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Stern Pinball's Transformers | Reveal Podcast
1 Playsin 14 hours
Elliot Eisman and Elizabeth Gieske join us to talk about their latest creation, Transformers: More Than Meets the Eye!
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Transcript
Introduction and Game Reveal
00:00:07
Speaker
Thanks for tuning into the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. I am Josh Rook with me, my co-captain. Scott Larson. And it's reveal day, Scott. And this game looks amazing. If you want Transformers, Scott, where you getting
Buying Transformers Pinball
00:00:18
Speaker
it from? Call Zach and Nicole Mini at Flippin' Out Pinball. Also, if you want all of the accessories, which are going to be amazing, go ahead and reach out to them. New, used games, whatever. They can hook you up.
Meet the Designers: Elliot and Elizabeth
00:00:28
Speaker
Transformers, we are super excited to talk about that today. And today...
00:00:32
Speaker
We have the two co-designers. So we have Elliot Eisman and we have, okay, you're going to really have, I try to pronounce your name correctly every time and I'm totally wrong. So please help me.
00:00:44
Speaker
yeah Yeah. It's Elizabeth Gieske. Gieske. Okay. yeah like i wanna be I think I can remember that. Okay. So today we have, ah we have Elliot and Elizabeth there today to talk about Transformers. So welcome to the show.
00:00:59
Speaker
Oh, hello. Yeah. I got to say first, before we kick this off, Elizabeth, my wife wants you to know she thinks it's kick a, that you're a lead code code designer in this male dominated industry. And she's like, that is so cool. So just, just a little kudos before we get going. i mean I'll take, I'll take that. It is pretty cool. Yeah.
Design Backgrounds and Inspirations
00:01:20
Speaker
Um, okay.
00:01:23
Speaker
This game looks amazing. Elliot, your background is mechanical engineering. You've been doing that for Stern for a while. You did John wick. You're now onto transformers. This game looks amazing. Mechanically. It just like between the Megatron shooting the ball of the cannon, you've got a sound wave launching the balls out of his chest. I mean, this game looks like it leans into your expertise.
00:01:44
Speaker
Is that what you use to lead into this game? Yeah, I mean, going into it, you know, I knew this is a big toy game right Transformers the big toy franchise so I wanted to kind of lean into that and kind of copy a lot of that style.
00:01:59
Speaker
To the game so of course it's going to have big toys going to have big motion and it's going to have all of that sort of stuff and so just to highlight. the cool transformers, we had to put that in there. And so like, I definitely leveraged my expertise to be like, okay, I know exactly what to do with that. Let's go, we can run down that path a little bit quicker versus like having to research it or like figure out how it works or whatever. So yeah, it was a big, it was a big help on this game for sure.
Experiences with the Transformers Franchise
00:02:25
Speaker
What was your opinion on getting exposed to this? Because it's probably a lot different for you getting exposed to a retro, a retro theme as an adult, as opposed to me as a kid buying the toys.
00:02:38
Speaker
Right. Yeah. So I, I'm, I'm a little, it was a little past my prime. so um i was, I was like in that lull after it all, ah after all kind happened and before the next, the next big wave and like 2000s for the Transformers. So I missed that. So it was actually a lot of fun going back, watching all the episodes, going to like TFWiki and like learning on all of the, like the fun stuff that the the fans love. um And that was just a ah really cool experience just to kind of relearn it how everyone else grew up with it. I got to relearn it and find it for the first time, which was really fun. Yeah, same. I'm i'm now, i can honestly say I'm a huge fan of Transformers where before i I didn't, I knew about them, but I didn't really have a lot input on it. But over the ah this last weekend, I watched Bumblebee.
00:03:27
Speaker
Which I did before because I knew Hayley Seinfeld and I'm like, yeah, she's great. So watched it for her, but now I watched it for Transformers and like, I'm like, well, they played the touch. You got the touch.
00:03:38
Speaker
That's so cool. And you know, I'm like, whoa, was that Bron? Did he just get destroyed? Like, whoa. So, I mean, I think now I'm like, I know the inside jokes. I get excited with everybody else.
00:03:51
Speaker
And yeah, I was there for originally, but I think I caught up pretty quickly. You chose the ones I would choose. I would choose Megatron. I would choose Optimus Prime. And I probably would have chosen Starscream to put in there along with Soundwave because Starscream, everybody's kind of that whiny kid and we kind of all identified with Starscream.
00:04:09
Speaker
But um obviously you chose them, but you made them big. And so they seem to be about the same size as the toys that I played with originally. Was that intentional as opposed to shrinking them down and having like 10 of them like Lord of the Rings style?
Game Design Features
00:04:26
Speaker
Right. No, I you know, like I said before, going into it, I i know i wanted big toys. um Just it it felt more correct. um this is more of a feeling than anything and then also just the natural size of a pinball um you know if you want to have a pinball shooting out of megatron's cannon well it is an inch and a 16th so everything else kind of drives the scale from there um so you i knew megatron would be big and then soundbite same idea um if you want to shoot balls out of his cassette deck it has to be big so they all kind of the scale kind of led from there and um
00:04:58
Speaker
I mean, we know it was a big cast of characters. It was just like, you know, interviewing people, being like, hey, which characters do you like? And, you know, one of our subject matter experts, Mike Kizovat, you know, he's a huge Transformers fan. And, you know, if it passed his his ah sniff test, we're like, okay, we're on the right track here.
