My Bagatelle, “Target Practice”, is designed to resemble a set of shooting targets. My intention was for players to feel as though they are engaged in target practice as they launch the balls around the play field. The targets themselves will be made using paper art that the ball can roll over, while push pins (brown dots) will aid in the experience of hitting the targets. I have also added walls to the side of the ball launch and the top to aid in guiding the ball around the play field during launch.
Each target is designed so that point values increase as the ball gets closer to the center. This can be noticed with the larger target, which has lower valued ball catches near its outer rings and higher valued ones near the bullseye area. Inside each target’s bullseye area, there will be a small bell (green dot) to indicate to the player that they have hit a bullseye. These areas have the highest score value because they should be the hardest to reach.
The lower targets on the play field are identical in size and orientation. Each of their ball catches has a higher score because they should be harder to reach than the ones in the center of the play field. Between the lower targets is a backup ball catch, meant for players who didn’t score on the targets themselves. I have also decided to build a ramp to block off the flipper area, allowing the ball to drain if no points are established.
After presenting in class, I got a limited amount of feedback in terms of suggested changes/comments. One of those, however, was to add multipliers or combos to make my scoring more unique. Since I was aiming for a more simple Bagatelle, I might only add this if I have extra time or feel the play field is empty. I do, however, want to add some more art to make the theme more present. For example, adding bullet holes to represent scores and a backdrop for visual appeal. Regardless, I am excited to start building my design.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve learned so much about the history of pinball, as well as its rise and fall over the years. However, the part that interested me the most was when we visited the Strong Museum and talked about the historical pinball machines on display. I wanted to learn more about them, in particular, I wanted to learn about the Hercules, Hyperball, and Baby Pacman machines.
The moment I saw the Hercules Pinball machine, it immediately drew my attention. It was said to be the world’s largest pinball machine, which at first glance, pulled me in. After looking at the machine, I noticed the size of the pinball being used, as well as the massive flippers, which pushed me to learn more. I wanted to know how it was made and some of the history behind its development, so I dove deeper. I discovered that Hercules was a pinball machine developed by the company Atari, originally known for its video games. Released in 1979, Hercules was the biggest pinball machine ever to be produced. It stood 3 feet wide, 7 feet tall, and 8 feet deep, which was massive for a pinball machine at the time, even today!
Due to its massive size, Hercules required custom parts to make the game playable. The project manager at the time, Steve Taylor, used his engineering prowess to develop parts for the game. For example, he used washing machine solenoids to power the flippers, slingshots, and thumper bumpers. He even used a cue ball instead of a regular pinball to go with the giant play field.
The games colorful graphics were intended to coincide with places such as amusement parks and circuses. However, only around 500 machines were put on the market because they were too big to fit in the most popular pinball locations. Even as the world’s biggest pinball machine, Hercules did have some notable drawbacks. Unlike a normal fast-paced game of pinball, Hercules, with its large parts, led to a slower paced game, often only played for a short amount of time. Pinball design was a relatively common issue when it came to Atari’s pinball machines. For example, Generation 1 pinball machines included circuit boards under the playfield, making them prone to damage from falling debris. Despite these flaws, Hercules will always be a marvel in the pinball world.
There were many unique pinball machines at the Strong Museum, but none of them really captured my attention as much as the Baby Pacman machine. This machine not only included a pinball playfield, with traditional pinball features, but a video game, adding duel game modes to the mix. Since I didn’t have the chance to play on my first visit, I decided I wanted to learn more about how the game modes interacted with one another, so I did some research on the game.
Baby Pacman was designed and released by the company Bally-Midway in October of 1982. The game itself consists of a video mode and a pinball mode. The video mode consists of a game identical to the original Pacman, where players move through a maze with the objective of eating dots and avoiding ghosts. However, the game starts without energizers, containing tunnels at the bottom of the screen that allow players to swap modes and earn them.
