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Furry Pinball - Loops and Bumpers
Here's the WIP table with more ramps, flow tweaks, test bumpers, and design improvements!
Widening out the tunnels at the toes of the paw shape (center stage) was a huge improvement. This lets the ball roll WAY more freely, both into and out of the tunnels. It also creates a stronger sense of access since you can see further through the tunnels to the area behind.
There's a lot of bidirectional routes! For almost any route (and the left side ramp) you can follow it in reverse! This keeps the table feeling lively with lots of surprise bounces and unexpected exits.
Each ramp creates its own loop; there's a loop within the paw shape; there's a loop around the left side of the table through the left paw tunnel; and also a loop around the back of the table using the canyon under the right ramp. Finally, the strength of your shot off the launcher changes where the ball goes (into the right canyon, into any of three paw tunnels, or onto the left ramp).
There's way more horizontal action than I'd anticipated. Depending on direction of approach and ball momentum, there are 5 ways to get into the right paw tunnel; 3-4 ways to get into the right-mid tunnel; 2 ways to get into the left-mid tunnel, and 4 ways to get into the left tunnel. It's great that different tunnels have different difficulties, since I can set up missions that require going through tunnel combinations...
I added a few tentative bumpers as well to get a feel for how those would integrate! Bumpers cause the ball to ricochet in unexpected directions, and accelerate dramatically. Putting them smack in the middle of the table creates an area of high action, boosts horizontal movement and keeps things lively. (For example, if the player misses a shot toward table center, they risk the ball reflecting back at the paddles at a high speed -- or, they can angle shots off the bumpers into the paw tunnels.)
Check out the attached videos!
bumpers.mp4 - This shows a bit of fun with the bumper array in table center!
Widening out the tunnels at the toes of the paw shape (center stage) was a huge improvement. This lets the ball roll WAY more freely, both into and out of the tunnels. It also creates a stronger sense of access since you can see further through the tunnels to the area behind.
There's a lot of bidirectional routes! For almost any route (and the left side ramp) you can follow it in reverse! This keeps the table feeling lively with lots of surprise bounces and unexpected exits.
Each ramp creates its own loop; there's a loop within the paw shape; there's a loop around the left side of the table through the left paw tunnel; and also a loop around the back of the table using the canyon under the right ramp. Finally, the strength of your shot off the launcher changes where the ball goes (into the right canyon, into any of three paw tunnels, or onto the left ramp).
There's way more horizontal action than I'd anticipated. Depending on direction of approach and ball momentum, there are 5 ways to get into the right paw tunnel; 3-4 ways to get into the right-mid tunnel; 2 ways to get into the left-mid tunnel, and 4 ways to get into the left tunnel. It's great that different tunnels have different difficulties, since I can set up missions that require going through tunnel combinations...
I added a few tentative bumpers as well to get a feel for how those would integrate! Bumpers cause the ball to ricochet in unexpected directions, and accelerate dramatically. Putting them smack in the middle of the table creates an area of high action, boosts horizontal movement and keeps things lively. (For example, if the player misses a shot toward table center, they risk the ball reflecting back at the paddles at a high speed -- or, they can angle shots off the bumpers into the paw tunnels.)
Check out the attached videos!
bumpers.mp4 - This shows a bit of fun with the bumper array in table center!
- 0:07 bumpers help create horizontal motion (left tunnel)
- 0:11 tunnels feed into other tunnels!
- 0:16 there's a lot of bounces toward the wall below the leftmost paw tunnel. This would be a GREAT place to put mission targets.
- 0:21 crazy ball acceleration from the bumpers! The player has a split second to react!
- 0:26 bumpers help create horizontal motion (right tunnel)
ramp loops.mp4 - This shows a few of the possible loops around the table!
- 0:02 a weak shot off the launcher puts the ball in the right side canyon
- 0:07 ricochet off the left slingshot puts the ball through the canyon, round the back of the table, and over the left ramp
- 0:11 just missed a shot that would have put the ball through the right paw tunnel
- 0:13 shot through the center ramp
- 0:16 canyon to left ramp again
- 0:23 loop through the mid-right paw tunnel through the canyon
