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Question:
         Can you tell me about the pinball game process?  How are game themes
         picked?  How long does it take to develop a pinball game?  What
         computer tools are used?  What are some of the steps in bringing a
         game from a designer's imagination to the production line?

Answer:

   Design Teams
         Williams Electronics Games, Inc., employs several pinball game
         designers who are responsible for putting the wizardry under the glass
         in its games.  Each game designer heads up a game team which is
         chartered to produce a new game.  The members of the teams and their
         roles are outlined below.  Keep in mind, however, that team members'
         contributions often extend beyond these roles, as game design is very
         much a group effort with everyone on a team contributing ideas and
         refinement.

       Game designer - The game designer is responsible for leading the game
         team and coming up with a concept for the game.  Traditionally, the
         game designer draws the pinball playfield and comes up with any
         devices or "toys" for the game.

       Software developer - The software developer develops all the
         game-specific software to handle rules, devices, effects, shows, etc.
         
       Artist - The artist is responsible for all game art and graphics.  This
         includes the backglass, playfield, cabinet, bottom arch, stickers,
         plastics, etc.

       Mechanical engineer - The mechanical engineer is the person who makes
         all those toys and gadgets that the game designer thinks up possible.

       Sound designer/musician - The sound designer creates the music and
         sound effects for the game.

       Mechanical designer - The mechanical designer is responsible for putting
         the finishing touches on the drawings and designs from the mechanical
         engineer and game designer.
      
       Animator - The animator generates the images for the the dot-matrix
         display.  (Actually, no one particular dot-matrix animator is
         assigned to a game.  The animators spread their time among all
         projects.)

         The above design team is supported by numerous others, without whom
         a pinball game would not be possible.  These include:

         Electrical engineers and technicians, who come up with the unique
           electronics and circuit boards
         Cable designers, who lay out the wiring for a game
         Publication writers, who produce the manuals and technical documents
         Sculptors, who design buildings, heads and other molded items
         Model makers, who build the first instances of ramps, ball guides,
           toys, and other devices for a game

      (Uncle Willy is doing his best to make sure not to leave out anyone
      else who works hard to help bring a game to production.  Licensing,
      marketing, sales and testing support is necessary.  Production
      engineering, purchasing, regulatory compliance testing are also
      required.  Voice and music talent are sometimes employed.  Of course,
      engineering support such as costing and bill of materials creation are
      needed.)

   Game Concept
         The first step in pinball game design is to start with a concept for
         a new game.  This can have various sources.  Sometimes a designer has
         an original idea to develop.  Other times, a TV, movie or other
         license presents itself that would make an interesting game theme.
         It is also possible that a game designer has an idea for a device or
         toy that would be fun, and a game concept is developed around it.

         Licensing a theme provides its own complications which must be
         weighed with the the identifiability and other benefits of a license.
         Besides having to negotiate the terms and fees of a license, there
         is also the need for the approvals from the licensing agent to be
         considered.  For example, actors' movie contracts vary widely as to
         how much freedom a movie studio has in selling ancillary rights and
         to how much control actors have over their depiction in a derivative
         product.

         
   Playfield Design
         Pinball playfields are laid out using a CAD package.  Standard
         devices, such as flippers and jet bumpers can be called up out of a
         device library for placement on a playfield.  Laying out makable
         and interesting shots is a bit of an artform, as one might imagine,
         and it is here that the game designer spends many hours trying to
         come up with an original and innovative "feel" for a pinball game.

         If a game has a toy or special device to be placed on the playfield,
         its placement is usually the first thing to worry about.  Shots are
         then created around and leading to it, as necessary.
         
         Also keep in mind that the game designer must be thinking in three
         dimensions as the playfield is laid out.  Ramps and wireforms allow
         the ball to rise from the plane of the playfield, and the designer
         uses them to make the game more interesting, keeping in mind flipper
         power and other physical limitations.  Care must also be taken to
         make all components fit on BOTH sides of the playfield.

