Ten Pin Re-Imagine Stalled by Red Tape
by MJG74, HSM Art Director
Construction in Home has been underway for most of October, images of demolition and construction crews have been out in Central Plaza, making way for the new Home Re-Imagine project, scheduled to be completed this fall.
As most of the project seems to be running smooth and on schedule, and most are happy and pleased with the progress, HSM has run into one Home programmer who has had nothing but frustration, delay and denial of his proposed Re-Imagine expansion.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Walter_Williams to discuss what was going on with the construction and ultimately the fate of Home’s bowling alley.
HSM: Mr Williams, what is your position in Playstation Home?
Williams: I am fictionally the director of operations for Playstation Home North American Bowling Alley. I have been held this position from the start of Open Beta. I am very proud to say that I am associated with one of Home’s most successful and oldest games spaces. My alleys are for the most part always occupied by avatars, including my favorites: future and current Homelings.
HSM: We have learned that there are plans to change the Bowling Alley ?
Williams: There have been plans on the table for some time now.
HSM: What do you have in store for the Home community?
Williams: The proposed plans would add more alleys/game types and rewards to the current Bowling Alley.
HSM: What would those proposed changes be?
Williams: Big changes, notably is the building,as it will now be multistory. The lobby is very similar to the current, but a little smaller. We moved the pool tables to the second floor and relocated the arcade games to one side; on the opposite side is our “shoe rental” retail desk. Here players will find exclusive Bowling avatar clothes and related items for sale (like the bowling pin costume shown).
Changes people will notice quickly are there is now an elevator that transports avatars to three levels of bowling fun, and door to our new outside lanes. Classic Bowl is still on out main floor (lobby level) and now offers a reward of a gold pin bowling trophy item for your personal spaces for all who bowl a perfect 300 game. Also planned in addition to the classic bowl, we currently offer three more Alleys. Each would have four lanes and most accommodate four players per lane; they are Duck Pin, Beer Bowl, and Head Roll.
Duck Pin is our first outside alley accessed by a new door in our lobby. Duck Pin is NOT what most would think it to be, the lane is actually a dock where players would roll “round fish bowl balls” to knock over floating Ducks in a duck pond. The challenge to this game is, with each frame after the first, the Ducks start to swim around the pond – making it more challenging to knock all of them over. The higher the frame the faster the ducks swim. The reward for bowling a perfect 300 game is a special Duck companion.
Beer Bowl is our only two player game and would have been located on the new second floor of the Bowling Alley, accessed by new elevator in our lobby. The second floor is a bar/lounge and also where we re-located the pool tables. Approach the NPC bar tender to access our Bowling retail shop.
In Beer Bowl the Pins are replaced with Bottles. With each strike you make, your opponent’s ability to play becomes harder, as the game contains simulated drunkenness. With each gutter ball you make, your ability to play becomes harder. In the beginning, the effects are light; your ball will pull more to the left or right, but as more strikes are made or gutter balls the effects rapidly become more challenging, including wavy lanes, blurred, double or triple vision.
Each player has one cup of coffee; When the player decides to drink their cup of coffee it will eliminate all effects brought on by prevoius strikes made by your appointment or by gutter balls. A player may also earn a second cup of coffee by making four strikes in a row, and a third with eight strikes in a row. The reward for bowling a *perfect* 300 game is beer bottle costume for your avatar wardrobe.
Head Roll is located in the dark creepy basement of the bowling alley and accessible by the elevator. Here, players will play in our haunted lanes, roll skulls down a bumpy dirt alley to knock over bones. In this game, if a player makes three consecutive strikes in a row, then that player may choose to haunt one of their opponents. By haunting your opponent, you summon the ghost of the alley. This ghost comes and takes one ball (skull) away from your opponent of choosing, leaving that player with only one ball to play in that frame. These lanes also have hazards that can affect your game, from small headstones that mysteriously change position in each frame, to a zombie hand that may or may not pop out of the ground and try to grab your ball. The reward for bowling a *perfect* 300 game is The headless bowler outfit; with this costume, players can pull of their own avatar head and use it for a ball in any of the alleys.
HSM: All of that sounds amazing; what can you tell me about the rumor of a private bowling alley in the works too?
The alley is decorated with a modern twist on old world Victorian details. Some of the design elements include: wall and ceiling mounted chandeliers that shed warm light on the alleys and lounge area. The lounge area is semi furnished with fixed red velvet sofa, trimmed in exotic hardwood facing a giant marble fireplace with a EOD screen above.
