GameSalad Pinball Jam!

245

Comments

  • jay2dxjay2dx Member Posts: 611

    @Lost_Oasis_Games said:
    Too bad the center of mass is screwed up, building the flippers would have been a breeze. Have to use the old method.

    kind of! but why not just double the size of the image document keeping the current flipper size the same, and centre the fliper so that the rotation is correct, then in the physics editor set the collision to the visible flipper graphic only, this way you can rotate the flipper at the image centre but the collision will be correct as it will only effect the visible image, i.e. the flipper!

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922
    edited December 2015

    @jay2dx said:

    @Lost_Oasis_Games said:
    Too bad the center of mass is screwed up, building the flippers would have been a breeze. Have to use the old method.

    kind of! but why not just double the size of the image document keeping the current flipper size the same, and centre the fliper so that the rotation is correct, then in the physics editor set the collision to the visible flipper graphic only, this way you can rotate the flipper at the image centre but the collision will be correct as it will only effect the visible image, i.e. the flipper!

    Ah I already used a trusty method got my flippers working great. Got my first trial layout. I may publish this game once the collisions are worked out. PUCK IT PINBALL.

  • GnarlyGnarly canadaMember Posts: 840

    From Canada your hockey pinball gave a great Xmas smile. Thx

  • mhedgesmhedges Raised on VCS Member Posts: 634

    Nice!

    I'll see if I enter something for the Jam. I used Visual Pinball back in the 2000s, discovering it on December 2000. Very fun software. Problem was, most folks wanted to do VP MAME (real life machines) and not original tables. I eventually lost interest in it.

  • RainbrosRainbros Member Posts: 124

    @jay2dx said:

    kind of! but why not just double the size of the image document keeping the current flipper size the same, and centre the fliper so that the rotation is correct, then in the physics editor set the collision to the visible flipper graphic only, this way you can rotate the flipper at the image centre but the collision will be correct as it will only effect the visible image, i.e. the flipper!

    When I do this, the collision works correctly but my flipper starts rotating from the center of the visible flipper instead of from the center of the image...?

  • jay2dxjay2dx Member Posts: 611

    @Lost_Oasis_Games that looks awesome mate!

    I've been trying with the pinball flipper physics today and i just can't get them to hit the ball with enough force to actually do much pinballing! if you get me! I'm going about it like a platform game, i.e. the ball has -1000 gravity and collides with the flippers / solids, so when the flipper hits the ball and does its flipper motion the ball flys upwards, this works just not very good!

    HELP! haha

  • jay2dxjay2dx Member Posts: 611

    Should i be using the vector to angle of the flipper movement and using that number to make the ball move when hit by a flipper press! just a thought

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    I just used gravity and put a bounce on the flippers but The collision with the paddles is hit and miss. I will be sending the project to the staff to look at.

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,354

    I'm aiming for something a little different from the traditional pinball game, but here's some flipper tips:

    • Set the density of the flipper to considerably higher than the density of the ball
    • Set the flipper to moveable
    • To keep the flipper in place, make two real self attributes - X and Y, and set them to the starting X and Y position of the flipper. Then constrain the flippers location to these two attributes.
    • Make the flipper image longer than the actual image, with the rotational point at the centre (won't be necessary once centre of mass is working correctly but is for now)
    • Rotate the flipper with some kind of "When touch.1.active is true" rule, using a Rotate to Angle, to 30 degrees, relative to scene, both run to completion and stops at destination unchecked. I'm using a speed of 300. In the "Otherwise" of the rule, do the same with 330 degrees.

    I'll see if I can stick up a video or demo file later. This is working well for me, though.

  • jay2dxjay2dx Member Posts: 611

    @Armelline said:
    I'm aiming for something a little different from the traditional pinball game, but here's some flipper tips:

    • Set the density of the flipper to considerably higher than the density of the ball
    • Set the flipper to moveable
    • To keep the flipper in place, make two real self attributes - X and Y, and set them to the starting X and Y position of the flipper. Then constrain the flippers location to these two attributes.
    • Make the flipper image longer than the actual image, with the rotational point at the centre (won't be necessary once centre of mass is working correctly but is for now)
    • Rotate the flipper with some kind of "When touch.1.active is true" rule, using a Rotate to Angle, to 30 degrees, relative to scene, both run to completion and stops at destination unchecked. I'm using a speed of 300. In the "Otherwise" of the rule, do the same with 330 degrees.

    I'll see if I can stick up a video or demo file later. This is working well for me, though.

    Yeah I pretty much exactly that including the constrain stuff, I have my ball gravity set to -800 and flipper movement to 400, I just don't seem to be able to apply enough force, I need to play around with flipper length maybe!

  • jay2dxjay2dx Member Posts: 611

    I'll post my demo file later too actually

  • ArmellineArmelline Member, PRO Posts: 5,354

    Your ball gravity is pretty high. Much higher than mine. I'm accelerating down at speed of 400. Getting a nice, solid, predictable push from the flippers.

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922
    edited December 2015

    @Armelline said:
    Your ball gravity is pretty high. Much higher than mine. I'm accelerating down at speed of 400. Getting a nice, solid, predictable push from the flippers.

    I agree. You should reverse those numbers. 400 on gravity 1000 on the flippers. Speed of impact = more force.

  • ChunkypixelsChunkypixels Member Posts: 1,114

    Hmmmm... GameSalad has always been capable of building decent pinball games, so Im surprised there haven't been that many over the years.

    I did one back in 2011...

    http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/33620/zombie-pinball-iphone/p1

    Sadly I had to sell it on to another developer, with the rest of my games up until that time, at the end of 2012, when I was working for a games studio that didn't like its workers having outside game interests (conflict of interest etc)... but thats a different story...

    I believe the new owner ended up butchering it with adverts... so not sure what state its in these days, or if its even on the stores anymore....

    But yup... will be interesting to see how much more capable GameSalad has become for building pinball games over the past 4-5 years... as like I say, I believe its always been capable of producing decent pinball games...

    I might have to give it a go... :)

  • hzappshzapps Member, PRO Posts: 173

    I need some assistance and recommendations with rotation of the Bumper and the making sure that it stays in place, not being moved by the ball hitting it. I have made the bumper virtually twice the size so that it would rotate in the right direction or pivot.

    Any thoughts are welcome

  • MentalDonkeyGamesMentalDonkeyGames Member Posts: 1,276

    @theazlowes said:
    I need some assistance and recommendations with rotation of the Bumper and the making sure that it stays in place, not being moved by the ball hitting it. I have made the bumper virtually twice the size so that it would rotate in the right direction or pivot.

    Any thoughts are welcome

    See a few posts up. Armelline posted some flipper tips.

    Mental Donkey Games
    Website - Facebook - Twitter

  • BazookaTimeBazookaTime Member Posts: 1,274

    @Chunkypixels said:
    Hmmmm... GameSalad has always been capable of building decent pinball games, so Im surprised there haven't been that many over the years.

    I did one back in 2011...

    http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/33620/zombie-pinball-iphone/p1

    Sadly I had to sell it on to another developer, with the rest of my games up until that time, at the end of 2012, when I was working for a games studio that didn't like its workers having outside game interests (conflict of interest etc)... but thats a different story...

    I believe the new owner ended up butchering it with adverts... so not sure what state its in these days, or if its even on the stores anymore....

    But yup... will be interesting to see how much more capable GameSalad has become for building pinball games over the past 4-5 years... as like I say, I believe its always been capable of producing decent pinball games...

    I might have to give it a go... :)

    I played your game years ago, it was fantastic.

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    @theazlowes said:
    I need some assistance and recommendations with rotation of the Bumper and the making sure that it stays in place, not being moved by the ball hitting it. I have made the bumper virtually twice the size so that it would rotate in the right direction or pivot.

    Any thoughts are welcome

    Do you mean flippers? If it's just a bumper turn off moveable and use the interpolate behavior.

  • jay2dxjay2dx Member Posts: 611

    Well I find if the ball Gravity is not -800 or higher it's movement downwards is pretty slow! I'll give it a go though, plus if you hit a bumper up top and the ball comes down at speed you should be able to hit it back up with some force, enough to hit it back to the top of the screen!

  • Thunder_ChildThunder_Child Member Posts: 2,343

    @jay2dx said:
    Well I find if the ball Gravity is not -800 or higher it's movement downwards is pretty slow! I'll give it a go though, plus if you hit a bumper up top and the ball comes down at speed you should be able to hit it back up with some force, enough to hit it back to the top of the screen!

    How about when collide with bumpers increase its velocity to say...1600 for a spell.

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    @jay2dx said:
    Well I find if the ball Gravity is not -800 or higher it's movement downwards is pretty slow! I'll give it a go though, plus if you hit a bumper up top and the ball comes down at speed you should be able to hit it back up with some force, enough to hit it back to the top of the screen!

    Gravity should be a + number. I have mine set to 400 on the Y

  • ChunkypixelsChunkypixels Member Posts: 1,114

    @Lost_Oasis_Games got it right with the Gravity...

    I personally found the following to be the best:
    Ball: accelerate 400 in 270 direction (down), density of 0.1, Friction 3 and bounciness 0.2, and a max speed of 900.

    Flippers: Density 300, friction of 3, Bounciness 0.

    With those settings it seems to fix the issue with the ball sometimes going through the flipper, but gives a nice solid feel for when the ball collides with the flipper.

  • ChunkypixelsChunkypixels Member Posts: 1,114
    edited December 2015

    Quick question regarding the new collision shapes.... are people using it to define the edge collision of their pinball table? Can it be done in one collision shape?

    Ive not yet updated to the version of creator with the new collision shapes, due to doing client work and not wanting to break things... but Im guessing there new collision shapes is going to save me time in laying out the collision of the table/s... but don't want to risk breaking anything, as it seems to get mixed reviews as to its stability...

    ...so will the new collision shapes save me time/give me a better table collision compared to just laying out lots of invisible collision squares?

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    @Chunkypixels said:
    Quick question regarding the new collision shapes.... are people using it to define the edge collision of their pinball table? Can it be done in one collision shape?

    Ive not yet updated to the version of creator with the new collision shapes, due to doing client work and not wanting to break things... but Im guessing there new collision shapes is going to save me time in laying out the collision of the table/s... but don't want to risk breaking anything, as it seems to get mixed reviews as to its stability...

    ...so will the new collision shapes save me time/give me a better table collision compared to just laying out lots of invisible collision squares?

    Collision shapes are working fine for me with static objects. It's my moving flippers that are inconsistent.

  • tmanntmann Member Posts: 278
    edited December 2015

    @Chunkypixels great stuff - thanks a million for the physics numbers. Despite using/playing with GS on and off for over six years I have often found the physics settings to be frustratingly weird and invariably making no sense when compared to the real world. When large adjustments seem to make no change in the behaviour of an actor something has to be wrong somewhere. (probably me:)

    Added to the fact that I have a goldfish like short term memory I have often given up when trying to achieve a specific effect.

    @Chunkypixels said:
    Quick question regarding the new collision shapes.... are people using it to define the edge collision of their pinball table? Can it be done in one collision shape?

    Ive not yet updated to the version of creator with the new collision shapes, due to doing client work and not wanting to break things... but Im guessing there new collision shapes is going to save me time in laying out the collision of the table/s... but don't want to risk breaking anything, as it seems to get mixed reviews as to its stability...

    ...so will the new collision shapes save me time/give me a better table collision compared to just laying out lots of invisible collision squares?

    You could certainly do your whole pinball table in one collision file - should save you loads of time and given Physics Body Editor even has advanced features like multiple select and snap to grid you will feel like you are firmly in the 21st century ;)

    There is currently a tiny little bug when dealing with multiple shapes with the exporter for Physics Editor -

    http://forums.gamesalad.com/discussion/comment/568571/#Comment_568571

    given that Physics Body Editor is free, has better layout tools and a superior auto shaping algorithm it is probably the one to go for - go for the version here which is packaged with the correct java so will always work.

    http://brainfisheatfishbrain.com/2015/03/physics-body-editor-java-7-mac-os-x.html

    half way down the page "here is a version" link in red - it is someones dropbox so linking directly feels odd :)

  • mhedgesmhedges Raised on VCS Member Posts: 634

    Man, the flippers really have me at my wit's end. The physics are just not there for me. I cannot replicate a nice flipping behavior; it's as if the flipper had some glue and the ball just stuck to it when flipping.

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    @mhedges said:
    Man, the flippers really have me at my wit's end. The physics are just not there for me. I cannot replicate a nice flipping behavior; it's as if the flipper had some glue and the ball just stuck to it when flipping.

    That is a bug. It's happening to me as well. I sent in a project for the staff to look at.

  • The_Gamesalad_GuruThe_Gamesalad_Guru Member Posts: 9,922

    @tmann said:
    @Chunkypixels great stuff - thanks a million for the physics numbers. Despite using/playing with GS on and off for over six years I have often found the physics settings to be frustratingly weird and invariably making no sense when compared to the real world. When large adjustments seem to make no change in the behaviour of an actor something has to be wrong somewhere. (probably me:)

    See the meetup I did a month ago on the physics engine. I explain why that all is. I even provided a data sheet of testing results.

  • jay2dxjay2dx Member Posts: 611

    100% my flippers are acting like glue too! It's taking up too much of my time actually so maybe have to duck out of this jam I'm afraid :( would rather not but I can't spare the time making a work around, back to my main game I think, but looking forward to the entry's

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