Entstanden fuer den Spiegel Artikel, <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="lhttp://einestages.spiegel.de/static/topi...ummaschine.html">lhttp://einestages.spiegel.de/static/to ... chine.html</a><!-- m -->
leider wegen einer falschen Mailaddresse nicht veröffentlicht. Steve hat die Antworten trotz enormen Zeitdrucks geschrieben - und ich bin sehr dankbar für die tiefgründigen Antworten.
1. What makes a pinball-machine a masterpiece?
A masterpiece pinball machine has many ingredients, and not a single recipe, but many recipes, depending on the designers’ preferences and styles. A masterpiece starts with a good game title and name that suggests an action or a character that is exciting, interesting, and identifiable to as broad a demographic audience as possible. The title must evoke a story in which all the pinball elements such as ball movement, rules, artwork, lighting, sounds, speech, music, artwork, mechanical action, and tactile feedback are ripe
for exploiting in as many familiar and exciting ways as possible. A masterpiece pinball must have a kinetic flow that is designed to bring the ball to certain areas of the game in a pleasing and beautiful way that has
been thought out and engineered to set the player up for flipping the ball at targets. The game must have a geometry that lets the ball act at random, but the ball should also guided by angles of the rubber, targets, and anything else that the ball can strike or bounce off of to place the ball under control of the player in primary, secondary and even tertiary bounces. A masterpiece pinball must have rules that provide rewards, challenge, and a depth that starts shallow for beginner players, yet climbs in difficulty as
players achieve more features and increase their skill. The “carrot on a stick” dangling in front of the horse pulling a cart must always be there for players, always something new to try for, at every level. A good set of rules provides for careful placement of milestone rewards, such as an Extra Ball, that even a beginner player might win to extend his game and possibly get to the next level that he may be trying desperately to achieve. A masterpiece pinball must evoke player emotions and conditions such as danger, excitement, fear, victory, heroism, power, humor, anger, revenge, remorse, exaltation, confrontation, and machismo. The use of these provides a great power over and effect on the player. The use of a full range of emotions can bring a player into the game enough to be focused only on the play action and story of the game to the exclusion of everything else going on around him. A masterpiece pinball must have rewards and challenges that make the game unforgettable. To come very close to a goal, but not achieve the goal can be frustrating, but the player, having ALMOST achieved the goal brings forth a kind of revenge and the feeling of leaving a challenge unbeaten. Even when players finally achieve the goal, they ask themselves, “Can I do it again?” A masterpiece pinball must be durable and stand up robustly to public abuse. It must be built so that it will last and play for as long as possible. There have been many good games that did not succeed because they didn’t work well and broke in the field. Since a pinball machine actually exists to earn money, a broken, easily damaged or poorly engineered machine will not be
available to play no matter how popular the machine is. A masterpiece pinball must be as exciting as a great movie to play, hear, see and feel. It must have entertainment value that increases as the player
gets further into the game. It must have the lights, rules, ball flow, title, artwork, toys, devices, and sounds that blend into an experience that is undeniably unforgettable and addictive. This game is always being played because it is constantly in demand. This game can be called a masterpiece.
2. Do you have a personal philosophie in designing pinball-machines?
My personal design philosophy is a complex subject, but my main goal begins with the smooth flow of the ball. Before I start to draw a game, I have some ideas about how the ball will flow around the game, and a workable outer core of shots and components. I generally start with the plunger shot, but also must have the lower flippers and feed lanes around them correctly drawn. I don’t make many changes to the lower flipper area. This area is, after all, the only thing that a new player might find familiar. The bottom's
general style was once called an Italian bottom, but I modified the Italian bottom to allow a smooth flow of the ball onto the flippers without an accuracy reducing “bump”. I never change this part of the game. I try to change EVERYTHING else, but there are a finite number of good shot angles on a pinball
machine. There are also player expectations for such things as orbit shots, multi-ball, extra flippers, and such that get repeated pretty often. This paragraph barely scratches the surface of a huge mountain of thought that I have about designing a pinball machine. This is what I can give you for now.
3. What was your best "pinball-moment" in your life?
My best pinball moment was in the lab at Williams in 1980 when Eugene Jarvis and I were making Firepower. It was late at night and we were playing on the third white wood, so the game was very much like it was to be manufactured. We were playing the finished game in all its glory, and I had a game that
would not end. It was the best game of my life. I could not do anything wrong, and I had 3 extra balls stacked. The score was huge. We got to see every feature played, all the effects, hear all the speech and sound calls, and the background sound went into a freaky crescendo. When it was over, it was a
wonderful feeling. But that wasn't the great pinball moment. The great pinball moment came
when Eugene and I shook hands, hugged, and we somehow both KNEW without a doubt that Firepower was a masterpiece. We worked hard, we innovated, we overcame a million problems, and we every bit deserved this victory.
leider wegen einer falschen Mailaddresse nicht veröffentlicht. Steve hat die Antworten trotz enormen Zeitdrucks geschrieben - und ich bin sehr dankbar für die tiefgründigen Antworten.
