Dialed In!

Games
101

Doodle Bug was ahead of its time!!!

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102

Games like FGY, RCT and Ripley’s all encourage cradling and timing out modes. So unless he wants to drop the flippers like Trudeau, I’d say the rules influence what he dislikes more than the layout. Talk to the rules guy. That said, FGY and Ripley’s are two of my favorite modern Stern’s.

I will say that I’m glad JJP is switching to standard width games and I’m glad Pat’s is the first. I have zero wide bodies on my list of favorite modern games.

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103

Too late to re-theme Archer to “Doodled In”?

I think Pat would have been proud of my non-stop frantic flipping at my local tournament today.

104

What would be the purpose of timing out modes on RBION?

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105

On ripleys, if you get good values on early modes then you could time out a few of the single ball modes to get to the continent jackpot.

106

Europe. Huge risk for very little reward. I generally play around it (slot machine or mode/mb stack), but I’ve seen guys time it out.

107

Same goes for TV wiz mode on FGY. Do good on the first three modes, time out the last two.

108

Since all the modes are either stackable and/or MBs, what would be the reason to time them out? Makes sense on FGY since you have to play them one at a time, but not on Ripley’s. Can’t think of a situation where I’ve done much waiting aside from during “go backwards”… I guess you might want to focus on one at a time once you’re just trying to collect letters towards Atlantis?

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109

Oh yeah I forgot about that. Definitely less reason to time it out then :slight_smile:

Edit:
Guess you could time out road trip since you can’t start continents?

110

That would be a huge mistake if you plan on getting to Atlantis.

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111

Gonna second @heyrocker here and say that a designer makes a game that will be a success if it draws in money. That being said, I think Pat is probably just getting tired of seeing so many games being played as single-ball multiballs. It’s a safe way to play them, but it’s also the least exciting to witness.

Python was also mentioning something before his death about this kind of designing. “I’m not making games for the Josh and Zach Sharpes. I’m making them for the every man.” Most people aren’t going to cradle and pick off jackpots- they’re going to flail around. If this sort of play was not only encouraged but rewarded, it would help not only beginners, but it would force people more familiar with the aspects of pinball to devise new strategies.

There’s a lot we can learn from existing games-what works, what doesn’t, what to avoid, where to go next. Things like the Stern Indiana Jones come to mind in terms of absolute failures when it comes to rules. There’s a lot we can learn from it- it was very exploitable and incredibly repetitive.

I think Pat’s just taking note of games that are recent and deciding that the direction he would like to move- at least his own particular brand of games is further away from the current trends. Maybe it’ll be a huge success; maybe it won’t work as well as he wanted and a patch will have to fix some mistakes. Either way… I’m excited to play Dialed In. Pat spends a lot of time considering every aspect of the game and playfield, and I have no doubt that if he wants you to keep the multiball live the whole time that you’ll be able to send many of your shots where you want without even looking at them.

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112

That place doesn’t exist :slight_smile:

113

Road trip can give you Ripley’s letters?

114

Gives you jewels that add points to the atlantis shots

115

I think its incredibly odd to see a game designer tell players they are not playing “correctly.” Its baffling to me to see a designer tell players that their version of fun isn’t correct.

There are so many great takeaways in terms of design and gameplay that can be drawn from the scenario of a player trapping up and methodically dissecting a game during a multiball, the least of which should be to invalidate that as a skill or strategy. Why not use it as an asset, instead of treating it as a liability?

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116

It’s especially strange considering all of Lawlor’s greats involve multi balls where all the points were from a well-controlled upper flipper shot!

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117

I am baffled. This would be like game designers looking at speed runs to inform their design decisions. Why would they care?

118

100% agree with @cayle, @raydaypinball, and others that cradle/control play shouldn’t be designed out of a pin. It’s a valid and valuable skill. And its benefits don’t come without risks: you’re holding up a flipper and making the center drain much much bigger as well as limiting the shots and flipper skills at your disposal. Plus, it’s a thing of beauty to pull off cradle/control MB (both playing it or watching it).

If a designer wants to limit MB cradle/control skills, they simply need to make the most valuable shots in MB result in a ball that isn’t fed safely back to the same lower flipper. Or require the use of both flippers in the sequence of shots in MB to get big payoffs. Lawlor’s Funhouse, TAF, and TZ are great examples of this: you have to use both flippers to qualify and score repeated jackpot shots. And there are nuances to how each physical version of a pin plays that require a slightly different set of flipper skills and sequencing to pull it off effectively.

119

I’m a competitive player, and generally try and trap up during multiball. Regardless, I think this is a neat feature. You have plenty of time to see that one of your flippers will be disabled. Your options are to shoot back into the attack, collecting the super jackpot, or transfer/shoot the ball away.

My guess is that as a designer, Lawlor is caught between two worlds that are generally very separate: the people annoyed by multiball cradling, and competition players who employ this strategy.

I have games on location, run tournaments and leagues, and I’m confident that this isn’t a problem. People who don’t know about that move are generally amazed and impressed. People who cradle during multiball…those people are probably occasionally annoyed when their opponent does it and is putting up huge scores…because they know they’re going to lose. :slight_smile:

Even having said all that, I think it’s a really cool feature, and I’m looking forward to the game trying to thwart me, even during competitive play.

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120

I was just having a side conversation with @pinwizj where I pointed out that if Pat had just said nothing about “competitive players” and focused instead on its integration into theme, everyone would probably be talking about this cool new feature and strategy around it and how it changes your approach to multiball and stuff. Instead we’re all focused on how Pat wishes we would stop playing pinball. That’s a bummer.

4 Likes