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Triple Drain Pinball Podcast Episode 73 - Does it HAVE to move?!
Hosts: Joel Engelberth, Tom Graf and Travis Murie We are back with another one! Stern just released Transformers Pinball and we have thoughts. Strong thoughts. Tom has deep thoughts. Joel has...
Highlights
- Optimus Prime on Transformers was designed to transform but was pulled late in development due to reliability/consistency issues.
- Stern's marketing materials and official website images showed the transformation mechanic before it was removed.
- Transformers has exceptionally well-designed code with thoughtful rule progression and callbacks to other games' design principles.
- Mechanical features in pinball were traditionally designed for location play (short repeated plays) rather than home collector use (hundreds of plays).
- Pirates of the Caribbean had its three spinning discs and chest opening/closing features removed but still commands high secondary market prices.
- The Optimus Prime mech likely would have blocked the vertical upkick shot and required a two-step interaction (bash to stand up, then scoop).
- Reliability issues with interactive mechs are constant irritants that don't fade with familiarity, unlike the novelty of seeing a mech move.
- Cosmetic (non-interactive) mechs are effective at adding visual appeal and are proven by recent Barrels of Fun and Spooky releases.
Notable quotes
“Can I just like it? Am I allowed to like it?”
“The pictures on their official website show an insert that's not there anymore. Like, this was a last-minute call.”
“I feel for the design team, Elizabeth Gieske, Elliot Eismin, to have that changed at the end. That's a gut punch.”
“What you do notice is a broken mech... That is constant. And that doesn't go away.”
“If the code is fun... From a game theory standpoint, if the code's not fun, then it's like, what does it matter what the ball does if everything else around it is boring to the player?”
“We might have dodged a bullet here... Gameplay-wise, we might have dodged a bullet here.”
“pinball really originated as a location-based game... However, what I find very unique about pinball is not much has changed in terms of adjusting to a home user.”
“If the mech is still cool at that point, then I think it's a good mech. But I think any mech, you're going to get tired of it after seeing it a hundred plus times in a row in the same month.”
Entities
- Stern Pinball· company
- Dune· game
- Elton John· game
- Evil Dead· game
- Godzilla· game
- Guns N' Roses· game
- Harry Potter· game
- Jaws· game
- John Wick· game
- King Kong· game
- Labyrinth· game
- Medieval Madness· game
- Pirates of the Caribbean· game
- Pokemon· game
- Transformers· game
- Dennis Creasel· person
- Elizabeth Gieske· person
- Elliot Eisman· person
- George Gomez· person
- Joel· person
- Tom· person
- Travis· person
- Tyler· person
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