Fruit Machine Chat

Anyone with serious questions to ask will get an answer as long as it does not compromise any industry company. There are some industry people posting already and either they are ill informed or or misleading in some areas.
I will try and answer with least bias and really my name should be deep throat!!!

Welcome! Hope you didn't mind my pun in the other thread...

Anyway, I'll kick off - perhaps with something slightly different to expected. I've been working on games of my own over the last year or so

[Link to be provided!]

Do you have, lovely term this: 'specific specifications' such as:

- possible screen resolutions (terminal specific, of course!)
- hardware (again, terminal specific)
- OS software (win 2000 / NT, I presume?)

I'm certainly still a way off having any finished project, but would be interested in knowing the route of 'conception to realisation' for a game.

I'm not sure I'll believe you until I've read your answers but:

- how many pros does the industry reckon there are in the UK (and define what it considers to be a pro)?

- what percentage of winnings get taken by pros?

- is trying to outwit pros still a major factor in game design (e.g. new tendency for wrong/right answers not to be displayed immediately)?

- how many other cases such as that of Brewis on Big Match / BMWC have their been which weren't publicised? Can you name any games involved?

- why does the industry persist in releasing games that can't possibly hold any appeal either for Joe Public or keener players?

Why did 'the industry' screw up Prize Triple Towers on the ITBox and replace it with the skill-void Prize Pyramids?

OK Grecian.
The questions you ask have no definative aswers, subjective.
Pros, these are players who will try and attack the prize cash box which is generally 30%. All machine aim to retain 70% in cash box. The pro is the player who will use his ability to take the 30% left for payout. The industry is a very poorly managed state and one can see that from the public published accounts of the companies involved.
Right or wrong questions being highlighted are in different camps, some do not want to show a correct answer and some do, reasons |I don't need to go into.
BMWC, I do not no idea but even if I did it would not be ethical to relate.
The industry is not a professional business, we have people making decisions whomhave never been in a pub in their life. it is a fact that if a company put garbage on their terminal then it is clear they do not know what they are doing. belive me it is not planned, as I say it would be difficult for them to organise a piss up in a brewery.!!
If you a want a factual asnwer then fine but cannot give opions and also this thread wil be strickly monitored, by the industry.

Are there any games where the top prize, or any prize is unobtainable??

We know that on Spot the difference the last game makes it impossible to win, is this happening on other machines too??

Hi Matt.
OK well a great deal of people and smaller companies are writing and developing games for terminals, as can be seen by the increase in games being released. Operating sytems are varied from NT4 bottom end Gamesnet, through to Windows 200o. Screen res 800x600 is general. Some attract loops are gretaer to give better look. Each terminal has basic Celeron and basic graphics with 20/40gig drives. The hardware is pretty much crap compared to what is avilable today but the companies cannot afford to upgrade not only in money but manpower. Site engineering is so bad due to swathing cuts in site/service engineer budgets.

Concept to getting it on a terminal, would not bother these guys are inundated with wannabies, too late if you are not already a supplier. Only solution would take you idea to samller company and then you will stille run the risk of them coping it. No win situation, I am sorry but that is my advice.

Dr Pepper.
Yes. You must understand that the industry has to protect the 70% cash box dictum. As is weel published a company with a game failed miserabley and people could rip into the cash box.
All game will put updefences if they are built correctly.
The cash box is split with the location, the operator then takes his end and them has to pay the game developer a small percentage. Some companies devlop their own games and use them even if they are crap. (I don't need to mention any names as I am sure this can be clearly seen.

Top three games in order, last six months and have not changed are
DOND, Bingo, Bullseye.

borgcontact4 wrote:Dr Pepper.
Yes. You must understand that the industry has to protect the 70% cash box dictum. As is weel published a company with a game failed miserabley and people could rip into the cash box.
All game will put updefences if they are built correctly.
The cash box is split with the location, the operator then takes his end and them has to pay the game developer a small percentage. Some companies devlop their own games and use them even if they are crap. (I don't need to mention any names as I am sure this can be clearly seen.

Top three games in order, last six months and have not changed are
DOND, Bingo, Bullseye.

that doesn't answer Dr P's question.

i'll refresh your memory you: are games built to advertise a jackpot (or any other prize) which is impossible?

Thanks Unknown for pointing that out.

This is subjective but will speak for what I and what others I know do. No we do not try and advertise a jackpot of any prizes that is not available at some time. rember that a jackpot and prize will not be availabel unless the machine has the availability to pay it out. So in other words it is leagl to say the jackpot is there but in reality it is not avialablke for all the games. Stoppers are used etc to ensure that game canot reach into the 70% cash box general requirement.

Hope that makes it clear.

Oh Matt!! your most welcome.

borgcontact4 wrote: This is subjective

no it isn't. if (e.g.) STD requires five differences but the picture only has four unidentical pixels, that is an unobtainable prize. qed.

i'm not disputing the 70%/30% ratio and of course spoiler questions/ strategems will kick in, none of us object to that in essence. but the question is still unanswered. we do not expect JP every time but once in a blue moon you might have a chance at it. (notwithstanding the paragon where JPs are advertised lower and actually are winnable under the right circumstances.)

here's a rhetorical question to illustrate: has anyone, anywhere ever picked the right key for the £20 cash crypt on monster cash?

UnKnown.
OK if STD does what you say , then it is illegal and should be reported to BACTA ? Gaming Commission or even Trading standards. Have you reported this to the operator. As of 1st September the new gaming Act 2005 comes into force and whilst there is juridiction over skill with prize games, it comes under Prize Competitions, there is responsibilty to operators to operate fairly.
This I believe would ensure that any impossible elements should be removed.
Questions again can be virtually impossble and the more one has to answer then the lore likely you will fail with winning j/p. Again if Gamewarehouse advertise lower j/ps and ypou can win more this is not following industry guidelines, All Prizes should be displayed and all should be available in every game.
As for your RQ, not sure what you mean, I am not with it sorry.

Surely if you flung £100 into the game without winning it would be quite eager to award you the 20 notes?

However, to get it "normally", it would need require at least 60 games to be played (and who is going to do that when there is so much better stuff to be played?) and nobody to win... obviously that is never going to happen, so therefore, you'll never win the top prize.

Can't really see how they could get round this problem, except perhaps by halving the top prize. DOND only achieves it occasionally because of much increased throughput.

If it is true with STD (and I'm not doubting that it's not), then that is nothing less than a scam.

For borg and anyone else's attention too

http://www.fruitchat.co.uk/viewtopic.ph ... hlight=std

Read that thread regarding STD.

borgcontact4: No probs...

On this version, it is 'possible' to get up to level 9 , but then problems start to occur. You still need to spot five differences (and on this version there is just enough time to do it). However, there aren't five differences to be found, there are only FOUR!!!

If you get to the ninth level with one help left, then instead of being five differences to spot, there are only three. IF you spot these three differences then use the help, the machine circles a completely random area on the screen where there is not a difference. I can say this for definate as i can pick out anything as small as a one pizel difference.

SO in simple terms, the deluxe version is still 100% impossible (but now you can get to level 9). It really annoys me that they are able to offer a 100% impossible games where the jackpot is not possible to get. Bacta should really look into this sort of crap more heavily.

Just to highlight the most relevant point in that thread link...