is good for us and repeat business is good for Zen. Everyone's a winner if you make this game more accessible. This feature would accomplish that imo.

This could be incorporated into the game as an 'earn while you learn' feature and it would show more casual, non-pinballers or folk who think it is a waste of time how much depth there is in the gameplay and how much skill, relflex ability (this game is a great way to train and improve them) and effort goes into trying to master this game ;-) I'd bet most people who have really low superscores played it once, lost the 3 balls super fast and said "screw this" and never played again. This is the best game on XBL by far. A lot of people need to be shown how to appreciate it. Hopefully virtual pinball will some day gain the same popularity that real pinball had in 70s, 80s and 90s.

Zen: How much work would be required to implement these ideas? More than goes into making a table? Even if it's more work it would be worth doing and I believe it will increase your profits.

***Oh, and fix all the bugs on all the tables that have them. I would also suggest adding a zero to all the scores for ramps, modes etc in Extreme to balance the scoring compared to other tables. Because no-one is going to play it improve their superscore which is the main motivation to play. At least in my case it is. You should also (and I can't quite believe I'm saying this as my score is almost 2.5 billion) take away a zero in the scoring of Spider-man, again just to balance out the scoring of all the tables and make the superscores a more accurate reflection of pinball competency - These two tables completely skew your average score***

Thanks for listening.

Any other suggestions or wish lists? No theme requests please. There is another thread for that.

[UranusIsBroken]

Christ, I'd pay some points for a standalone application that focussed on skills. If someone had the intestinal fortitude to endeavor on bringing such a thing to fruition.

Another idea that shouldn't take much is to upload a video of each table being played on the marketplace. Show the table being played through all of its modes so people can see what needs to be done to activate things, and complete them.

I have tons of friends who, at my request, have gone out and bought FX2 and all the tables, only to walk away after a short time because they get frustrated. They can't score a ton of points, and they feel like all they're doing is sitting in front of their TV hammering away at the triggers trying to keep a stupid silver ball moving around the table.

Also...I REALLY want a game mode where you can play against someone over Xbox Live that's like the local Hotseat option. I want to be able to watch others play WHILE they're playing. Do you realize how aweome that would be? Like a kibitz feature? That would be so incredible...being able to actually WATCH top flight pinballers as they play.

[crackervizzo]

Thanks for this thread and the ideas contained therein. We will read over these and certainly consider everything suggested.

crackervizzo

[Nekro Neko]

Uranus brings up a good point, I would like hotseat play online, up to 4 players. Would be nice to see how others play a table. And because its hotseat you wouldn't need to worry too much about ping, it could lag by about 5 seconds for all I care as long as it is smooth playback.

[Womble]

Also...I REALLY want a game mode where you can play against someone over Xbox Live that's like the local Hotseat option. I want to be able to watch others play WHILE they're playing. Do you realize how aweome that would be? Like a kibitz feature? That would be so incredible...being able to actually WATCH top flight pinballers as they play.

[edited]

Yup, I'd like to see game recordings added.

And because its hotseat you wouldn't need to worry too much about ping, it could lag by about 5 seconds for all I care as long as it is smooth playback.

Yeah, that's a good point. Hotseat could work, as long as you didn't care about buffering the game (recording) first.

[rapierdwit]

Yea, put me down for Hotseat mode too. Me and Uranus have talked about this forever, it would be awesome. Or a theater mode where you watch someone else play while you kick back and talk strategy.

Recording option would be nice, even a highlight reel feature with a time limit would be sweet.

[Cloda]

Structure to the thread

Great idea... especially since ZEN indicated that they would consider the suggestions.

