Flipper Studies Prototype
A downloadable game
Here it is - a prototype for an accurate pinball simulation, done in Godot Engine with its Bullet 3D physics integration running at 240hz for high precision. The layout is a rough by-eyeball design with no score or ruleset and everything could use more tuning, but the game flips and you can challenge yourself to try to clear all the drop targets in one ball(I still haven't done it).
I have plans to return to this in the coming year, test more complex layouts and flesh it out further, with the goal being to make a well-rounded study of pinball that could serve as an introduction for new players, with scenarios to practice various techniques, a variety of game modes, and a little bit of character-driven content.
Let me know in the comments if you have thoughts or ideas.
Download
Install instructions
Extract the zip and run silverball-2020-11-17.exe.
Instructions are printed on-screen when you run the game.
Development log
- The Prototyping of "Flipper Studies"Nov 18, 2020
Comments
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This is amazing! Do you have any plans to open-source it at some point? I’ve been wanting to experiment with pinball-focused game design for a while, even did some prototyping on Godot as well, but failed to create a sim-focused prototype like this. I would love to experiment from this great base you built.
I'm thinking about it. The problem is not that I don't want to do that, but I want to scope it correctly so that I can publish it once, it works, it covers the major bits and pieces, it's documented, and I don't have to maintain it and answer questions. So I also need to set up some clarifying boundaries to publish it, like "here are raw mechanisms and layout tools, you add the rules, camera, etc". I might be able to do that a few iterations down the road once I feel like I've solidified everything to where it's ready for production. As-is, it's not quite complete enough or polished enough to be more than a demonstration, but I think I'll get there, so...stay tuned!