         While the playfield designer is busy laying out a playfield, the
         mechanical engineer is kept busy designing and prototyping game-
         specific devices.  Often with the help of an electrical engineer
         or the software developer, the mechanical engineer invents
         a solution to implement some wild idea of the game designer.  It is
         through these efforts that we are all able to enjoy such playfield
         toys as talking heads, ball-launching gun turrets, hands that pick
         up the ball, and revving car engines.

         If the software developer is lucky enough, one or more of these
         custom devices is fabricated before the first playfield is wired,
         so that work on a device driver can be started at this time.


   Whitewood Construction
         After a playfield is designed, the next step is to test it by making
         one.  The first playfields are made from bare plywood, and as such
         are called "whitewoods".  A game may go through several whitewood
         revisions due to changes in layout or other improvements.  Often,
         the first whitewood or two for a game has little more than flippers,
         bumpers, slings and a few ball guides on it in order to try out the
         shots.  Often, in order to save time to test out ideas, whitewoods
         are heavily modified and "patched" to test out improvements, rather
         than constructing new ones from scratch.  Uncle Willy has seen wood
         plugs and Bondo adorning many whitewood playfields.

         Creating the blank playfield for whitewood construction is rather
         straightforward.  The designer's CAD file is converted to drive a
         computer-controlled routing machine which cuts the blank plywood to
         accommodate light inserts, mechanical devices and mounting points.
         Light inserts are glued into the routed playfield and allowed to
         dry, then a clear finish is applied to seal the grain and
         approximate the finish of a screened playfield.

         All the game-specific parts for early whitewoods are hand-crafted in
         the model shop.  Not only the above-mentioned ball guides must be
         made this way, but also plastic and wireform ramps, under-playfield
         troughs, and other unique mechanics must be fabricated.

         Once parts are collected, the build-up of the whitewood commences.
         Lamps, switches and other parts are mounted on the playfield, and
         a wiring harness is hand-crafted and connected to the playfield
         electronics.  After a thorough checkout, the whitewood is ready for
         flipping.


   Software Development
         (To keep this article to a reasonable length, Uncle Willy will gloss
         over much of the effort and tasks involved in developing software
         for a new pinball game.  Perhaps this can be the subject of another
         Uncle Willy installment.)

         Making a whitewood flip for the first time is relatively simple task.
         Williams Electronics has developed a proprietary operating system
         that it uses in its pinball machines which simplifies implementing
         much of the standard functionality of a pinball game.  Filling out
         a few tables that connect switches to coils gets the flippers
         flipping, bumpers bumping and ejects ejecting.  Of course, if that
         were all there is to programming a pinball game, everyone would be
         doing it.

         Once everyone in engineering has had enough of checking out the
         newest whitewood and clears out of the software developer's office,
         work begins on inventing and implementing rules.  Lots of time is
         spent developing rules to make a game interesting, and quite often
         everyone on the design team has ideas and opinions.  Sometimes, the
         game designer or another team member has a particular idea for the
         game, but it proves impossible to implement, due to physical
         constraints of the playfield or other devices.  In this case, the
         concept may spark another idea or may be modified to fit in with
         the possibilities of the game.

         Of course, during the course of rules development, display, lamp
         and sound effects are also being developed.  The software developer
         works with the sound designer and animators to coordinate material
         to be put in the game.  Much of the software development time is
         spent on the choreography of these effects.


   Artwork
         Once a theme has been chosen, the artist can begin work on the
         backglass and cabinet art.  In the case of a licensed theme, reference
         materials are collected and rough pencil sketches are submitted for
         approval before proceeding to produce more finished artwork.