Can I suggest that we give this thread some structure so that it is easier to use for ZEN, can be used as a reference and can hopefully be stickied. Certain topics have been rehashed so many times on this forum and a structured thread like this will go a long way towards avoiding that in future. Can I also suggest that we keep it concise and to the point and that there is also a space to indicate ZEN’s response at that point (if any). It would be great if somebody (Flynn74 - he seems to be good at it ) could pull it together similar to the Kickbacks, ballsaver etc. thread, but I concede, it might get a bit too complicated for that. Here goes a couple for now from my side:

Gameplay

Tournament Structure: An alternative tournament structure that focuses on shorter game time should be considered so that each player can repeatedly try to improve. There is a thread where this was discussed in detail: http://195.56.170.66/forum/showthread.php?t=3137

ZEN response: None

Visual

Customizable Views: Players should be able to change the zoom and angle of their views as each view have their pro’s and con’s.

ZEN response: None

Customizable Action Camera: Players should be able to specify what the action camera is focussed on (position, zoom and angle). E.g. Fantastic 4 I would like to position the action camera to show the lanes above the bumpers.

ZEN response: None

Table Specific

Quality Assurance: Prior to the game being officially released it should be comprehensively tested to identify and fix glitches and to consider alternative table layout and feature positioning. Consider making use of players on the forums or on top of the leader boards.

ZEN response: Will consider the idea.

Table Guides: Each new table should come with a comprehensive officially endorsed table guide shortly after release.

ZEN response: Have indicated that it will be the case with all new tables.

Other

PC version: A PC version of the game should be considered. The main reason why this is requested is so that multiple screens (separate table and DMD) could be used, screen can be turned vertical to be more pinball table shaped and so that people can build it into their own custom pinball table structures.

ZEN response: Busy working on it but indicated that it will take time.

[UranusIsBroken]

You SHOULD be able to watch people play live in action. I'm a big Street Fighter player, and they have a "quarters" mode. Basically you put your "quarter" up, and get in line. Winner stays on. In the meantime, you're watching the matches in progress like you were looking over someone's shoulder at the arcade. Being able to watch someone play a game, and communicate with them simultaneously would just be such an incredible tool. Then you just have to hope that the guys who actually know how to play would allow you to watch. You can even have an option in the menu to have "kibitz on", so players could join your session while it's already in progress. You could also have features like a notification that tells the player when someone's joined their game (audio, so no pop-up obscures the playfield), and create an option where you can have voice chat disabled until the end of the current ball or game so the incoming viewer doesn't distract your game. There's a lot that can be done here.

Some of these innovations would be very original, and could quite possibly be utilized by all game types in the future. It would be great if Zen was the innovator.

[shogun00]

Also...I REALLY want a game mode where you can play against someone over Xbox Live that's like the local Hotseat option. I want to be able to watch others play WHILE they're playing. Do you realize how awesome that would be? Like a kibitz feature? That would be so incredible...being able to actually WATCH top flight pinballers as they play.

I would also like to see this feature on the PSN. I have quite a few friends that aren't really good at these tables and this would be a good way to show them a few tricks.

[Nekro Neko]

I would also like to see this feature on the PSN. I have quite a few friends that aren't really good at these tables and this would be a good way to show them a few tricks.

Don't beat about the bush, you actually mean to say Show Off

[shogun00]

Don't beat about the bush, you actually mean to say Show Off

LOL! That too! :P

[MultiForce]

They should add smoke machines. Like the day/night cycle thingy on Blade but smoke/fog instead.








Pink smoke with fluffy rabbits running around

[Nekro Neko]

They should add smoke machines. Like the day/night cycle thingy on Blade but smoke/fog instead.








Pink smoke with fluffy rabbits running around

Oh my, a pink theme with bunny wabbits and kittens with huge bows and huge eyes. Gotta make that a reality!!!

[UranusIsBroken]

Oh my, a pink theme with bunny wabbits and kittens with huge bows and huge eyes. Gotta make that a reality!!!

Don't forget rainbows, ponies, sunflowers, and cupcakes!

[Nekro Neko]

Don't forget rainbows, ponies, sunflowers, and cupcakes!

Can I pay for it with fairy dust :3