Custom Meteor Project

Restoration/upgrades/fixes/fabrication of pins and vids
User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

I played Meteor for about two days before starting to think about ways I would like to change the rules. It's a great game but fairly easy to master and without any depth to speak of. A quick search turned up this:

Custom Pinball Controller

I placed an order before even reading the whole description. :lol: That was on January 5th. The kit arrived this week:
custompin.jpg
Total cost delivered was $457.80. I dodged a bullet at the post office and wasn't charged any tax or fees.

Unfortunately I can't install it yet - first the machine has to be converted to use all LED bulbs. The new boards don't support incandescent. Hopefully the bulb order will arrive soon.

In the meantime I'll just sip some Canadian single malt whiskey and think about game design. 8-)
singlemalts.jpg
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
Magneto
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 2738
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 8:04 pm
Location: Shediac,NB

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by Magneto »

sounds very interesting!!


will have to do a little reading up on that...

User avatar
Drano
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1207
Joined: Fri Jan 27, 2012 4:58 pm
Location: Toronto
Been liked: 5 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by Drano »

Should be fun to see what you come up with.
Although, I kind of like Meteor's rules. There are a lot of small details and decisions to make in the game as you're playing.
That being said, no game of this era had "deep" rules. I'm curious to see what you have in mind.

Good luck!

User avatar
eh97ac
MAACA Super Contributor
Posts: 550
Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2010 11:41 am
Location: Milton
Has liked: 11 times
Been liked: 5 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by eh97ac »

Mark just made his Flight 3000 (aka Flight 2K15) code public, could help you out?

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic ... st-2968261

https://github.com/Snux/F2K

shovelhed
MAACA Super Contributor
Posts: 553
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 12:43 pm
Location: Ottawa, ON
Has liked: 1 time
Been liked: 3 times
Contact:

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by shovelhed »

That looks like a lot of fun! Wow.

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Haven't had much time for this project yet, but I finally got the LED bulbs installed. I went with 2 SMD warm white frosted from Comet. The bulbs themselves are nice, bright but not too bright, and keep a similar look to the standard incandescent #44.

This type of bulb works great in GI, but for most of the controlled lamps there is a very annoying strobe effect. It's a well known problem for which there are a number of solutions, I chose an adapter kit which doesn't require any permanent modification.

There's more information about the kit and its history in this pinside thread. Sadly it doesn't work well in this installation, with many of the controlled lamps continuing to strobe. On top of that, the build quality is poor, the connectors fit loosely, and this particular revision puts them at 90 degrees to the board which is not the way the cables want to go at all. Very disappointing.

What I was trying to achieve with this, is the ability to swap the custom boards with the classic boards and still have everything just work - so it's already a bit of a fail. Hopefully things will go more smoothly with the new boards.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

I'm taking a week off work, mainly to focus on this project.

Day 1
  • played a last few games using the original boards
  • carefully removed and packaged up the original boards
  • installed the new boards
  • started conversion of audio files to 8bit format
The installation was fairly smooth though I did have to clip a few cable ties. The cable routing is similar but not identical, and the speaker connection doesn't reach at all. I will have to manufacture some kind of extension cable for that.

Tomorrow I'll setup the development tools on my laptop computer, load up some test code in the controller, and power on the system for the first time.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
cait001
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 4900
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:42 pm
Location: Centretown, Ottawa, ON
Has liked: 481 times
Been liked: 225 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by cait001 »

ahhhhh this is amazing! This is the future I always dreamed of.
I have been lusting after a Captain Nemo since they announced their machine code would be open source, but this is a much sexier solution.

I am giddy at the thought of adding new code on classic playfield layouts.
backglasses wanted: Star-Jet, Fairy, Star Trek (1971 Gottlieb)
marquees wanted: Roller Aces, Quiz Dragon, Strider, Varkon, Dark Planet, R-Type (w/ship), Quantum, Ninja (Sega)
blog -- collection -- want list -- Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- ratings

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Day 2
  • continue conversion of audio files
  • setup the Arduino development tools
  • load the sample game code included with the kit
  • program each of the 3 Arduino devices via USB cable
  • power on the machine
Success! Lights flash in attract mode, the displays reset to zero, start game button sort of works, and "stuff happens" when switches are activated. Not the right stuff, because the sample code was meant for a different machine. But enough to see that the hardware and software is basically working.

