Blahcade Podcast

If you’ve ever tried to diagnose a fault on a Pinball machine, you’ll know how frustrating it can sometimes be. Jared had just such a problem last week with his Star Race.Chris has been diving into the stats side of Williams Pinball more and has yielded some interesting insights from the data collected.There’s some interesting movie talk in this episode as well that breaks up the show a bit.Enjoy, and let us know what you think. Don't forget about the blog post about the episode: https://blahcadepinball.com/171-earths-wins-and-fire

Chris has had the opportunity to give Campaign Mode on Zaccaria Pinball a go, and he's got plenty to share about the gameplay and features.Stern has also dropped a new Black Knight table on us and we go into a little bit of detail about our thoughts about the overall package and our hopes for balanced gameplay in the title.We round out the show with some Williams Pinball discussion and include a little exploit you can use (at time of writing this post) to guarantee massive points on Junk Yard in certain modes.Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/170-zaccaRIa-not-zaccARia for show notes and links.

Plenty of hardcore pinball app folks on Android and iOS have been complaining about how much grinding you need to do on Williams Pinball to get ahead. Zen Studios will be releasing a table pack approximately every 8–10 weeks.We know that those all-important table parts are randomly dropped across tables.Because you now have seven tables to spread your parts over, it may become difficult for new folks to the platform to unlock a table to the two-star level so they can play them in the basic and advanced daily challenges.Chris outlines details about his efforts to get some data around the freemium unlocks so that we have facts rather than speculative analysis about the freemium experience in the game.See https://blahcadepinball.com/169-analytics-here-we-come for links to show notes and coarse timing points.

In predictable fashion, Zen Studios released Williams Pinball Vol. 3 across all platforms today after announcing the game a few weeks ago.We got early access to a press copy of the latest release just before the weekend (yeah, not a huge preview but we'll take it), and recorded this episode so we could push it out on the day of release for you.Vol. 3 enters the ring, distracts us with a card trick while breaking the vault open with some explosive features. So sit back and enjoy our musings over how Theatre of Magic, The Champion Pub, and Safe Cracker feel in their new digital home.Then download this bruiser and get flipping!See https://blahcadepinball.com/168-williams-pinball-vol-3 for show notes and links to the new channel our podcast is now available through. 

Yep, this is a bit of a weird episode, because it is out of sync with the timeline leading up to the release date announcement for Williams Pinball Volume 3.That doesn't mean there's nothing good to be had in the episode. Far from it! There's news about Zaccaria, Farsight, Zen, and a bit of front-loaded movie banter to ease you into the weekend. We're back to our regularly scheduled shows after this one, so enjoy the randomness and we'll see you on the other side.Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/167-out-of-sync for the usual show notes and links to things.

Now that the Williams Pinball Vol 1 and Vol 2 Beta has run its course on iOS and Android, it's time for Zen to channel their inner Ariana and say "thank u, next" for the latest Williams Pinball DLC drop across all platforms. Hear Mel Kirk and Thomas Crofts (apologies from Akos Györkei who had to bail early to get Zen's Twitch stream set up) lay down what we can expect from Volume 3. For those forensic fans out there, one of the tables will not be a surprise. But there may be a couple of tables in Volume 3 that have come out of left field. There's also some (now somewhat old, but nonetheless) awkward and uncomfortable news about Magic Pixel's Zaccaria Pinball app on Android at the end of the show.So many pictures in the show notes. Check them out at https://blahcadepinball.com/166-zen-studios-vol-3-interview 

There was an update recently to the iOS Williams Pinball app from Zen Studios.Chris gives us an update of what changes were made in the app, and what clues it gives for Android users still suffering from the 10x mark-up on IAP in-game currency pricing.We also clarify a few things said in the previous beta coverage podcast about graphics and stuff.There is also a question at the end of the show that Jared would love the answer to. So please think about it and let us know.Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/165-data-is-king for the timings and links.

Akos, Thomas and Mel take time out of their work evening to chat with us about how Zen goes about engineering their tables, and the experience that goes along with designing the premiere mobile pinball experience.It's a short but oh so sweet interview and will fill the gap you have between the slightly longer episodal gap we've been having of late.Enjoy, and let us know what you reckon.See https://blahcadepinball.com/164-zen-studios-design-interview for show notes and timings.

In today's mobile gaming world, freemium models are often the only way developers can earn a crust in a crowded game market. Getting the balance right between playing for free to level up (grinding) versus playing outright can be a tough balance to get right. It seems that Zen might have made a misstep with pricing on their Android release of Williams Pinball.While the app is released in beta form, in-app purchases are live and available to purchase. So what are the current pricing differences between Android and iOS? Well, quite a lot as you'll find out when you listen to this episode.Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/163-not-down-with-iap for show notes and screenshots of actual in-game pricing, and the usual show timings you love (you do love 'em right)?

In software development, running experiments to test out hypotheses is an important part of product management and product development.We've already worked out that Zen Studios has been doing this for a while on mobile. They were testing out their free-to-play models on mobile, so they could gather the data they needed to implement it correctly in Williams Pinball on iOS and Android.We explore the different experiments out there on mobile. We also work out what could be done to unify the experience in line with the new Williams Pinball mobile mode.See https://blahcadepinball.com/162-a-unified-experience for the show notes and pictures of things we were showing on the YouTube Live session.

