Game Unification Suggestion

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  • Xeonic-Ice
    Member
    • Feb 2012
    • 31

    Game Unification Suggestion

    Hello!

    I wanted to start off with the fact that I absolutely love Zen Pinball in it's many forms and will pretty much buy anything you guys throw out at this point. I'm always anxiously awaiting the next table announcement/release and seriously cannot get enough. I've even met a few people from Zen at California Extreme and at PAX, who have always been so pleasant with their fans.

    I know I'm a very small minority but I have a PS3, Vita, PS4, 3DS, Wii U, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox One all hooked up to my entertainment center (with the exception of the handhelds of course). I own the tables on PSN and 3DS but PSN is is my main method for experiencing these fantastic tables. The cross buy PSN features for these tables are unmatched by the other platforms.

    One of the things that has been bugging me for a while is the lack of a truly unified title on any of the platforms. I know Zen Pinball 2 houses all of the tables on PS3/Vita with a shared leaderboard, and that's great. But it's missing what makes the standalone titles special, specifically Marvel and Star Wars. I really don't see why those can't be compartmentalized within the same roof of Zen Pinball 2. When talking to friends, I can never remember which title I had scored higher on because the leaderboards aren't shared between them. For instance, I had scored over 1 billion points on the Clone Wars table but couldn't remember if it was the standalone title or ZP2. My friend had a higher score on one of them and I didn't feel like trying to make it official by beating him on the other title. This isn't a huge problem but it certainly causes fatigue on my end trying to beat every one of my friends (same friends list on each), jumping from one title to the other because I'm competitive. I was even very confused that the Doctor Strange table was not available for the Marvel Pinball title, which basically confirms that it's no longer supported. I was really disappointed by that because I loved the interface, the artwork, the menus, and the hero scores. I'm sure Star Wars Pinball will go the same route eventually.

    I would absolutely love it if these were all more unified, leaderboards and the special standalone titles in their own sections within the main title. I understand that the engines are all pretty different and the scores will definitely reflect that, but why not incorporate them all into the same title? If you played a table on PS3 but your friend played on Vita or PS4, or played on Marvel/Star Wars, have them in the same leaderboards with an icon to represent what title and platform the score had been achieved. I know the physics had been improved going from Marvel Pinball to Zen Pinball 2, making shots a lot easier, so having an identifier showing the specific platform/title would allow players to see where it came from and also be able to compare the challenges. When a friend says "Dude! I just beat your score on X" I fire up the game, look at the leaderboards and realize it was a different title.

    I'd also love to be able to save precious space on my Vita's memory card (absurdly overpriced) and having to download the same tables twice just to experience the standalone version just seems like a waste. Never mind having to download them one by one, per title, per platform...

    Unless there are some huge technical hurdles that I'm not aware of or that this is significantly more costly to do, I can't imagine that a unified system wouldn't be better for everyone involved. I'm very familiar with game development so I understand that there are many variables to consider but seeing as how prolific you guys are and how many platforms you've released on, I know you guys can do it . It's likely a matter of if it's more or less profitable which isn't my area of expertise. I would even purchase all of the tables again if you were able to create that sort of experience.

    This could all be entirely my fault for owning too many platforms but I seriously love what you do and will continue praising your games to every person I encounter. I'm just passionate about playing/making games and it's obvious you guys are too. I even got an office of 20 people addicted and competing in ZP2/Marvel Pinball during breaks at my old job, many of which weren't even pinball fans until then.

    Hopefully this wall of text is helpful and I'd love to know what everyone thinks.
    Marvel Table Wishlist: Maximum Carnage, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Spider-Man 2099, Dark Reign, Daredevil, Age of Apocalypse

    Other Table Wishlist: Blue Man Group, Cirque Du Solei, Tron, Portal, Warhammer 40k (or Space Hulk), Blood Bowl, Cosmic Encounter, Formula D
  • Cloda
    Pinball Wizard
    • Nov 2010
    • 1182

    #2
    Originally posted by Xeonic-Ice
    Hello!

    I know I'm a very small minority but I have a PS3, Vita, PS4, 3DS, Wii U, Wii, Xbox 360, Xbox One all hooked up to my entertainment center (with the exception of the handhelds of course). I own the tables on PSN and 3DS but PSN is is my main method for experiencing these fantastic tables. The cross buy PSN features for these tables are unmatched by the other platforms.

