# Avatar: The Battle for Pandora, Mark Seiden and Lea Faske

**Source:** Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo  
**Type:** video  
**Published:** 2026-03-17  
**Duration:** 64m 43s  
**Beat:** Pinball

**URL:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LysaMQ6ph_Y

---

## Analysis

Lea Faske and Mark Seiden present the artwork and design process for Jersey Jack Pinball's Avatar: Battle for Pandora. Faske, a first-time pinball artist with a background in video game and concept art from studios like Ubisoft and Blizzard, discusses her journey creating playfield and cabinet art while navigating IP licensing constraints (particularly around human likenesses during the actor strike) and the technical challenges of pinball-specific design. Seiden details the mechanical and CAD development from early whitewoods through final production, including innovations like UV-reactive ball rings and custom lower playfield angles.

### Key Claims

- [HIGH] Lea Faske is a first-time pinball artist with a decade of professional game art experience from Ubisoft and Blizzard. — _Lea Faske's opening remarks about her background in video games and current role supervising art direction for Hearthstone._
- [HIGH] The playfield is divided into five main thematic sections: water, forest, air, RDA, and characters. — _Lea discussing the playfield layout strategy and thematic organization with Mark confirming._
- [HIGH] An actor strike during development prevented human likenesses from appearing on the playfield except for Spider. — _Lea explaining licensing constraints: 'We had this uh actor strike for a long time during the development, so that put off any human likenesses for a while, which is why you see very Spider's the only one on the play field.'  They used only the Na'vi version of Korwag to avoid human face licensing._
- [HIGH] Scott Denise at Pinball Life developed a custom UV-reactive ring formula specifically for Avatar's lower playfield ball-in-hole mechanism. — _Mark discussing component sourcing: 'So he actually developed the formula for the for the UV reactive rings for us.'_
- [HIGH] Early development used translucent flippers intended to house bioluminescent inserts, but they broke frequently and were replaced with standard blue flippers that glow naturally under black light. — _Mark noting: 'we were using translucent flippers at the time, which um turns out they break a lot' and 'the flipper uh plastic we ended up using just glows under black light so it doesn't matter.'_
- [HIGH] The playfield was designed in a damaged Willy Wonka CE cabinet that fell off a truck. — _Mark explaining the development environment: 'And all of this was developed in a um, a damaged Willy Wonka CE cab. Um, so if that was your game, uh, I'm sorry. It literally fell off a truck.'_
- [HIGH] The lower playfield uses 3/4-inch ball bearings instead of the standard 1 and 1/16-inch size. — _Mark describing component testing: 'At this time I've ordered like 10 different sizes of ball bearings to figure out what size would be best for the lower play field. Um, and that's actually the size we went to with. It's like a 3/4 uh inch ball instead of a 1 and 1/16th.'_
- [HIGH] Lightstorm (Avatar's IP holder) required approval of the artist before work could begin and had specific approval requirements for character likenesses. — _Lea explaining the art test process: 'we had to submit this to Lightstorm. So, yeah, they had to approve. Yeah, they had to approve me first, too.'_
- [HIGH] No AI was used in creating the Avatar pinball artwork; all art was drawn and painted by hand. — _Lea explicitly stating: 'as I mentioned, all the art was drawn and painted by hand, so there's no AI used in this.'_
- [HIGH] The service menu still displays an early version of the playfield artwork with yellow at the bottom that was never updated to the final version. — _Mark noting: 'if you go into the service menu and bring up the playfield picture, it's still like a con, like a very early version of the artwork. We should probably go in and put that into the final version.'_

### Notable Quotes

> "I knew absolutely nothing about making art for pinball machine. Um, I wasn't even really aware that the pinball industry was thriving or had such a wonderful, dedicated and tight-knit community."
> — **Lea Faske**, early
> _Reflects the insularity of the pinball community and the onboarding experience for outsider talent._

> "And in a way this pinball machine was intended as a love letter to the world of Pandora more than um the story itself."
> — **Lea Faske**, mid
> _Reveals the design philosophy behind Avatar's thematic structure._

> "It's because you know it we can't we weren't allowed to talk to them at that point. So yeah."
> — **Lea Faske**, mid
> _Demonstrates how the actor strike directly impacted pinball artwork licensing decisions._

> "Oh, no, no, that's not what you want. I can get you what you want."
> — **Scott Denise**, mid
> _Shows community collaboration in custom component development for pinball innovation._

> "I think I broke all of them in the lab before I was like, 'Okay, I'm done. Let's get some real blue flippers.'"
> — **Mark Seiden**, mid
> _Demonstrates iterative prototyping challenges and practical problem-solving in development._

> "So it's sort of like telling the story of the movies on a full plunge."
> — **Mark Seiden**, mid
> _Reveals design intent to embed narrative progression into mechanical gameplay flow._

> "I'm not sitting in a dark corner like like Yeah, I'm just kind of like, oh, that'd be fun. And then I draw it."
> — **Lea Faske**, mid
> _Describes the creative process and intuitive design decision-making._

> "You both see what you want to see but not interfere with um with those UI elements that are important to the player."
> — **Lea Faske**, late
> _Explains the technical constraint-handling that video game UI experience provided for pinball playfield design._

