The Munsters v0.91 - Code bugs / wishlist

I just setup Munsters on location, and here is my feedback so far on v0.91:

My location is a dark bar, as I’m sure many locations are, and some of the lighting effects on Munsters make it impossible to track the ball.

In particular, after hitting Spot during the mode, the playfield goes dark momentarily and you cannot track the ball whatsoever.

There are also some Jackpot animations where the lights sweep and again you cannot track the ball at all without lots of ambient lighting in the room, something many locations will not have.

Perhaps a setting to disable the most intense lighting effects would do the job.

As it is now, people are starting to time out the Spot mode because hitting the target and not being able to see the ball return is instant death and extremely frustrating.

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  • Is Grandpa supposed to stack into Spot?

  • Handling of scores over 1 billion - is the game supposed to roll a la an EM?

  • Fix the bug where the multiplied value of each Munster Madness hurry-up rolls into the base of the next one that’s even causing billion point scores to happen at all. :wink:
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I mean, of course…

But while we’re at it, spin it into a positive!

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On our Munsters on location they opted to put a 5 second ball saver on. If you begin a ball with Munster Madness ready to go, there is no ball saver. This seems like a bug.

Yes, for sure a bug. I did this twice on ball 3 yesterday. Game (pro) also has the ball saver turned on. Short plunged both times. One went SDTM without hitting a switch and the other one went down the right outlane after a bounce. Shoot again insert flashing all the way through.

The good news is that I think I hit the MM bug later. Didn’t get GC, but damb close.

Severe lighting issues mentioned by the OP seem to be a recurring “feature” in games by uh, certain coders. Add to the list: Spot flasher not implemented yet. It’s basically impossible to see if he’s up in a dark room. You can tell these games are developed in a well-lit office with little to no regard for real world conditions.

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I wonder if this is software or mechanical related? Can’t be 100% certain these days - we have the same issue at Kickback.

Just set up a Munsters today and the first time I had Spot up I was like “WHY ISN’T THE BALL GOING UP THE RAMP?!?” It’s super hard to see Spot unless you have an overhead light right above the game. I hadn’t watched any video or really even read up on the game enough to know there was a “gopher target” there. Seems like a fun shooter so far and I’m sure the code issues will work itself out as updates come but not sure if lack of lighting can be overcome with software.

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Does the one at Kickback have the ball saver turned on too?

The game was programmed with no ball save at ball start, so it sure looks to me like a software issue. If I remember right, both ball 3’s, with MM lit at the scoop, the shoot again insert started flashing as soon as the ball hit the shooter lane and kept flashing until the ball hit a trough switch. Don’t think previous balls started with the insert flashing right away. Have to validate the playfield with a few switches before the flashing starts?

One weird thing I noticed is that once you start instant info, you have to toggle using the left flipper. I’ve always toggled with the right flipper, so it took me a couple of tries to figure it out. The II depth seems pretty good so far, although I do need more time on the game to understand it all. Just seems weird that the toggle side would change.

wish list-

  • be able to “cancel” mystery if ball falls in there and a player doesn’t want the mystery award yet (if trying to stack super jackpots esp) or be able to re-light mystery somehow. As it is now, only one mystery per game.
    -Large screen images showing how many super jackpots are avail at the dragula lane esp to be shown right when the ball falls into the dragula shooter (before it starts scrolling through one at a time).

more crazy sounds and call outs like DP and GOTG have:)

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Yes, but the right outlane switch is 100% disabled - it never triggers.

Here’s the thing with Mystery though. On the new code it always qualifies the Mystery Super Jackpot and awards one other thing, typically starting up another mode. There wouldn’t really be a benefit to cancelling Mystery IMO.

As for the Super Jackpots, there is a counter on the bottom of the display showing the amount of SJs qualified, but it’s kinda difficult to see.

There also is a blink code as per rulesheet:

Slow blink rate - 1 or 2
Medium blink rate - 3
Fast blink rate - 4+

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I’m sure that stuff looks great on a developer’s desktop screen, but from 4 or 5 feet away in the game? Nope. And I have 20/10 vision with my contact lenses.

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Midnight Madness causes the game to reboot :exploding_head:

Herman MB was running when MM started last night.
First time I have seen MM, and the lighting effects are again very troublesome.
At least with Data East games you could manually disable the on/off relay to stop the intense blinking of lights that make it very difficult to see what is happening on the playfield.

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I don’t mind crazy lighting in a novelty mode, but yeah, the crash is pretty rough.

True, not a big deal for a novelty mode at all.

The real gameplay is when it is is important to be able to actually see the ball.

MM has been disabled for now as I don’t think clients will enjoy losing a 4 player game to a software crash.

In tournament mode canceling mystery would be beneficial as it always awards light kitty. So more or less ball falls in scoop very early in game accidentally and lights kitty even if you don’t want to or it already is lit.

1 Like

Lit kitties stack, but your point remains.