The two boards on the left in this photo replace the original MPU, lamp driver, and sound boards. The power section of the PDB in the upper right of the photo is still used.
IMG_4548.JPG
Programming these devices is a bit of a nuisance, it means having the head open and plugging in a USB cable, with the laptop resting on the playfield. Wifi would have been a lot more convenient.

I spent a lot of time reading source code and getting familiar with the architecture. Most if not all of the sample game framework will probably be replaced, I don't care for the design. The first step will be a rewrite of "test mode" with key features: single lamp test, switch test, and single solenoid test. Using this tool it will be easier to determine the correct identifier for each item; and then I can move on to making it do "the right stuff". :)

Another problem to solve is poor flipper switch response. This was expected due to worn high voltage flipper cabinet switches. Newer Stern low voltage switches are recommended due to the "fliptronic" design of the new boards, but I don't have any on hand. Might have to MacGyver something with Williams switches.

Next up: finish converting the audio files, copy them to the SD card, hook up the speaker, and try to make some noise.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
cait001
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 4900
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:42 pm
Location: Centretown, Ottawa, ON
Has liked: 481 times
Been liked: 225 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by cait001 »

Waiting in anticipation!

Can your test routines be generic enough to work with the chipset, and thus get uploaded to github for other developers to use? Or be configured easily per game perhaps? Would be great to have a functional standard.
backglasses wanted: Star-Jet, Fairy, Star Trek (1971 Gottlieb)
marquees wanted: Roller Aces, Quiz Dragon, Strider, Varkon, Dark Planet, R-Type (w/ship), Quantum, Ninja (Sega)
blog -- collection -- want list -- Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- ratings

User avatar
Fifty
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 2217
Joined: Sun Mar 16, 2014 2:50 pm
Location: Ottawa, Ontario
Has liked: 234 times
Been liked: 42 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by Fifty »

tinyrodent wrote:Programming these devices is a bit of a nuisance, it means having the head open and plugging in a USB cable, with the laptop resting on the playfield. Wifi would have been a lot more convenient
Not to be an ass, but you can get 30 foot USB cables. Replace that four footer you're using.

Okay... That was maybe me being a bit of an ass. ;)

User avatar
DrDude
MAACA Super Contributor
Posts: 532
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:29 pm
Location: Manotick/Ottawa
Been liked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by DrDude »

As a total Meteor nut, and Steve Kirk (the designer) fan, I can suggest a few simple rule changes that would go a long way to improving the game:

1) Use the multiplier with the spinner. The spinner currently has a value based on the M-E-T-E-O-R targets that are down, and is at the maximum of 1,800 points when all but one of E-T-E-O are down. If you add in the multiplier, the spinner could give wild point totals on a good hit (12,600 per spin)!

2) Allow for more than 7x multiplier. This could be achieved by using the rule that when a multiplier light is "on", it gives the value indicated (e.g. 4x for the green light), but if it is "flashing", it gives double the value (so green flashing would represent 8x). This would make the max multiplier 14x

3) Add a "collect bonus" feature (probably using the "wow" or "special" lights). If you hit "collect bonus" (using whichever target you prefer), then you collect all the currently tabled bonus, and the rockets/multiplier are reset to the start. This makes a ball where you have achieved max bonus/multiplier more fun, as you can start again

4) Special recognition of the super-sweep skill shot. It is possible to sweep the 2-rockets and the METEOR letters, and have the ball rebound and do a reverse sweep of METEOR and 2's: It's a very challenging but satisfying shot, and it would be really cool if the game went ape-shit when you achieved that! Light and sounds and perhaps some sort of jackpot (like Collect Bonus?)