00:05:17
Speaker
Speaking of Megatron's cannon, this thing is insanely cool. It's cool that it, it, it articulates over shoots onto a ramp. Does it, does it going come back towards you and shoot straight directly at you? Is it, or is it just towards the ramp?
00:05:30
Speaker
So it it, it has, it has a couple of functions. um So it can shoot across the play field into the ramp to your left flipper, but it can technically shoot in any position it's at. Once the ball is loaded, it can go anywhere. we try to,
00:05:45
Speaker
do it so it's more pair player friendly, like shoot at the left flipper. So return to your left flipper or the upper flipper. So it can, it can actually ro rotate around. And as he moves, his cannon moves down and kind of shoots at the upper flipper.
00:05:58
Speaker
That'd be brutal in tournament, like just shoot directly at your flippers. We did, we did practice it. We had, I heard some software so that he was just like going back and forth with the flippers. You could control them and then the action button fired it.
00:06:10
Speaker
So we were kind of deciding of like, okay, yeah, this is pretty cool. And then, But it was also like, oh, that's straight down the middle. That's not cool. Yeah. We don't want to be too brutal, you know.
00:06:22
Speaker
Got Jack Danger in the back corner with his beer can controller controlling flippers on and shooting ball at you. I get you. and Okay, so does the Megatron cannon, it it goes side to side. Does it also go up and down?
00:06:35
Speaker
Yeah, so in the same motion, um there's a little piece that articulates his cannon up and down as well as he rotates. So he's got a ah two axis function to him. And it it loads in through the, it looks like it loads in through the back box and it comes in. So when it loads, then it can just move around, right? Yeah, exactly. So there's there's some couple of moments in the game where you're you're intended to load the cannon, then you you play through, um, play through the mode or play through the feature and then he'll fire the ball either like across the play field or at your upper flipper.
00:07:09
Speaker
So I think one other question that kind of comes from the video and whatnot, um, does optimist prime, is he just standing there or does he articulate or move at all? So he, um, he just stands there.
00:07:20
Speaker
Um, it was a, we, uh, we, we tried to go into making him do something, but it became a little bit too much of a reliability issue when we were when we were running through the the testing and the early testing.
00:07:34
Speaker
So we decided to focus more on Megatron because that was a really cool feature that we had. So yeah, it was it was a ah thing that we made a ah decision on. So I walk up to the game.
00:07:47
Speaker
Am I an Autobot? Am I a Decepticon? Am i trying to balance the, you know, balance both sides? Like, tell me how that works, because I think it'd be kind of cool if I could be like a Decepticon trying to take down the Autobots.
00:08:02
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, that was ah actually an early conversation that we had on Do we want to allow players to play as a Decepticon? And pretty early on, you know, in order to like craft like the most perfect game,
00:08:14
Speaker
it felt like the right answer was to go with play as an Autobot and stay as an Autobot. There are like Decepticon features for sure. Starscream is obviously like a big character, so there's a Starscream mode. And Soundwave is awesome, so he has a Soundwave thing.
00:08:30
Speaker
um But yeah, it it it feels a little overwhelming for players to walk up to a game and immediately have a like big choice to make. And it it becomes like, well, what's the right one?
00:08:42
Speaker
And that's not really what you want to what have as a player experience to be. It's like, no, just play and and you know have fun as you as you're playing. But I knew that was going to be a question of, well, why can't I play as a Decepticon? So really early on, i was like, we'll have a mode called Autobots versus Decepticons.
00:09:01
Speaker
And it was going to be the split flipper mode idea that that that I had. And if you want to play as a Decepticon, you can play that mode and be the right
Game Missions and Modes
00:09:10
Speaker
flipper. And that will be the Decepticon side.
00:09:12
Speaker
that would be like two separate codes for the same game. And that that seems to be overwhelming. Yeah. I mean, as as my first like I had a vision for the game and um I wanted a lot of variance to it. And there is a lot of variety to the game as it is.
00:09:28
Speaker
And to have another like, well, double that would have been pretty tough. But as it stands, every mission, which is the main modes in the game, has three levels of difficulty that drastically changes the mode.
00:09:40
Speaker
and And you have to like earn the hard difficulty. And when you're in there, it's like, oh man, like but like people ask me what my favorite mode is And I'm like, well, it's solar needle, but rusted, you know, like it's solar needle holered hard version or it's golden lagoon hard version because they really are different modes depending on the difficulty.
00:09:58
Speaker
Now on the left side, I noticed the ah it's the Dinobots. Right? OK. That actually surprised me a little bit because maybe I i know about that. Aren't they the ones that like assemble like Voltron and make like a super dinosaur or is that a is that a different thing?
00:10:17
Speaker
branch Different franchise. OK. All right. There are four of them and they are awesome. And it was when we were watching the show and we're trying to gain footage and and have like cool Autobot moments, it felt like the Dinobots were always like doing a lot. And there's like the most footage was coming from the Dinobot side.
00:10:36
Speaker
So like pretty early on, it was like, it made sense to have a Dinobot feature just because we knew we were going to have a lot of um assets to work with. So it it was like, yeah, I'm going to have this like little side motion, side mission area, and this is going to be the area.
