Theme can be licensed or not. What game would you make?

I know I have seen sketches of a Zelda based game on the Stern forums. I had always thought this would be a great title to create. I love the music, characters, and setting of the game. I think it could be an impressive game if executed well. I would set it up like one of the original titles, where you would have game modes to unlock pieces of the triforce. You could also have "quests" to upgrade your sword, and collect items to unlock additional game modes. I think there are ton of possibilities.

Just thought it would be interesting to see what others had in mind?

Todd

The funnest titles to me have almost always been original titles. I think licensed themes make up for a mediocre table layout. if u took away the theme of tron I'm willing to bet it wouldn't sell nearly as much.

With that said, if pat lawlor wants to come out of retirement and design a new table, I will sell blood to buy it sight unseen

toyotaboy said:

With that said, if pat lawlor wants to come out of retirement and design a new table, I will sell blood to buy it sight unseen

Oooo how about a blood bank theme?

toyotaboy said:

The funnest titles to me have almost always been original titles. I think licensed themes make up for a mediocre table layout. if u took away the theme of tron I'm willing to bet it wouldn't sell nearly as much.
With that said, if pat lawlor wants to come out of retirement and design a new table, I will sell blood to buy it sight unseen

I hear you there, Lawlor is great, my all time favorite. His one big disappointment for me was Monopoly though. I love the theme and think it had a lot of potential, but the game just isnt any fun.

Lawrence of Arabia...but that would be classless. It's too much of a "film" for pinball purposes.

Tlamb said:

His one big disappointment for me was Monopoly though. I love the theme and think it had a lot of potential, but the game just isnt any fun.

Interesting, I just got to play a few games of Monopoly recently and I liked it. If one came up for sale cheap I would think about getting it. I don't care about the theme but I enjoyed the gameplay and the way it combined short shots with long ones. Reminded me a little of TAF but without the awful pf artwork. Only thing I didn't like was the twirling flipper, but seems like Lawlor games always have something over-the-top silly.

I would love to see a Time Travel theme. Something that would really utilize it's DMD and important dates.

"Bash King George's head to win the American Revolution!"

"JACKPOT!"

IndianaPwns said:

I would love to see a Time Travel theme. Something that would really utilize it's DMD and important dates.
"Bash King George's head to win the American Revolution!"
"JACKPOT!"

You know it would end up licensed as Sid Meier's Civilization

I agree with the Lawlor comments.

Would LOVE to see him work with JJP on the next title. I NEED a Lawlor old style game with quality build parts.

For theme I really do not have much preference, but I would really like to see some more non-liscense games come out.

Erik said:

Tlamb said:His one big disappointment for me was Monopoly though. I love the theme and think it had a lot of potential, but the game just isnt any fun.

Interesting, I just got to play a few games of Monopoly recently and I liked it. If one came up for sale cheap I would think about getting it. I don't care about the theme but I enjoyed the gameplay and the way it combined short shots with long ones. Reminded me a little of TAF but without the awful pf artwork. Only thing I didn't like was the twirling flipper, but seems like Lawlor games always have something over-the-top silly.

Yeah, I really wanted to like it, just didnt do it for me.

I'd really like to work with Lawlor, give him free reign on ideas and toys and playfield design. I'd find a way to build and program for it, but would charge a bundle;)

Btw, my arcade machine will soon be up on Kickstarter. I'm hoping to stir some interest here, and hopefully some backing. The next project after is a pinball machine!

Barry

First off... Pat Lawlor's old school pinball designs feel better then the more recent ones that he has done (I'm not sure if that is his fault though). Yet Monopoly is quite good, and fun to play, getting landgrab is so cool! Even his "bad" ones are still better then most! He has lots of great hits! Road Show is still an all time favorate!

Second... Theam wise! I'd love to see NON Movie titles come out again! I love funny pins! If I laugh, and find new hidden things, I'm haven't fun! Williams "Cows" were cool in that aspect! So yet, I enjoy deep games.

-Aaron

Iowa Pinball Club

Any theme will work for me, I would like to see a design that actually moves the flippers like Gottlieb used to.

In my eyes, Ben and JPop pretty much nailed it with BHZA. I swear, if someone had asked me what my ideal non-licensed themes be, I would have responded "Zombies and amusements parks". That's why I had no choice but to purchase one.

gweempose said:

In my eyes, Ben and JPop pretty much nailed it with BHZA. I swear, if someone had asked me what my ideal non-licensed themes be, I would have responded "Zombies and amusements parks". That's why I had no choice but to purchase one.