I wouldn't screw with much else in the game, as Steve Kirk did a really great job of designing a balanced and challenging game. The background sound in particular is amazing (and stressful!) on this game.
Grant Goodes
Stern: Meteor, Lightning, Nineball, Cheetah, Seawitch, Catacomb
Bally: Fathom x 2, Centaur
Gottlieb: Black Hole
Wanted: Balls-a-Poppin, Catacomb slingshot plastics
Lust-worthy: Dragonfist, Solar Fire, Funhouse, Skateball, Capersville

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Day 3
  • finished conversion of audio files
  • copied audio files to SD card
  • tested speaker connections with jumper cables
  • fabricated extension cable for speaker connection
    IMG_4549.JPG
  • test output my own sound effects - success!
  • rewrote sound controller code to be game independent
  • started new game code with a blank sheet of paper
I finally have a good grasp of how all these Arduino devices communicate with each other, and how to make the most of the development tools. For most of the day I had both Mega devices (main controller and sound controller) connected to the laptop via USB cable, with a monitor on the output of each one. The display controller is a Nano device, less compatible with being USB connected while on the board, and has to be removed for programming. It doesn't seem to be working at the moment so I'll probably tackle that next, as it is an important part of making a useful test mode.
DrDude wrote:As a total Meteor nut, and Steve Kirk (the designer) fan, I can suggest a few simple rule changes that would go a long way to improving the game:
If I was modifying the original rules then changes like these would be a great idea. However the original rules don't exist for the custom pinball platform, so I'm proceeding directly to writing an entirely new game - all new rules and sound effects.
cait001 wrote:Can your test routines be generic enough to work with the chipset, and thus get uploaded to github for other developers to use? Or be configured easily per game perhaps? Would be great to have a functional standard.
Yeah all of the test mode stuff should work the same way regardless of what type of machine the boards are installed in. I will definitely share the code when it is a bit more mature.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
cait001
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 4900
Joined: Tue Oct 09, 2012 3:42 pm
Location: Centretown, Ottawa, ON
Has liked: 481 times
Been liked: 225 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by cait001 »

tinyrodent wrote:
cait001 wrote:Can your test routines be generic enough to work with the chipset, and thus get uploaded to github for other developers to use? Or be configured easily per game perhaps? Would be great to have a functional standard.
Yeah all of the test mode stuff should work the same way regardless of what type of machine the boards are installed in. I will definitely share the code when it is a bit more mature.
*highfive*
backglasses wanted: Star-Jet, Fairy, Star Trek (1971 Gottlieb)
marquees wanted: Roller Aces, Quiz Dragon, Strider, Varkon, Dark Planet, R-Type (w/ship), Quantum, Ninja (Sega)
blog -- collection -- want list -- Pinball Women Ottawa -- Ottawa Pinball Map -- ratings

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

The original Stern board set has a basic test mode, but one of the things it lacks is easy-to-use menus. There's just one long list of modes that can be reached by pressing the coin door test button X number of times. Later pinball platforms got better with alphanumeric displays, flipper buttons for navigation, and audio feedback.

With the new board set I'll still be using the original numeric-only displays, but can at least provide flipper button navigation and audio feedback. The first version will feature basic "Where am I?" style callouts. For this I used the built-in text-to-speech capability of Windows.

The "Anna" voice with Windows 7 was really awful so I booted up Windows 8 in a VM and picked a different one. Still not great but good enough for test mode. If anyone has a lead on nice free TTS voices that could be used for this purpose please let me know! :)

If you'd like to try it yourself, save the following code in a text file with ".vbs" extension then run it.

Code: Select all

Const SAFT22kHz8BitMono = 20
Const SSFMCreateForWrite = 3

Set oFileStream = CreateObject("SAPI.SpFileStream")
oFileStream.Format.Type = SAFT22kHz8BitMono
Set oVoice = CreateObject("SAPI.SpVoice")

Say("Test")
Say("Display")
Say("Switch")
Say("Lamp")
Say("Coil")

' Say - speak a phrase and record it into a wav file of the same name
Sub Say(what)
    oFileStream.Open what + ".wav", SSFMCreateForWrite
    Set oVoice.AudioOutputStream = oFileStream
    oVoice.Speak what
    oFileStream.Close
End Sub
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Day 4
  • debugged the score display problems
  • decided not to rewrite the display controller yet
  • added debounce to the flipper switch handling
  • recorded some voice menus
  • implemented basic test mode framework and display test
  • started on lamp test - not working yet
Here it is the end of Day 4 and I haven't even come close to starting on the game-specific code yet. I still hope to have a playable demo by the end of Day 7 though. Looks like I've solved the flipper cabinet switch problem in software, maybe I won't need to replace or rewire those switches after all. And though the display controller is missing some capabilities I want to use, it can probably wait until after Day 7 for a rewrite.