00:10:51
Speaker
And then Elliot took it and was like, Yeah. And like, I, I kind of fell in love with the Dinobots when I was watching them just cause they're, there's so much, they got to bring a lot of comic relief to the show and as well as being bad-ass, they always come in the last second and kind of save, save the Autobots for whatever they're doing. Yeah. um So I kind of knew I wanted to free feature them and feature Grimlock specifically.
00:11:12
Speaker
so it was kind of like carving out a little area the play field. Okay. That's the Dinobot area and we'll figure out what to do with them. And it was an evolution on, kind of getting that left side ramp on there that feeds the upper full three. So it just, it turned out really good.
00:11:27
Speaker
Did you guys get to buy some of these classic ones? Like, do you have the physical ones? Because I played with those. Like, everyone wanted Megatron because you could actually transform it into a gun that you could use in your hand, which I still understand. ah Then they, like, in the later iterations, they changed them into, like, a spaceship or something. I never really understood any of that. Yeah, he turned into a tank.
00:11:50
Speaker
It's funny because like when we first started, I said, our our subject matter expert, Mike Kizavad, brought in his giant Transformers collection and his Unicron. He's got a Unicron that he has. Oh, I didn't think you could see that. Oh, yeah. It's nuts. And then also the Roboson toys. So like he has it all.
00:12:08
Speaker
So we got to play with all the early stuff like really early on. And then I just got kind of been going to Walmart or Target or whatever and just getting whatever Transformers ties I have. So i have like several Megatrons and Optimus is just floating about you know now Yeah, i have i have a sound wave. My friend gifted it to me. Shout out. Thank you. yeah It's the best. It's my fidget toy at my desk. It's like my only toy
Artwork and Version Differences
00:12:31
Speaker
and I love it.
00:12:31
Speaker
okay I think that the artwork looks very good as well. Who who did the artwork? And and the LA kind of looks like it takes inspiration from Gomez's Transformers. Is that what kind of led some of that as well?
00:12:43
Speaker
I mean, so who did the artwork? It was kind of a team collaboration. um There was a lot of people that touched touched the artwork. So I can't really name one artist per se, but it was definitely under the direction of Zombie Yeti. So he had a big hand in it. But yeah, it was a whole host of artists that did it.
00:13:02
Speaker
and And to kind of answer your question there, there was a there was some nods to Gomez's Transformers for sure. That was one of the early things we looked at. Well, one for inspiration, like two, like what what should we not do as well?
00:13:17
Speaker
So they like the split armor is definitely a nod to like, oh, okay, they did that before. Let's do that again because it worked out pretty well. And then the Bumblebee rule too that you came up with later. Yeah, we didn't have enough Bumblebee in the game. Because if you remember, the G1 show didn't, it doesn't have the same Bumblebee as everyone knows. Like, I only knew Bumblebee and Optimus. And watched the show and I was like, what the, who is this character? You didn't know he was a Volkswagen bug? Yeah. He also was in trouble all the had to be saved a lot. But he make it into the game as a feature. And we mimicked what happened with the 2011 Transformers on the captive ball. So the captive ball is the Bumblebee
00:13:56
Speaker
spell out and he has a great animation. Okay, but Soundwave, did Soundwave actually talk? I don't think he did. Yeah, he talked. Yeah, he had a distorted, like, robotic voice. Yeah, he was called by Frank Welker, who also did Megatron.
00:14:14
Speaker
now you design a game and you have the the f pro premium and le so walk me through like what do you get if you upgrade to the you know what do you get on the pro what do you get when you upgrade to the premium and what are you getting with the le okay so the the pro i mean it has it has all of the same shots i'll just say all the same shots for both games um so you have um a very left ramp that feeds an upper flipper you have a a left ramp that feeds the left flipper, a right ramp that feeds the right flipper. right flipper. You have a Megatron bash toy and an Optimus bash toy and a nice sweet center shot that's got a very fun spinner on it. um So you have all of that as kind of your base level pro. And then on the premium, you have all of that, including
00:15:03
Speaker
a articulating Megatron toy that also fires the pinball in multiple locations. You have a cassette, soundwave ball lock that locks balls and shoots balls out of his cassette tech and you have uh sculpted both soundwave and grimlock toys yeah and then on le oh and then on the le you have your custom armor um split color armor you have a autobot themed side a decepticon theme side and then you have the same as your speaker panels and just all the accoutrement like 80 glass um
00:15:38
Speaker
shaker motor and stuff like that that we normally put on there. Yeah, and I gotta say the light shows Brett Rubin was the one who did the most of the light shows for the game and he knocked it out of part. of it He actually started with the expression and speaker lights before doing the play field. Yes, it looks fantastic. i think it's one of our best looking games. Yeah, there's no limitations, right? You could put the upgraded lighting system.
00:15:58
Speaker
Can you put on the pro? Can you put on the premium? Yeah, so that's, um we don't have the accessories launched yet, but that will be, it's the same cabinet for Pro Premium and LE. So yes, you can put the accessory armor lighting on the Pro and the Premium. The LE obviously will come with it.
00:16:16
Speaker
So if you wanted to, you could sort of swap out your, um LE armor for accessory armor, but I would keep the LEs because it's much cooler. It's cool. With the Cybertronian text on the side, too. Yeah, there's a hidden message on the Autobot side and Decephalikon side. I won't share.
