Pinball FX 2 - bugs/issues and recommendations

[LeanderL]

Typo I am playing with a friend at the moment. Our temporary workaround is to load the table settings, select 4 balls per game and let the 1st ball of each player drain. Online scores won't be saved as you've adjusted the table's setting but unfortunately, local highscores are saved. Either save them and keep them (local scores don't matter as you have 4 balls but the 1st one is useless) or delete/reset them afterwards (your scores will be lost though).

[Typo]

Really?

We're on a schedule of patching the game every other week, so the next one should hit on or before August 9th.

Why on earth would you try and maintain a 2 week patch cycle? Google Chrome is known for its extremely fast release schedule and they are 6 weeks apart and even that is unusually often. They are only able to do so thanks to their huge team of developer and by maintaining publicly released development and beta branches so that users wanting to help work out bugs while enjoying updates early can do so without having updates or patches pushed to the public with untested or incomplete features/fixes.

You are clearly pushing updates without testing them and misleading the public about what you are doing. Your last update to fix "Russian Language Errors", which the post you made about seems to have vanished, clearly did more than that. I can't imagine how bad your code would have to be for language edits to effect the player score and do it so badly that the score somehow gets forwarded to the next player but only on the first ball.

You have a pretty large fan base and I know a good number of them would willingly install a beta branch of your game. Other games in Steam do this, you can too and you would have easily avoided publicly releasing a patch that so significantly breaks your game. It's not like this is some minor issue you created.

To push a release before it was ready or properly tested and then have that patch break the game in a way that makes some of your customers unable to enjoy it is bad enough but to leave the patch until your next scheduled update cycle is insane. Why wouldn't you push an "emergency" patch to simply undo your previous changes?

I honestly do not feel like you are giving this situation the attention or priority it deserves and it certainly indicates a need to review your internal policies for testing and release.

My dad has gone from being overly excited to wanting me to try and get a refund. I have gone from being overly excited to feeling like an idiot for paying full price for the first time ever in Steam, on 3 of your game packs, only to have the game broken by the developers who then plan to leave it this way for the next 2 weeks.

I don't even know what else to say, I'm just disappointed.

[surf1der]

Lol, typo. I could only imagine how disappointed you would be if you had any other version than the steam version. Not only is it their newest platform, it is by far the best supported platform.

[Typo]

Lol, typo. I could only imagine how disappointed you would be if you had any other version than the steam version. Not only is it their newest platform, it is by far the best supported platform.

Honestly, if it weren't for my fathers reversal in attitude towards the game, I wouldn't be nearly as annoyed by the situation though I would still find it rather silly. This was the first thing he's been excited about doing with me that I can actually do (I'm disabled) and we were both pretty happy those first 2 nights and then the update came and I told him not to worry, they would get right on it, that companies who release a bad patch almost always fix it right away, but I was wrong and when I told him what was said about the problem, his attitude towards the whole game changed. Like I mentioned in my previous post, his liver is in the final stage of cirrhosis and that causes high ammonia levels which effect him mentally so he is much more easily aggravated and that isn't helping either.

[BarbieBobomb]

Like I said before, it could come before August 9th. Sorry for the inconvenience.

[zaphod77]

My usual method of handling the skillshot with keyboard is to hold for max power, then keep it held down until the plunger is where i want it.

It works well for a lot of tables, though some seem rather unfair. It seems there's a random factor in the plunger which is not present on xbox360. This is most obvious on epic quest, where i can get the skillshot every time except on PC, and on ghost rider, where even the autoplunger doesn't automatically get top hole (it does 100% on 360).

I can't even hit the skillshot on epic quest 99% of the time with the controller on windows like i can on xbox. And my 100% trick for getting the ghost rider one with just the launch button fails on PC as well.

[The Loafer]

Man, I realize its not fun to deal with waiting for a patch but some need to relax a bit. What has been suggested of Zen is akin to saying they don't care at all, with no understanding that the realities at zen such as staff availability, other priorities, etc should not lead to a near instant bug fix. If Barbie had popped in saying ok, patch is coming in a couple of days and then its not out within a few days, I shudder to think of the reaction.

Programming in a multi platform environment is not as easy as its made out to be by the "experts". There was a mistake made, a bad bug sneaked through but because zen obviously cares about their good name, they WILL be addressing this ASAP. If they didn't this would obviously lead to lost sales etc. Give them two weeks to take care of this, please, then if they don't react, let them know but have they not earned this patience from the huge content and damn fine job they've shown addressing the previous bugs?

[Typo]

Man, I realize its not fun to deal with waiting for a patch but some need to relax a bit. What has been suggested of Zen is akin to saying they don't care at all, with no understanding that the realities at zen such as staff availability, other priorities, etc should not lead to a near instant bug fix. If Barbie had popped in saying ok, patch is coming in a couple of days and then its not out within a few days, I shudder to think of the reaction.