### Entities

| Name | Type | Context |
|------|------|---------|
| Lea Faske | person | First-time pinball artist; background in video game concept art for Ubisoft and Blizzard; currently supervises art direction for Hearthstone; holds master's degree in sequential art from Savannah College of Art and Design. |
| Mark Seiden | person | Designer of Avatar: Battle for Pandora at Jersey Jack Pinball; returning to the Pintastic show where he began his pinball career; responsible for mechanical design and CAD development. |
| Jersey Jack Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Avatar: Battle for Pandora; licensed Avatar IP from Lightstorm; Mark Seiden and team based here. |
| Avatar: Battle for Pandora | game | Jersey Jack Pinball game based on Avatar film franchise; features lower playfields, custom ball-in-hole mechanism, and Na'vi theming; in development/production phase during this presentation. |
| Lightstorm Entertainment | company | Avatar film IP rights holder; required approval of artist and character likenesses; provided 3D models and artwork references to JJP development team. |
| Scott Denise | person | Associate at Pinball Life; developed custom UV-reactive ring formula for Avatar's lower playfield mechanism; community component supplier and collaborator. |
| John Paul | person | Jersey Jack Pinball team member; created template and technical art guides for playfield artwork; taught Lea about pinball-specific design constraints. |
| Greg Ferris | person | Famous pinball art director referenced during Q&A; known for identifying playfield design as the primary challenge for first-time pinball artists. |
| Pintastic Pinball & Game Room Expo | event | Community event where this presentation occurred; described by Mark as the show that launched his pinball career. |
| Ubisoft | company | Video game studio where Lea Faske worked professionally in art direction and concept art. |
| Blizzard Entertainment | company | Video game studio where Lea Faske currently works; she supervises art direction for Hearthstone. |
| Pinball Life | company | Aftermarket pinball parts supplier; Scott Denise connection; provides UV-reactive ring replacements for Avatar. |
| McFarland Toys | company | Source of the Elu model for Avatar's lower playfield; provided 3D movie models to JJP development team. |
| Savannah College of Art and Design | organization | Institution where Lea Faske earned her master's degree in sequential art. |
| Willy Wonka (Williams) | game | A damaged Willy Wonka CE cabinet was repurposed during Avatar development; used as the physical test bed for prototyping. |

### Topics

- **Primary:** Artwork creation process for pinball machines, Licensing and IP approval constraints, Mechanical playfield design and iteration, Transition from video game art to pinball art, Lower playfield innovation and design, Playfield layout and thematic organization
- **Secondary:** Component sourcing and custom development, Actor strike impact on character licensing

### Sentiment

**Neutral** (0)

### Signals

- **[design_innovation]** Avatar uses custom-sized 3/4-inch ball bearings and custom UV-reactive rings developed specifically for the lower playfield ball-in-hole mechanism, representing novel approaches to lower playfield engagement. (confidence: high) — Mark stating ball bearing testing and Scott Denise developing custom UV-reactive formula; tilted lower playfield angle for 'floaty underwater feeling.'
- **[design_philosophy]** Avatar playfield designed as environmental love letter divided into five thematic sections (water, forest, air, RDA, characters) with narrative flow progression across the playfield representing movie journey. (confidence: high) — Lea and Mark discussing playfield layout intent: 'intended as a love letter to the world of Pandora' with sections representing different environments and story progression 'telling the story of the movies on a full plunge.'
- **[product_concern]** Translucent flipper prototypes broke frequently during development, requiring pivot to standard blue flippers that incidentally provided desired bioluminescent effect under black light. (confidence: high) — Mark: 'they break a lot' and 'I think I broke all of them in the lab'; alternative solution worked naturally with standard plastic.
- **[licensing_signal]** 2023 actor strike prevented human character likenesses on playfield except Spider; forced design decisions to use only Na'vi versions of characters (Korwag) with contingency mask-obscuring solution. (confidence: high) — Lea: 'We had this uh actor strike for a long time during the development, so that put off any human likenesses' and discussions of using Na'vi-only versions and mask solutions.
- **[manufacturing_signal]** Team used in-house laser cutter for rapid ramp prototyping and 3D printing for component testing, enabling quick iteration cycles (cutting and bending ramp trough same day). (confidence: high) — Mark: 'we have a laser cutter at work which we can just go out and cut something and have it done by the end of the day' and '3D printing a troth to like figure out where it should drop.'
- **[community_signal]** Scott Denise at Pinball Life developed custom UV-reactive ring formula specifically for Avatar, demonstrating aftermarket supplier innovation in service of individual game design. (confidence: high) — Mark: 'we ended up contacting Pinball Life and I talked to Scott Denise and he's like, Oh, no, no, that's not what you want. I I can get you what you want.' and 'he actually developed the formula for the for the UV reactive rings for us.'
- **[personnel_signal]** Jersey Jack recruited Lea Faske, a first-time pinball artist from major video game studios (Ubisoft, Blizzard), indicating strategy to bring external design talent into niche pinball industry. (confidence: high) — Lea describing unknown background in pinball and surprise at industry's vibrancy; hiring process including paid art test and artist approval by Lightstorm.
- **[product_launch]** Avatar: Battle for Pandora progressed from early whitewood prototypes through CAD refinement, multiple whitewood iterations, and lower playfield finalization; presented at Pintastic suggesting approaching production/release window. (confidence: high) — Detailed progression through whitewood 1, whitewood 2, CAD iterations, component testing, and final playfield versions shown in presentation slides.
- **[design_innovation]** Novel approach to narrative integration: playfield layout functions as visual/mechanical storytelling device where full plunge path mirrors Avatar movie progression (shuttle launch → rainforest → sky/banshee → water → flipper return). (confidence: high) — Mark: 'the entire layout is sort of like the story of the movies where they went. Um, like the shooter lane is like the shuttle craft flying into the planet' through various themed sections returning via 'full plunge.'
- **[design_innovation]** Jersey Jack developed systematic onboarding for first-time pinball artist: art test, whitewood provision, template creation with guides/masks, photo references, and iterative feedback loops with both JJP and IP holder. (confidence: high) — Lea describing formal art test, template provision by John Paul with guides preventing overlap, feedback loops, and Lightstorm approval requirements.
- **[content_signal]** Pintastic presentation functions as detailed developer documentation of Avatar's creation, covering art workflow, mechanical iteration, licensing constraints, and component innovation—valuable community educational content. (confidence: high) — Comprehensive slide deck showing whitewood progression, CAD development, component testing, and design rationale across both art and mechanical domains.
- **[product_concern]** Avatar's service menu still displays early playfield artwork version with yellow elements that were removed in final design; requires update to match production machine. (confidence: high) — Mark noting: 'if you go into the service menu and bring up the playfield picture, it's still like a con, like a very early version of the artwork. We should probably go in and put that into the final version.'

