PiN Update: Visuals & Physics Overhaul
It's been a while since I last posted or updated, but hopefully the new screenshots should make it fairly obvious. I've spent the last couple of months giving the game a massive visual overhaul! Alongside the new look, there have been a ton of significant gameplay changes, which meant a stack of work just to get the demo playable again, one of the biggesting being that I've rebuilt the physics from the ground up, resulting in what I hope to be a much more realistic pinball simulation and making the game a good bit more challenging. And, good news, the demo is available once again!
With the new physics, I've also rebalanced bumper and blocker hit points, revisited and reworked the table traits (now called Curses), and added a new feature: chaining certain missions together now triggers one of four special effects.
Changelist (Not everything, but the highlights)
- A whole new visual style: Creepy, dark, hand-drawn cartoon cult-vibes.
- Physics rebuilt: Hopefully this is a more accurate pinball experience.
- New Feature: Specials, including:
- Tempest: Rain down destruction from above for 10 seconds.
- Inferno: All active balls burst into flames, dealing area damage for 20 seconds.
- Sparks: Balls get electrified, dealing 10x critical damage for 30 seconds.
- Multiball: Classic, fun multiball.
- A whole new tutorial/FTUE to match the new style and specials.
- Balance pass: All Glyphs (formerly SODA cans), Bumpers, Blockers, and Ball types have been reworked.
- Considerable performance improvements.
- Better Controller and Steam Deck compatibility.
Heads Up & What's Next
This is the first build after a lot of changes, so there are still a fair few bugs kicking about. Hopefully nothing major though, and I'll be trying to update the demo much more frequently now that this big milestone is out of the way so I'll get to squashing those at a much faster rate now.
No new trailer yet. I'm still working on the table art for the other three tables, and I don't fancy spending a load of time on a trailer that only shows one, then having to redo it again a couple of weeks later. I'll get a new one up ASAP though.
Apologies & Release Window
Anyway, apologies for the long gap between builds, but hopefully, that shouldn't be the case going forward. As for the full game release, I'm aiming for August/September, but keep an eye on this space (*cough* wishlist & follow) for more details.
Happy Flipping!
Kenny