Why has Pinball FX3 become so bad supported?

[Linne_Zen]

Been wondering. I own Star Wars Pinball on Switch, physical version. Will it get new FX physics?

The new physics will come to our new game, Pinball FX so, unfortunately, it won't affect older games.

[HighFive]

We are sorry to hear that. Recently, we made fixes for Xbox, PS4, Win10, and Switch, and we plan to continue this effort. On Reddit, there were many occasions when we warned people for inappropriate behavior (or our moderators did it), but there might be some cases, that went unnoticed. Please let me know if you saw anything like this.

We are constantly working on new projects, Star Wars Pinball VR will launch next week, and Pinball FX is also planned for 2021 with many new contents and updated physics for all tables. I hope you will like it.

Been wondering. I own Star Wars Pinball on Switch, physical version. Will it get new FX physics?

[overall_fanatic]

That simply means: Nothing will happen.







5 month without anything.

[Linne_Zen]

Long standing bugs on my XBOX 1X include:

-Multipliers not working on Adventureland. Same for its challenges.
-Multiball keeps going on Avengers even when ball is lost. No nudging helps and you lose your game. Same for Avengers challenges.

Thank you very much for your report, I forwarded it to the dev team.

[flapsmojo57]

Additional FX3 Bugs of Note That Never got Fixed

Unfortunately, I don't have this information right now, but as I mentioned, a patch with bugfixes is still scheduled for Pinball FX3 in the future. I will try to find out more about it, and will inform you once I get to know something about it. You are right that I have been a little inactive lately on this platform, I am sorry about that, and will try to improve from now on.

Long standing bugs on my XBOX 1X include:

-Multipliers not working on Adventureland. Same for its challenges.
-Multiball keeps going on Avengers even when ball is lost. No nudging helps and you lose your game. Same for Avengers challenges.

[Linne_Zen]

Also just want to be clear that when I (and I imagine most of us) say "you", I mean Zen Studios as a whole, and not you personally, Linne. Just in case you are feeling personally attacked.

That is totally not the case. I am always happy if someone gives constructive criticism the way you did, it also helps me to improve.

[KieferSkunk]

Also just want to be clear that when I (and I imagine most of us) say "you", I mean Zen Studios as a whole, and not you personally, Linne. Just in case you are feeling personally attacked.

[KieferSkunk]

Appreciate that. Thanks.

And I apologize for my "You've lost me" comment earlier in this thread. I'll probably wait to get the new platform when it's no longer an Epic exclusive, but I'll keep an eye out for updates.

[Linne_Zen]

The thing is, the most direct way we could contact you would be via an email address or a Contact Us form on your website. I couldn't find one. The next step is usually the company's own dedicated forum. Sadly, many companies have forums but don't monitor or maintain them anymore, and in Zen's case, the responses are few and far between, without much explanation. Reddit is becoming a de facto secondary forum for companies, but in many ways that can be worse than a company-specific, self-hosted forum, especially given how much "cadre-ism" there is there. And I don't really trust Discord as a means of contact.

Again, "We are a small company" explains lack of staff, but if that lack of staff means lack of timely support, you really should consider making a more blanket announcement about this rather than just giving us the impression that you only check the forum once a week/month.

I appreciate that you've read our comments. I hope they will lead to a better experience for both you and for your customers. Trust me, at least for my part, we're not here to just complain about how terrible things are. We think this is a great game and a good platform. The fact that you have people like us being persistent about staying in contact speaks volumes about how passionate and enthusiastic your customers and fans are about the work you do. As such, we want to be a part of improving it.

The thing that upsets me is when we have to jump through a lot of hoops just to find a way to contact you at all, and then we have to wait a very long time to get any sort of response that at least hints that you might address what we've said. Personally, I'd be happy with a response saying "We are heads down on our new platform and won't be able to investigate or fix these bugs right away", but for the most part I don't recall seeing that. Such a comment, while not necessarily what a lot of us want to hear (everyone of course wants "We'll fix that right away" or "Here's a new patch"), it at least lets us know that you're actually listening and considering our messages. Boiler-plate replies such as "Thanks for the detailed feedback! Contact us somewhere else!" and "We'll look at that in the next meeting" can easily just be copy-pasted without actually saying anything useful, and it often makes us feel ignored and put off.

