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Hey folks. I've been working on a design for a slot machine and was hoping I could get some feed back.
At the moment I've set it up to accept a specific item as input (diamond for now). Any item that doesn't meet the filter's specifications will get parsed out. When the proper item is fed into the system it starts up two linked systems (and also blocks the user from activating the system a second time until the current cycle completes). One of these systems is a facade to serve as an indicator for when the player has won or is close to winning, ie the spinning reels of the slot machine. The second system is a memory circuit. The memory circuit serves to tell the system when the player has won. Which then triggers one of the many prize sequences. Both use regular pistons to push blocks in a square.
After a predetermined time the reels will stop spinning from left to right to simulate the way a slot machine stops spinning. This creates a semi shuffling effect of the reels, but in my testing I noticed that the pattern repeats every 28 spins. For this reason I incorporated a random function using a bud switch. The random function causes a reel to stutter thereby displacing the pattern by 1 block every time the function activates (each reel has it's own independent random function which has a chance of activating 2-3 times per spin AND noticing the stutter is very, very difficult). Having implemented this random function I have yet to see the initial pattern repeat after 300 spins. More testing is probably needed, but I think over 300 is enough.
Victory is achieved when one or more of the three visual horizontal lines all have the same block. A player will get multiple rewards if there are more than one horizontal lines with full matches. The player is rewarded via a dispenser shoot prizes (diamonds) at them, and I am considering adding in a show of visual and musical appeal for when the very rare jackpot is hit: probably a fireworks sequence, musical number via noteblocks, and a parade of villagers on minecarts. I'm very theatrical.
If anyone has comments/suggestions or can point out glaring flaws for the design I mentioned above I'd love to hear them.
The next part I'd like to cover is theme, payment, and prize type. I'd like to keep the prize type and payment type consistent because it means I can just feed the payment directly into the prize payout system, but I am willing to budge on this (at the moment it's just 1 diamond for one play and larger diamond prizes are rewarded for the rarer slot combos). Would you have any suggestions for what the payment and prize types are? I can have as many or as few block types as I want but I think sticking 4-5 would keep things reasonable both from a building stand point and playing standpoint.
The only real consideration I've had for a theme has been a villager oriented theme. I'd use emerald blocks as the grand prize block and then go down from there. Using stained clay for the villager skin tone and the like. Maybe some oak wood since it is such a prominent building material for them, and also hay bales given their love wheat farming. The face of this device will end up being rather tall some 20-30 blocks and will not be housed inside. The mechanics that go on behind the device are rather large so building into a mountain would be the easiest, but I think I might actually prefer the challenge of disguising it all with a more attractive building than a block. Maybe a giant villager laying down on his belly with his mouth open -- inside of which the reels spin, and out of his eyes shoot the prize.
If you have any ideas for the theme please let me know in as little or as much detail as you'd like. I'd love to hear from you.
Lastly, any thoughts of where something like this should go? I sort of like the desert or mesa: ya know Las Vegas and all.
If pictures are desired of some of the components I am happy to oblige as I have it all saved up in my creative test realm.
