I have been fooling around with some improvements to Kaits board. I want to get a working rail in soon, because I feel like they are an important staple in pinball. Making the rails function properly has been taking a little finagling though, with the ball requiring a little bit of downforce in order to prevent it from falling off during turns. I have several rail segments modeled out so I can now make and test different rail layouts quickly.

I made these ball-vaccum-tubes that can suck up the ball when it passes over its trigger button. These go on cooldown for a while after sucking up a ball to prevent things from getting jammed up or stuck. I mostly use these to get the ball up off the board towards the new rails etc.

The relationship system will reward players that have played a machine a few times before. Increasing your relationship with a girl will unlock special parts of the board (like the two new ball vaccum tubes on the left and right in the photo above). I think this is an interesting way to keep the board fresh for longer. It also makes it easier for the player to learn one part of the board at a time, as opposed to being overwhelmed by too many visuals. This wont be a grindy mechanic at all, I plan to make it so that you can max out a relationship in less than 10 pinball board completions. 

I will update this post if I forgot any details.

Cheers.