Like I said, if the issue is that you're short-staffed and you don't have the time or resources to get to the things we're asking for support on, just say so. Be honest. I realize it'll put some people off, but many of us will understand the situation better and, at least for me, be more willing to cut you some slack for it - especially if it inspires some belief that the new platform you're working on will either not have these bugs and glitches, or at least that they'll be easier for you to address. (No game is ever perfect.)

Thanks for listening. I really do hope you'll take this to heart. I do urge you to consider becoming more engaged with this forum again, or closing it and auto-redirecting people to your preferred channels of communication so at least it's clear where we can interact with you better. Up to you, of course, but perhaps doing that will reduce your support burden.

Unfortunately, I don't have this information right now, but as I mentioned, a patch with bugfixes is still scheduled for Pinball FX3 in the future. I will try to find out more about it, and will inform you once I get to know something about it. You are right that I have been a little inactive lately on this platform, I am sorry about that, and will try to improve from now on.

[MAYAman]

Ding ding ding we have a winner!

The thing is, the most direct way we could contact you would be via an email address or a Contact Us form on your website. I couldn't find one. The next step is usually the company's own dedicated forum. Sadly, many companies have forums but don't monitor or maintain them anymore, and in Zen's case, the responses are few and far between, without much explanation. Reddit is becoming a de facto secondary forum for companies, but in many ways that can be worse than a company-specific, self-hosted forum, especially given how much "cadre-ism" there is there. And I don't really trust Discord as a means of contact.

Again, "We are a small company" explains lack of staff, but if that lack of staff means lack of timely support, you really should consider making a more blanket announcement about this rather than just giving us the impression that you only check the forum once a week/month.

I appreciate that you've read our comments. I hope they will lead to a better experience for both you and for your customers. Trust me, at least for my part, we're not here to just complain about how terrible things are. We think this is a great game and a good platform. The fact that you have people like us being persistent about staying in contact speaks volumes about how passionate and enthusiastic your customers and fans are about the work you do. As such, we want to be a part of improving it.

The thing that upsets me is when we have to jump through a lot of hoops just to find a way to contact you at all, and then we have to wait a very long time to get any sort of response that at least hints that you might address what we've said. Personally, I'd be happy with a response saying "We are heads down on our new platform and won't be able to investigate or fix these bugs right away", but for the most part I don't recall seeing that. Such a comment, while not necessarily what a lot of us want to hear (everyone of course wants "We'll fix that right away" or "Here's a new patch"), it at least lets us know that you're actually listening and considering our messages. Boiler-plate replies such as "Thanks for the detailed feedback! Contact us somewhere else!" and "We'll look at that in the next meeting" can easily just be copy-pasted without actually saying anything useful, and it often makes us feel ignored and put off.

Like I said, if the issue is that you're short-staffed and you don't have the time or resources to get to the things we're asking for support on, just say so. Be honest. I realize it'll put some people off, but many of us will understand the situation better and, at least for me, be more willing to cut you some slack for it - especially if it inspires some belief that the new platform you're working on will either not have these bugs and glitches, or at least that they'll be easier for you to address. (No game is ever perfect.)

Thanks for listening. I really do hope you'll take this to heart. I do urge you to consider becoming more engaged with this forum again, or closing it and auto-redirecting people to your preferred channels of communication so at least it's clear where we can interact with you better. Up to you, of course, but perhaps doing that will reduce your support burden.

Spot on!

[MAYAman]

Thanks for your detailed feedback! For more information, you can also join our Discord channel and follow our social media platforms, as we share everything there. (Sales, bugfixes and other pinball-related stuff) You can join our Discord server here: https://discord.gg/rRRBB7x8zS

Discord and social media is a nightmare as it's just a snipet in time and then poof it's gone down the chain. In an online forum you have an easily searchable archive of questions, responses, announcements, etc. I for one don't understand the allure of Discord. I have it for my other hobbies and it's a huge pain in the ass with all the real time spamming and the way topics get lost. Don't have any idea how that took over from online forums from official sites. SMH

Us old timers will continue to use this forum and be out of the loop I guess.