I agree with that. I think they are driving some competition and will hopefully improve overall game quality across all manufactures.

I would love to get involved with these up and coming projects. It would be an amazing job to engineer parts to go on a pin, maybe come up with some new technology that has yet to be seen.

If I were Stern I would try to contact Rockstar games and see if they would be interested in working with them on a pinball title. Rockstar has had some great themes over the years, including:
Grand Theft Auto - GTA5 is currently in the works and this would probably make the most sense for a pinball title.-huge brand recognition.
Red Dead Redemption - This would be my first choice. A Western theme would be awesome!
LA Noire - Really cool 1940's crime game
The Warriors - One of my favorite movies that has a huge cult following.

Rockstar is worth billions of dollars and they have thousands of employees/programmers. They would probably license the game to Stern for free and write it off in their 20-30 million advertising budget as long as they have creative control over it. Each pinball machine is basically a small billboard for them. Who knows, they may even be able to dedicate a couple of their talented programmers to help out with the game rules/software and maybe create some innovative rules? It's worth a shot!

treveism said:

If I were Stern I would try to contact Rockstar games and see if they would be interested in working with them on a pinball title. Rockstar has had some great themes over the years, including:
Grand Theft Auto - GTA5 is currently in the works and this would probably make the most sense for a pinball title.-huge brand recognition.
Red Dead Redemption - This would be my first choice. A Western theme would be awesome!
LA Noire - Really cool 1940's crime game
The Warriors - One of my favorite movies that has a huge cult following.

+1000000000

I think GTA would a perfect fit for Stern, since CC and W?D are unlicensed versions of RDR and LA Noire.

i would do an Out for Justice ( Steven Seagal ) themed pin, i think the call outs would be awesome,,, anybody see Ritchie?....something like "you got the balls now you got the bread" then a multiball comes flying at you...
the clip below is NSFW...
» YouTube video

Mad Magazine would be fun and Pink Floyd is ripe for a theme.

Pulp Fiction
Deadpool (Marvel)
Empire Strikes Back

I agree that zelda could make a good pin. Empire Strikes back would also be cool.
I always thought Futurama would also do well. It is harder to think of an unlicensed theme that hasn't already been done. Maybe an insect theme, something like (Them! or Arachnaphobia)?

gambit3113 said:

Empire Strikes Back

shlockdoc said:

Pink Floyd is ripe for a theme.

and as always, I'll add The Big Lebowski

Zelda would be really fun since the franchise has spanned so many years, everyone would recognize it.

I was actually thinking a few days ago how a "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" would look/play.

REDBULL Extreme Sports

choose discipline
F1
Air Race
MX freestyle
Snowboard downhill
Skateboarding
etc etc

have rotating banks of PF toys that action like the BOP face
or the pyramid in Alien V Predator

high score dispenses a free RB like a vend machine

attract mode on LCD in headbox plays Redbull extreme sport
highlights

awesome

mods : receive "rom updates" & can change out toys to suit
favourite sports

i think a LCD window cftbl lagoon style would be gold to
change the PF " art" from dirt to snow to tarmac etc to
coincide with the Extreme mode you are in

DR

Fight Club

I told my wife I they ever make a Zelda pinball machine or say a Nintendo pinball party I am buying it no questions asked lol.

A ton of great ideas here though guys. Hopefully watchful eyes are watching

I would be all over a Big L as well, my favorite movie!

Johnny Quest. Invisible monster, crazy nazi pilot, lizard men, mummy, yeti, volcano, hovercraft, robot spider, jets, subs etc. Lots of villains and locations to put into the game.

Also great music.

gweempose said:

In my eyes, Ben and JPop pretty much nailed it with BHZA. I swear, if someone had asked me what my ideal non-licensed themes be, I would have responded "Zombies and amusements parks". That's why I had no choice but to purchase one.

Bingo! Exactly how I feel. They nailed it with this theme for me personally.

King of the Hill would make for a hilarious pin theme imo.

ApexRecordings said:

King of the Hill would make for a hilarious pin theme

+1 I think Futurama should be made first before King of the Hill. Maybe add Archer to the list of cartoons that should be pins.

