11–16 of 16 posts
Here's an old presentation I did on designing the MONOPOLY pinball machine for Stern back in 2001. (so old I had to dig it out of the Internet Archive)
https://web.archive.org/web/20040806155145/http://www.patlaw...
Very nice work. Now that you have a platform, you can start on the next mountain: making a fun game. =) Here's an old presentation I did on designing the MONOPOLY pinball machine for Stern back in 2001. (so old I had to dig it out of the Internet Archive) https://web.archive.org/web/20040806155145/http://www.patlaw...
TAF, RS and NGG are amongst my childhood favourites. Thanks :-)
So, flippers are more complicated than I thought; they have a microswitch and two coils in the solenoid for quick impulse response with low holding current. That's fascinating!
There are lots of good solenoid driver ICs around, but they're mostly sized for automotive applications. Pinball flippers typically need 5A at 50V, which is a lot to ask of an IC but no problem with an external power MOSFET. There are pinball boards for this. (http://www.allteksystems.com/products-mpu-replacements.html#...) No need to use electromechanical relays and put up with burned contacts any more.
(I'm interested in this problem because I restore old Teletype machines, which have similar electromagnet drive problems. The classical solutions are huge and inefficient by modern standards.)
Very nice work. Now that you have a platform, you can start on the next mountain: making a fun game. =) Here's an old presentation I did on designing the MONOPOLY pinball machine for Stern back in 2001. (so old I had to dig it out of the Internet Archive) https://web.archive.org/web/20040806155145/http://www.patlaw...
Isn't it amazing who you bump into on HN? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Lawlor TAF, RS and NGG are amongst my childhood favourites. Thanks :-)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Isn't it amazing who you bump into on HN? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Lawlor TAF, RS and NGG are amongst my childhood favourites. Thanks :-)
Well, I can only take credit for one of those but thanks. It's always great meeting people that played our stuff all those years ago.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, I can only take credit for one of those but thanks. It's always great meeting people that played our stuff all those years ago.
Thanks Louis :) I've put so many hours on NGG it's ridiculous. Childhood and current favorite, great full-package game at its best. Set it at a steep pitch with no outlane post and Fire Down Middle on. Full throttle, ignore the wall!
About that last line. It actually has a double meaning. I don't think Pat has ever discussed it.
First one was that Pat is a big NASCAR fan (we were trying to get that license even back in the Williams days). So that's an obvious one. Pedal down and turn left!
The second one was a dig at Williams management. Pat had tried to reason with them to not overproduce games and/or stuff them down the throats of distributors. Forcing weak games on customers and stuffing the pipe was bad for business and things had already taken a serious turn for the worse business-wise (and we were still a full 2 years before shutdown).
IIRC, the conversation with management was "if you don't slow down we're gonna hit the wall" and the reply was "f* it, full throttle!" This is why Pat hid that text in the back loop where nobody would really see it.