Episode 306: The Dwight Sullivan process
Pinball Profile
34 min
Summary
Dwight Sullivan explains Stern's modern game development process, code completion standards, and multi-audience design philosophy.
Dwight Sullivan, lead programmer at Stern Pinball, discusses his design philosophy, development process, and approach to game code completion. He explains how modern pinball game development balances theme integration, playfield mechanics, and multiple player audiences (collectors, arcade operators, tournament competitors). Sullivan defines 1.0 code as feature-complete with all planned content reasonably polished, distinguishing this from the actual version number used internally.
Congrats to Dwight and the Stern Pinball team on their newest machine, The Mandalorian. I always enjoy talking with Dwight, so a few weeks ago, we chatted about his thought process on code and as a game developer.
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