While in the traditional pinball mode, players use the flippers to bounce the ball towards gameplay goals. For this game in particular, these goals include earning energizers, new fruit bonuses, and increasing tunnel speed. The interesting part about this mode is what happens when a player fails to keep the ball in play. Once the ball is lost, the game resumes in video mode, with the bottom tunnels closed. Players no longer have access to the pinball mode until they die again and the tunnels reopen. As a game design major, it’s amazing to see two pieces of technology combined together, especially at the time this game was made. Only selling around 7,000 units, Baby Pacman wasn’t one of the most popular pinball games of its time. Regardless, I still think of it as one of the coolest pinball machines I’ve learned about while in this class.
The last pinball machine that sparked my interest was Hyperball. Hyperball is just as unique as the previous machines I mentioned, not because it’s huge or has two game modes, but because it has an empty playfield! Almost all pinball machines have something on the playfield, so it shocked me that Hyperball broke away from such a traditional trend. After learning such an intriguing fact from the tour, I was fascinated by the machine’s design. I wondered why it was made this way, so I decided to do some more digging on the machine and its unique qualities.
In 1981, Hyperball was released by the company Williams Electronics. The designer, Steve Ritchie, was famously known for his hand in other pinball games such as Terminator 2, Star Trek the Next Generation, and Superman. Despite designing pinball games, Ritchie’s desire for video game development was displayed throughout the Hyperball machine, especially when it comes to its space theme. Resembling Space Invaders, the object of the game was to destroy targets and avoid losing energy centres as lighting bolts make their way towards you. Each completed wave increases the aggression of the lighting bolts, making the game harder to play.
From this information alone, it’s clear that Hyperball has unique gameplay, resembling a video game. But, Hyperball has unique qualities as well. Other than the empty playing field, Hyperball has hand grips that control a turret where the ball drain would be. This turret can shoot up to 250 balls per minute, making the game feel nothing like a pinball machine. The machine also has targets on top of the playing field and holes with letters that can be used to complete level goals. When the lightning bolts get too intense, a button between the hand grips can be pressed, 3 times a game, to destroy them. Overall, this pinball machine interests me because it takes pinball in a completely different direction. Even though it didn’t sell as many units as predicted, only 5,000, I still admire the work that went into making such a unique game.
Although it’s only been a few weeks, I feel as though I’ve learned a lot about pinball. I gained a higher appreciation for the struggles and unique ideas that went into making these games. When I go back to the Strong Museum, I’ll be sure to see what other history I can learn from Pinball Playfields.
Terminator 2 Judgement Day Manufactured in July 1991 by Williams Electronics Games
Today we visited the Strong Museum for the first time in class. We learned more about the history of pinball and I got the chance to play some of the pinball machines there, focusing on one in particular:
I chose to play Terminator 2 Judgement Day because growing up, it was one of my favorite movies. I liked the way the play field itself incorporated characters from the movie, as well as plot that involved them. For example, the T-1000 trying to kill John Connor during the movie was on the field and getting your ball to an escape route was a way to score more points. I also really liked the ball launcher, which was unique in that it used a gun trigger instead of a plunger.
The game itself was pretty responsive. When I pulled the trigger, the ball was immediately launched and put in play. Once in play, the ball was always bouncing off a bumper or moving towards an objective, so I never felt like the gameplay was slow. Although I only played the game for a short period of time, since I had to leave early, I did feel as though I started to get the hang of it. I didn’t really understand the scoring tips and rules very much, since this was one of the first times I’ve played pinball since I was little. However, after a few playthroughs, I accumulated more points by completing some of the game goals. For example, I got a direct hit on the T-1000 and I used the escape route to collect the lit value by hitting the top eject.
Overall, I had a lot of fun playing this game. It gave me insight into how complicated pinball machines were, even back in the day. Although I wasn’t very good, I was still addicted to it, wanting to play the game over and over. If I were to go back, I would definitely play it again so that I could learn more of the game goals and get a higher score.