---

## Transcript

This is uh a firsttime pinball artist and a first time pinball game designer uh at least commercially speaking uh here. And for Mark, of course, it's the homecoming to the show that got him on this particular career trajectory. And it looks like Mark has plenty of notes.
I do.
And so, uh we'll take it away. Leah, you going to start? Is that the idea? [clears throat]
YEP. [applause] HI. [laughter] UM, YEAH. SO, I'm Leah Foski and I made the artwork for the Avatar Battle for Pandora um pinball machine. It's my first pinball machine. Um, yeah. And I guess I'm going to You can have that first light up. [laughter] It's totally cool. I was planning to talk while I was up. [laughter]
There we go.
Yeah. Um, so yeah, I'm going to mostly, I guess, be talking about the, you know, the journey of making that artwork and, um, how we ended up here. And I'm going to start with a little bit of background, some pipeline and process, and, you know, some considerations and logic behind the decisions that we made for the for the game. I think it'll be fun. Um, next slide background. Um, so, uh, yeah, when Mark first reached out to me, uh, I knew absolutely nothing about making art for pinball machine. Um, I wasn't even really aware that the pinball industry was thriving or had such a wonderful, dedicated and tight-knit community. Um, my background is primarily in video games from digital painting to like concept art, UI art, stuff like that. Um, I've been doing that professionally for about a decade. Um, and I've been lucky to work with game studios like Ubisoft and Blizzard. Um, where I currently supervise and art direct uh, illustrations for Hearthstone. Um, I also have experience with comics and I have a master's in sequential art from the Savannah College of Art and Design. Um, so that's just a little bit about me, you know, my resume, whatever. Um, so my experience with games definitely helped me. Um, understanding a lot of the core principles used in pinball art. Um, in terms of layout and design, um, there are a lot of shared values like ensuring the artwork complements or communicates gameplay rather than confusing that message. Um, Mark, John Paul, and the rest of the team at DJ Jack were a great help and provided things like templates and photos and references to make things easier on me. Um, I think the first thing Mark sent me was a box of art books and a a sticker book.
Yep.
It's [laughter] from Avatar.
And, uh, they still proudly sit on my bookshelf. Um, and uh, I'm incredibly grateful that they took the time to invest in my education and success for this game. So, thank you very much.
Yeah.
Um, next slide.
Um, so for the process, uh, you know, for me personally, it started with an art test. I had to make sure that, you know, I was up to snuff for what they were looking for. And then Mark provided the whitewood. Then JB made a template and then um there was a bit of brainstorming and then I started my sketches to colors to painting and then any revisions that we needed before shipping the game finally. Um next slide. Um so before I could start I was given a paid art test. Uh this was to ensure I could deliver on the style and the vision for the pinball machine. Um both for JJP and Lightstorm.
Yep. Okay. I forgot to double check.
We had to submit this to Lindstorm. So,
yeah,
they had to approve.
Yeah, they had to approve me first, too. Um, and they asked me to paint Nati and the great Leonopter. Um, so a character and a creature. And, uh, I suppose since I made the machine, I passed. So, that's great. Um, so references were really important. I had to make sure that, uh, Nati was very on model. And the same for the um Leonoptric although um with a touch of you know my style. Um so I you know was looking up the characters and the movie itself also to see how these how they behaved. Um we also uh we did reuse the the Leo art in a couple places on the machine.
It's it's definitely on the back panel.
Yes.
Somewhere else on one of the models I think.
Yeah. I think it's on the back glass of one of them too. I uh Yeah.
Did they give you the poses or did you come up with those yourself?
Oh, I came up with those. That's that's part of it. [laughter]
Thanks. Um Yeah. So, the uh there was some feedback, too. I didn't just submit and then go blind. They, you know, they were they worked with me to help me, you know, get exactly what they wanted, which was great. Um, and some of the goals we had in mind, uh, with this art style, um, at least what Mark came to me with was kind of a a comic cover uh, look to these cuz the avatar um, Avatar has comics and they, you know, so that's within the wheelhouse to refer to. Um, but with a little more of a realistic rendering rendering styles and not to the staggering advances the Avatar movies make in CGI. So, um, at least that part was in my head. [laughter]
Yeah. Um, uh, next slide. So, Mark provided the whitewood. On the left is on the far left is the whitewood that he gave me with the ramps and everything um, on there. And the middle is the template that JG uh, that JP uh, John Paul
made for me. And on the right is how uh, it kind of looked as I was working inside the uh, template, which I think is, you know, really cool. Um, and the whitewood is, you know, really important to have because it creates kind of the base for the art layout on the playfield. And, um, for cabinet art, it's a bit different, but the layout is also important, but it's not as important as the playfield. Um, to, you know, because it's one big illustration on the on the cabinet art. Um, but, uh, yeah, I'm not sure if that whitewood is the absolute final. It's It's very close.
I think there were a few tweaks.
There were definitely some tweaks. I can see an insert that changed shapes, a couple inserts shapes and stuff like that.
Um, actually, fun fact, if you go into the service menu and bring up the playfield picture, it's still like a con, like a very early version of the artwork. We should probably go in and put that into the final [laughter] version.
Probably.
It still has the yellow at the bottom.
Oh my god. Oh, right. Yeah. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Um so yeah um some changes were made along the way but after this point they were pretty minimal which is important. Um it is even though the template doesn't have the parts it is important for me to see like the ramps and how those things overlap so that I know what will and won't be seen and that's incredibly helpful. Um for the template um after this was after the wakewood was nailed down JPBNB that template as I mentioned um provided some guides and outlines that helped me understand the boundaries and he also taught me some rules like what I can and cannot overlap um in terms of like buttons and and lights etc. Um yeah uh in terms of technical art speak uh masks and layers in Photoshop let me paint and draw without overlapping any important areas which is why it looks so clean on the right there. It's an absolute mess underneath. Um [laughter]
