Roger Sharpe's Three Rules of Good Table Design

[Richard B]

At the expo, Roger listed three design aspects he considers is important in a good table design:

1. The game should give the player(s) a good idea of what is going on, or what they should be doing. Voice, sound, DMD animations, and lighting should all work together and tell the player exactly what spelling out a word, making a particular shot, how to activate a feature or "mission", and other important info.

2. The ball should be visible at all times while on the playfield. If the ball leaves the playfield for any reason, such as a cellar hole or lock, the player should know where and when it will reappear.

3. The player must have a good chance of making each shot. The example in particular he gave was Rollergames. Initially, the "Go For the Wall," shot didn't use a magnet. Roger said that wasn't acceptable, as the ball was often moving too fast to give the player a reasonable chance of hitting it.

 

[Fungi]

2. The ball should be visible at all times while on the playfield.

Unless you're FarSight, then opaque ramps covering the outlanes are apparently okie-dokie. I mean, when the ball is about to drain, why in the world would anybody want the ability to see the ball and maybe do something about it?

 

[Timelord]

Each designer has their own set of philosophies.

When Pat Lawlor designed "Funhouse" he purposely used a fair amount of ball misdirection, i.e. the windtunnel capture exits on the opposite side of the table. It works, too, because fun houses traditionally employed visual illusions and surprises to enhance the experiences.

John Popaduik's "TOTAN" use a fair amount of trickery as well, and it fit's in with the Genie's Magic theme.

Roger Sharpe is a much more straightforward designer but his tables are great fun as well.
If it wasn't for him, pinball wouldn't be as popular as it became. He ended the major prohibition with a single (lucky) shot.

I don't think that there is any one set of rules, other than make it flow and keep the fun factor up.

Timelord ...

 

[Jay]

I agree with Timelord. I think the theme really determines the design of the table (or should). Like ToM's mirror in order to see the ball rollovers: that's a great idea that's somewhat disorienting and fits the theme.

One thing that bugs me is how, no matter the theming, manufacturers generally use the same stock parts whether they fit the theme or not. For instance, those cylindrical lenses for lighting: they look like they fell off a 1963 Ford. I don't know why they couldn't set the lights underneath themed translucent scenery pieces. It's probably an economic decision; those cylinders can be produced in bulk more cheaply than custom designs for each table. That makes the tables easier to maintain because parts are interchangeable. But IMO theming gets sacrificed to economics. (Well, I guess that's true unless you're Jersey Jack making a limited edition custom table...)

 

[karl]

I do not agree with Roger Sharps view on this, but he looks on it from another perspective than me.
namely what attracts new people to a machine standing in a bar if they are not very familiar with pinball. He thinks of everything in terms of how pinball can survive and thrive as a product to new customers.
The rules on what makes a good game becomes very different when you look at it as a home owner or just a pinball junkie in general

 

[stevevt]

Related: New podcast with Roger:
http://gameroomjunkies.com/index.ph...return-with-roger-sharpe-and-whitney-roberts/

 

[Timelord]

One thing that bugs me is how, no matter the theming, manufacturers generally use the same stock parts whether they fit the theme or not. For instance, those cylindrical lenses for lighting: they look like they fell off a 1963 Ford. I don't know why they couldn't set the lights underneath themed translucent scenery pieces. It's probably an economic decision; those cylinders can be produced in bulk more cheaply than custom designs for each table. That makes the tables easier to maintain because parts are interchangeable. But IMO theming gets sacrificed to economics. (Well, I guess that's true unless you're Jersey Jack making a limited edition custom table...)

Two factors:

1)Initial Cost. Even though most machines are now in the hands of individuals they were originally sold as "on site" games. That is to say they were purchased as an investment to make money. Operator/ venue owners made these decision based on cost vs income per space occupied and ever since the late 70's pins competed against video games for the same space. Cost per unit on video games were relatively lower and more attractive to these operators who wanted to draw more income. Pins are hand assembled with thousands of parts, each of which has to work correctly to make the game play correctly. They are inherently more expensive to manufacture than video games even without custom hardware. Pin manufacturers had to set a selling price in line with competition against video games and design with that cost as a real term bottom line.

2) Reliability and upkeep costs. As mentioned in the above paragraph each one of those thousands of parts needs to operate correctly for the pin to function correctly. The switches, lights, solenoids etc. were designed and manufactured with robustness and reliability in mind. Even so they are costly to maintain vs video games. They were also designed with mostly "off the shelf" parts as well. Pin manufacturers needed to keep inventory of parts, so interchangeability was also a key design element.

