Okay, I'm tossing this out there for the heck of it because I think it'd be awesome--I also never expect to see it, more's the pity. Pinball in particular is difficult to do in BYOND, although having done some physics in a project and with the new control over game speed, I wouldn't call this impossible in BYOND. Nevertheless this'd be best suited to a virtual pinball table, or a real one. (Note: If any pinball maker actually builds a machine like I'm about to describe, all I ask is to own one. WANT.)
The trappings of a Roguelike game could be adapted to pinball in a few ways. Traditionally, most roguelikes have several common elements:
- Randomly generated maps
- Randomly appearing items and hazards
- Unidentified items
- Enchanting equipment for more power
- Character growth (levels)
- Hunger (not especially relevant to this concept)
- Bumpers, targets, rollovers, spinners
- Special ramps
- Skill shot
- Multiball
- Goal-based bonuses
- Extra ball that can be earned during play
Starting simple, I envision a pinball table where most of the targets are widely spaced and spread all out over the board. Each target might represent a different item with different effects on play, but the exact item would be unknown until the target was hit, or an "identify" was earned via hitting one of several target banks. (I think as a rule, the best items should be more likely to show up under 2- or 3-target banks.) Some items might activate special buttons that could be used by the player to save the ball, or they could simply set up changes to the playfield like a door that temporarily blocks one of the outlanes. Which item went with which target/ramp/etc. would be lit by an LCD rollover that could change images.
The table should have multiple areas of play, with one smaller section set aside near the top like a mini treasure room or such, and extra flippers there. Even better would be something like the classic Gottlieb Haunted House table, which had three levels of play--one was a lower level visible through glass.
Now here's where the rubber meets the road: The playfield would change between "map levels". One of the recurring goals would be to earn the "stair bonus" that would drop the ball through a hole, and changes would be made to the table before returning the ball to the plunger. In a virtual pinball game this is cake, and it'd be easy to have several possible configuration templates that could be chosen at random. In a real table, I imagine this would involve some really impressive feats of engineering and the actual configuration changes would be severely limited--but still wicked cool for being there at all. The items associated with the different targets would move, but they would still remain identified. This random reconfiguration would also apply at the beginning of each game.
After reaching a certain number of stair bonuses, a quest item is earned, and then the player must journey "back" to score a huge bonus.
An easy concept? No. An awesome one? Frell yes. Even a virtual pinball game of this nature would be a blast to play, but imagine it, as close as you could possibly come to this, in a real table. But if this doesn't sound like your kind of game, consider applying the ideas behind Rogue to a different format instead. The excitement of exploration and firing up the imagination can all be present in games you never thought could achieve it.