photos or other angles of the of the actual thing to reference while you were also doing this or was it just what you had?
It was it all just a direct overhead? It was just a chopped down. Yeah, that was actually something that um we had to uh that they brought to my attention is that I I needed to for the plastics specifically, I had to offset these things a bit so that when they're seen at the proper angle, yeah, they look seamless or as seamless as as possible. [laughter] Um so, uh next slide. Um, so this is some sketches of the playfield. I decided to focus on the playfield because um I feel like it's uh there are so many details in it.
But um so before we before I even sketched, we uh discussed the initial vision for the playfield, which was, you know, spearheaded by Mark. He had a very clear idea of what he wanted. And um in a way this pinball machine was intended as a love letter to the world of Pandora more than um the story itself. And so the environments became a very strong focus. Um and we stuck to Mark's initial idea of separating the playfield into I think five main sections
I think. So yeah [clears throat] was water um forest air RDA and um
it's just the characters. Yeah. Just the characters highlighting all the characters. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, um at the bottom it primar prominently features the main characters um since that's the place that's like closest to the player and you guys. So, [laughter] um, and fitting the cast in there, um, and you know, choosing was most important because it's a pretty broad, uh, cast was, um, a little difficult, you know, picking and choosing. Um, and part of that was solved by by putting, uh, characters on the plastics
on either side.
Um,
I liked how you chose to do that. Um, characters with conflict.
Yes. Yeah, that was [laughter]
Yeah, that's how they got paired up.
Mhm. Yeah. Is the two brothers who have conflict and then um Cororage and Spider.
Yep.
Which I'm very happy with how Spider came out. You'll see [laughter] if you see the game. Um yeah. So these spaces were um you know each had important elements. So the middle left that was dedicated to the RDA, they were like the villains of Avatar. So, you know, Korage has become kind of the main villain in these movies. Um, they als uh Lighttorm also really liked uh or really wanted us to feature vehicles. Um, because the the vehicle design is a really cool aspect of the movies. Um, and you know, things like the RDA base and like really focusing on fire, destruction, and violence, the kinds of things that are at odds with the rest of Pandora. Um, and then the middle right was underwater, which uh was to, you know, kind of match the concept of the lower playfields, which is where those are located. Um, and uh, also to tie into the second Avatar movie specifically since everything's all about water. Um, and then upper right is the sky region. Um, so like Hollow Mountains, the floating rocks, and the banshees that they tame in the first movie. Um, and I think Mark really wanted it to feel like you're flying.
Yeah. So, like the entire layout is sort of like the story of the movies where they went. Um, like the shooter lane is like the shuttle craft flying into the planet
and then um you go past that um and you go through the rainforest through the sky where you get your banshee and then it comes by back through the uh the the water area back to your flipper on a full plunge. So, it's sort of like telling the story of the movies on a full plunge.
Yeah. Yeah. It's really great. Um, and a lot of those uh areas like how they were implemented was uh
I feel like it gave me a lot of freedom there to just do what I thought uh fit best. Um, so a lot of it comes from my imagination and some of ideas I'm most proud with are the the launch. That was my idea was to have the uh the pinball um
the launch be the uh shuttle going to Pandora. Um, and another one was, uh, oh, the, uh, climbing the rocks up the right ramp, uh, right upper ramp to like
go up to the sky
with all the tiny Na'vi in it.
Yes, all the There are a bunch of tiny little Na'vi in there.
Yeah, you have to take a close look.
Yeah, they're all climbing the rocks. Um, yeah, and you know, some things didn't make it into the final, like, uh, for instance, there were anemmones at the bottom, which you could kind of see in the sketch there. Yeah. Um,
look look in the service manual. Bring up the the play phone. [laughter]
Yeah, that's where the yellow comes in
before they update it.
Yeah. Right. Um, and that ended up not making into the final, but I liked the idea because I thought of um in the second movie that's kind of like where they lay their [laughter]
deceased. Yeah.
Yeah. And so your ball is falling to rest
to its death. [laughter]
So that Yeah. I I Yeah, I like that idea.
Um,
unfortunately they didn't.
Yeah, I know. [laughter] I don't think they wanted any sort of
No death really.
Yeah,
they Oh, they didn't Yeah, they didn't even want to like uh discuss the older brother really, did they? They were like, "Nope, didn't happen."
Um,
spoilers. [laughter]
It's been out for a while. You've had time.
Um, yeah. So, um, oh, and also at the bottom of that, the apron, that didn't that's not the design, which honestly I'm really glad that that wasn't the design because I'm pretty sure painting every single one of those na down there would have like incrementally siphoned the light.
So, that's that's a picture [laughter] that's a picture from the first movie where they're all praying to the tree, the whole tribe.
Yeah. Which is
it would have been cool, but a lot of work.
Very climax, right?
Yeah. I mean, just sketching that I was just like, "This is a bad idea. Leah, don't pitch this. [laughter] Why are you drawing this? This is such a bad idea." And um thanks.
Fortunately, Lighttorm also thought it was a bad idea. [laughter]
Thank you. Um [gasps] um Okay, so next slide. [laughter] So we go So from here we go into the color roughs. Um, and this is just like uh, you know, meant to be a rough base, you know, to make sure that the um, that the color choices are kind of in line with expectation before I take it like to any sort of polish.
You can see the yellow there on the bottom.
Yeah, you can see the yellow there. [laughter]
Yeah. And those anemone ended up like kind of uh, just
the tree moved down and
Yeah, it did move down and then we were like, let's just move them. Um, and um, yeah, so pinball is, you know, it's known for really bright and vivid colors. Um, and that was something I had to kind of adjust to. I'm I am used to using a lot of color in my work, um, both personally and professionally. So, I really didn't mind that. I, you know, I love I love color. Um, but I was asked to bump up the saturation a few times, [laughter] make things brighter. Um, and color is really important in Pandora. Like a lot of blues, a lot of, you know, that that really um
the green rainforest.
