Test Pilots (A VPX retheme mod WIP of JPSalas' Playboy 35th anniversary)

[Anthias]

Since I've started to hang around here a little, I thought I'd show you a snapshot of my current project.

 

After back in  the dark ages doing over a hundred VP6/7/8/9 original tables  and then a whole lot of FP tables, then a whole lot of BAM tables in recent years, this one is a first on three fronts:

My first VPX table,

My first VPM table

My first Mod.

 

With blessing from JPSalas, I have embarked on a project to mod his excellent Playboy 35th anniversary table. I am completely retheming the table to an all original (not licensed) theme, in an anime art style. 

 

It is called "Test Pilots" and is probably going to take me a lot of work yet, but I have already got a lot of artwork in place. Some of it will change, be repositioned, etc, but the table is developing it's own unique soul now, so I feel is ready for a bit of a tease. And I finally got VPX to actually render in cabinet mode, which it did NOT want to do for me. One hell of a lot of work to do yet, but it IS shaping up slowly.

 

[Anthias]

This is progressing. The rom is now gone, the new script is well under way.

[Anthias]

 

Here is the latest screenshot of this table. I have scripted in some lighting effects now, so it looks more like a ROM table. Game play is a lot of fun so far I think. Modes etc are two thirds coded. More done now than left to do, which is a good place to be! Before I know it it will be in beta testing.

 

As you can see from the table's display panel in the screen shot, it's building a new template script for vpx based on my old vp8 one. This one will be improved, of course. The things I have learned from this will go into porting and updating the Anthias Table Template to VPX, incorporating a few fairly major improvements. That template will then be a launch pad for a few more tables, hopefully. (noting that they won't be simple "cookie cutters" - the idea of the template is to provide the engine underneath, not the rules on top.) I already have a bunch of art assets prepared for three possible themes, as I have regular time away from home for work, during which I don't have access to VP, so I have used some of that time for artwork tinkering. Those tables will probably take a lot less time to build than this one, thanks to the experience this project has given me and the template script it has helped me develop.

 

Overall, I'm extremely happy I embarked on this project. I hope you all will be too, when the time comes to play the table!