00:16:33
Speaker
i Oh, just kidding. If you know Cybertronian, you can read it. I do not. Apparently, I'm going to have to look that up. Yeah. So one of the features I noticed that was going on in this game is called Energon cubes, if i say that correctly. Can you kind of explain that? It looks like it's tied to the spinner. How does that work?
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah, Energon in the show was most of the time Decepticons were trying to gain energy from the earth somehow and they like made these cubes to like do their dastardly plans or whatever. But often in Transformers media, like in video games, Energon is something that's like the collectible item that like does good things for you. So we, you know, ported that over here.
00:17:12
Speaker
But yeah, so you right off the bat, the spinner is lit. It's got this like fun little strobing light show, it it's like it really wants you to shoot it and it feels really good when you do. So you fill up an Energon cube and the cubes are then enable you to be able to play the easy version of modes.
00:17:31
Speaker
So once you start, you you you know you go into Megatron scoop and if you don't have an Energon, you just start the mode, it's you know off to the races. But if you do have an Energon cube, it asks you, do you want to energize this mode?
00:17:45
Speaker
And if you energize it, you'll get an easier but less valuable version of the mode, or you can keep it. And keeping energon will affect scoring in one of the many wizard modes. So there's some strategy there.
00:17:58
Speaker
um But yeah, if if if the spinner's light, you want to shoot it. miss Walk me through how many modes and how many planned modes And and you're going to usually and on there's six or eight modes, and then you go into the the mid-tier modes, and then you go into the advanced deep mode. so Man, how did you know? i stealing my secrets over here. Oh, sorry. um Yeah, so there are five main missions, which are like the main modes in the game.
00:18:24
Speaker
um And each one of them feature or heavily feature a different part of the play field. So you have like the drop target mode, and the spinner mode, and the ramps, and stand-up targets. So those are those are the five. And then once you play two modes, just play them. You just have to start them. And modes start lit. All you have to do is knock down a drop target, get the ball to Megatron however you can, and you start your mission. So there's no like chopping wood there.
Game Modes and Challenges
00:18:50
Speaker
Once you play two, you have One Shall Fall lit, that's your first little mini wizard taste. I love that mode so, Rox. It was Elliot's idea.
00:19:00
Speaker
with, hey, Elizabeth, I want Optimus and Megatron to fight each other. And I was like, you got it. yeahp So that's that featurette mode. You can keep playing more missions, and that will affect the scoring by a lot. Oh, my gosh. you You're going to be like 200 million points a you if you play all the modes.
00:19:19
Speaker
So that's like kind of like one track over here. But there's the dino missions. The dino bot stuff also has untimed missions. So you just start one and it lasts the rest of your ball. You'll be having these little fun objectives on the side.
00:19:34
Speaker
um There's also in-lane modes that are Autobot and Decepticon themed. So it's like a frenzy and a hurry up. And then there's some multiballs scattered around the play field and such. So um cool enough. Every every mode that i had intended to be in the game.
00:19:53
Speaker
is in the game except for the final wizard mode. So all of the inserts, Tech Spec Mania, Combiner Multiwall, Rescue Optimus, all of those kind of deeper modes are in the game, and they're really fun.
00:20:07
Speaker
with ah you know Megatron fighting Optimus, okay? It seems like it's leaning a little bit on Deadpool. And Deadpool is it' one of my favorites where it's like, you can go ahead and start one of the fights, but if you work a little harder and you get you know Wolverine, if you get Domino, if you get all that kind of stuff, then you can really blow up the game.
00:20:26
Speaker
Were you borrowing a little bit on that inspiration or was this ah a different approach? I don't think of that um specifically. I feel like a lot of people want to connect this to like some other game. like someone Someone played it and they're like, oh, it's like Dragon Multiball because it's like a very... Dragon Multiball from D&D because it's like a the ball saver is always lit, so you're you're going until one of you dies and the the flippers kill.
00:20:53
Speaker
So it's similar. think it's almost similar to that, I suppose. But yeah, going into it and the strategy of like, do I want to play this now or get more to go into it? to go do it um I don't know. i don't think i One Shall Fall felt like it's its own thing when I was designing it. There's other parts of the game that do feel like, oh yeah, there's two fighters over here, and over here it feels like Godzilla.
00:21:20
Speaker
But One Shall Fall is a little bit more of its own thing. it It has a little bit of one hand hand of the king, actually. yeah The rules change based off of which missions you play beforehand.
00:21:32
Speaker
So if you play, all of them are awesome. They're like, but all of them are game breaking. I played the game once without, well, I can. I play the game all the time without any missions beforehand and the mode is impossible.
00:21:44
Speaker
But if you get just two missions, which is the requirement, then the game opens up. So it's like, like the drop targets suddenly matter if you play microbots or the, if you play prime target, draining no longer hurts you.
00:21:58
Speaker
Yeah, huge game changers. yeah But all of them feel very powerful. So if you play all of them, though, you're going to be like in the mode and out the mode like in no time. The One Shall Fall is separate, though, from you guys have come up with this like split flipper head to head Optimus Prime versus Megatron mode as well. Can you explain that a little more? Yeah. So this was actually where the naming got confusing because Optimus versus Megatron used to be the mode in the game.
00:22:26
Speaker
and Autobots versus Decepticon was outside. i was talking with my artist and he created like this super sick like intro and it said Optimus versus Megatron. I'm like, oh man, I guess we got to call it that now.
