You see it here all the time…

“This is a Steve Ritchie designed game… It’s gonna flow.”
“it’s the next King Elwin game! Gonna be the cat’s ass!”
“Lyman coded it, it’s going to be an awesome game!”
“The game has unfinished/unrefined/sucky code…” (See latest Spooky threads or new Stern launch threads).
“Jerry Thompson’s on audio… The thing is going to rock…”

But who really is responsible for an amazing pin? Does the designer get the credit? Is it a team effort? When the code “sucks” is it the programmer failing to live up to the designers vision? Or do they have latitude to implement their own flavor? (Pfutz games would seem to indicate the answer was, at least at one time, yes). Or does a good coder “fix” a poorly designed game? Is the audio guy just looking for assets that match the designer’s vision—or do they get to throw in their own jock jams? How closely does the team work together to achieve a vision?

And who has ultimate accountability? How much does the designer matter? Who has the final call? Does Gary or JJP management really steer the creative vision? How much does the licensor have sway?

With the tragic passing of the great Lyman Sheets—these things have been on my mind. Would love those of you with industry knowledge—or better, those of you out there who have actually worked on a pinball design team, to weigh in on the different roles, and who “really” makes a pin great—or terrible.

If you wouldn’t mind a war story or two…