While debugging this morning it struck me just how many levels of indirection are involved in controlling the hardware of this project. I'm sitting at my desktop computer, using VNC to wirelessly remote login to the laptop, which is plugged into the primary mega controller via USB cable, which is connected via the boardset to the other Arduino devices, and all of that stuff is connected to the original Meteor hardware. With the end result that commands I type at the desktop, get relayed from one device to the next and eventually change what's on the score displays or whatever.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Day 5
  • debugged the lamp problems
  • implemented All Lamps and Single Lamp test modes
  • tested every lamp id (this machine uses 60) and recorded which physical lamps correspond
  • got the flippers working well and batted around a ball for the first time
  • finished roughing out test mode
  • got frustrated with non working coils & switch matrix
Not sure what is wrong with the coils & switch matrix. Tomorrow I'll check fuses and whatever else comes to mind but at the moment too tired.

Test mode is almost complete. With each press of the test button, it advances and announces the mode. Within each mode, left flipper button toggles auto-cycle while right flipper button manually advances the test one cycle. Meanwhile the score displays show useful information such as the lamp number during single lamp test. Current modes:
  1. Test (main test mode showing available RAM)
  2. Display (cycle digits on all score displays)
  3. All Lamps
  4. Single Lamp
  5. Coil (not fully working)
  6. Switch (not working at all)
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Day 6
I got off to a terrible start this morning, nothing seemed to be working and I took the boardset out of the machine in an attempt to figure out what was going on. Which turned out to be a waste of time because it was just my laptop deciding to not recognize any USB devices until rebooted. :FP:
  • wired up the coin door test switch
  • replaced the playfield fuse
  • finished coil test mode
  • recorded all of the coil ids
  • finished switch test mode - show switch number, row, and column when activated
  • recorded all of the switch numbers - matches the Meteor manual :shock:
  • finished most of the game framework
  • started implementing actual game code
It's now possible to start a game with the credit button - it serves a ball, resets the drop targets when appropriate, plays sounds when switches are hit, fires slingshots and pop bumper when hit... this all came together in just a couple of hours. There's not really any game "rules" yet but the hard part is done. And I still have another full day to meet my goal of "playable demo". ;) Since it's already playable, the only question is how good will the demo be?
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Day 7
Another bad start - twice in a row this morning I forgot to unplug the USB cable when powering on the machine. Both times, locking up some coils and blowing the 1A playfield fuse. I still have a 0.75A fuse which can be used to test with, but I'm afraid to play it now. :(
  • finished lamp controller improvements
  • implemented attract mode lamp animation
  • started debugging phantom switch activation (incomplete)
  • started rewriting the solenoid controller
If I can complete the latter item tomorrow with some safety features to help prevent coil lockup, I will try to make a demo video. After that, it's back to the day job and progress on the project will slow considerably.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

I completely rewrote the coil driver code, and ran some timing tests. It takes less than 500 microseconds to assert all of the coil driver pins, so I decided to just unconditionally do that every pass through the game loop. If any noise (e.g. as a result of turning on the power with the USB cable connected) pulls up one or more of those pins, it should only stay there very briefly until the loop runs again and reasserts the pin. In theory. But since I only have one fuse left to play with, I'm not going to deliberately risk it. ;)

Normal game coil action seems to be working reliably though, I played for 10 or 15 minutes to test without any coil glitches. However the switch matrix is definitely giving some phantom switch activations so that will be the next thing to debug.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
DrDude
MAACA Super Contributor
Posts: 532
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2016 7:29 pm
Location: Manotick/Ottawa
Been liked: 1 time
Contact:

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by DrDude »

tinyrodent wrote:Day 3
DrDude wrote:As a total Meteor nut, and Steve Kirk (the designer) fan, I can suggest a few simple rule changes that would go a long way to improving the game:
If I was modifying the original rules then changes like these would be a great idea. However the original rules don't exist for the custom pinball platform, so I'm proceeding directly to writing an entirely new game - all new rules and sound effects.
I get that you have to begin from scratch, as you are of course unable to use the Motorola 6800 code that the game came with! And of course, you aren't using the original Sound Board, so the sound-effects will be totally custom. That being said, I would suggest that there are certain invariants, such as the fact that there are 3 numbered "Rocket" drop-target banks and a corresponding array of 7 numbered bonus lights, so it would only be natural to have a rule saying that knocking down a "1" rocket target lights up another "1" in the bonus light-array. Ultimately, most of the game's rules are based on traditional Pinball concepts that go back to the 50's, and changing them would only confuse an experienced player!