[MAYAman]

Lol

Let me get this... You get angry because other people (a team of developers) do not provide you with fresh entertainment?
That is what makes you angry? And what exactly is your contribution?

Money, simple. SMH

[KieferSkunk]

I just tried to direct you to a platform, where you can contact us in a more direct way, like on Discord.

The thing is, the most direct way we could contact you would be via an email address or a Contact Us form on your website. I couldn't find one. The next step is usually the company's own dedicated forum. Sadly, many companies have forums but don't monitor or maintain them anymore, and in Zen's case, the responses are few and far between, without much explanation. Reddit is becoming a de facto secondary forum for companies, but in many ways that can be worse than a company-specific, self-hosted forum, especially given how much "cadre-ism" there is there. And I don't really trust Discord as a means of contact.

Again, "We are a small company" explains lack of staff, but if that lack of staff means lack of timely support, you really should consider making a more blanket announcement about this rather than just giving us the impression that you only check the forum once a week/month.

I appreciate that you've read our comments. I hope they will lead to a better experience for both you and for your customers. Trust me, at least for my part, we're not here to just complain about how terrible things are. We think this is a great game and a good platform. The fact that you have people like us being persistent about staying in contact speaks volumes about how passionate and enthusiastic your customers and fans are about the work you do. As such, we want to be a part of improving it.

The thing that upsets me is when we have to jump through a lot of hoops just to find a way to contact you at all, and then we have to wait a very long time to get any sort of response that at least hints that you might address what we've said. Personally, I'd be happy with a response saying "We are heads down on our new platform and won't be able to investigate or fix these bugs right away", but for the most part I don't recall seeing that. Such a comment, while not necessarily what a lot of us want to hear (everyone of course wants "We'll fix that right away" or "Here's a new patch"), it at least lets us know that you're actually listening and considering our messages. Boiler-plate replies such as "Thanks for the detailed feedback! Contact us somewhere else!" and "We'll look at that in the next meeting" can easily just be copy-pasted without actually saying anything useful, and it often makes us feel ignored and put off.

Like I said, if the issue is that you're short-staffed and you don't have the time or resources to get to the things we're asking for support on, just say so. Be honest. I realize it'll put some people off, but many of us will understand the situation better and, at least for me, be more willing to cut you some slack for it - especially if it inspires some belief that the new platform you're working on will either not have these bugs and glitches, or at least that they'll be easier for you to address. (No game is ever perfect.)

Thanks for listening. I really do hope you'll take this to heart. I do urge you to consider becoming more engaged with this forum again, or closing it and auto-redirecting people to your preferred channels of communication so at least it's clear where we can interact with you better. Up to you, of course, but perhaps doing that will reduce your support burden.

[overall_fanatic]

I am sorry to hear that. I just tried to direct you to a platform, where you can contact us in a more direct way...

I started FX3 on the PS4 after a long time. Nothing, really nothing happend. No patches, no updates. You have a good platform here ... and there was a few questions above asked here. Why directing to another platform??? Why not answering here?

The fact is : In the past the support was good, in some parts great - for your small company. Now we only find this kind of

the kind of boilerplate reply

like "we'll fix it soon, we soon bring you this, we are working on it, we will discuss that in our next meeting...." blablabla....

Fact is - nothing happend for a really long time! And what's more frustrating - the information you gave in the last ~15 month.

In the end we look at the things you offer - and that is not very much in this time!

[KieferSkunk]

Well, given what I've seen on Reddit in general, and your Subreddit in particular, I'm not inclined to sign up there just so I can interact. Not really keen on getting run off the discussion by someone who thinks he owns the place. And my experience with Discord communities is that they almost always end up just being a bunch of fans talking about unrelated things all the time. Perhaps yours is different.

But if those are your preferred channels for customer contact, perhaps you might consider just shutting this forum down and redirecting the link to your Discord and Subreddit, so that people don't waste their time here?