92 episodes tracked since 2020 about →
Ep 40: Overboard
PodcastAnalysis updated 4d ago1 hr 22 min listenBy Jeff Teolis & Martin Robbins
Final Round Pinball Podcast Episode 40: Overboard Hosts: Jeff Teolis & Martin Robbins Special Guest: Keith Elwin Keith Elwin joins us and accepts Martin’s fate as we talk about: – Remembering...
Highlights
- Steve Ritchie has left Stern Pinball
- Keith Elwin designed three games: Iron Maiden, Avengers, and Jurassic Park, all released from Stern
- Pinburgh tournament no longer exists due to IFPA/WPPR points expiration after one year
- Keith Elwin lost motivation to compete after Pinburgh ended
- Stern is bringing in younger designers and emphasizing knowledge transfer from experienced staff
- Keith Elwin prefers semi-flopped flippers over high-set flippers that enable backhand shots
- Rick Nagel is the primary coder responsible for implementing Keith's rule designs across all three games
- Keith Elwin can design a playfield every three months if needed, but rules development is the bottleneck
- Most game changes and score balancing happen one month before release
- Avengers game was designed on a tight schedule with help from Raymond Davidson for rules completion
Notable quotes
“Without it, I kind of lost my drive to compete, honestly.”
“If this had happened five, six years ago, I think we would have gone, oh, it's a big move. Stern is in a really good position with designers, coders, artists, developers.”
“Making a great pinball, that's the big difference. And I think that's where you need the passion, the experience, the nuances of knowing why a pinball machine is better than another pinball machine sitting next to it.”
“The easiest thing to do is smooth shooting, flowing fast. Those are easy. It's doing something original, unique, while incorporating some never-before-seen mechs. That's really where my job comes in.”
“You have to shoot all the shots. Jurassic, for example, you got to hit all chaos at one point. You can't avoid that.”
“That pressure is squarely on Rick Nagel's shoulders. He's the one cranking out code 24-7 for three years straight now.”
“I wish [the designer backs off after production]. So usually the first hundred or so of each game, pro, premium, LE, we're out on the line making sure they're getting put together right.”
“When they first get on the line, they have no idea what they're supposed to be dialing in and what they're supposed to be checking, so it's up to me and the engineer to guide them.”
Entities
- Haggis Pinball· company
- Stern Pinball· company
- Pinburgh· event
- Avengers· game
- Iron Maiden· game
- Jurassic Park· game
- Kelter· game
- Led Zeppelin· game
- Final Round Pinball Podcast· media
- IFPA· organization
- Borg· person
- Carl D'Angelo· person
- Eddie· person
- George· person
- Gomez· person
- Harrison· person
- Jack Tadman· person
- Jim Balsita· person
- Jim Del Cito· person
- Keith Elwin· person
- Marty Robbins· person
- Raymond Davidson· person
- Rick Nagel· person
- Steve Ritchie· person
- Cabin Fever· venue
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