Making the Game
If you enjoy your work than you’ll never work a day in your life. Which apparently means theme your game on anime and a coincidence. But it was fun to make because of the choice of theme, so it wasn’t a terrible idea.
Starting with the theme and design that went into making Reach for the Star, having a theme made it really easy to place pins. All of the historical examples start to blend together after awhile, since the bulk of them are not strongly themed. There’s like 4, or 5 different patterns of pin placement, and sometimes divots too, and that was it for bagatelles when you break it down. My original design was quite boring, and quickly scrapped once I had my theme of Revue Starlight. I could use the theme to inform my design, so in an instant I had a unique pair of scoring zones in the form of stars, and a pachinko esque series of sand dunes.
Next up is the background, which worked better than I was afraid it’d end up. I decided to print each layer of the background as a separate item, cut them out, and glue them into place. The biggest draw back of this method is the time spent making it, as each piece has to be cut out by hand with a pair of scissors for broad cuts, and a blade for details and tight curves. And after cutting, was carefully gluing and positioning each piece. A little tedious, but overall not bad once you draft recruit a friend to cut things out for you.
Special note goes to the Starlight Logo in the middle of the playfield, which I drew in pencil with a compass and straight edge. Just to find out the marker doesn’t fit into the compass. I didn’t trust my own hand so I begged asked that same friend to trace over the pencil for me.
That left two things left, the spotlights, and the pins. Going off script, I decided to make the spotlights into toys instead of scoring zones, partly because the prospect of cutting holes into the board was much easier said than done, and I realized might not have had a net positive effect on the board. The only bad thing about the toy placement is that they’re too close to the edges, and could get marbles stuck on them unintentionally. I tried to mitigate this, but there was only so much that could be done on the left light.
Anyway, once the lights were placed, all that was left were the pins. And they were a time. One pin placed with bare hands and I had a moment of despair, thinking it would take two minutes per pin, with extreme effort taken to not pierce my own hand trying to punch through the cardboard. But then I realized I had a thimble, which was the real MVP of this build. It turned placing a single pin into a matter of seconds instead of minutes. Again deviating from the script, I replaced the holes with pins, as it would be able to save on time and the testing I had done at that point revealed the pleasant ‘plink’ sound the marble made when it impacted the pins. Between those two facts, I deemed pins to be a superior option to cutting holes in the playfield.
Playing the Game
Overall the playtest went well. So well in fact that there was no negative feedback at all. Notably, the sound and placement of the pins was a favorite among feedback givers. Another liked the commitment to the color scheme. The closest thing to negative feedback is one player not knowing what the spotlights do, which is to say they aren’t supposed to do much. I suppose I could have assigned a point value for hitting them, but other than that they exist as decoration more than anything.
What Would I do Differently
I’d adjust the placement of the spotlights, and make their point of contact cleaner so it both looks and plays better. I’d consider installing a proper deflector at the end of where the plunger fires the ball to make it a touch more consistent, but the current one made of pins performs adequately. Lastly, I wish I had the time to install cool things like literal bells, or have improved graphics, but time was working against me, as there was plenty to do outside of class as well. Overall, I am satisfied with Reach for the Star though.
Sources
I actually did draw each of these on my own based on my memory of the show, and did not get to adding any character toys, so I guess there’s nothing to put here?