For those whom have mastered all four of the bowling games – Classic, Duck, Beer, and Head Roll – with a perfect game of 300 in each will be treated to an addition to the Luxury Lanes Apartment. The walls on either side of the fireplace will be removed to reveal a wine bar on the left and a grand piano with pianist on the right. The pianist is a NPC dressed in tux that will play upon command from a selection of songs, in the order they are requested or by random with the shuffle option.
HSM: We have heard that there have been some problems with the Re-Imagination of the Bowling Alley, is there any truth to them ?
Williams: Unfortunately yes.
HSM: Are you at liberty to tell us what has been going on?
Williams: I have had plans drawn up for an expansion and reward system for the Bowling Alley for some time now. Budget and time constraints in the past have put the expansion project on hold. It was almost scrapped until the approval of the Re-Imagine project.
When I first learned of the Re-Imagine project, I saw the opportunity to once again propose my plans for the Bowling Alley. In the spirit of the Re-Imagine project, Home management quickly approved funding. I then met with the lead designers and planers to coordinate and revise the bowling alley plans to best fit with the re-imagine project.
Home real estate is much more difficult to come by now compared to the closed beta days. With change meant re-location of the alley. As the original alley is located in Central Plaza, and the land is owned by the Central Plaza Holdings. (CPH) is redeveloping the land for the proposed Hub, which they and their architects had not incorporated the revised plans for the bowling alley. Faced with a very tight budget, pending deadlines and most of the Hubs extra available space already sub leased CPH had too pass on the Alley redevelopment, and expansion.
HSM: Was that the only solution for the new alley to occupy space in the Hub?
Williams: No, Many hours and meetings later, it was decided that the new alley be located on Home’s shore line, a strip of real-estate that boarders the Sports Walk and Pier Park.
HSM: Where would we find the new alley?
Williams: Actually it was proposed to be on the Sports Walk side, but after reviewing the original alley redesign plans the Sports Authority (SA is the managing board of directors of the Sports Walk) wanted to make some design changes, so that the new alley would look and fit into the rest the Sports Walk architectural design. Once the designs changes were made the Harbor Studios Ground Administration (HSGA) whom is developing the land on Pier Park objected, as they claim the placement of the bowling alley would interfere and possibly distract avatars from the Midway 1 and 2.
This is when the real problems began. As the SA and the HSGA have been at odds with one another since the construction of the Ferris wheel in Pier Park. Early in the construction of Pier Park, the SA had objected to the placement of the wheel as it obstructs their view to the Action district. To try to block the Ferris wheel placement, the SA got the Harbor Studios Port Authority (HSPA) involved. The SA almost got the Ferris wheel blocked, but the HSPA intervened in behalf of the HSGA. Likewise (some may say out of revenge) when the proposal for the new Bowling Alley was sent in the HSGA instantly appealed to the HSPA and the project has been put back on hold.
HSM: How does the Harbor Studios Port Authority (HSPA) have anything to do with the Bowling Alley?
Williams: To understand what they do, you should know who they are, they are a quasi-governing administration, usually formed by a managerial body (or bodies) to operate Home’s transportation infrastructure. Millions of avatars just don’t bounce around randomly. As the HSGA is a subsidiary of the HSPA, the SA had the door shut and locked on them before they could even approach opening it.
HSM: Is the expansion of the bowling alley dead?
Williams: As any good Halloween story is, I’m afraid it is.
October 31st, 2011 by MJG74 | 4 comments
Michael Goss is the Art Director (emeritus) for HomeStation Magazine. In real life, is a normal member of the human species with some imperfections, but with a strength of ten as well, I kid ye not! He also has been know to exaggerate the details from time to time. His goal is to live fearlessly but finds that kinda difficult with current crop of republicans running for office.
ROFL Mike!! That was a fantastic take on how governments really work when a project is being done for a community. I wish this one was real, at least the personal bowling alley part. They need to consider doing that one.
Sorry i know i;m a lil slow at times lol, but is this actually happening or was this just an article on what he hopes will happen? If so hmm personal personal bowling lanes, great idea but you left us pool players behind grrr, we have been requesting personal tablessince closed beta, & yes i know we got the Veemee tables,no disrespect but even VeeMee must know that those are hugh failure,. anyhow great article & if this isn’t just his hopes for the Alley & is the actual new alley, im looking forward too seein it soon,.. angain great article as always from HSM
Nothing is planned to happen -- yet. Although Mr Williams is very optimistic and hopes to have another update on the status of the bowling alley for HSM in the Spring of 2012, I imagine we will learn more sometime in early April.
Happy Halloween!
Well done Mr. Mike!