Chris took the drive from La Habra to Banning, CA to visit one of the finest collections of pinball on the West coast: the Museum of Pinball.Open only three times a year, the museum flung its doors open to pinheads for what was an amazing couple of days of pinball action at the It Never Drains in Southern California (INDISC) pinball tournament.Chris talks about his favourite experiences at INDISC in the first half of the show, then we talk about how Zen is doing with recreating the mobile pinball experience on iOS (and Android, soon).Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/161-indisc-action for show notes and links to the things we talk about.

We're back for another year of commercial digital pinball coverage! Because 2019 is going to be a very exciting year for Zen Pinball FX3 fans, we wanted to get ahead of the curve and talk about the holy grail titles we'd love to see appear in the new kid on the block's pinball universe.Because Christmas is all about tradition, Chris insisted we go into details about his Movies in Review for 2018.Because he had MoviePass this year, it's a long segment. I shoved it at the end. Join us for an extra long podcast, that you can choose to listen to in parts or in one sitting.You're going to want to visit https://blahcadepinball.com/160-new-year-same-bs to get the show notes for this one.

This will be the final episode for 2018.Both of us have some great news to share about projects that have been running throughout the year, and we also have some great news for Zen Pinball fans on Mobile.We will return in 2019 for another year of the latest commercial digital pinball news.See https://blahcadepinball.com/159-farewell-2018 for the final set of show notes for 2018, and have an excellent new year. 

Zen Studios released their highly-anticipated Volume 2 collection of tables into the app stores early in December, and we recorded an episode to discuss what we thought about it. We've held onto it until now because we know that the festive season can be a bit boring, so having a few good podcasts to listen to can break the boredom a little.There's a mixture of real pinball and digital pinball talk in this episode, so get some egg-nog (or your favourite festive imbibement) and relax with some pinball chat. Look out for a back-to-back episode coming after this one, which will be the last one for the year from us.Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/158-fx3-williams-pinball-vol-2 for the show notes you know you love.

The folks at Zen Studios have punched out another beta for Williams Pinball Volume 2, and Chris gets some hands-on time with it. There's plenty of iterative improvements over the first beta, so we go into some of the juicy details.Then we get our thinking caps on and try to do some extrapolation about what titles Farsight Studios could theoretically and affordably produce from the Stern, Data East and Sega back catalogue. You'll find out just what this could look like if you take a listen now.Jump to https://blahcadepinball.com/157-a-box-of-chiclets for a whole bunch of links to stuff we cover in this episode.

Zen Studios released a Twitch video right after they announced the Volume 2 packs.It let everyone get a look at the tables, which means that we can talk freely about the tables.Join us for a deep-dive into some of the aspects of the tables in Volume 2, and listen to us speculate on what appeared to be a co-ordinated visit between Stern (Gomez and Eddie) to Budapest.See https://blahcadepinball.com/156-williams-vol-2-retro for detailed show notes and all the stuff you expect Jared to shove in there.

We told you didn't we!When news is quiet, there are things-a-brewing. And sure enough, we get a huge announcement from Zen Studios about what to expect in Volume Two of FX3 Williams Pinball.Join us for a session with Mel Kirk from Zen Studios. This is a pure interview and nothing else so sit back and get comfy: you've got a lot of great things about to be pumped into your ears about FX3.

When it’s a quiet news week like this one is, we know there are things happening behind the scenes in digital pinball that are sure to blow up.The festive season is typically a busy season for games developers, and pinball game developers are no different.With a mixture of topics this week, you’re sure to find something you like the sound of, so sit back and enjoy listening to the latest instalment.See https://blahcadepinball.com/154-slow-news-week for super-detailed show notes about this episode. 

When you play a video game, you do it to have fun. What is fun to one person differs, but in general you usually want to either complete the game or unlock everything in it.So what happens when your experience is interrupted by a game funding model that sucks the life out of your enjoyment of the game?You get a bad case of the Smurfberries.We explore a few recent examples of In-app Purchase (IAP) models that are at the expense of the game experience. We also talk about the effects of an unbalanced "buy it now" model in free-to-play games.To balance it out we also give you some examples outside of digital pinball where IAP doesn't need to be gross and distracting.See https://blahcadepinball.com/153-smurfberries for the full show notes, including links and other info.

There's a point at which you just shake your head and say "nope, that's too far".For some, it is when you change even the slightest part of an original item to meet today's censorship laws. For others, it ranges from "a bit is OK" to "hey, I really couldn't care less".In this episode, we focus on an article in Ars Technica that documents the censorship of Zen Pinball FX3 Williams Pinball. It will be interesting to hear what you think about the approach taken in the article, so do comment if you have a position on this.We know one thing for sure about this last month: Zen do give due consideration to the community when it comes to what matters to us.Check out https://blahcadepinball.com/152-censorship-buzz-kill for detailed notes and links for this episode.