New Pinball Table Ideas? - Post 'em Here

[Cloda]

Of course, I realize that this all is too much for one table, it's more like a separate new plattform on it's own, where you can get different balls on different tables and so on.
But I hope, you get the general idea of meta possibilities that a pinball game could offer. It's sure not an idea for the immediate future, but as a gamer, this would be meta features I really would enjoy. It also hasn't to be Pokemon, but the franchise just fits those ideas so well.

Very nice ideas... If it is done right with clear differences between the different balls and your goals and if it stays pinball (like you very well explained with just certain aspects e.g. amount of combo's, multipliers etc.) it can be brilliant.

I am not a big fan of the commercial stuff... but lets face it, Zen like any other company must make money and to do that they must reinvent themselves constantly. I would definitely go with your suggestion though that it must be a complete separate Zen studios game.... depending how far off they stray from the standard pinball mechanics.

In the end though the biggest challenge for Zen would be... from a pinballer perspective, to get a balance between all the different balls and their "abilities" because if one of the balls (even if its the first one) give you more of a scoring advantage than any of the other, it will simply be used no matter what. Zen already started thinking more or less along those lines with the Howlers on Captain America... unfortunately Bucky is just too good a friend to let go off Even with the Howlers... each howler could have been represented with a different colour ball.

But... that is where games like Forza 4/Need for Speed etc. come in because they realise that although there are players that will just race, you get other players that will rarely race and focus much more on customizing their cars, building up their garage etc. so for a more casual player (which there are many off as Vincent showed in his table difficulty thread) a pinball table/game based on your concept (Pokemon) would be all about getting all the balls and not a high score. Just like the achievements they currently have you will then get players like myself, who has never cared one bit about achievements, to eventually also start going for achievements as they are looking for a different challenge with the game.

@Flynn74 - I also think Hyperion (and the other three books) would be a brilliant background for the most amazing tables.

[Verjigorm]

The idea of pinball is quite simple : when a game begins all players have the same ball and the same table and the same chances to win, and they must manipulate their ball the best they can in order to get points.

I can see your point there. Customization could mess with that fact.
I saw it more like a way for different approaches. For example, when you look at the discussion in Cloda's Paranormal high scoring guide, he prefers repeatedly playing one multiball mode, where others seem to prefer to repeat the haunted mansion mission.
Technically, they decide how their approach would be before they start the game. My ball system idea would -on some part- go into that kind of direction, cause you would chosse the balls according to the approach you decided upon.
But I can see that from a competative point of view, it would be hard to balance the fact that some people might have a ball, whic others don't posses. I myself am not a very competative person, so I tend to see this more from a solo player point of view, where I don't compete with others for a highscore. But I get that this is an important part of the game.

I'm saying that because you see, I'm not sure if we need useless complications like many other games unfortunately get nowadays. To like pinball games is not totally separated from liking arcade games, retro games, pure and simple games.

Two part answer here:

More subjective answer first. I'm a bit biased here, cause I'm not a big fan of the whole retro movement. I certainly have the age and I have a lot of fond memories of many years of gaming, but I actually like that games got more complex and offer more possibilities to customize.
As a kid I could spent hours playing Pong, Pacman or Tetris, but when I play games like that nowadays I have 5 minutes of warm feelings in my stomach, but after that I get bored.
It's quite interesting that you mentioned Trials or Braid, cause I played demos for both of them and decided not to buy them in the end.
I respect that a lot of people like pure and simple games and I hope that there might be a way, which could add some complexity to the meta level, without touching the basic idea of the gameplay.

Second part: I'd like to ask the question, if pinball is really that pure and simple.
As I first started the game, I thought I wouldn't stick around for very long, cause it's just a simple arcade game, but then I was quickly caught by it's complexity. Playing strategically, setting up shots, knowing how to activate kickbacks or ball saves, figuring out what missions are on a table and how to get to the wizard mode is actually very complex.
I showed the game to a friend and before we started I asked him, if he knew what the game was about. He laughed at me and said that he had played pinball before and that he should keep the ball alive and if something blinks on the table shoot for it. He was very surprised how complex the tables actually were.
So maybe complex opportunities are also a part of the motivation for playing.

You talk about a market. I think the game world has enough of those commercial trading stuffs.

I thought pretty long about, if I should include the sentence about the trading market and maybe got a little carried away in the moment. It was just one of the "even that would be possible" things, which was one short remark and shouldn't be seen as a complete buisness model.
When I think about a market, it's more on a scale of a possibility for trade with your friends. To clarify: The company shouldn't sell balls there and no money should be involved. No players should be able to sell balls there. Please disregard the idea of a micro transaction model there, cause it wasn't the intention.