    I would absolutely love it if these were all more unified, leaderboards and the special standalone titles in their own sections within the main title. I understand that the engines are all pretty different and the scores will definitely reflect that, but why not incorporate them all into the same title? If you played a table on PS3 but your friend played on Vita or PS4, or played on Marvel/Star Wars, have them in the same leaderboards with an icon to represent what title and platform the score had been achieved. I know the physics had been improved going from Marvel Pinball to Zen Pinball 2, making shots a lot easier, so having an identifier showing the specific platform/title would allow players to see where it came from and also be able to compare the challenges. When a friend says "Dude! I just beat your score on X" I fire up the game, look at the leaderboards and realize it was a different title.

    Unless there are some huge technical hurdles that I'm not aware of or that this is significantly more costly to do, I can't imagine that a unified system wouldn't be better for everyone involved. I'm very familiar with game development so I understand that there are many variables to consider but seeing as how prolific you guys are and how many platforms you've released on, I know you guys can do it . It's likely a matter of if it's more or less profitable which isn't my area of expertise. I would even purchase all of the tables again if you were able to create that sort of experience.

    Hopefully this wall of text is helpful and I'd love to know what everyone thinks.
    First of all, what a blessed man for having all those gaming platforms. I barely have time to snatch an hour here and there to play on my Xbox. This will probably be interpreted as a rude statement, but I can't help but seriously hope that you have a life outside of gaming

    Anyway, back on topic. My common sense is telling me that there will be innumerable issues with a sony platform leaderboard showing up on a microsoft platform etc. I would love to see an unified leaderboard, even if it is just online. To be honest though, these days scoring above a billion on a table lands you somewhere in the top 20, but to get anywhere close to the top scores on a table you will need to lock yourself in a little room for a couple of days. I'm am thus more than happy with a billion plus score that I can acquire in a reasonable time, so leaderboards don't really have that much interest to me any more. What it basically comes down to, is that there are too many spammable opportunities on zen's tables where you only need to take minimal risk to reach huge scores... there is surely some skill involved in that, but it is definitely not the challenge I'm looking for when starting up a new Zen Studios table.
    XBox One Gamertag - PinStratsDan

    Pinball FX3 Tips & Strategy Guide YouTube Channel - PinStratsDan

    Discord server - PinStratsDan

    Twitter - PinStratsDan

    Facebook - PinStratsDan

    Cloda's somewhat vain and sort of self-indulgent thread

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    • Xeonic-Ice
      Member
      • Feb 2012
      • 31

      #3
      I'm not specifically looking for unified leaderboards between Microsoft/Nintendo/Sony because that's unlikely to ever happen. It was more about unifying the standalone titles with the main title. On PS3/PS4/Vita they all access the same exact friends list but the standalone titles Marvel/Star Wars Pinball have separate leaderboards from Zen Pinball 2.

      And no offense taken since I completely understand that I'm in a minority in terms of platforms. I do have a life outside of gaming but it does take up most of it.

      Totally me: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO3TdUMafVg
      Marvel Table Wishlist: Maximum Carnage, Nightcrawler, Iceman, Spider-Man 2099, Dark Reign, Daredevil, Age of Apocalypse

      Other Table Wishlist: Blue Man Group, Cirque Du Solei, Tron, Portal, Warhammer 40k (or Space Hulk), Blood Bowl, Cosmic Encounter, Formula D

      Comment

      • Cloda
        Pinball Wizard
        • Nov 2010
        • 1182

        #4
        Any unified leaderboards out there somewhere so that we can keep track of the best scores across all platforms?
        XBox One Gamertag - PinStratsDan

        Pinball FX3 Tips & Strategy Guide YouTube Channel - PinStratsDan

        Discord server - PinStratsDan

        Twitter - PinStratsDan

        Facebook - PinStratsDan

        Cloda's somewhat vain and sort of self-indulgent thread

        Comment

        • Chili
          Community Representative
          • Mar 2018
          • 226

          #5
          Hey Cloda! Unfortunately we don't know if any unified leaderboards exist.

          Comment

          • Cloda
            Pinball Wizard
            • Nov 2010
            • 1182

            #6
            Thanks for the response. I don't have time to figure it out myself but it would be cool if something can be done. I found this by Pinball Arcade and it is more or less what I have in mind - http://www.pinballarcade.com/Leaderboards/. I don't know how they do it, but I assume it updates automatically from the different platform services. Off-course Zen Pinball 2 on Mac still doesn't have online leaderboards but at least you will be able to get an idea of what the scoring range is for a good score on a table from the other platforms.
            XBox One Gamertag - PinStratsDan

            Pinball FX3 Tips & Strategy Guide YouTube Channel - PinStratsDan

            Discord server - PinStratsDan

            Twitter - PinStratsDan

            Facebook - PinStratsDan

            Cloda's somewhat vain and sort of self-indulgent thread

            Comment

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