Interview with the legendary Captain B. Zarre

[Captain B. Zarre]

1. Hello. I'm myself. No need to say anything. Ask me questions and I'll give you answers, please no inappropriate ones.

 

[MontanaFrank]

You're a very smart young man, Captain. I would like to know what you would like to do with your life and your outlook about life on earth 20 years from now. I truly am interested in what you think.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

You're a very smart young man, Captain. I would like to know what you would like to do with your life and your outlook about life on earth 20 years from now. I truly am interested in what you think.

I would say I want to become a pinball designer, but my mind isn't very creative. In fact, I'm not sure at all of what I want to do when I grow up. I just know I want to live my life to the fullest I can and help out others along the way like I've been doing here.

 

[Naildriver74]

Would you like to go to college in Florida and get out of all that snow or do you like it. I lived in New Hampshire when I was between 5-13 years old and I loved it. Skiing, playing hockey had a lot of fun.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Would you like to go to college in Florida and get out of all that snow or do you like it. I lived in New Hampshire when I was between 5-13 years old and I loved it. Skiing, playing hockey had a lot of fun.

I hate how cold it is in MA ATM but I wouldn't want to head to Florida for college. It would be way too expensive to afford considering my age and I don't think I'm ready to head to a college for an entire year.

 

[Dedpop]

Do you know Rod Stewart ?
If yes, do you like him ?

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Do you know Rod Stewart ?
If yes, do you like him ?

I know my Dad listens to him on occasion. He's a pretty good singer, very nice songs. I enjoy 60s - 70s rock.

 

[superdan]

I don't want to ask too many questions because if and when I get to podcast number 5, I may do some sort of interview and your a possible candidate... But will ask you how you came across TPA, what platform you prefer to play the games on, and your opinion on how TPA can grow and get better in the near future. Cheers

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

I don't want to ask too many questions because if and when I get to podcast number 5, I may do some sort of interview and your a possible candidate... But will ask you how you came across TPA, what platform you prefer to play the games on, and your opinion on how TPA can grow and get better in the near future. Cheers

I came across TPA after looking up info about the Gottlieb Collection. When I went on the wiki page for it the page said that Pinball Arcade was coming out soon and it would be a sequel with even more tables. However I forgot about it for quite a while but rediscovered it when I was bored over the weekend (this was around the time Scared Stiff came out). The first table I played in the game was No Good Gofers because it was the Table of the Month at the time and I loved it, it helped rediscover my love of pinball.

I prefer to play TPA on iOS simply because of portability but I also enjoy playing it on PS4 because I can share the game with some amazing forum members.

I feel TPA could become even more of a success if the features FarSight says they're going to introduce soon come quicker. How long has it been, two years since we saw the mock menu screens they were going to introduce and 4 years since 360 got cancelled?

Thanks for the questions, not sure if you could interview me later because I'm younger than many other people here but I'll let my parents know.

 

[Dedpop]

Why is it that I can use abstract symbolic states and processes to represent aspects of my world semantically within a conceptual space, which can then be communicated?

Why is it that symbolic thought, language, mathematics, science, web ontologies, simulation and so on are so useful for structuring rational thought and communicating about reality?

Is there an objective world that underlies the phenomenal world, which can be inferred using observation from multiple individual perspectives and refinement via symbolic communication? What is the objective universe and can it be scientifically known?

What is the relationship between the phenomenal world and the objective universe? What is naïve realism?

Why are some systems tangible and others not? What is matter?

What is that active principle that animates systemic events? What is energy?

Why do systems seem to be processually structured in relation to each other? What is causality?

Why do systems seem to be spatially structured in relation to each other? What is space?

Why do complex systems with both a complex stream of experience and complex phenomenal form exist? What is systemic evolution?

Is the growth of complexity of systems and experiential processes the overall trend in the process of change? Does the process of systemic evolution move in the direction of greater complexity of both physical form and conscious awareness?

How do the integrated experiences of subsystems evolve into the more complex functions of consciousness? What is the systemic structure of conscious self-awareness and mind?

In general, what is it like to be a system-within-a-systemic-universe; experiencing a phenomenal world and participating within an objective world of interacting complex systems; emergent from the interactions of subsystems; and participating in the emergence of supersystems? What are the generalised systemic analogues of birth, death, pleasure, pain, health, illness, hope, despair, destiny, choice, community, solitude, love, hate and all the different aspects and subtleties of life?

