From: mdchaney@fractal.ucs.indiana.edu (M Darrin Chaney)
Subject: Re: The right stuff
Organization: Indiana University, Bloomington
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 20:42:12 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.150943.11486@linus.mitre.org> hal@gateway.mitre.org (Hal Feinstein) writes:
>I'm sure this  will get a lot of flame mail but here goes:
>
>I talked to a lot of pinball players, some good and some average 
>and none of them said to me "Gee, the art work was so important to 
>the game that it's the reason I play it." IN fact, what they did say
>was that they try to filter out the thematic stuff on the playfield
>and concentrate on getting high scores or free balls or plays. So if the
>machine wants you to hit five drop targets and three roll overs to get 
>500,000 points, this is what they will do.  That these drop targets
>correspond to ace, king,queen and jack on some machine called grand flush is
>nice.. but really, does it matter?

I'm sure there's gotta be some theme.  If I just put a pin out with a 
bunch of targets, each with a letter, and a point value, maybe some ramps,
kickers, etc.  and some directions for game play (hit targets a-h, shoot
ramp s, ball will be locked), it wouldn't do as well as the flashy games.
On the other hand, the flashy stuff doesn't add that much to game play,
it's probably just a little more aesthetically pleasing.

>Some said that to get good with a game you first had to learn to ignore the 
>distractors on the playfield.  
>
>Why do I bring this up?  Well, the pingame manufacturers seem to require each 
>new machine to be tied to some rock, sports and now sci-fi (Dr Who) personality.
>I'm sure they pay good bucks to get the rights to do this but is it really 
>necessary? The geniuses in their marketing departments probably are telling 
>them that have to do this because their competitors are doing it.  Or perhaps 
>they've got some high dollar consultanting firm on  contract and they've been 
>paying excellent fees to be told this sort of stuff from guys in $1000 suits.

This isn't always true.  Funhouse is an excellent modern example.  It was
hugely successful, and there were no royalties.  The Williams natural
disaster series was popular, also, and again, no royalties.  Certain 
companies like DE have to use some gimmick (latest movie, for instance)
to attempt to make their otherwise boring games semi-palatable to the
normal crowd.  Sorry, DE, I don't go for it.

I wouldn't like my generic pin up there, either.  Funhouse was great, partly
because of Rudy continuously talking.  That's probably some of the attraction
of TAF.  Gomez talks quite a bit, and it's really funny (I just recently
got a chance to start playing regularly at the local Putt-Putt.).  Sure,
it's something of a gimmick, but the game is interesting.

>But just maybe, what makes a game a best seller and makes money for the
>operators has nothing to do with which pop-culture marketing gimmicks. 
>
>Just maybe TAF is a best seller, not because it based on a current big 
>selling pop-culture icon but because its got the right stuff.  There is 
>something about a game that makes it exciting to play, that makes you want to
>focus your attention on the ball, that gives you visual or auditory awards. 
>These are the traditional "features"  that make pinball worth playing. 

I should have read ahead.  I agree with this paragraph completely.

>Lets boil this down to a few questions: (1) What makes a game exciting.

I can't say.  The right combination of different shots helps.  I'm turned
off by games with 50 ramps and nothing else (except for The Machine),
just games without a good balance.  That's why I always liked Taxi, and
now Funhouse and TAF.

>(2) What makes the public want to play a game (hence good for the operator)
>and profitable for the maker. 

Same as above.

>(3) Must a game be tied to a pop-culture marketing gimmik to make money?

Not at all.  Again, Funhouse is a great example.  It's not based on anything
pop.  It's just fun.

>(4) Will a straight forward minimalist game ever compare with TAF for
>excitment and profit.

Doubtfully.  The power of the computer has drastically changed pinball, and
for the better.  I suspect that in the near future, we might be able to
choose a certain "rule set" to play under when we walk up to a pinball
game.  That would be interesting.

Comments are welcome.

	Darrin
-- 

mdchaney@iubacs mdchaney@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu mdchaney@rose.ucs.indiana.edu

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