Super fun stories! This is why you need to play pinball with friends. While they play, you can stare at the animations

Has anybody got a clue why Stan Fukuoka doesn't do Artwork for other companies right now?
The (sorry) in my opinion rather poor Artwork especially on Stern's Backglasses is not what Pinball should be. Everybody could do that with 'Photoshop'
Please Stan come back!

Great question. I love his style. Hit him up on Facebook (seriously). His one offs are amazing, and he is a really nice guy. He made me this to go with my Breakshot:

DSCF1080 (resized).JPG
DSCF1079 (resized).JPG

Simple. From his bio on his website where he sells prints:

"Currently, I am working as Creative Director for a promotion agency, designing premiums for McDonald's."

I'd be surprised if this doesn't pay several multiples per hour of time for what he could have earned at Capcom, adjusted for inflation. Work for, say, Stern or JJP, would likely be much less lucrative than his time at Capcom.

He's probably better off selling prints and sketches re: pinball. Don't take much time, probably offer a reasonable return, and allow him to scratch an itch.

Working on playfield, cabinet, plastics, bg, and potentially animations and display graphics would be hugely time consuming and miles below his pay grade, these days.

Stan is a super nice guy and been friends on FB for a few years now. He posts his recent sketches and ones he did for Capcom all the time. Really cool dude.

He comes to expo fairly often

Saw this on SilverUnicorn business card. ^
http://www.stanfukuoka.com
Oh I hope the remake Kingpin.

Added over 6 years ago: *they*

Hi, DMC. I couldn't get back into my old account due to my bad memory and a defunct email. I have more stories incoming when I have a moment.

I'm another fan who cannot wait to hear them. Thanks for taking the time to write them!

BIG BANG BAR story:

One of the attract animations was a nod to Python Angelo. I created a cartoon version of him at the bar. If you are familiar with the dots of the game, there is a drinker who does the soda drinking commercial profile pose as he guzzles his bottle of space nector down. His lips slip into the bottle, though, and accidently sucks himself into the bottle! The bottle falls back onto the bar and he looks at the viewer stunned.

His face also ended up on a drop down target. I animated him passing out when you hit it.
.

KINGPIN story:

There is a power up animation that I loved where you saw a muscular arm start flexing complimented with electrical power. This played whenever the health bar was boosted upwards. For three ball mode, you never get to see it.

No matter how many times I saw it, it felt like a great animation to enjoy for your efforts to stay "alive".

very cool stories!

keep em coming please

Seen that BBB animation a few times. Now ill always think of Python, thanks for sharing.

Would love to see someone make some gifs of these animations

I will write another entry soon. Stay tuned!

AIRBORNE story:

I didn't think much of it at the time, but looking back, we made a good amount of animations and art for Airborne. I worked with another animator at Capcom on the game.

Making the air stunts using 3D software helped make more dramatic camera shots and render the plane's motions. Because the dot matrix display was low in resolution, I didn't have spend much time adding extra detail. That kept it from eating too much of the schedule.

Making a flying extra ball animation had a rendered pinball, but hand animated stylized trail behind it. I gave it extra movement towards and away from the camera to make it more exciting. Then it jets off the screen to finish.

I liked animations like those because we were making a game about stunt flying and the animations can compliment that feeling. (The sounds supported them well, too.)

BIG BANG BAR story:

The Easter egg text messages were written by me. Unknown to almost all players there are hidden text screens that I wrote for my girlfriend at the time and some friends. Two of the women worked in a sports bar where they had pinball machines.

My hope was they all could put in their "code" during the attract mode to read the message written specifically for them. I still have many good memories of them and of those times.

what is the code?

During attract mode, hitting Start, Left, Right, in the following sequences will display secret messages : SLRSLR, SLRSLLR, SLRSLLLR, SLRSLLLLR, SLRSLLLLLR.

awesome and thanks!

Ill have to try the next time I find a BBB to play!

I'm gonna try these during lunch today.

take video please

Found ‘em! Pretty cool.