Yeah, the green rainfor that was also a factor. Um, and you know, very exaggerated nature colors and like the bright um the bright neon kind of colors in the in the rain for in the forest at night, you know, in the first movie. Uh, it's very, you know, is a beautiful movie to pull from. I'm honestly like so happy I got to um do this cuz it's gorgeous. Um, next slide. Um, so then we moved on to final and that's when I get to paint and that's really fun. Um, and it's the it's probably the most timeconsuming task, but um, you know, I do enjoy it. It's something I like to do. Um, for the artists out there, I like to use a variety of brushes for texture and flavor and adjustment. Layers were my friend. Um, [laughter] it is best to work with characters and objects layered for like easy maneuverability. So, like keeping an a character or a a plant or environment just completely separated so things can be moved around and nudged if needed. So, that's that's pretty important. Um, next slide. Um, so I I put in some like more detail kind of shots uh of the play field. Um, and the challenges I faced here and you know the rendering of these characters was um it mostly revolved around staying on model and like matching the likenesses of these characters which is a pretty tight rope to walk when you're working in a cell that isn't like perfect realism. Um, so I'm not taking a photo of them and then just like rendering it out a bit. and drawing them by hand and um you know trying to capture their likenesses manually. Um thankfully there wasn't too much push back. It did not like I didn't need to go back and and try and draw them like 20 times or anything which I'm grateful for. Um I think we were uncertain about the licensing for Spider. Yeah, they they had insisted that Spider be in the game, so we were putting him in,
but it took a uh we had a this uh actor strike for a long time during the development, so that put off any human likenesses for a while, which is why you see very Spider's the only one on the play field, actually.
Yeah. Um that's why we decided to play it safe and and only use the um Na'vi version of Kor. That's why you don't see his human form on there. Um because you know it we can't
we weren't allowed to talk to them at that point. So
yeah.
Yeah.
Um but we we put Spider in there, you know, as is and and our solution was going to be if we couldn't use his face, we were just going to black out that mask that [laughter]
put his mask on.
Yeah. Like basically just make it a shield so you don't see his actual face and you understand that it's a character still. So that was going to be our uh uh our pinch solution, I guess. Um, [clears throat] yeah. So, um, as I mentioned, all the art was drawn and painted by hand, so there's no AI used in this. Um, I can talk about that, but this might not be the time or place. I don't know. Uh, [laughter] [gasps] um, and yeah, uh, next slide. Um, so this is the upper area. Um, you can kind of start seeing a little bit of the Na'vi in that bottom right corner climbing that. That was another area that I was proud of was the um that bridge across those lights. That was actually one of the first ideas I had when seeing the the Whitewood um was that scene of Jake chasing Nitari through the um through the bioluminescent jungle at night. Um it's very iconic moment I think in the movie.
Um yeah, I had to redraw her pose like I think three times. Oh yeah,
it it wasn't um
no enough.
Yeah, they had
they have
very specific things for certain characters that they wanted to do and like at first it was like she she looked too much like a ballerina I think was the feedback.
I can't
something like that.
I don't know. I think they were saying she was wearing too much like a human was the first one.
Oh, was that it? Yeah.
Yeah. And then and then I was like oh
okay. Yeah.
And so I had to like watch the the movie again [laughter] and figure figure out what what
the stride wasn't Na'vi enough.
Yeah. It wasn't na'vi enough. And then like I I I tried another thing and then they they said Jake was running too much like a human. I'm like but he is a human [laughter]
kind of.
They did they did go back dial back on that because like he he that was like the first time in his avatar body in this
Mhm.
in this scene. So
win for me. Um [laughter]
take that wisely.
Yeah, take that. Um yeah. Um so things like vehicles too, they they required like a lot of uh tight precision. Um and th so those uh I did have to reference those like very closely. Um and I did occasionally use photos as a base because why why kill myself? [laughter] Um, so yeah, I did manip I did manipulate the photos though. Um, some more organic items though like these uh like the forests and the plants and stuff are a little more forgiving um because those you know organic life forms come in all shapes and sizes. So there can be variations there. whereas a machine is manufactured in a specific way with a specific look and it it pretty much can't change unless it's like beaten up or something. Um, next slide. Um, this is probably one of my favorite sections of the playfield. I I really I had fun painting the whale and I love the coral reef. It's just all the colors and um yeah, I was happy with how this area turned out specifically.
I really liked your idea of having the wave go over
the play upper play lower play field
transition.
Yeah,
thank you.
Um is these [laughter] things just kind of come to me. Um I'm not like sitting in a corn Yeah, I'm not sitting in a dark corner like like Yeah, I'm just kind of like, oh, that'd be fun. And then I draw it. Um, so yeah, we went through a few feedback rounds, but overall the, you know, with Flight Storm, but overall that feedback wasn't too extensive or like difficult to manage, which was great. Um, I did have to make some additional assets at the end, like the um the Ellie Topper.
Y
um that came back and uh we did add the tree of voices plus
Yeah. on top of the ramp, which wasn't there.
That wasn't there in the original um or in the version I had.
Yeah. And uh yeah, so thank you um very much. [laughter] [gasps] Um yeah. Um
I have a I have a question for you.
Uh so famous pinball art director Greg Ferrer says the the thing that's really the hangup for the first time artist in in pinball is is the playfield. And we saw it in that middle of the playfield where you've
you're trying to make a shape that's like so tiny and you know it's you
probably have had a lot of uh upbringing and training and past assignments where you have a big rectangular space and you compose it. Now here you're you're like being given the leftover shape after he put all his windows and
Yeah. Yeah. mechs and stuff [laughter] and and Greg Freres would always say that's where first time artists really lose it is they they just either they hate it or they can't do it right or
but it seems like
you said oh okay I'll do that
yeah uh I mean my
Mark do you agree that she was an easy
exciting job yeah was able to do exactly what we asked [laughter]
