The game will have more then enough depth for those who want it, and I feel confident that the guys who really like strategy and well as the challenge of making shots will be happy as well. So, a not so quick overview of the rules.
The goal is to spell HOUDINI, which will get you to the ultimate Magicians Mode, which is a seven ball MB (e.g. one for each letter). Earning a Houdini letter requires . . .
1) Scoring a jackpot on Seance Multiball, which Like Seance itself, is pretty easy to achieve without much skill, other then just keeping the balls in play long enough to hit the seance stand-up targets, off course once in multiball, you suddenly start making the shots, and not hitting the stand-ups.
2) secret missions. It is alleged Houdini was a spy, so we incorporated that with secret missions delivered via morse code (don't worry we translate for you). Secret missions are combo shots, you have one active at a time, and once it is completed, you can then hit the needed shot to start the next. The next shot needed in the combo is always brightly lit with a bright pink/purple indicator (color subject to change, now that we can actually see the colors), that will reset, once you hit a shot that ends the combo and puts you back to the start. At TPF this was a little harder then it should be, since I had yet to yet refine which switch hits could kill the combo and force you back to shot 1. Each combo gets a little harder, and you do have to restart the current mission on each ball, but something I may change. Complete all five and get a mini-magician mode.
3) Jail Escapes. One of the ways Houdini marketed/promoted himself was to have the local police chain, handcuff and throw him in a jail cell, from which he would escape. These jail escapes are now a set of five hurry ups. You spell escape via a set of stand-up targets, you then shoot the jail to start the hurry up, these start easy and get harder, and the values go up accordingly. After you have attempted all five, you go back through the ones you have not yet completed. Oh, each hurry up takes place in a different city and I did take a liberty in including London, even though the London police never allowed it, they did not want to be publicly embarrassed. Complete all five and you get a mini-magican mode.
4) The Main Stage -- this is where the primary modes get started. I have plans for 10 modes that start at the stage. These represent his most famous tricks, illusions and escapes. Four of the modes were available at TPF, including Straitjacket multiball. When I was thinking about what kind of a mode to do for straightjacket, it was clear from looking at him in one, that it has to be reversed flippers, since most folks play reversed by crossing their arms, just like in a straitjacket, But since it was him doing it dangling upside down from a rope that drew attention to his skill in doing so, I needed to incorporate that, and that is how my thinking evolved into given the player the choice between normal (reversed flippers), and 'hanging' which has both reverse and inverted flippers. I think everyone here knows what reversed flippers are, inverted is when the flippers are normally up, and you drop them down by hitting the flipper buttons, so you have to play it by holding the buttons in, and then releasing to shoot. I believe Epthegeek was the first to do this 'inverted flipper' thing, via one of his party modes on CCC, so I want to thank Eric for the idea, as it works so well with our theme. Since I've given Eric help with his projects, I felt okay 'borrowing' it from him. You need to start all 10 modes to get a letter (although chance I'll change that to only require a portion of them, but making doing the mall have value).
The goal is to spell HOUDINI, which will get you to the ultimate Magicians Mode, which is a seven ball MB (e.g. one for each letter). Earning a Houdini letter requires . . .
1) Scoring a jackpot on Seance Multiball, which Like Seance itself, is pretty easy to achieve without much skill, other then just keeping the balls in play long enough to hit the seance stand-up targets, off course once in multiball, you suddenly start making the shots, and not hitting the stand-ups.
2) secret missions. It is alleged Houdini was a spy, so we incorporated that with secret missions delivered via morse code (don't worry we translate for you). Secret missions are combo shots, you have one active at a time, and once it is completed, you can then hit the needed shot to start the next. The next shot needed in the combo is always brightly lit with a bright pink/purple indicator (color subject to change, now that we can actually see the colors), that will reset, once you hit a shot that ends the combo and puts you back to the start. At TPF this was a little harder then it should be, since I had yet to yet refine which switch hits could kill the combo and force you back to shot 1. Each combo gets a little harder, and you do have to restart the current mission on each ball, but something I may change. Complete all five and get a mini-magician mode.
3) Jail Escapes. One of the ways Houdini marketed/promoted himself was to have the local police chain, handcuff and throw him in a jail cell, from which he would escape. These jail escapes are now a set of five hurry ups. You spell escape via a set of stand-up targets, you then shoot the jail to start the hurry up, these start easy and get harder, and the values go up accordingly. After you have attempted all five, you go back through the ones you have not yet completed. Oh, each hurry up takes place in a different city and I did take a liberty in including London, even though the London police never allowed it, they did not want to be publicly embarrassed. Complete all five and you get a mini-magican mode.
4) The Main Stage -- this is where the primary modes get started. I have plans for 10 modes that start at the stage. These represent his most famous tricks, illusions and escapes. Four of the modes were available at TPF, including Straitjacket multiball. When I was thinking about what kind of a mode to do for straightjacket, it was clear from looking at him in one, that it has to be reversed flippers, since most folks play reversed by crossing their arms, just like in a straitjacket, But since it was him doing it dangling upside down from a rope that drew attention to his skill in doing so, I needed to incorporate that, and that is how my thinking evolved into given the player the choice between normal (reversed flippers), and 'hanging' which has both reverse and inverted flippers. I think everyone here knows what reversed flippers are, inverted is when the flippers are normally up, and you drop them down by hitting the flipper buttons, so you have to play it by holding the buttons in, and then releasing to shoot. I believe Epthegeek was the first to do this 'inverted flipper' thing, via one of his party modes on CCC, so I want to thank Eric for the idea, as it works so well with our theme. Since I've given Eric help with his projects, I felt okay 'borrowing' it from him. You need to start all 10 modes to get a letter (although chance I'll change that to only require a portion of them, but making doing the mall have value).
