Article: 109469 of rec.games.pinball Path: news.iupui.edu!news.indiana.edu!news1.chicago.iagnet.net!qual.net!iagnet.net!cpk-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!nntp2.dejanews.com!nnrp2.dejanews.com!not-for-mail From: c.jones@sni.co.uk Newsgroups: rec.games.pinball Subject: Re: White Clock TZ's (long) Date: Mon, 23 Feb 1998 05:31:39 -0600 Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion Lines: 200 Message-ID: <6crmmr$f8b$1@nnrp2.dejanews.com> References: <34f07193.10306909@news.tornado.be> <6cqsvb$psv@news3.newsguy.com> <5UW1DEBBvR80Ew+M@clivej.demon.co.uk> NNTP-Posting-Host: postnews.dejanews.com X-Article-Creation-Date: Mon Feb 23 11:31:39 1998 GMT X-Originating-IP-Addr: 194.42.250.68 X-Http-User-Agent: Mozilla/4.04 [en] (Win95; I) Xref: news.iupui.edu rec.games.pinball:109469 In article <5UW1DEBBvR80Ew+M@clivej.demon.co.uk>, Clive Jones wrote: > > In article <6cqsvb$psv@news3.newsguy.com>, "Jonathan N. Deitch" > writes > >In article <34f07193.10306909@news.tornado.be>, > > mushroom@tornado.be (Baeyens Bart) writes: > > > >> A couple of questions about the proto TZ's : > >> How many made ? > > > >We can be pretty sure around 200 ... ie: the sample game run. There is > >also some evidence white-face clocks were used on some early production games. > > > > I thought *prototype* games were limited to around 8 or less? (games > with serial numbers proceded with an 'X'). > Uh, following up my own post - it's 10-15 proto's (why do we seem to have this same discussion every 6 months?). BTW Jonathan - regarding your other post in this thread - my game has everthing (white clock, green lock..) except the hole routed for the magnet - *everthing* (it's an early *production* game!). Past info from Ted (Estes)... The "sample" games and the first 100 or so production games cannot be distinquished by anything other than production date. [Actually, there may be some other physical characteristics, but who knows when some changes became effective? For example, the right loop sign (that reads "Load gumball when lit") was installed with a sticker on it for some early games. The sticker looks identical to the screened artwork present on later games. It covers the screen text on the sign which reads "Shoot spiral when flashing." Another example is that some early games had the text scraped from the right loop lamp insert (which used to read "Gumball") and had a clear decal installed which reads "Spiral". I don't know if this latter item corresponds exactly with the playfields that were routed for the 3rd magnet. (Since routing precedes screening, it is possible that the screen change was effected before all of the routed playfields were screened.)] <...and Ted's answer in response to John Brannans TZ info...> >"3rd" magnet. Only true prototypes had the third magnet installed. >After the 3rd magnet was deleted from the game, a magnet core was >installed to plug the hole in the playfield (they couldn't throw >away the playfields that had been routed for the magnet). >Playfields with a magnet core were used for the sample games and >into early production. This is quite correct. Obviously, since the playfields had been ordered to accomodate the 3rd magnet, a similar number of wiring harnesses were also ordered to accomodate the 3rd magnet. Thus, these games will also have some vestige of the original wiring harness also. Other clues you have a prototype: - All your lamp boards under the playfield are RED, not green. - Your lockdown bar will not fit any other widebody game. - Your wiring harness has plugs for the flashlamps inside the "door". These were originally behind the GUM, BALL, LOCK 1, LOCK 2 inserts. Very bright and annoying. (I can't remember when these were removed, so I don't know for sure that the protos are the only ones with these plugs in the harness.) - Your game has funny looking "orthopedic" back leg levelers to boost the back of the game. An extra set of leg holes was added later to enable the mounting of the legs to get the correct playfield angle. >So how do I tell if I have a prototype, sample, or production >Twilight Zone? Check the "MFG DATE". If it is after >April 1, 1993 you have a regular production Twilight Zone game. >See below: >1. February 1993 - Prototype Twilight Zones made. These all had >an "x" preceding the serial number ("x" meaning "experimental"), >as did most WMS prototypes until recently. All of these games had >the third magnet, 2nd switch in the autofire lane, clock passage >opto, no text on the powerfield. >2. Mid March 1993 - Sample games started (a sample game is sent to >the distributor to put on thier showroom floor for display). >These games did *not* have the 3rd magnet, 2nd autofire opto, >clock passage opto although the provisions for mounting them were >there. These games also had the green lock lamp. >3. April 1, 1993 - Regular production of Twilight Zone begins. >A few early regular