Ball Physics

[L33]

For me, the 2 main pinball games are Zen Pinball and Farsight TPA. They're both quite different games to play. Somebody asked me which do I prefer...my answer was fairly complex. But ultimately I said TPA.

The thing is, it all comes down to ball physics.

Back tracking a little...Zen Pinball is fantasy pinball where as TPA is based on real tables. This doesn't matter to me, real or fantasy, if I like the table that's what matters...so no winner here.

However, Zens graphics are far superior in quality. I know there are reasons for this, but nonetheless, Zen wins hands down.

Another plus for me is the cabinet support. Farsight are missing a treat here...cab builders are looking for good support from people like Zen and FS...fortunately Zen listened and produced a really easy Cab Setup system.

On a similar note, Zen are so much more approachable and a feel they really listen to their audience...and my cab looks great because of the help I received from Zen...so I can't fault that in any way.

But credit to Farsight...their ball physics are brilliant. I'm not impressed with the clarity of their play fields, camera angles aren't great for cabs, dmd is only possible with a mod and sound on most games is poor. But ball physics makes the game feel so realistic and because of that realism I feel I play TPA more because of that single reason.

Would it be ok to ask if I am alone on this opinion or does anybody else feel this? The reason I ask is that in my opinion, Zen has the potential to be the ultimate pinball games...graphics are excellent, sound is spot on, themes are great...love Aliens by the way...cab support is available...but I think the ball physics let it down.

If I'm the only one who feels this, I'll just have to accept the physics for what they are, but my question would be to Zen (if that's ok)...how do you (Zen) feel the physics compare to the likes of TPA and are there plans to improve the ball physics. If Zen Pinball had the ball physics of TPA...I don't think I'd be switching Zen Pinball off...because to me it's only missing decent ball physics.

These are just my thoughts by the way...I may be on my own here so please don't take my thoughts as being everyone's thoughts...but it would be good to here what others think if that's ok? I think Zen Pinball is a great game and if it can be made better, then surely that's a good thing.

[Uwe]

you are not the only one.same thing for me. i hope that they fix this in the next version of the game.

[MuddyWolf]

I don’t see many major physics changes happening in the next iteration of the game because I don’t see them just throwing away the library of tables they’ve created so far. And they were created with the current physics engine. A simple example, imagine they take nudge passes out of the game. This would make a lot of timed missions almost impossible to complete. They would have to go back and redo so many of them. The expenses and the amount of work would be absolutely huge.

I expect improvements in the graphics department in FX3 (especially the lighting), more complex tables, more features. goals and modes. (Think Doom, playing without kick backs, ball saves and extra balls.) And hopefully great online play and in-game tournaments (Twitch integration would be awesome!)

My personal wish for FX3 will probably remain just that. I love playing Wizard mode runs, beating a table in the shortest time possible, so my hope/wish would be that every table had a feature to quickly start up missions and switch off all side-quests. It would be great competing against other Wizard mode runners.

Oh, and a random table button would be nice too

[shazamic]

(For the button idea, you can use my batch to launch PBFx2 with a random map : http://forum.zenstudios.com/showthre...ith-random-map )

[MuddyWolf]

(For the button idea, you can use my batch to launch PBFx2 with a random map : http://forum.zenstudios.com/showthre...ith-random-map )

Hey. Thanks for the tip
Great. I'll try it tonight

[L33]

Been a bit disappointed with the ball physics so for some unknown reason I had a few games on the PS4 and the 2 versions seem very different. Not sure if it's the views, but ps4 in 3D is very good indeed. And whilst 3D does have the edge, it's still pretty good in 2d. I do wish it looked this good on my cab so I'm not quite sure where the differences lie. I'm guessing the ps4 and PC have different graphics etc, but I have no idea. One things for sure, the ps4 version makes TPA look like something from the 80s. Just bought Rogue one for ps4 but will still buy on steam...besides, I have a promise too keep.

Does anyone know if the ps4 and PC versions are built differently etc? I'd love to be able to get the ps4 look into the PC/cab.

[Dragon36]

One thing that drives me crazy with some of the tables is when the ball magically stops, usually allowing the player to easily time a shot with side flippers, or in walking dead near the bumpers. This should be an easy mode for kids, that can be disabled. It just about ruins the experience.