I'm not sure if your perspective is more a gamer perspective than ours, and if you believe most people on this forum are pinball fans and not gamers, I think you're wrong : many of us are gamers.

Okay, that seems to be misunderstood. I was talking about the fact that I just have a general gaming experience, without being a pinball player before the game. So I just look at it from this one experience without having the second.
This shouldn't be seen as there is gamers and pinballers and they have different points of views or can't be both at the same time. It was just meant as an explanation to see where I was coming from.
If you or anyone else did get the wrong impression from that statement, I apologize. It wasn't meant in any judgemental or differentiating way, just as a description.

Now I've got a new friend lol.

I hope so. One of the main things I like about this community is that it has a great atmosphere and a lot of constructive discussions going.
So, if you like, add my gamertag "Verjigorm" to your friend list. I guess, we'll have alot to talk about, when the Epic Quest table with it's presumed meta ideas comes out. Hope to see you soon on my X-Box or in another forum thread.

[pinballer]

Christmas and winter is coming. Where is our snow white table with jingles, snowmen, sledging and snow fights? Come to think of it there isn't 1 table that is primarily white or light grey/blue. Surely the problem isn't that the ball is too hard to see?

I think Marvel rights was a bargain buy because their products are not so demanded and popular any more. I haven't researched yet, it's just my subjective opinion.

Not demanded?

Like 2 movies per year, 5 games per year... The comic side is dying a bit but everything else is more busy than ever

About the special ball thing. Especially after seeing MVC3 Heroes and Heralds mode in action I'd be curious if we got Marvel Balls (and others like Buccaneer and Agents maybe). Like a green ball with Doc Dooms face, blue with Cyclops etcetc. Just unlocks, purchases to support Zen or maybe an entirely new mode. But only if it's special mode I could accept balls having special traits and weaknesses

[lasvegaspinballhalloffame]

Pee - Wee's Play House.

[Vincent]

I'd like to ask the question, if pinball is really that pure and simple.
As I first started the game, I thought I wouldn't stick around for very long, cause it's just a simple arcade game, but then I was quickly caught by it's complexity. Playing strategically, setting up shots, knowing how to activate kickbacks or ball saves, figuring out what missions are on a table and how to get to the wizard mode is actually very complex.

Actually that's what I call a pure game : simple idea, clever gameplay. Street Fighter II would be the perfect example : you would think it's just about hitting the opponent like a mad man, but it's actually a very strategic game.

I regard as masterpieces Super Metroid, Zelda 3, Super Mario Kart (the original, not 64), Diddy's Kong-Quest, Killer Instinct, Blast Corps or Diddy Kong Racing. I love Mario World, F-Zero X, Starfox 64... I always thought video games were meant to be clever, and not what they've become nowadays : realism, realism, realism ; gameplay ? what are you talking about ?

[Verjigorm]

I always thought video games were meant to be clever, and not what they've become nowadays : realism, realism, realism ; gameplay ? what are you talking about ?

I think Cloda gave a very good example with a game like Forza 4. A racing game on its own is very simple and straight forward. You can race your friends for highscore and try to optimize your track approach to get better and better times. You can play the game like that and be entirely happy about it.

So, on its core it's still pure, but it added complexity and customizability on top. By being able to collect cars, play for them in single player mode, sell them again etc. it has a complexity that keeps you motivated to come back to the title and keep collecting cars. So, compared to older racing games, it adds that kind of complexity, without messing with the basic concept of a racing game.

By tuning your cars, you even got an element of customization. It starts with simple things, like the color of your car, so you enjoy seeing it on the road and has depth to a point where you can alter things, so the car fits better into your playstyle. Maybe you like to give it better handling, because you are a careful driver, or you'd like more accelaration for a track with many curves.

Customization is a huge part of the digital experience. You choose which apps are shown on your smart phone, you choose which addons your browser should use, you set your own desktop picture and so on.
And modern games offer the same things. In World of Warcraft you can change the whole look of the UI by integrating addons that optimize the interface to your style of gameplay.
In Dragon Age you choose your party out of a cast of characters, so they fit into your playstyle. With them all having separate story lines, you also influence, what kind of story do you wanna play.
A sandbox game like GTA gives you the freedom to explore the world on your own and in the way you want. You can stick to the main missions, if you want, but also do completely different things.

Team Fortress 2 would be another popular example. The multiplayer shooter on a bunch of maps, is as simple as a concept gets. But by having different character classes, you can choose to play the game in a role you feel comfortable like and you can be a scout, a doctor or an engineer, so not everyone is just generic soldier one.
By finding weapons with slightly different modes -but not being stronger than your original one- or hats to individualize your character, the game adds complexity and customization to the simple concept of the game.

