We’ve released yesterday an update to Pinball Maniacs (1.3), and unfortunately there is an issue with the update that is out of our control. The problem is a crash at start up, created on Apple’s side. We are waiting for an explanation and a solution from Apple. It does not affect all users, so if it does not affect you, you’re lucky.

IMPORTANT: If you didn’t update yet, please don’t update just yet!

We deeply thank you for your patience!

This issue is affecting a bunch of apps too. More information:

• http://www.marco.org/2012/07/04/app-store-corrupt-binaries
• http://mashable.com/2012/07/05/corrupt-ios-apps/
• http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/05/apple-issue-causing-widespread-app-crashes-fairplay-drm-may-be-to-blame/

The Pinball Maniacs Team

From left to right: Magic Fred, Laurent and Gregory

Frédéric Smyczynski (aka MagicFred)

Art Director and Game Designer

Starting in the Flash game industry as a Game Artist, Frédéric grew into the role of Art Director at Yamago (2001 – Paris, France).
He was credited for creating graphics and design in several Web-based games for big companies like Cartoon Network, Lego and Disney.
Since 2007, he lives in Montreal, Canada. Fascinated by the indie games industry, Frédéric founded the company Dijiko and released his first mobile game “Kiwitiki” (iOS).

Finally, in 2012, he joins the epic team at Massive Finger to create “Pinball Maniacs”!

Grégory Challant

Game Programmer

Back in high school, video game programming began as a friendly competition with some friends to see who could make the best game to play together during lunch break!
After graduating from Epitech, Paris, he joined Cyanide Studio as Gameplay Programmer to work on diablo-like game “Loki”.
He moved to Montreal in 2007 to work on a next-gen animation engine, then a 3D engine for diverse future title of Cyanide. He also worked as Lead Programmer on the RTS game on the licence of the fantasy novels “A Game of Thrones”.

In 2011, it was time for him to face new challenges so he joined the creative team of Massive Finger to explore the mobile gaming industry.

Laurent Mascherpa

Chief Pinball Officer

I started Massive Finger in 2009, after 6 years of working at Ubisoft on a bunch of AAA games. The premise was simple: Enjoy making games that everyone can have fun playing. At the time, Facebook and iPhone games started to be an exciting alternative. After 3 years, I can tell you, the adventure is nothing like I had expected, it’s MANIACAL!

After Pinball Ride, I managed to gather the best team ever for Pinball Maniacs, and I can’t believe what we’ve achieved in one year. The result is brilliant and I can’t wait to see everyone playing the game in the weeks and months to come.

Momomusic

Music Producer

Momomusic is the musical production behind Pinball Maniacs. After spending many months on an isolated Caribbean island for inspiration, the team of highly skilled composers created the main theme for the adventures of Justin in Pirate Bay. In fact, they liked the Caribbean beach so much that one of the members of Momomusic bought a bar in an unidentified beach and spends his days selling margaritas.

For the Dragon Castle theme, Momomusic didn’t have the budget to travel to an isolated castle in France, so they decided to go to Disneyworld instead. The result is a song that has funny and epic elements, all at the same time. The team learned to play the bagpipes, specifically uilleann pipes, a traditional instrument from Ireland.

Momomusic also worked in collaboration with Massive Finger to create an unique system that randomly changes the parts of the music while you play. The result is a combination of powerful melodies and musical diversity that fits the beautiful and addictive tables created by Massive Finger and heightens the senses and reflexes of all pinballers out there!

A special version of the soundtrack can be purchased on iTunes.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/pirate-bay/id516626536?i=516626546&ign-mpt=uo%3D4

Eli Hason

Sound Designer

Sound designer Eli Hason has worked on many large titles, however Pinball Maniacs is his first foray into iPhone games.  Past work in games has included The Golden Compass, Silent HIll: Homecoming, GI Joe,  Wet, Naughty Bear, MySims SkyHeros, and is currently working on the newest title in the Thief series. As a DJ and music producer under the alias Eliazar, he spends as much time making people dance as well as keeping his fingers in fine shape for more touch screen and controller fun.

djeliazar.com

Pinball Maniacs is almost ready, and we are now looking for Beta testers. From casual player to pinball experts, please join our Beta test!

Send an email to: pinballmaniacs-beta@massivefinger.com and we’ll send you some instructions.

Thanks!

We’ve been developing Pinball Maniacs for a year now. And we are happy to announce that we are getting close to the release of the game.

Still you are probably wondering: “What is Pinball Maniacs?”

So we asked Justin (the hero of the game), and here is his answer!

Enjoy!

Team Mania

Since we released Pinball Ride in 2009 (3.3M downloads on iOS – mostly free), tons of great pinball games have come out. We want to refresh the pinball genre introducing some breakout elements, and offer players a pinball experience they can’t find yet on iPhone (or iPad).

The result is a fun, a bit crazy and a bit over-the-top pinball game called Pinball Maniacs.

Go check our mini site right now.