yeah um I mean my background in video games probably definitely helped with that I've done a lot of um user interface art. So that requires like um working inside a predetermined box a lot. So um I I guess I have I am like mentally trained to um understand, you know, or like visualize how things can like wrap around important elements. So you both see what you want to see but not interfere with um with those UI elements that are important to the player.
So Mark, you going to be telling us a story here?
Yeah, I have a um a slide deck showing the um non-art side of the development. Um so um going from Whitewood one all the way through to um the uh the final version. So uh next slide. So here's Whitewood one. Um it's uh pretty rough. There's not much on it. Um where you got the uh most of this has changed. Although um those windows never changed. I kept them the same size and shape the entire time. Um, I
thought you made one a little bigger.
Uh, no. I think that the shape itself might have stayed the same. Oh, you know what we did? It was the trap lines had to get a little bigger because it was too close. Yeah. Yeah.
But the shapes themselves didn't change at all.
Um, next slide.
So, yeah, then uh with from that whitewood, we started building it up. Um, and uh yeah, there's so many differences here. You can you may or may not be able to see there's um the left ramp is a lot shorter than the final version was. Uh the the loop back ramp is really skinny. Um, and the uh the left loop shot. Um, I think this might have the ramp in it in this version, but um, I was trying to do that playfield level, but every time that you tried to do that loop, it would just like clunk on something and fall into the ball lock, which was not what I wanted it to do. So, we ended up turning that into a ramp that like drops down on the playfield right into the orbit. um that um the on the right that 3D printed um plastic ramp that actually didn't change too much. Um the the we uh a little bit of the trim uh and the cut changed, but the shape um I used that yellow um pretty print through a couple versions of the white wood. Um and uh we were using translucent flippers at the time, which um turns out they break a lot. Uh, I think I broke all of them in the lab before I was like, "Okay, I'm done. Let's get some real blue flippers." Um Um, and it looks like I was still using the um the fat targets for the um the kids before I thought like, "Hey, what if we used tall skinny ones like the kids so they look like the kids?"
Um,
so funny because I remember listening to you hemming and hawing about all of this like [laughter] when we were first starting.
Yeah. So, she's she's been through the entire development cycle basically. [laughter] Um, I think about this point is where we were looking for an artist. Uh, and we brought Leah on board. Um, this this version of the playfield didn't have any lower playfields ever. Um, I knew I wanted them and I kind of just knew they were be about this size, but um, I hadn't really um, put them together yet. Um, next slide, please. Um, and all of this was developed in a um, a damaged Willy Wonka CE cab. Um, so if that was your game, uh, I'm sorry. It literally fell off a truck. Um, but, uh, we put it to good use when we replaced it for you. [clears throat] Um, next slide, please. Uh, the whole time we're also putting this stuff into CAD and, uh, Leah had a bigger version of this on her deck. Uh, this may be a slightly earlier version. Um, there's all sorts of like this is a different version of the loop back ramp, but not quite the one. uh ended up being the final. Um and now the lower playfields are being designed. Um uh some inserts got rearranged at some point uh or changed their shape at least. Um but yeah, so once all this is ready as like all right, we're going to build Whitewood 2 and Whitewood 2 is going to be an attempt to be this might be like what we're thinking of. Um so uh next slide. Um some random development stuff coming up at this point. Um the on the left um that is the first um testing out the infinity lock and that's just a like a 8 by8 block of wood that we cut out with an insert in it and some lights that I taped to the top running off of an Arduino like uh pulsing light. See how it would work. Um, at this time I've ordered like 10 different sizes of ball bearings to figure out what size would be best for the lower play field. Um, and that's actually the size we went to with. It's like a 3/4 uh inch ball instead of a 1 and 1/16th, which is the standard size. And we were also if um experimenting with uh what kind of u uh silicone or rubber rings we were going to put into it. Uh, at first I was thinking, um, we just get the glow-in-the-dark ones, um, that different manufacturers make. Um, and we ended up contacting Pinball Life and I talked to Scott Danesi and he's like, "Oh, no, no, that's not what you want." I I can get you what you want.
Yeah. [laughter] Yeah. Um, so he actually developed the formula for the for the UV reactive rings for us. Um, and uh, if you need replacements, they are available on Pimbo Life. Um, and that was the first one he sent us, and it just like lights up like like this. This is perfect. Um, next slide, please. So, now we're ready for Whitewood 2. U, it's all that stuff in CAD. Whitewood 2 has inserts. Whitewood one did not have any inserts. Um, so I'm building it up. Oh, I guess I hadn't quote quite broke all the uh, translucent uh, flippers. Um, I I wanted really I really wanted them not to break because the idea I want them translucent because I wanted to put inserts under them because make it bioluminescent flippers. Um, fortunately the flipper r uh plastic we ended up using just glows under black light so it doesn't matter. Um, next slide please. And here we're building up a bit more. Um, I built most of like these ramps and stuff myself. Uh we have a laser cutter at work which we can just go out and cut something and have it done by the end of the day. Uh as long as you bend it correctly. Um we're we're I'm experimenting with the uh the left ramp because it wasn't dropping well onto the upper left flipper. It would just like roll out go straight down the middle. Um so I'm like all right use give it I don't really want to make more wire forms all the time. So let's start 3D printing a troth to like figure out where it should drop. Um, so on the left you can see that on the right it's it's pretty close to the final version. I think that uh wire form above it we just sort of saw it off and like uh spot welded on some extensions to make it go drop in the right spot uh in the new spot. Um even after all that it did not quite work correctly. So we ended up putting in that uh one white gate which uh helps feed the flipper a bit more. Um, you can also see on the right the TCU uh sculpt. That was the original idea for over there. Um, which uh I liked, but uh it it we thought it would be way too fragile. Um there's too many small um fins and like uh sort of like tendrils coming off of it that we would have been required to put on the model. Um, and they were I could just see them breaking off. Um, so we ended up um, switching to the Elu um, from McFarland Toys. Um, the, uh, that that model for the Tun is actually a full movie 3D model. Um, it was