Pins were and remain an engineering marvel. The cost vs performance of each part was carefully weighed before actual production was started.

Jersey Jack is producing for an entirely different market than what existed during the two golden eras of pinball.

I personally wish his endeavors great success. These machines are works of art as well as engineering marvels and are what every designer wanted to do, but couldn't get that kind of budget approved during the "coin-op" golden time frames

timelord ...

 

[Richard B]

His first rule is evident when playing Zen tables. They do very little, if anything, to let you know what you're supposed to do, choosing to use sound to tell the story instead of instructions on what to shoot for. The DMD doesn't even say much, and it often dumps the ball while you're reading it. If you don't read the instructions, you're pretty much screwed.

Then again, Roger said his favorite pinball era, when the best machines came out, was the mid-60's to early 70's.

 

[Heretic]

While,pinball must evolve, i dmt cade aslomg as its fun, im an aberage player at best, ipbut prefer nrutal tables, go figure

 

[night]

The ball should be round. I just made that one up myself.

 

[Heretic]

Well its never an entirely perfect sphere night, graphical glitch?

 

[shutyertrap]

His first rule is evident when playing Zen tables. They do very little, if anything, to let you know what you're supposed to do, choosing to use sound to tell the story instead of instructions on what to shoot for. The DMD doesn't even say much, and it often dumps the ball while you're reading it. If you don't read the instructions, you're pretty much screwed.

Then again, Roger said his favorite pinball era, when the best machines came out, was the mid-60's to early 70's.

This.

There are a bunch of Zen tables I enjoy, but there is not one that I didn't have to 'crack the code' on to figure out what to do. There are some tables, even after reading instructions and such, that I still have no clue what to do!

 

[night]

Well its never an entirely perfect sphere night, graphical glitch?

You know me Heretic, if the artwork is not made by Leonardo Da Vinci I see imperfection.

 

[Sean DonCarlos]

You know me Heretic, if the artwork is not made by Leonardo Da Vinci I see imperfection.

When the time comes to vet the lighting for Sin, I know who I'm going to ask.

 

[canuck]

Unless you're FarSight, then opaque ramps covering the outlanes are apparently okie-dokie. I mean, when the ball is about to drain, why in the world would anybody want the ability to see the ball and maybe do something about it?

Low blow man...low blow.

 

[SpiffyRob]

He ended the major prohibition with a single (lucky) shot.

No luck at all! It was all skill. That was the whole point.

 

[Heretic]

Rodger himself has said thr machine was a game he nevr played befkre and failed miserbale with most balls, but he stated hed pull the ball and hit this shot...and the rest? Is history

 

[Timelord]

Absolutely Heretic. Rodger also said himself that he had to reflect on how if had not had the good fortune with that shot (even though he was a "monster" player) we would not have the prohibition on pinball lifted. The pinball gods smiled on us all that day in N.Y.

Again Rodger had great skill in pinball, but not that machine.

Timelord ...

 

[Robert Hunt]

What's more, the tide was clearly blowing back in with respect to the legality of pinball machines, which were legal nearly everywhere by then EXCEPT New York City and a few other places by the time the ban was lifted there. That hearing was a press event from the start with a fixed outcome.

And it's not as if NYC was some "key market" upon which pinball would live or die in this country. Pinball was doing great business during all those years it was illegal in New York, and nothing about getting it to be accepted in that city changed the overall business outlook for pinball even a tick, other than the publicity ginned up when a government suddenly "allows" you to do something they never had any business NOT allowing you.

I admit that news story was "good" for everyone involved. Sharpe did his job perfectly, which was to promote pinball on behalf of the industry, and the politicians got to look good in the press for allowing fun to come back to town. But having a hearing (on the public dime) is just fat pig pols who can't help being pigs even when they are reversing a bad law.

 

[Timelord]

I agree with most of what you said, Robert.

Pinball was not as hard to find in Chicago as Rodger Sharpe states on record, either. Most Gin Mills and even neighborhood corner bars had them and the police would "look the other way". When they "became legal" the clean cut versions of the arcades emerged for consumers who would not seek them out before. I served in the USAF in the late 60's/ early 70's and pinball was available in and did a brisk business in the "Rec Rooms" and NCO clubs on every base I was stationed in.

Timelord ...