production games had a few items left from the >above prototype/sample runs until the new parts were phased in. >The white clock face was used on regular production games until >the new face was phased in. This is correct, according to my notes. Also, referring to the software release notes we have: Question: In The Twilight Zone pinball flyer, it shows some door panels differing from the production games (Player Piano, Quick Multiball, etc.). Is there anyway I can get software that has the rules associated with these door panels, and if I do, will it work in a production Twilight Zone machine? Answer: As anyone with a Twilight Zone flyer and access to a Twilight Zone game knows, there are many labels on the light inserts which changed from the game pictured in the flyer. (As best as Uncle Willy can recall, there were only 2 or 3 Twilight Zone games assembled with the playfield as pictured in the flyer.) Some of the lamps that changed labels are: "Clock Millions" -> "Power Payoff"; "Jackpot" -> "Camera"; "Quick Multiball" -> "Camera"; "Player Piano" -> "Super Slot"; "5 Million" -> "Lite Gumball"; "Gumball" -> "Bonus X" Several other small changes were also made. Most of these changes have been noted in discussions on rec.games.pinball. Getting back to the question of "early rules" in Twilight Zone, Uncle Willy suspects you would be severely disappointed if you were to install an early ROM into your game, assuming that you could find one. Many of the rules for the labels on the old door panel lamps were never implemented. For example, there never was a "Player Piano" rule, and "Fast Lock" was never implemented as it was envisioned. (What *was* "Quick Multiball" was renamed as "Fast Lock".) The lamp labels as shown in the TZ flyer are the result of the design team sitting around on the last day before the artwork screen for the black portions of the playfield had to be finalized. The "Hitch Hiker" and "Player Piano" labels were created with the expectation that an appropriate feature would be attached to them later. Much of the rules from the finished Twilight Zone game were missing at the time of the photo shoot for the flyer. As one would guess, many of the effects -- sounds, lamps, and display -- were also missing. It was after many of the rules had been implemented, and the design team started to balance the scoring, that it was decided that a "5 Million" award on the door panel was not very exciting. (Thus, the "Lite Gumball" label in that position.) Another interesting piece of trivia is the initial rule set for MultiBall on Twilight Zone. Originally, the MultiBall had a roving jackpot shot. The jackpots were lit in order as: Piano, Camera, Dead End. (This explains why the Camera has a "Jackpot" label in the flyer.) The Lock shot would relight jackpot after the third one was collected on the Dead End. The consensus of the design team, and others at Williams who played that version of the rules, was that jackpots were awfully difficult to make, and that MultiBall was pretty frustrating as a result. As you can see from this brief discussion, the task of creating rules for a pinball machine is not simple. As much as the design team carefully thinks out features and rules for a game, there is no substitute for actually playing a given rule set. Rules and features get modified, enhanced, and scrapped many times over during the course of pinball game development. Prototype Building Once the physical design of a pinball game has pretty much "gelled" (playfield layout finalized, device designs released, playfield artwork finished, wiring cables designed, etc.) parts are procured to build 10-15 engineering prototypes of the game. These prototypes are used for several purposes. Just building the prototypes verifies that the parts coming from vendors are made to spec, and that all the parts fit together on the pinball game. Also, during the assembly of the prototypes, the procedures for building the game on the production line are identified and established. This includes identifying sub- assemblies and specifying work stations for the production line. The engineering prototypes are allocated to various uses. The software programmer or programmers typically get the first one or two prototypes for programming purposes. One game is used for FCC RFI testing; one game is used for a pack-ship-and-drop test; a number of games are allocated for field testing; one game is used by the publications writer in the production of the game manual; one game is used for the photo shoot for the game promotional flyer. Sometimes, additional prototypes are produced for display at a trade show, depending upon the timing of the game and the show. Hopefully, that's put that to bed (well, at least for the next 6 months anyway) ;) Clive -----== Posted via Deja News, The Leader in Internet Discussion ==----- http://www.dejanews.com/ Now offering spam-free web-based newsreading