00:22:37
Speaker
um But yeah, okay, so the split flipper mode and there's a few other challenge modes or what I call challenge modes that are completely separate from the main game. So you're not going to like find a way to like happen into it and then be like, why is this, what's going on? It's like a whole different 16-bit mode feel. So it's accessible in the gameplay menu. However, it's it's still under development. So at game launch, although the game is extremely finished,
00:23:04
Speaker
um it won't have any of the challenge modes until, you know, a few months after. it's in development right now. um we We have art, we have music.
00:23:16
Speaker
Someone just had to finish the regular game so she could get on to the ah other fun trinkets of the game. I'm honestly like almost more excited. I'm like, the main game is so awesome. but I'm like, guys, there's like this thing coming. It's going to change your world. Like, it's going to be so cool.
00:23:31
Speaker
But yeah, so Optimus versus Megatron, how it works is that the um It requires two people to play. the The one person as a Decepticon will play on the right side as the right flipper, and the Autobot Optimus side is on the left side, and different shots will be like red and purple.
00:23:47
Speaker
And no matter who hits them, so you might end up hitting yourself if you're not careful, you'll hit the shot and it knocks off health on your other guy. And the action button will control the side flipper. Which is fun. Which is hilarious.
00:24:01
Speaker
So you kind of have to like fight each other physically on the game as well as like on the play field to get control and beat each other up in a Street Fighter feel. So yeah, I'm excited to get that into the game and and start ah sharing it with everybody. I think it's going to be a real a real winner.
00:24:18
Speaker
yeah Sounds like it. it's ah It's a novel idea. It's hard to get it across. Yeah. I just imagine two people the bar fist fighting over the center button. is they taken taking rest so And then these challenge modes that you're talking about, I noticed this is similar because I assume it's tied to the cyber coin wallet, which I associated with like the Jaws teeth. Is that true? Is that like where you're going with that? um um Yes and no. I'm definitely stealing the code from Jaws teeth. and in the game but it is the same idea where in the main game you'll earn the cyber coins but the challenge modes themselves won't be locked behind them you can play them if they're not if you're not connected or if you are connected you'll be able to play it but the idea is that once you collect 10 coins if you're out on site somewhere you'll be able to have the option to play one of the challenge modes for free
00:25:12
Speaker
So it's like your reward for playing, you know, like you can't do it all in one game. you ah You'll have to play a few games and it's like, Hey, do you want to play more pinball? Do you want to play pinballs are a little different? Here's some options. Do you want to, you're on a two player game, play Optimus versus Megatron. You're on a single player play prime training, or if you have a topper mode, you know, the topper mode will be available or, yeah or the 40th anniversary mode. Right. So that those are all be kind of separate from the main game, but accessible, um, All the time. But like if you have the challenge coins, you'll be able to be directed to the gameplay menu. Well, no, it will just like jump you in. It will bypass the gameplay menu. Because I feel like a lot of people don't know how to navigate it.
00:25:52
Speaker
But once I feel like once they play it once, they'll want to play it again. How do I get there? oh I can access it through the gameplay menu. I don't have to collect 10 more coins. But it's still a fun reason to be able to you know earn coins and play more pinball. We we love that.
00:26:09
Speaker
So if I'm understanding correctly, because like out on location with like Jaws, if I wanted to play those those challenges, then you have to pay extra money to play those. But with this, if you have the cyber coins, you just saw automatically, if you're out on location, you sign in with your insider connected, you could play those modes free of charge as long as you have those coins.
00:26:25
Speaker
Yeah. And I'll put it on an adjustment. So if an operator doesn't want to have that ability on their game, then you can switch it off. But um it'll be it'll be at the end of a game. You'll have that option. So you still have to play a game.
00:26:40
Speaker
you'll just get more, yeah get an extra thing for free. It's like Bally Williams with the extra ball button, but this is great. Yeah. Yeah. Or replay, you know, you, you did so with the year under free game. That's the same idea. Yeah.
Social Gameplay Features
00:26:52
Speaker
I, I love that you guys have been incorporating all these, these mini options into games because it it does allow people to i escape from new block, just all these little things that just kind of the fun I'm fast forwarding to the end to a part and I can just have this mini game with my friends.
00:27:10
Speaker
in some ways, that's a little more fun for me as a social game than it is for me trying to to get the most points because it it seems to be it's played for laughs. Right.
00:27:20
Speaker
and It's kind of like, you know, the the I know that the shark is broken mode or, you know, whatever like that is just. about that No, it's it's hilarious. It's it's like, yeah, that's that's an awesome mode. So I love, like, I call it stupid pinball. Yeah, absolutely. Like, the game is just, it's sillier. I was playing an arcade in Louisville just the other day, and the games were on free play, which automatically means that we get to play pinball not for score anymore. and We just get to it.
00:27:50
Speaker
So we played in Ghostbusters, and all we were doing was trying to shoot the PKE ramp, the right yeah the right ramp. yeah And that was the only goal for all of us. We were just, whoever shoots that ramp wins. And I'm like, wouldn't it be awesome if the game like created this for you? So that's the idea for for prime training is a objective style, you know shoot the right ramp as many times as you can in a minute.