multiple gigabytes in size. Um, they gave us whatever we asked for pretty much. Um, so if we needed some 3D model from the movie for either our screen stuff or something on the playfield, they were like, "Here you go." And then we were like, "Uh, can we have a lower res poly version of this because we can't load it in our machines here?" And they gave us that, too. Um, uh, next slide. Oh, yeah. Close-up version of the uh the tune in the lower playfield. Um, that's actually an earlier version of the lower playfield. um no crab and um it has three large targets on it. Um I end up switching the rightmost target to a smaller target because I had to open up the right orbit because you couldn't hit it at all. Um but once I did that and opened up a bit, it felt pretty good. Um I also was uh wanted to experiment with a different angle for a lower playfield cuz most lower playfields are just in line like normal playfields. though it feels like you're just playing another playfield. I wanted to turn it a little bit to see if that really felt like gave you like a floaty underwater feeling that along with the the tiny ball which is supposed to represent you're deeper in the water and the lighterness where you're floating around. Um so um next slide please.
Yeah. And here's the here's the final version with the crab 3D print of it. Uh no art yet. Um but um that's pretty much what it ended up being. Um I think we we thickened up the um the back plastic because that was an easy way to prevent a ball from getting wedged in there. Um next Oh yeah. Um yeah, one one other thing about this. Um so you can see the tabs on the side. Um those are the four nuts you have to remove to take this out. Um and there's a few plugs. It's pretty easy. I can do it really quickly.
Um it's it's not hard at all. Um and that's something that I was thinking about while building it is like how can I maintain this? Uh all right, ramps. So um sometimes you don't get things right the first time. Sometimes you don't get things right the third or fourth or fifth or sixth or [laughter] seventh or eighth or ninth. But the 10th time it's perfect. [laughter] So this is the loop back ramp I was talking about earlier. And my original intent on the design was like every almost every shot in the game would feed a different flipper. So the idea of this ramp was like you are okay you can only hit it from the upper left flipper u and then it would feed the lower left flipper. Um once people started play testing it there like they were hitting it like sort of off from the lower the main left flipper and it would go halfway up and roll down and they're like that's that's terrible. You this is not fun. You need to fix it. So I was like and like then another person told me that and then by the time like the third and the fourth person told me it's like all right I'm already working on it guys. Like it's I know it's I know it's I know it's not good. So, um, pretty much every day I would come in and be like, "All right, how can I make this better?" Um, so at first it was just sort of widening it a bit. Um, and that wasn't really helping. Um, and then somebody suggested that like some games for the hit from multiple flippers, you sort of like bend out the side a bit to help guide it in. Um, like uh Avengers Infinity Quest does that on one of their ramps. Um, so I was trying that. I tried kept widening it trying to change the like the angle and stuff like that and finally I'm just staring at it and like I like when I hit it it's like every time I make this bend out more I'm making it more flat on to the flipper shot. I should just stop doing this. I am so wrong. And I just went back to the same width that I was at the thick the wide width and uh just like I'm going to make these walls straight. And as soon as I did that, not only could you hit it from the upper left flipper and the regular left flipper, you could somehow hit it from the right flipper. And I have no idea how that happened. I just said, "Done. We're good." Um, [laughter] ship it. Yeah. Um,
yeah. And I still have those 10 ramps to remind me that sometimes you have to try that many times. [laughter]
I remember in a meeting you just like holding up all of those like all of those
[laughter]
Put your mouth close to a board on your office.
Yeah, I got to do something like that.
You should like Yeah, I was going to say shadow box frame. Yeah.
Yeah. I mean, there's a picture of the final version. Actually, is that No, I think that's one of the the fat runs. Um [laughter]
but um yeah, eventually that worked great and like it felt good from every flipper and like you can now loop it from the left lower the main left flipper over and over. Uh yeah, that's the final version. Actually, that's the second to final version. I realized I didn't need that little visor on top. Um, it would just go onto the rail. Um, all right. Next slide. All right. Yes. So, there are a lot of revisions. Um, that's that's [clears throat] just some of the many parts.
Oh my god.
That I had to scrap [laughter] um over and over. I can see like scrap brackets. I can see like wire forms and plastics. And
it's all in a box for the homerew people, right?
Oh, [laughter] I really wanted to and then I needed office space and like I was like cuz now I'm on to the next one. I'm like now I need to make another pile of this crap. Like where am I going to put it? [laughter]
You just melt it down into a big plaque dedicated hard work.
No, we we have we have we send them off to the metal scrapard. They get recycled and um yeah, so iteration. So if you're building uh your own game, remember you're going to have to do things many times. Uh next slide, please. Um at this point, we're we're getting some programming. Um and uh we got um the rain the the Jersey Jack rainbow light pattern, which did not actually end up in the final game. We don't act we um I think this is only one of two Jersey Jack games that don't use the rainbow. Uh the other one being The Hobbit. um it just didn't I mean Pandora's really colorful but it didn't seem right for the game. Um so instead we came up with this really cool water uh effect for it and um some sort of spiraling patterns and things like that. But there's some other differences here. Um uh let's see. You can um on the right you can see I we finally moved over the eloo. You can see where the ampsuit is on the right side. Um that's a really blocky version that we called the cheese man. Um um and it was just to like bize and so we could build the mech uh before we had the uh the sculpt done. Um so all the experiments of like how we can make him stab um and uh and uh like uh reliably over and over. [laughter] Um we got like three printed rock uh floating mountains. Uh we are also experimenting with powder coded rails. If you can see in the back the upkicker um I'll get to that in a minute. Uh why that did not happen. Um let's see. Um see my notes. Um oh yeah this this one finally has chromeed wire form. So we had samples. So it's starting to look like a pinball game here. And all this is very close to what we ended up with. Um, uh, next slide, please. Uh, so the one on the left is, um, our first printed playfield, and the art wasn't ready yet, so we used the concept art, uh, that Leah had. Um, and this this this working game still exists somewhere in Jersey Jack. I don't know where it is, but last I knew it was still intact. Um uh that also has the first um test screen print of the UV inks on it. Um which was just some that and that's why we got this printed so we could see can we do this um and um it was it isn't even the final art. It's um the Jake and Naterio have war paint on when um they uh with the UV ink on this um uh it uses a yellow ink and which we didn't end up going with. Um but um and this this was Whitewood 3, the blue one. Um so we were pretty pretty pretty close to um final on the layout. Um, and on the right is one of the first test prints of Leah's art. Um, no plastics of course.