Areas where you could "go wild" and do something new are things like the purpose of the M-E-T-E-O-R drop-targets: They currently up the multiplier value, but since they are "memory targets" (meaning the game can control which ones are up/down at any given time), you should be able to go much more complex, e.g. where only certain letters are "up" at a given time (e.g. start with "T" only, then T-E, then T-E-O, etc) making it more challenging to complete METEOR (this is how earlier Sterns such as Trident worked).

Sounds like you will have a lot of fun experimenting when you get to that stage of the project. You'll basically be going through the process that the original game-designers would have at the White-wood stage: Playfield layout is complete, but SW is in development.
Grant Goodes
Stern: Meteor, Lightning, Nineball, Cheetah, Seawitch, Catacomb
Bally: Fathom x 2, Centaur
Gottlieb: Black Hole
Wanted: Balls-a-Poppin, Catacomb slingshot plastics
Lust-worthy: Dragonfist, Solar Fire, Funhouse, Skateball, Capersville

User avatar
Mike@PinballMedics
MAACA Super Contributor
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2015 10:50 am
Location: Ottawa ON
Has liked: 2 times
Been liked: 20 times
Contact:

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by Mike@PinballMedics »

Not sure if speech is going to be involved, but it would be cool if it tied in with the movie it was themed to:
[attachment=0]meteor.jpg[/attachment

The real 007 himself cast alongside a soon to be drowned off a private yacht in Santa Catalina Natalie Wood in exchange for a 3 year renewal of Hart to Hart. Christopher Walken delivered and witnessed the signed documents, but there is reasonable doubt in that a white tuxedo and frogsuit clad Connery may have swam over and dispatched of her out of resentment and misplaced frustration stemming from an inability to accept the commercial failure of Meteor a scant two years earlier, combined with her husbands success at the time as a would be TV Bond clone, before swimming back to Santa Catalina and attending a charity auction and establishing an alibi. After all, there can only be one.


There must be enough classic Connery one liners and sounds bites alone, not to mention Karl Malden, Martin Landau, Joseph Campanella, and Henry Fonda as the President. Lots of iconic voices from the Golden Era, and a legit licenced theme. The rules were based on the plot of the movie, and could be elaborated on to further integrate the story, with the key call outs provided by Connery and company.

Awesome game, will be nice to see once complete!
Attachments
meteor.jpg
PINBALL SALES with Warranty & Delivery in Ottawa or Montreal, and all points in between. Shipping available across Canada.

EXPERT PINBALL REPAIR for all brands. Specializing in difficult to solve problems with Advanced Troubleshooting requiring a deep knowledge of all interrelated systems from early Solid State, Alpha-Numeric, DMD, and Modern LCD era. Games can be dropped off in Ottawa or Montreal by appointment. Call ahead and bring it to our main repair & production facility at 923 Av Girouard in Montreal, near Sherbrooke & Decarie. We can usually fix it while you wait.

BOARD REPAIR for all brands.

PINBALL PARTS via Canada Post. In stock, ready to ship.
Or Pre-Order for Free Pickup in Ottawa, Alfred, or Montreal.
Full Inventory Available in Ottawa Mon - Fri from 9am - 10pm, and weekends from 2pm - 10pm.
Basic parts are available in Montreal (call ahead), and anything ordered in advance can be picked up week days in Montreal by appointment, or Saturdays in Alfred at no charge.

THE OTTAWA PINBALL ARCADE - 2559 Baseline Rd featuring 30+ Pinball Machines & several Classic Video Games.


THE OTTAWA MONTREAL PINBALL MUSEUM Coming Soon!


https://www.pinballmedics.ca
https://ottawapinballarcade.ca

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

DrDude wrote:Sounds like you will have a lot of fun experimenting when you get to that stage of the project. You'll basically be going through the process that the original game-designers would have at the White-wood stage: Playfield layout is complete, but SW is in development.
Yes I'm looking forward to that. Perhaps as soon as this weekend... :D
pinmeds wrote:Not sure if speech is going to be involved, but it would be cool if it tied in with the movie it was themed to
Some movies are better forgotten. ;)

There will be speech. It's a very specific theme for which I have most of the details worked out, but won't reveal until it's playable.