00:28:14
Speaker
And we have free balls, right? Or like, and I'll give you tips along the way too. So it's like helping you get better at pinball because that's how you get better at pinball is it's playing more and being more intentional of like, okay,
00:28:25
Speaker
catch the ball and hold it for 10 seconds as quickly as possible. Go, you know, whoever does that, the best wins. And so instead of playing 40 minute game, and that's the thing, once you get good enough, you don't want to play with other people because I'm like, well, you're just going to standing there. But how about we play prime training instead? And it'll be like, I'll have 30 seconds. You have 30 seconds to do some objective and we'll see who did it better.
00:28:49
Speaker
And then for me, that's the type of pinball that I really, really love and enjoy playing. And yeah, I wanted to create an opportunity to like share that with everybody. And i'm like, yeah, i'll do it. Do it faster. it be fun We have a we there are three friends of us that have a big collection.
00:29:08
Speaker
And what we've started doing is saying, OK, What we are doing, we are learning this game. So today we are going to go and it's whoever can start that mode first or yeah who can do this? Because it it does make it a little different as opposed to someone playing Metallica and getting like a billion points because you're just kind of waiting around watching them. I'm impressed, but I'm not really having much fun. yeah Yeah. Yeah. No, but go into Metallica and get fuel or like go attack from Mars and start Martian multiball. You know, like who does that?
00:29:39
Speaker
Yeah. It's fun. Great. I've got say, this game looks like like pure 80s nostalgia. um You guys really to hit on all cylinders with this game.
Voice Acting and Script Development
00:29:50
Speaker
How was it working with the original Optimus Prime and Megatron voice actors? And how how do you even make a script for something like this? Well, first of all, it was a lot of fun. um I was really hoping you know early on that we'd actually them.
00:30:07
Speaker
them Because it was a question of like, are they available? can we Can we get recordings from them? Are they still willing to do stuff? And you know we we got that answered pretty quickly. I think it was like within the first you know half half of the project. Yeah, we recorded them early. Yes. The script was kind of finished before the game was...
00:30:28
Speaker
remotely finished it was pretty stressful actually be like okay do we have her anything does he say lock is lit you know he yeah all that stuff um but yeah mike is that was the one well we had uh two main script writers i would say is brendan small who has done some other games um and mike kizavet and mike definitely got them to record like all of their iconic lines yeah and Like, I think my favorite line in the game is, ah free play is the right of all sentient beings. Which I'm like, that's pretty good. Yeah. so And and in because Mike also worked on the 2011 Transformers, so he was able to pull all of the previous work he did for that game, too. So that kind of helped influence a lot of our script now. And then put on top of his best knowledge of stuff, it just, it was, it we we got the skip script. Right. We put the burden on him. Yeah.
00:31:19
Speaker
What does this whole game cover? is it Is it just the TV series? I know you talked earlier about like the touch, which is pure 80s cheese, like Alan Rock. What all does what all does Transformers cover?
Content Focus and Personal Connections
00:31:30
Speaker
Yeah, so the the main game covers season one and two of the of the Transformers ah TV show. So we were going basically up to the movie because that's kind of when the show changed tones the characters all changed um so we wanted to stick with the original like what people know like if we came up with a game and it was like galvatron and rod of his prime everybody like what that's not right remember yeah so we kind of stuck with that vein and then we got access uh a little bit midway through the project to do some of the movie stuff so then we kind of also have a special mode with the touch probably we're still kind of figuring that out yeah we have we have plans of of the
00:32:11
Speaker
400 challenge modes that have planned in the game. That is one of them. So yeah, it will be using the movie assets and the movie, that the touch. And we have some custom music yes from a band called the Knights of Unicron, but they rock. They rock so hard. I mean, talk about 80s cheese. They're copying it. they know So we'll have those that music in there too.
00:32:32
Speaker
All right. so So you're not going to kill Optimus Prime. I mean, I figured yeah, you'll kill optimus. Yeah. That's the whole goal is we want to relive self with trauma. It's just, you know, every shot. That was seriously my next question. Like, yeah are we killing optimus? We're killing optimus. Spoiler alert. if but Just in case you haven't seen the eighties movie, optimus dies at the end and he really dies. He dies like 10 minutes in. like no and and ah Yeah, well who is like smoke coming out his mouth beachcomber? Oh yeah, or they're all brutal. All brutal deaths. Did you ever see the Goldbergs episode on that?
00:33:11
Speaker
No. Where he was like super excited to go and watch it and then he's just like shell shocked. He's just like, wait, what? They killed him? Yeah. This is why Hasbro is doing an apology tour this year. Yeah. Okay.
00:33:26
Speaker
okay um If you were to be an Autobot or a Decepticon, which one would you be? o And which one would you be? Soundwave.
00:33:39
Speaker
I'd have to be Soundwave. I would use Soundwave too. it was the coolest. um Yeah, it's the cassette tape that I grew up with. Yeah. I think for me, like i have to I relate to the character more of Wheeljack as an Autobot. So that's definitely me. Yeah, it's a good one. Yeah.
00:33:54
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, unfortunately, the Decepticons are cooler. so They can fly. mean, come on. They can fly. They they can turn into planes, which Superion, they do. so yeah Can I be a Stunticon? Those are awesome. Decepticon again. They get all the cool toys, okay? Yeah, I want to be one of the Stunticons. Okay, but it's the same thing. like I want a double-sided lightsaber. How come like a good guy can't have a double-sided lightsaber?