1. What makes a pinball-machine a masterpiece?
A masterpiece pinball machine has many ingredients, and not a single recipe, but many recipes, depending on the designers’ preferences and styles. A masterpiece starts with a good game title and name that suggests an action or a character that is exciting, interesting, and identifiable to as broad a demographic audience as possible. The title must evoke a story in which all the pinball elements such as ball movement, rules, artwork, lighting, sounds, speech, music, artwork, mechanical action, and tactile feedback are ripe
for exploiting in as many familiar and exciting ways as possible. A masterpiece pinball must have a kinetic flow that is designed to bring the ball to certain areas of the game in a pleasing and beautiful way that has
been thought out and engineered to set the player up for flipping the ball at targets. The game must have a geometry that lets the ball act at random, but the ball should also guided by angles of the rubber, targets, and anything else that the ball can strike or bounce off of to place the ball under control of the player in primary, secondary and even tertiary bounces. A masterpiece pinball must have rules that provide rewards, challenge, and a depth that starts shallow for beginner players, yet climbs in difficulty as
players achieve more features and increase their skill. The “carrot on a stick” dangling in front of the horse pulling a cart must always be there for players, always something new to try for, at every level. A good set of rules provides for careful placement of milestone rewards, such as an Extra Ball, that even a beginner player might win to extend his game and possibly get to the next level that he may be trying desperately to achieve. A masterpiece pinball must evoke player emotions and conditions such as danger, excitement, fear, victory, heroism, power, humor, anger, revenge, remorse, exaltation, confrontation, and machismo. The use of these provides a great power over and effect on the player. The use of a full range of emotions can bring a player into the game enough to be focused only on the play action and story of the game to the exclusion of everything else going on around him. A masterpiece pinball must have rewards and challenges that make the game unforgettable. To come very close to a goal, but not achieve the goal can be frustrating, but the player, having ALMOST achieved the goal brings forth a kind of revenge and the feeling of leaving a challenge unbeaten. Even when players finally achieve the goal, they ask themselves, “Can I do it again?” A masterpiece pinball must be durable and stand up robustly to public abuse. It must be built so that it will last and play for as long as possible. There have been many good games that did not succeed because they didn’t work well and broke in the field. Since a pinball machine actually exists to earn money, a broken, easily damaged or poorly engineered machine will not be
available to play no matter how popular the machine is. A masterpiece pinball must be as exciting as a great movie to play, hear, see and feel. It must have entertainment value that increases as the player
gets further into the game. It must have the lights, rules, ball flow, title, artwork, toys, devices, and sounds that blend into an experience that is undeniably unforgettable and addictive. This game is always being played because it is constantly in demand. This game can be called a masterpiece.
2. Do you have a personal philosophie in designing pinball-machines?
My personal design philosophy is a complex subject, but my main goal begins with the smooth flow of the ball. Before I start to draw a game, I have some ideas about how the ball will flow around the game, and a workable outer core of shots and components. I generally start with the plunger shot, but also must have the lower flippers and feed lanes around them correctly drawn. I don’t make many changes to the lower flipper area. This area is, after all, the only thing that a new player might find familiar. The bottom's
general style was once called an Italian bottom, but I modified the Italian bottom to allow a smooth flow of the ball onto the flippers without an accuracy reducing “bump”. I never change this part of the game. I try to change EVERYTHING else, but there are a finite number of good shot angles on a pinball
machine. There are also player expectations for such things as orbit shots, multi-ball, extra flippers, and such that get repeated pretty often. This paragraph barely scratches the surface of a huge mountain of thought that I have about designing a pinball machine. This is what I can give you for now.
3. What was your best "pinball-moment" in your life?
My best pinball moment was in the lab at Williams in 1980 when Eugene Jarvis and I were making Firepower. It was late at night and we were playing on the third white wood, so the game was very much like it was to be manufactured. We were playing the finished game in all its glory, and I had a game that
would not end. It was the best game of my life. I could not do anything wrong, and I had 3 extra balls stacked. The score was huge. We got to see every feature played, all the effects, hear all the speech and sound calls, and the background sound went into a freaky crescendo. When it was over, it was a
wonderful feeling. But that wasn't the great pinball moment. The great pinball moment came
when Eugene and I shook hands, hugged, and we somehow both KNEW without a doubt that Firepower was a masterpiece. We worked hard, we innovated, we overcame a million problems, and we every bit deserved this victory.
Live Long and Prosper