Mad Magazine would be fun

they almost did, but data east went belly up:
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=3440

I love the Final Fantasy series as well. There is a ton of material there to work with for sure.

toyotaboy said:

Mad Magazine would be fun

they almost did, but data east went belly up:

DE didn't go belly up, the company name changed when Sega bought it out....the same as it changed again when Gary bought the company from Sega in 1999. DE/Sega/Stern is one in the same- started by Gary Stern, Shelley Sax, and Joe Kaminkow in 1987.

At any rate it would be interesting to hear from Joe or Gary why MAD wasn't ever finished...

It would be really cool if any game designer would create a poll with a handful of titles/themes for a future pin and let the fans decide.

How about the spaghetti western's that would be Client, Client & more Client yea haa

Tlamb said:

I love the Final Fantasy series as well. There is a ton of material there to work with for sure.

Yeah, that could be pretty awesome. Thundercats or He-Man could be pretty sweet; Cat's Lair or Snake Mountain are ripe to be toys.

treveism said:

Red Dead Redemption - This would be my first choice. A Western theme would be awesome!
LA Noire - Really cool 1940's crime game

Great idea! I would buy either (or both) of these games. A great Western themed pin would rule!

Diablo III...

Whysnow said:

It would be really cool if any game designer would create a poll with a handful of titles/themes for a future pin and let the fans decide.

Actually, JPop did just that before Magic Girl ...

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.games.pinball/browse_thread/thread/5bd91bb87e974040

the Nightmare Before Christmas

The Big Lebowski.

Hey, careful man, there's a beverage here!

Thanks gweem, after following your link I now want a alien cowboy themed pinball machine. Complete with truck nuts. Thank you again, that may be the greatest post in the history of the internet. But barring that incredible machine I always thought a baseball theme done where you progress through an actual game would be interesting. You could choose to start on offence or defence. On offence certain shots would result in positive results, ie. hits, combos would turn those hits into better hits. And certain shots would have negative affects, ie. outs. On defence the positive results would be strikes, and negative results would be home runs for the other team. I think the combos for this portion of the game would have to change from inning to innning. Than throw in a couple different modes between inning, ie. a 7 inning stretch plus a few more. Add in the option that it could be customized for your favorite team and I think it would sell like hotcakes. And I don't even like baseball just always thought it should be done.

toyotaboy said:

Mad Magazine would be fun

they almost did, but data east went belly up:
http://www.ipdb.org/machine.cgi?id=3440

Attachments mad-pinball.jpg (214.9 KB, 0 downloads) 6 hours old

That would be a good one. Spy vs Spy animations. Have the match be like the back page when you fold the page to see the image. That image of the face from the data base is scarey!

Johnny Quest.

It would make for an amazing "wedgehead" MES, that's for sure! One of my future projects I'd like to do is make a T.K.O. inspired 'Venture Bros' wedgehead. I always liked playing T.K.O. and thought the PF layout would work perfectly...
Here is the T.K.O. layout.

As for the Zelda themed pin, I think a lot of those classic games would make for some good pinball.
Metroid, Contra, Ghosts'N Goblins and my personal favorite... CASTLEVANIA!
Man, if they made one of those babies-
Just the music alone would be worth the purchase!

+1 to Venture Bros. that would be cool. Then do ATHF once they have adult swim giving up the licenses.
Mad would have been awesome, unfortunately, if it didn't happen then it sure as hell is gonna happen today. I would guess no one under 25 has any idea what Mad Magazine is. Which is too bad, I loved me some Mad.

Ghost Train would be my theme of choice... imagine how the wireform rails would work as the track... lots of cheesy ghoulish sounds, even crappy animated toys would fit the theme... can't work out why no-one has done it before!!?? For me it's just begging to be a pinball!

I've always thought a 60's-70's muscle car theme would be great. Not only would you interest pin enthusiasts, but you would get gear-heads as well. You could even make it Mopar vs. Chevy vs. Ford type competition. Fill the cabinet with scale models and hot wheels. Have drag race and lap race challenges while building/modding cars. Wreck the competition, Woodward avenue/Route 66 artwork. Or how about a Price is Right? Game variations alone nearly endless. Would love a mini plinko game and a mountain climber ramp. SHOWCASE SHOWDOWN MULTI-BALL!!!! Spin the wheel!

Dukes of Hazard would be cool, muscle cars, jump ramps, play as the dukes or as the cops..

I would love to see a Smokey and the Bandit pinball. East Bound and Down!

Where the Wild Things Are

With original Maurice Sendak art... not movie stuff.