So, I'm optimistic that games are able to still give an easy approachable and pure concept regarding gameplay, while adding more depth and customization for those who like that.

[Twilight Sea]

I would love to see some Sega tables. Perhaps a re-release of the Pinball of the Dead from GBA, a Sonic table in correlation to his 20-year anniversary?

[Dalek Nation]

No no, I insist, you don't need to buy a new IP just for li'l ol' me.

One tiny request though...
... don't care on theme or IP...
... we could really use a table with a Green Color pallet, Excalibur is the closest playable table we have, and its a beautiful table, I just would like the color to balance things out after playing Wolverine; Agents, Secrets of the Deep, Fan Four; Rome, Iron Man, Street Fighter, ya know? ... and to anyone who wants to say Rocky and Bullwink, shhh.

Ok, ok, if you just MUST buy a new IP just for me, Doctor Who please.

Also, Really love the S O U L T R A I N idea.

[PARIAH54]

tabled

how about some disc world tables

or maybe one based on alice coopers welcome to my nightmare album

i guess there could be millions of suggestions for tables based on books and albums

[Triple Seven]

hello i'm new here, just thought i'd share some table ideas i had.

How about an artist's table? it would start out black and white, real plain like a blank cavas, but the goal is to put color on the table. shooting different ramps would give you a different color ball, and where ever that ball touched it would change that color, with paint splatter effects and stuff like that. multiball would be a blast! it could be of some famous artist like, picaso or vangoh. in the end the table would look like a master piece. the missions and stuff would have to be worked out by zen.

also another is the human immune system, think of the movie osmosis jones, fighting infections and things of that nature.

another would be something like a zoo keeper, you would have to capture escaped animals and keep the zoo in check that sort of thing.

also and inventor would be cool to see, like leonardo da vinci, thomas edison, nikola tesela, the wright brothers, or even a rube goldberg table. imagin the possibilities. constructing inventions on the table through a series of FX magic.

and one more, some sort of time travle table, going through differnt times would change the visuals of the table, from western to the year 3000 and even a prehistoric era. the effects on this could be real cool. its all the same table just different versions of it in the past, present, future. but thing start to break as you mess with the fabric of space time, future and past collide with dinosaurs, future soildiers and cowboys battling it out and its up to you to restore time to its original state. so much could be done with this.

well just thought i'd share some ideas i had. lots of good ideas hear but the problem with these is licensing. im kinda new to pinball so i dont know if the ideas i have listed already exist. just trying to be original.

and sorry for any mistakes, the spell check won't work for me
anyway i look forward to any table pinball fx2 has lined up for us. i own every table and hopefully many more. thanks for reading.

[Dalek Nation]

also another is the human immune system, think of the movie osmosis jones, fighting infections and things of that nature.

I second this... a table that's the human body would be awesome... shooting the ball into a pulsating heart to rid it of viruses would be neat;, the slingshots could be the lungs making gaspy sounds as the ball triggers it; spinners would be heart valves and ramps would be major arteries.... I Dig!


......then give me my GREEN table please

[Womble]

A TINTIN table would be nice.
It could be the "unknown" table to be released, based on the upcomimg movie.

Very good idea. Given the wealth of material, Zen could make a series of tables, and the cartoonish aesthetic would fit Zen's style to a tee.

http://www.tkshare.com/pic/20100411/20100411125530419.jpg

[lasvegaspinballhalloffame]

Pppplllllllllllleeeeeaaaaassssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeeee e

Zen PLEASE put out Tesla and Shaman for 360 PLEASE!!!!

[pinballer]

I second this... a table that's the human body would be awesome... shooting the ball into a pulsating heart to rid it of viruses would be neat;, the slingshots could be the lungs making gaspy sounds as the ball triggers it; spinners would be heart valves and ramps would be major arteries.... I Dig!


......then give me my GREEN table please

Eh? That would sell hardly anything. Most people are disgusted by things like that, even people who play Gears of War, Dragon Age or something where blood and guts fly around.

I would need a warning just to play the trailer (it autoplays trailers on Zen sites), otherwise I would sue the heck out of Zen.

[lasvegaspinballhalloffame]

Eh? That would sell hardly anything. Most people are disgusted by things like that, even people who play Gears of War, Dragon Age or something where blood and guts fly around.

I would need a warning just to play the trailer (it autoplays trailers on Zen sites), otherwise I would sue the heck out of Zen.

I have to second this. A table based on the human body would be pretty lame, much like a Star Trek table would be. Fans of ST would probably enjoy the human body table,lol.