Intervju med Brian Eddy, del 2 av 2.

Brian Eddy är mannen bakom: The Shadow, Attack From Mars och Medieval Madness.

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Hi Stefan
I think I get more pinmail from fans in Sweden than any other country (outside the USA). Must be a lot of dedicated pinheads in Sweden :)

Some more specific table-questions of yours:

Medieval Madness:
SLJ: MM is filled with more quotes and comments than any other pin before. Who decide each speech? Did the comments just entered your mind while working on the project? Besides the professional voices is your voice or the voice from other developers in the game?
BE: It varies by game. I had the ultimate decision on went in and what didn't. MM had a ton of quotes, probably 10 times as many as any other game I worked on. I really wanted a lot of unique quotes so it would not get boring as fast hearing the same thing over and over. We also had a lot of characters and had to come up with unique phrases for all of them. For MM we hired some writers from Second City (comedy group in Chicago). They came up with about half of the quotes that we used. The team and impromptu comments during the recording session made up the second half. I would generally just come up with quotes while working on the game. Since speech is usually done toward the end I had a lot of time to think of things. I had a lot of fun on AFM coming up with quotes and wanted the same fun on MM. My voice has never been in a game (It just doesn't sound good once compressed and coming through a pinball speaker). But a lot of team members have been in games. We generally used a combination of professional and Williams people. The sound guy (Vince Pontarelli) did the French guy on MM. I'd say about 3/4 were professional on MM and 1/4 Williams workers.

SLJ: I think MM has a very intelligent design, because it attract people from the first ball and it offers the hardest way to reach the "wizard-mode" for the skilled players. Any comment to that
BE: I agree. That is what I've always strived for in my designs, simple enough for the casual player but deep enough for the hard core player. It's a tough balance to strike because both types of players want something different. Lyman and I worked hard on the rules of both AFM and MM so make sure that was the case. It all starts with the playfield layout and design, it has to have some fun toy or event that everyone can see and enjoy but also needs a balance of hard shots and deep overlapping rules for the good players. I think both MM and AFM do that well and they make good street pieces and home games.

The Shadow:
SLJ: Because of the super fast and smooth game play, perfect theme integration and tough wizard mode more and more pin-lovers see the Shadow as the ultimate nineties home-pin. Does the growing status of Shadow towards all-time classic surprise you?
BE:Of course not, I always thought it was brilliant! (kidding :) ). I do think Shadow makes a better home game than a street piece. It has a deep rule set with many challenges and is a also very fast game when set up properly. I'm not sure if it is actually an all-time classic but I do think it is a bit of a sleeper for most people. Once you get into it and see all the cool devices and how it all works together with the ruleset, especially when you get "in the flow", it can be a fun game for a long time. I really enjoy the Shadow when I'm looking to play a challenging game (with no jet bumpers!). Since Shadow was the first game I fully designed I think I went a bit on the hard side for the average player. I pulled back on AFM some to gain a larger audience. It still has one of the coolest ball locks.

SLJ: Are the switch below the left eject-hole and the center top target part of ideas that didn't make it to production? Somehow they seem part of a bigger idea, would a retro-fit kit be possible for those features?
BE:There were features that didn't make it into the game. The little Mongol statues that you see were actually an interactive feature. During Mongol Attack they were suppose to jump out from their current position (where the static ones are on the game) onto the playfield to be hit. Kind of like a sideways drop target. We ran out of space underneath the playfield to mount the mechs so they didn't get much past prototype. We also ran out of time and money. This idea came back to life sort of with the trolls in MM. The trolls came up from under the playfield instead of from the sides but the concept was the same. The wire ramps were also suppose to be solid clear plastic tubes (they separate for cleaning) like the pneumatic message tube system in the movie but after doing a very expensive prototype the idea was scrapped because we ran out of time to get the transition from the metal ramps to the tube working correctly. It would also have been a very expensive mold to make also. The exit off The Battlefield is the only part of the tubes that survived (and only half a tube). Those were the two major features that got scrapped along the way. Oh, and no a retro fit kit would not be possible :)

SLJ: Me and my pin-mate from Holland often find ourselves comparing pins to find Shadow the next superlative step. For example: the wizard and other modes of IJ, the gameplay of highspeed and the concept of F-I-L-M in CFTBL. All seem to be there in Shadow, but improved. Is this a coincidence or have those pins been an influence on your design style?
BE:Since I programmed IJ it certainly influenced my design. I think we put together a really fun game with IJ and some of it carried over to Shadow. They are both Movie based games. Addams Family also influenced me a lot on how the whole package was put together. It had a lot of little touches that helped add a feel and mood to the game that I carried over to Shadow in its own way. I definitely prefer smooth flowing games that you can play and get "in the zone" (where you can't seem to miss a shot and the ball just quickly flows from shot to shot). So that may be the High Speed similarity (and the upper flipper loop). I wasn't really at all influenced by CFTBL. It's a mass appeal game but I never got into it. Since I had been at Williams for 6 or so years at that point I'd have to say all the games influenced me in some way (good and bad) and of course my pinball playing days before Williams had an influence.

SLJ: Kahn super jackpot is the most difficult, extreme jackpot I have ever seen. I have manage to catch it with one locked ball once, by luck . Have you ever manage to get it with two locked balls?
BE: No.I put this in as an extreme rule, something you would get one in 5,000 games. I think luck has A LOT to do with getting it or you have to be exceptionally skilled. It's fun that there is always something that you may not have gotten in the game so every time the mode starts it's something to shoot for. And no, I have never gotten it either.

Ja

Nej