         Once the playfield and lamp insert layout has been finalized by the
         game designer, the artist can start on playfield artwork.  If the
         artist is lucky, enough of the rules have been fleshed out so that
         cues for the player can be incorporated into the playfield art.  Soon
         after the playfield is finalized, the game designer lays out the play-
         field plastics; after this is completed, they can be submitted to the
         artist for artwork layout.  Stickers for ramps and other locations
         can be started at this time also.

         The artist uses many media in his/her efforts, including computer
         graphics, as well as the more traditional ink and paint.  (Uncle Willy
         senses an opportunity for another installment topic here.)


   Cost Limitations and Bill of Materials
         Throughout the development process, the projected cost of the game is
         monitored.  Rough estimates of component costs are continually updated
         as quotes are obtained from outside vendors.

         As nice as it would be to design a pinball game without regard to
         cost, real world constraints dictate that a game designer not exceed
         the game budget.  This means that compromises are often made to
         make a game meet its budget.  Hardware and devices undergo redesign
         to make them less expensively, or are sometimes removed altogether.

         Some items that were removed from recent games during the design
         process include:  

            - A motorized target bank in the Neutral Zone on Star Trek: the
              Next Generation
            - An up-post between the flippers on Theatre of Magic
            - A third spiral magnet on Twilight Zone
            - A bank of drop targets on Corvette

         Along with this refinement of the cost estimate, the bill of
         materials must be created.  Every part for a particular game -- down
         to each screw and nut -- must be accounted for.  The bill of
         materials is continually refined up through production so that the
         actual cost of a game can be accurately determined and so that parts
         can be ordered in time for producing the game.

   Prototype Building
         Once the physical design of a pinball game has pretty much "gelled"
         (playfield layout finalized, device designs released, playfield
         artwork finished, wiring cables designed, etc.) parts are procured
         to build 10-15 engineering prototypes of the game.  These prototypes
         are used for several purposes.

         Just building the prototypes verifies that the parts coming from
         vendors are made to spec, and that all the parts fit together on the
         pinball game.  Also, during the assembly of the prototypes, the
         procedures for building the game on the production line are
         identified and established.  This includes identifying sub-
         assemblies and specifying work stations for the production line.

         The engineering prototypes are allocated to various uses.  The
         software programmer or programmers typically get the first one or
         two prototypes for programming purposes.  One game is used for FCC
         RFI testing; one game is used for a pack-ship-and-drop test; a
         number of games are allocated for field testing; one game is used by
         the publications writer in the production of the game manual; one
         game is used for the photo shoot for the game promotional flyer.
         Sometimes, additional prototypes are produced for display at a trade
         show, depending upon the timing of the game and the show.


   Into Production
         The next several weeks of the game design schedule are spent putting
         the finishing touches on the game.  The rules are finalized, sounds
         are finished, the hardware is refined, and the documentation is
         completed.  (Keep in mind that all this is a *lot* of work.  Uncle
         Willy does not want to trivialize the effort involved here in any
         way.)

         A small sample run of games is produced before the full production is
         started.  This run helps to ring out the manufacturing process in
         preparation for actual production.  These sample games are shipped to
         distributors for display in their showrooms.

         Finally, full production begins, and the games start shipping
         throughout the world.  During production, a careful eye is kept on
         new orders and expected demand.  Long lead times on certain parts
         mean that further production release decisions must be made weeks
         before the end of a game run.  It simply is too expensive to shut
         down the production line and start it back up when more orders come
         in.

         The production process itself is probably worthy of another Uncle
         Willy installment.  Those of you who have been fortunate enough to
         visit a pinball plant during Pinball Expo are familiar with the large
         amount of manual labor that is involved in building a pinball game.


Well, there you have it, folks.  Uncle Willy necessarily glossed over some of
the finer details in the process of bringing a game to production.  The entire
process takes from nine to twelve months to bring a game to production.
Thousands of parts go into a pinball game.  Keeping track of those parts and
all the hundreds of other details that go into a pinball machine keeps the crew
at Williams Electronics Games, Inc., mighty busy!

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