Mhm.
Um, but um it's other than the the the color levels and stuff like that. Um that's pretty much close to the final art.
Um I think we had Oh, this was before we had to change up the insert stuff. Um,
yeah.
So, the thing about um Pandora is um there's no like uh like what we would consider like man-made shapes and things like that. So, we had a lot of inserts that were just sort of, you know, pinball inserts. They're rectangles. Um and they were looking at it like this isn't really this isn't Pandora. Um you have to lose something about the shapes of these inserts. Um, and at first I thought, do I have to make uh my own insert shapes now? Uh, but it turns out they just really wanted them masked off a bit more. Um, they just didn't want the the squares and the rectangles and the the pill shapes and the the uh diamonds and stuff like that and the the arrows. Um uh the um so uh this is before we actually went in um uh in the inlanes uh the final version the um the inserts are actually covered up and there's an arrow for each insert. On this one there's an arrow just through everything and the inserts are like opened up. U fortunately like you can see through you don't mask it off too much. you can still see through those inserts and um I think it actually looks way cooler with the the more masked off inserts. It looks more organic and natural and stuff like that. So that was something they were definitely right on but we didn't think of. Uh next pan okay so powder coated ramps or wire forms.
Um so that is actually a u UV reactive powder coat. Um, so and um the only color that looked that wasn't like neon was blue. Uh, sort of a baby blue. Um, they worked awesome. Uh, UV reactive. Um, when we just did the powder coat on them. Um, but then when we were playing it, it was chipping off really fast.
Um, so all right, we we got to put a a clear coat on it uh to make it durable. Uh, as soon as we put the clear coat on it, no UV. It blocked all the UV.
Yeah. So, um, we had to make the decision to not do this because, um, why are we why are we trying to make a UV wire form if it's not going to actually glow? Um, and then I was looking at I was like, you know what, the chrome looks really good. Like
better without this.
Yeah. Yeah, the chrome looks really good. So, you know what? It was a cool idea, but you know what? It's it's not going to work. We gota we got to move on. Um, another thing you can see is we now have um artwork around the the playfield windows. Um, and that was to um sort of blend it all in with the uh the rest of the artwork and hide the wood that uh is the wood ring that's under there. Uh, which didn't look didn't look great.
Uh, yeah. Next slide, please. Did JP make those?
Yeah, he did the he did the water rings. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Cool.
Uh topper development. Um so, uh this was our first sort of like uh mockup of the topper.
Um originally the topper, this is the collector's edition topper. Um originally the topper was going to be uh the main focus was going to be the u gas giant that Pandora uh orbits around. Pandora is actually a moon, not a planet. Um, and we're going to have a rotating orb of Pandora on off to the side. And the the idea of the uh the cockpit was always there. Uh, using the um uh the uh Pepper's ghost effect. Um, and also the full full width screen. Um, so we weren't uh just uh squeezing it into the middle uh for this. Um, so we just mocked it up and like stepped back and looked at it and we had a screen there so we could reflect and stuff and uh see how it looks. Um, but um, nobody could remember the name of the planet so we started calling it Blooper, [laughter]
which is why it's labeled Blooper up there.
Yes. [laughter]
Yep. I'm going to go edit the wiki page.
Oh, yep. I knew it.
Yeah, you did it.
I did it. [clears throat] All right. So, uh, yeah, next slide there. And that's, uh, Eric looking really thrilled to be testing our, um, it's actually teleprompter glass, uh, for reflecting that. Um, so that was, we threw a screen up there. It was, it was a laptop screen or something. Uh, and, uh, Eric went volunte, uh, [laughter] look thrilled about it. Yeah. But it looked really good. So, yep. Success. Uh next next slide, please. Uh here's one of the earlier mockups with uh with Bloopeter and the planet. Um uh and uh the planet never never we never got to the point with the planet spinning. Uh but it was supposed to spin around. Um but um uh Lighttorm has only ever developed one side of Pandora. So, we asked them if they had like a global map or something like that, and they're like, "Actually, we don't." Uh,
we don't know what the other side of the plan looks [laughter] like.
So, uh, in their assets, they had like the the the um their from space image, uh, of Pandora they used in the movie. Um, but yeah, it only did one side. So JP actually duplicated both sides because they didn't want us inventing what the other side of the planet looked like. and sort of like blending it together so it would um work out. So we do have like a wraparound texture for all of doubled up half of Yeah. Pandora. Um but um
maybe it is the same on both sides.
It could be
no symmetry on Pandora.
Symmetrica.
Yeah. Uh yeah. All right. So, this one is uh an early version of the um the the the UI for the shuttlecraft. Um and at this point, um Lightstorm insisted we would have like the the wood the windshield. Um well, not it's not a windshield, no wind space. Um but um sort of like the panels in front. Um so we added that um and yeah all all the UI elements they gave us gigabytes of assets from the movies to um do and so we can make it authentic. Um so uh and they also allowed us to um there's uh on their they have a website which has uh the Pandoraedia on it which is like uh information about all the creatures, all the plants, all the vehicles and stuff like that for um that they've come up with so far.
Yeah, I had that bookmarked. [laughter] Um, so we were also able to harvest all that information and so in attract mode it'll pop up a window and like point at where on Pandora this could be um and uh give you some information about it. