VisualPinball.Engine VS APC

If there are any pinhead game devs out there, we're still working on the next generation of Visual Pinball, called VPE[1].

However, given the current drama around Unity, we're currently looking into Godot to evaluate how much effort it would take to port, and how Godot will support our needs.

[1] https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine

Pinball on computers is thriving too.

Visual Pinball X ("VPX", see https://www.vpforums.org/index.php?app=downloads&showcat=51) runs community authored recreated tables with ROMs dumped from the hardware. The physics engine has good performance and authenticity.

Another project, Visual Pinball Engine, ported the C++-based physics engine to Unity (https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine) through its DOTS & "HPC#" (C# with manual memory management extensions) approach. Unity adoption means you can play high fidelity tables right in your browser (https://appmana.com/watch/pinball).

Then there's commercial platforms like Pinball FX and people building VPX rendering in VR.

It's maybe the biggest simulation scene I know of. The community fills many niches. Rigs of Rods & Beam.ng for the idea, "Microsoft Flight Simulator, but for cars." XMage & Spellsource for "Magic the Gathering or Hearthstone but you write your own cards." Unreal Engine for Fortnite is a big entry for the open world community authored content dominated by Minecraft, with submarine stuff like Facepunch's S&box (think Garry's Mod 2.0) coming up.

No it's just a modernising of the engine and gfx for modern machines. a lot of the VPX devs and table makers are actively helping create VPE as it's an open source project on github. https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine

We're developing this: https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine/

Shameless plug, we're working on a next-gen pinball simulator called Visual Pinball Engine[1]. It's free and open source, using Unity, and will eventually support importing FP's table format.

It's still WIP, but we've put a lot of focus on tooling, so anyone can easily create tables.

Quick video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CfZImFl1ME

[1] https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine

We've been working on an open source pinball framework for Unity for a while now, in case you're interested: https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine

Documentation: https://docs.visualpinball.org/ Repository: https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine Screenshots: https://github.com/freezy/VisualPinball.Engine/wiki/Unity-Screenshots

When you do find one to restore, look up these resources to swap the old processor for an Arduino, download the framework with all the rules for missions and points and so on, and still emulate the old hardware interface:

https://missionpinball.org/

https://github.com/AmokSolderer/APC

There are a number of machines up for sale, priced at around $4,000:

https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/star-wars

https://pinside.com/pinball/machine/star-wars-trilogy

Might want to start with a cheap, older Bally or Williams machine instead of the late-model licensed Star Wars machines, but they can be found for a lot less if not (yet) in working order!