00:34:24
Speaker
i mean, you can do it in Knights of the Old Republic, but you can't do it in like the canon stuff. i mean, come on. Some of the bad guys always have the cool stuff. They do. Yeah. Because they they're allowed to think outside the box. They they play by their own rules. Mirage would be cool. Yeah, Mirage would be cool.
00:34:42
Speaker
so So one feature in this game too is tech spec cards.
Collectibles and Gameplay Impact
00:34:45
Speaker
Can you explain those a little bit more? Yeah, those are the main collectible items in the game. um That was a, i knew I wanted something that you can collect a lot of because I wanted to fill out the game. So I asked Mike, I was like, what do you what do you think? And he's like, yeah, there's these tech specs that were on the back of toy packaging. It'd be cool if we can, you know, work that into the game. So yeah, that's like kind of like, so this game doesn't just cover the show. It also covers like kind of the toy feel and how you're like, you know, putting things together.
00:35:15
Speaker
So the tech specs lead directly to tech spec mania, which is kind of recursive. But if you collect three of every color, which there are five colors of tech specs, then you start tech spec mania, which like the whole play field lights and you can kind of go crazy.
00:35:30
Speaker
The other thing that tech specs do is it helps you collect combiner parts faster. So collecting three tech specs gives you two combiner parts and you need five combiner parts to form a combiner.
00:35:46
Speaker
So there's that. And then the tech specs also work as shot multipliers if you beat a mission that is the same color. So this whole game kind of like interacts with itself in this way. I have this like rule of fives when it comes to the game. There's five missions, five tech specs, five combiners, five parts to collect a combiner.
00:36:07
Speaker
So it's kind of fun to be able to like mix and match how I wanted the game to kind of work with itself So yeah, there's like three, three main purposes for tech specs. And that was the shot multiplier helps combine our part collection and starts tech spec mania, which is a multiple.
00:36:23
Speaker
So like the shot multiplier is kind of like similar to Foo Fighters or since yeah the party. Not to make Foo Fighters, but it just works so well. Cause hear me out. If I were to say the difference would be fuel Fighters likes the left ramp every time you play LA or something.
00:36:43
Speaker
The tech specs are random. They're randomized on the play field when you start start up a game. It's the same for every player, but like you know the center orbit is is blue. So if you are a strategic player and you're like, oh, I want to light my center orbit 2x because I have this plan, you might have to do a different mission because blue, it might be red this game, which is prime target, might be yellow, which is gold lagoon.
00:37:10
Speaker
So you kind of have to like be on your feet and kind of like analyze the play field. And it will allow you to have a more variable game even in tournament. and Unless you're on competition mode, and then I'll write the same tech spec every time, which is lame.
00:37:25
Speaker
Fairness and all that.
00:37:29
Speaker
So how many multi-balls? There's one main one, which is Transformers multi-ball, which is the scoop right next to Optimus. You just handle a bunch, and then it gets harder past that. Then there's Dinobot Island multiball, which is a two-ball multiball.
00:37:44
Speaker
it's kind of It's basically mummy multiball, where it's like switches and you can do add of balls from Iron Maiden. Except the jackpot multiplier is an exponential. So it's two to the n power, which where n is equal to the number of balls in play.
00:38:01
Speaker
So if you have four, it's two to the four. That's not the question that you asked, but... And then there's... That is an interesting math ah problem that you gave us, though. Yeah. Yeah, just like, wrap your you can get a billion points on ah on a shot if you're really crazy.
00:38:16
Speaker
There's Combiner Multi-Wall and Text Effect Mania, and then Rescue Optimus sends into Multi-Wall, I think. And then... ah I think that's It might be one... them for Oh, and One Shot Falls Multi-Wall.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah.
Balancing Game Features
00:38:34
Speaker
Sounds like there's a lot going on in this game. How do you balance all that Because you don't want it all going at the same time. um a lot of times, you know, you kind of have to force, like, once you start something, you're locked out another one. So you can't stop you can't stack multi-balls together.
00:38:48
Speaker
But there was a lot of iterations of this game, and I had enough time to do so. um So, like, my rule sheet that I have, I never delete anything. I just cross it out. so It's just pages of, like, cross out, cross out, cross out. Because sometimes it was, like this mode felt too different too similar to this other one or this is in the wrong spot it's clashing with this other mode or this part of the game is feeling empty what if i try to make this mode a little bit harder to start so it fills that space um so there's a lot of pacing like solving uh problem solving but yeah i mean like when you're playing it doesn't i don't know i don't think feels overwhelming but if you ever just like stand and look at what the play field is telling you you're like oh man there's what do i choose i this going on or just two shots away over here, you know, you kind of have to kind have to pick your shot. But if you just shoot anything, you're going to do something good. So don't give it too much thought. Just play the game. Just play the game. Shoot the flashing shots. You're going to have a time.
00:39:48
Speaker
And people are always going to start asking accessories. How's the product? How's the how's the development of the accessories coming? Well, they're they're actually pretty far along. I don't know. Exactly when they're going to release. But they are pretty far along and they look pretty badass. Yeah, really good. We got we got software in for topper stuff. yup And we got lights going. And I don't know how much we can talk about it. yeah Well, we know there's going to be accessories. So that's what I'm just like. yeah Obviously, you want to be able to to spend more money on your game. so Yeah, I expect it sooner than later.
