Virtual pinball is not real pinball

[phreezie]

It would be crazy if they're not using Unreal or Unity. Literally anyone can knock up a virtual pin with realistic physics these days just by watching a few YouTube videos to learn the basics. The only tricky bits are the rules, design and layout. Unreal has been free to use since 2014.

Apologies for the late reply, it took three years for my forum registration to come through

Regarding your comment: Having done exactly that ("knock up a virtual pinball with realistic physics"), I can assure you that YouTube won't show you how to accurately simulate pinball physics. One thing I had to learn along the way is that most game physics engines actually fake a lot of things. They're not built for precise physics simulation. Instead, they approximate physics to feel convincing enough to players. Different games have different requirements, and pinball is definitely an area where general-purpose physics engines tend to fall short.