I always thought "Hey, you know what would be pretty cool? a head-to-head pinball game. Surely someone must have done that at some time?"
Well turns out someone has, but it's from a long time ago so it's pretty simplistic:
But then I found this.. a very RARE Joust pinball game:
Which is just AWESOME, especially with the sounds from the game
Saturday, January 8, 2011
steel pinball test
Got my real deal steel pinball. As you can see from the video below, it appears I have enough strength to pop the ball. Can't know for sure until I build a full size table, but so far it's looking good
Even though this actuator seems to be working out, I ordered a pair of what I believe to be higher torque and more weight driven actuators (more internal gears and higher rpm motor I believe). It's rated as one that's applicable when more force is needed (heavier door), so the new ones should work that much better. Picked up the pair for $13+shipping, which I don't think is unreasonable. This is totally working out, which is better than I expected.
Even though this actuator seems to be working out, I ordered a pair of what I believe to be higher torque and more weight driven actuators (more internal gears and higher rpm motor I believe). It's rated as one that's applicable when more force is needed (heavier door), so the new ones should work that much better. Picked up the pair for $13+shipping, which I don't think is unreasonable. This is totally working out, which is better than I expected.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
12v flipper proof of concept
Finally decided to mockup a very rough "proof of concept" using some scrap wood from my basement. This is a flipper that is powered by an actuator from a automotive door lock as apposed to a solenoid. Much simpler design, lower power. I don't yet have a real pinball ball to test with (one on order), but it still looks somewhat promising even if I am using a tennis ball.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
tommy boy pinball
Ok, so I started messing around with visual pinball.. Got frustrated (mostly because it's so old), but did manage to figure out how multiple flippers work in the scripts. Turns out most of the same script tags work in future pinball (which is superior) for many reasons:
1. It's true 3d (camera can be moved
2. You can import custom 3d objects
3. It supports layers so it's easier to see levels
4. sounds are much easier to attach to objects
Anyway, although VERY rough right now, I did manage to get some graphics laid down and some sound effects imported to targets
One thing I've definately noticed while building a pinball virtually is that it doesn't take much to get a ball stuck without proper design. While I would love to just get my hands dirty and start building a physical table, there's definitely something to be said about prototyping first and working out the bugs.
Also whenever I DO get my real physical pinball machine started, they do in fact sell a diecast of the 67 GTX car that I could put right in the center of the playfield!
1. It's true 3d (camera can be moved
2. You can import custom 3d objects
3. It supports layers so it's easier to see levels
4. sounds are much easier to attach to objects
Anyway, although VERY rough right now, I did manage to get some graphics laid down and some sound effects imported to targets
One thing I've definately noticed while building a pinball virtually is that it doesn't take much to get a ball stuck without proper design. While I would love to just get my hands dirty and start building a physical table, there's definitely something to be said about prototyping first and working out the bugs.
Also whenever I DO get my real physical pinball machine started, they do in fact sell a diecast of the 67 GTX car that I could put right in the center of the playfield!
Got my actuator
So I hooked it up to a battery. The good and the bad:
Good: I was worried I'd have to reverse the voltage to retract it. As soon as I remove power, it retracts. That means I can totally just wire it up to a button.
Bad: It's not quite as strong as I'd hoped, but it could possibly work. That plus I think this is only a 2lb actuator, I can still buy a 10lb actuator for about $20.
Also regarding the soundboard, I figured out a much better way to do it than initially thought. I got a Soundtrack shirt for christmas:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/a5bf/
which is $30 and has 20 seperate sound banks that stores on an SD card (I believe as long of a sound as you want). If you add up $5 each for a card sound module I found previously x 20 = $100. So if I buy another soundtrack shirt to hack, it would totally cover more than enough sounds for a pinball machine (plus everything is stored on a single SD card, which makes it easier to update sounds).
Good: I was worried I'd have to reverse the voltage to retract it. As soon as I remove power, it retracts. That means I can totally just wire it up to a button.
Bad: It's not quite as strong as I'd hoped, but it could possibly work. That plus I think this is only a 2lb actuator, I can still buy a 10lb actuator for about $20.
Also regarding the soundboard, I figured out a much better way to do it than initially thought. I got a Soundtrack shirt for christmas:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/tshirts-apparel/interactive/a5bf/
which is $30 and has 20 seperate sound banks that stores on an SD card (I believe as long of a sound as you want). If you add up $5 each for a card sound module I found previously x 20 = $100. So if I buy another soundtrack shirt to hack, it would totally cover more than enough sounds for a pinball machine (plus everything is stored on a single SD card, which makes it easier to update sounds).
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