Where’s the fun in that? More fun for everyone to track down a BBB and see for themselves.

Cant wait to heard more stories

I have to think of some more to tell!

What a great read! Last show I went too had a kingpin. The whole show there was a line for it. 2nt day of the show the lines to play DI and Houdini were long and nobody was playing kingpin. I put a good 6 or 7 games on it. The animations were top notch. Superb work, and keep the stories flowing.

Sadly for PM owners, when the game is dialed in and playing as it should, it plays so fast and furious (as many Capcom games do) that animations are often overlooked or not even considered during play. They are top notch, and so are most Capcom animations. Nice work, great stories, and keep it up!

Capcom's DMD animations are the best animations I've seen on a DMD. It's a real pity that quality wasn't achieved by others as it would have helped pinball in general a lot.

Merry Christmas, everyone! I will be posting a personal story on working DMD animations when I get a bit of time to write.

I apologize for the delay, everyone! Here is a new entry...

DMD Animation Story:

When I started working on pinball animations I had to adjust my animation training. Telling a story with animation, you try to build up movements on characters and create anticipation for motions like jumping. There might be several parts to a single animation.

But when you are creating animations for pinball, you don't have a luxury of time to tell that story. You realize that many animations can be triggered in a short amount of time. You learn to get to the point of the animation quicker. Some animations can be stretched out for extra reward or impact, but knowing that it may be interrupted for the next message or animation.

I appreciated animating this way for it's strength of purpose. You trimmed the off anything that distracted the player from what you were trying to show them. And, at least, they can have a chance to see most of the animation while the ball is in play.

Also, you learned how to make an image work with the color/resolution limitations. I had some experience making art with these limitations before. Previewing the animations on a real DMD on my desk was great. My first day they had my computer and DMD setup for me. A PC monitor wasn't a substitute for the real thing. I previewed every animation I created on that DMD.

keep the stories coming and thanks!

I see that snappyness in the Airborne animations. DMDDude2 have you heard the rumours about Kingpin being remade?

No, I haven't! What's being said?

there is a smaller company that has been attempting to build Pythons Pinball Circus, but it sounds like (rumor) they have the ability to get Capcoms Kingpin produced and are shifting gears as they know that is a better game and will sell more units.

You should reach out to them! Would be amazing to see your efforts be part of this project!

http://www.circusmaximusgames.com/

Interesting. I thought KP was on PPS/CGC's list ?

Who ever does it, I hope it gets built.

LTG : )

Thanks! I hope it does, too.

Yes what Whysnow wrote. There was a picture posted on the Facebook page of Paul Kiefert (Circus Maximus) of a new looking KP playfield being assembled.

The graphics in KingPin are first rate. The graphics aren't really in need of much help, although some of the other software based matters will benefit from some tweaking possible given it won't be confined to the original hardware.

KP1 (resized).jpg

Looks like a long way to go.

not really.

Pf appears laid out, ramps are made.

Wiring and mechs can be done in a long week or 2.

Then tear it all down and make fixes and reassemble on a new pf

I hope they have something flipping at Texas so we can see and play it!

Kingpin owners are quakin' in their boots right now

All 8 of them (1 perished in a fire). Such a cool game.

Building one prototype does not equal serial production...

You are indeed correct. We're having a lot of fun with this prototype though.

I agree. A prototype can still be seen as a threat to the rarity of the originals simply because it COULD become serial production.

I dont think ANY of the original owners will give 2 squats about a possible production. In fact, I have heard at least 2 of them are fully in support of it and have been part of the reason things are getting to this stage even.

Those guys tend to have plenty of funds

Not surprised, existing owners have been at the mercy of zero parts all along, and this will be a boon to them to have bits available for their rare games - which will stay just as rare. Their provenance will not be affected by a production run in this case, particularly as the run will be using different electronic systems, rather than the Capcom board set. Having become extremely familiar with this game, I can't wait to see the completed article.

Debating the long flight over for the Festival if I can work out getting away from the office for a couple of weeks.

The Return of the KING[PIN]!!

The Capo di tutti capi is back!