Programming in a multi platform environment is not as easy as its made out to be by the "experts". There was a mistake made, a bad bug sneaked through but because zen obviously cares about their good name, they WILL be addressing this ASAP. If they didn't this would obviously lead to lost sales etc. Give them two weeks to take care of this, please, then if they don't react, let them know but have they not earned this patience from the huge content and damn fine job they've shown addressing the previous bugs?

I know all about the difficulties of programming as I do coding myself which is why I know that releasing a patch to undo your previous patch is a VERY simple procedure. I already explained that my first experience with this game was only a week ago so I cannot speak on how much appreciation the company deserves but one thing that is obvious to all of us is what a fantastic game they have developed.

I just want to spend every minute I can playing this with my dad while he is able to and still around and I think I am making a bit of a bigger deal out of it than it may deserve but until I sent them an email last night I did't even have a clue the company was so small and I will admit that does change things a little.

I still think a 2 week release cycle (especially for such a small company) will without a doubt lead to bugs like this making it through more often than they should. Two weeks is not enough time to code all your next updates bug fixes and feature enhancements, run your unit tests, commit the patch locally, thoroughly test all areas where anything may have been affected by your update, have someone else test (and preferably do a quick code audit of your patch) an then finally publish the actual update patch and release.

As far as them not caring, until I sent an email, I did not feel like they cared. The responses here were honestly very impersonal considering the level of personal information I gave. If she had just said something like "I completely understand your frustration and we will get this fixed A.S.A.P." or even more appropriately "I'm sorry to hear about your father but am glad you enjoy our game so much and have found a way to spend time together. We are working on the bug that was introduced and will get the fix out as soon as possible. Please remember, we are a small team doing our best." I think the rest of my complaining wouldn't have even happened.

[BarbieBobomb]

Sorry to seem impersonal - it's been a super crazy week with the game and DLC launching on 2 platforms. I do read each thread and try to respond when I have time to (keep in mind, I'm the only community manager, though some of the team will stop by on occasion). Apologies!

[Typo]

Sorry to seem impersonal - it's been a super crazy week with the game and DLC launching on 2 platforms. I do read each thread and try to respond when I have time to (keep in mind, I'm the only community manager, though some of the team will stop by on occasion). Apologies!

Thanks, I appreciate the apology.

Sounds like you guys are taking on a lot right now but also enjoying some great success.

I look forward to this problem being fixed and seeing what tables you guys add next.

[ZenPinballFan]

Attack on Kamino mission on Clone Wars table. When I hit the frozen ball, it doesn't move. This bug is since the release day. I can't even play this table anymore 'cause I can't complete this mission and move on to the wizard mode. The more tables I play, more disappointed I get in this game. Do you guys even test the tables before you release them? Programming students on universities are failing the exams because of small errors, and on the other hand, people are making money on Steam for releasing broken games. Not one bug I reported on this thread has been fixed. Thanks.

[Typo]

Just wanted to say. I have officially payed full price for every available table on Steam.

This is the first time ever paying full price for any game on Steam and I know there was just a sale but we didn't discover the game until after it. It would suck if a sale came in the next few days but the game is so fun it doesn't really matter.

I just wanted to post this because if someone who was doing as much complaining as me still buys everything he can in the game, that has to say something about how awesome it is.

[Paljas]

Mono audio & highscore entry

Hi, thanks for sharing Sorcerer's Lair. It runs perfectly smooth, though there are two issues:

1. Music is mono, downgrades the experience, which is otherwise fantastic;

2. Entering highscores is a pain:
2a. First of all, I would prefer the keyboard;
2b. Secondly, on pressing 'Enter' it always registers the letter twice! So I have to delete the double, and make sure the last one is ok, because it will not allow me to change it (second registered Enter will probably confirm entry).

[Celebane]

Right Kickpack on Epic Quest underpowered

I'm not sure if there is supposed to be a random factor to the kickback's power and I just happen to be unlucky or if it's a bug but 90% of the time the right kickback doesn't clear the ball from the lane and it still drains. There is the occasional time when it will attempt a second kickback but this is halfhearted at best and is more like a weak table nudge than a kickback. Only about 5% of the time does the ball actually make it back into play. I've never had any problem out of the left kick back which leads me to think this might be a bug with the kickback's power or it might also be more with the placement of the bumper at the top of the lane or the curvature of the lane not letting the ball clear before it falls back down.

[Imagamejunky]

Barbie,
Do you have any good news for us yet? Any idea when we can expect to have an update to fix the hot seat problems and double initials? I think most of us would be happy if you could just revert it back to the previous version before this last update.