00:40:30
Speaker
yeah yeah like i said i don't know the the quite the release date but um i it is one of the i will say this is one of the coolest toppers that i've been a part of stern with i'm not just gonna say because because i we have hand in it but most it was it's visually it's really cool and the topper mode rocks Okay, so let me guess. You have Megatron and Optimus Prime up there and you unlock a mode where they transform into a pinball machine. How did you know? That's so crazy.
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it's really good. It's so good. I wish I could talk about Let's just say that. Yeah, I don't know. We have, I don't know. it's really It's really good. I'll say there's some custom art and it is fantastic. Phil Golett was the guy who did the custom art for it and it looks...
00:41:20
Speaker
really good. And he's like already done with it. And I'm like, Whoa, too fast, too fast. I'm not ready.
Reception and Highlights
00:41:26
Speaker
We, we, you know, the question that everyone wants to ask with every release since jaws. Now, why don't the transformers eat the ball? Yeah. Well, they shoot the ball. They shoot the ball.
00:41:38
Speaker
Well, I got say this game looks fantastic. I wish we were there with you because i am jealous of everyone playing this game today. It just looks so good. Like I'm happy for you guys like this. Just it looks fantastic.
00:41:51
Speaker
You guys did such a great job of making such a key cohesive game that looks and feels fun. oh yeah it is it like it's hard to work on the game because I just want to play it all the So what's one aspect of the game that we are not smart enough to ask about that? You're like, why don't they ask about this?
00:42:10
Speaker
Yeah, you covered a lot of it, man. I mean, the tech specs was, that's some deep cuts here. You did your homework. Yeah. Did you have anything? Not not really. i mean, you guys covered pretty much all of it. Yeah, we covered the the four challenge modes, the most of the main gameplay.
00:42:29
Speaker
Combiner Multi-Hall is super fun. It's so much fun. It's so silly. i had a lot of fun on this game, guys. it's gonna like yeah You're going to have a great time. it's Yeah, it's cool. Does Megatron mock you a lot? Because I think you need more Megatron mocking. really funny. yes it's really good. It's pretty good at knowing exactly how to mock you at the right time.
00:42:51
Speaker
and no I can't wait. Once we get that in, I think it'll be an appropriate amount of mocking. Yeah. That's what I love about Funhaus is like it knows when to mock you and and just the the perfect one-liner. So I'm all about that.
00:43:06
Speaker
I'm all about games mocking. I want more more mocking on games. It's true. I took inspiration from Funhaus in particular. I think one of those one of the speech calls might be yeah pretty close. But ah then you have Optimus and he's just like, really, he's like, I got it from here. Don't worry. Mr. Positive. He is. He's so optimistic.
00:43:24
Speaker
Yeah. okay I think that's why I never really identified with a with an Autobot because they seem like the adults in the room. Yeah, they kind of are. Yeah.
Closing Remarks
00:43:34
Speaker
Yeah. You know, the Decepticons, they're always doing something where you're where you're getting in the dad eye, right?
00:43:40
Speaker
yeah Yeah. Thanks, dad. Yeah, thanks, dad. go away optimus prime cool well if um if you want anyone bugging you what's the best ways to get a hold of you elliot or elizabeth um probably just uh call stern pinball um they'll they can forward the um the the number if they want to get in touch with that way although otherwise the email me elliot eisman stern pinball.com that's probably the easiest way to find me If you find anything wrong with the game, go to email bugs.report at sternbidball.com. I would appreciate that.
00:44:16
Speaker
Otherwise, Elizabeth Duckey at sternbidball.com. If you love the game, my name is Elisabeth Duckey. If you do not like the game, ah my name is Raymond Davidson. Call Rick Nagel. Yeah. yeah And yeah, thank you guys so much. We are super excited and I can't wait to get this. I'm hoping we get one out here pretty soon.
00:44:38
Speaker
hopefully we'll see. Sadly, Keto's is shutting down. So well, is it shutting down or is it just filing for bankruptcy? The the brewery itself is the people that own the pinball machines are not so. Yeah.
00:44:49
Speaker
Well, no, so I'm wondering, like, ah you know, that that's really inside baseball, but I'm hoping that we we can do something here. If not, I guess I'll just have to put it back here behind me. Maybe yeah maybe Iron Maiden needs to take a break for a minute.
00:45:03
Speaker
and It's time to get your LE of Transformers, Scott. That's true. We'd say hi. Yes. if If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserKidPinballPodcast at gmail.com. You can get a hold of us on all the socials at LoserKidPinball. I won't lie, though. I only respond mostly to Facebook. Sit down.
00:45:21
Speaker
If you want some Silverball swag, silverballswag.com slash loserkid. Our shoes are finally back, Scott. Yes. So excited. And apparently the Pope is wearing them. So, uh, okay.
00:45:32
Speaker
Thanks for calling for that. hoping um I really wish that weren't, ah that weren't Photoshop. pi It looks so great. You know don't say that like this week in pinball got the the scoop, man. So, through but other than that, Scott, give us our last words. You know what? I think, what is it? Autobots. What what is their cash phrase?
00:45:52
Speaker
Autobots transform and roll out. It's roll out. Oh, that's right. Roll out. Roll out.
00:46:02
Speaker
you