However it would be quite straightforward to select from different rulesets when starting a game. Imagine rolling up to Meteor, press Start, and choose:
  • classic rules
  • movie theme & modern rules
  • new mystery theme 8-)
I designed the framework to support this, it's just a matter of making the different rulesets. There's plenty of storage available for the extra sounds and code.
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

User avatar
Mike@PinballMedics
MAACA Super Contributor
Posts: 392
Joined: Thu Sep 17, 2015 10:50 am
Location: Ottawa ON
Has liked: 2 times
Been liked: 20 times
Contact:

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by Mike@PinballMedics »

tinyrodent wrote:However it would be quite straightforward to select from different rulesets when starting a game. Imagine rolling up to Meteor, press Start, and choose:
classic rules
movie theme & modern rules
new mystery theme
I designed the framework to support this, it's just a matter of making the different rulesets. There's plenty of storage available for the extra sounds and code.
That would be too cool. I have a Meteor project in my garage, I want one in mine!

Custom Sean Connery voice-over work could be fun...


Wood: Oh my God, it's huge!

Connery: Yeeeeessssh. (mugs camera) Thatsh what your mother shaid...
PINBALL SALES with Warranty & Delivery in Ottawa or Montreal, and all points in between. Shipping available across Canada.

EXPERT PINBALL REPAIR for all brands. Specializing in difficult to solve problems with Advanced Troubleshooting requiring a deep knowledge of all interrelated systems from early Solid State, Alpha-Numeric, DMD, and Modern LCD era. Games can be dropped off in Ottawa or Montreal by appointment. Call ahead and bring it to our main repair & production facility at 923 Av Girouard in Montreal, near Sherbrooke & Decarie. We can usually fix it while you wait.

BOARD REPAIR for all brands.

PINBALL PARTS via Canada Post. In stock, ready to ship.
Or Pre-Order for Free Pickup in Ottawa, Alfred, or Montreal.
Full Inventory Available in Ottawa Mon - Fri from 9am - 10pm, and weekends from 2pm - 10pm.
Basic parts are available in Montreal (call ahead), and anything ordered in advance can be picked up week days in Montreal by appointment, or Saturdays in Alfred at no charge.

THE OTTAWA PINBALL ARCADE - 2559 Baseline Rd featuring 30+ Pinball Machines & several Classic Video Games.


THE OTTAWA MONTREAL PINBALL MUSEUM Coming Soon!


https://www.pinballmedics.ca
https://ottawapinballarcade.ca

User avatar
tinyrodent
MAACA Mega Contributor
Posts: 1822
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2010 11:23 am
Location: West of Ottawa
Has liked: 89 times
Been liked: 12 times

Re: Custom Meteor Project

Post by tinyrodent »

Today I finished rewriting the switch matrix controller. Testing revealed that the quickest flick of a flipper button produces a switch closure of about 20 milliseconds, so I set the debounce for 15 milliseconds and that seems to be working well. That debounce setting also eliminated phantom switch activations from the matrix, which I'm pretty sure were a result of electrical noise.

I then ran some tests using different pulse length for coil activation. At first it was 30 milliseconds for all coils, but one of the target banks would not reset reliably until I bumped it up to 45. Each coil can now be adjusted separately, and in fact can even be adjusted on the fly. I'm thinking maybe as the difficulty level of the game increases, lengthen the pulse for slingshots and pop bumper to give them a bit more kick.

The biggest disappointment with the kit, is the sound support. I'm not sure why an Arduino Mega was chosen for that role. It is limited to mixing only two sounds at the same time. So if you wanted to have background music, that would be one of the sounds, leaving just a single channel for effects. I'll be using both channels for effects and really would like to have at least half a dozen more channels. One future possibility would be to replace the second Mega with a Raspberry Pi. It has more than 1000 times the processing power and could effectively play an unlimited number of simultaneous channels, among other things.

Other than that, it would appear that most of the technical hurdles are past, and finally the new game can be developed and tested. :D
Playing: Stern Stars, Stranger Things
http://www.pinballowners.com/tinyrodent

Post Reply