Why is it that phenomena appear as they do? What is the intrinsic nature of the phenomenal world?

Why is it that experiential processes operate as they do? What is the intrinsic nature of experience and conscious awareness?

Why is it that systems exist as they do? What is the intrinsic nature of all systems?

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Why is it that I can use abstract symbolic states and processes to represent aspects of my world semantically within a conceptual space, which can then be communicated?

Why is it that symbolic thought, language, mathematics, science, web ontologies, simulation and so on are so useful for structuring rational thought and communicating about reality?

Is there an objective world that underlies the phenomenal world, which can be inferred using observation from multiple individual perspectives and refinement via symbolic communication? What is the objective universe and can it be scientifically known?

What is the relationship between the phenomenal world and the objective universe? What is naïve realism?

Why are some systems tangible and others not? What is matter?

What is that active principle that animates systemic events? What is energy?

Why do systems seem to be processually structured in relation to each other? What is causality?

Why do systems seem to be spatially structured in relation to each other? What is space?

Why do complex systems with both a complex stream of experience and complex phenomenal form exist? What is systemic evolution?

Is the growth of complexity of systems and experiential processes the overall trend in the process of change? Does the process of systemic evolution move in the direction of greater complexity of both physical form and conscious awareness?

How do the integrated experiences of subsystems evolve into the more complex functions of consciousness? What is the systemic structure of conscious self-awareness and mind?

In general, what is it like to be a system-within-a-systemic-universe; experiencing a phenomenal world and participating within an objective world of interacting complex systems; emergent from the interactions of subsystems; and participating in the emergence of supersystems? What are the generalised systemic analogues of birth, death, pleasure, pain, health, illness, hope, despair, destiny, choice, community, solitude, love, hate and all the different aspects and subtleties of life?

Why is it that phenomena appear as they do? What is the intrinsic nature of the phenomenal world?

Why is it that experiential processes operate as they do? What is the intrinsic nature of experience and conscious awareness?

Why is it that systems exist as they do? What is the intrinsic nature of all systems?

*facepalm* Don't spam...

 

[Biff]

*facepalm* Don't spam...

 

[Gorgar]

Hey, that guy put a lot of effort into asking those questions

Anyway, when did you have your first experience playing a real pinball machine? Which machine was it?

 

[IGoFirstIndy]

Rank the zen tables from best to worst.

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Hey, that guy put a lot of effort into asking those questions

Anyway, when did you have your first experience playing a real pinball machine? Which machine was it?

The first machine I ever played was Hurricane at an amusement park in Maine. I was attracted to it because of the spinning wheel on the backglass and the ramp that went past the flippers. Of course I was very young then and didn't even know how to play so yeah...

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Rank the zen tables from best to worst.

Give me some more info here. Do you mean Original tables or Marvel or Star Wars?

 

[Heretic]

get to bed young man

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

get to bed young man

That's not a question...

I should be in bed but I usually get up at 6:00, so I felt like having some more time to answer more questions.

 

[Extork]

What are some themes you would like to see? You said your dream job would be to create pins, so even if you're not that creative, there must be something. For example, don't you think there could be more holiday pins that aren't halloween? And don't be embarrassed if you see something that already exists. I got burned on my laser tag idea a while back. But Laser War still isn't what I had in mind. In my mind, the playfeild was shaped like the arena

Dedpoo the answers to your questions can be found thought he philosophy of timecube

Edit #2 - that's perfect, howbout a philosophy themed pin?

 

[Captain B. Zarre]

Themes I'd like to see:

- Skate park theme. I know Extreme in Pinball FX tried to do this but failed epically, with points wayyyyy out of scale and the layout just being a mirror of Black Knight 2000 except not as cool. I think if a company like Jersey Jack or Stern went for this they could create a game with tons of ramps and flowing shots. Maybe your combos are tricks?
- Table based in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Ok, technically Medieval Madness already exists, but it would be cool to see a machine directly inspired by the theme. Because the film is mostly a collection of skits it would probably be mode-based with several Multiballs like TAF. It would be cool to see elements like the witch trial or defeating the Black Knight in pinball form.
- Pinball Arcade Fans. I made a blog post detailing this idea further in the past but I just figured I'd post it here too. Basically it'd be a fan layout with similar rules to a modern Stern. You'd be able to spam the forums, delete posts, participate in polls, and basically just about everything the forum has. Sean DonCarlos (creator of Sin) officially approved of the idea but nothings come out of it.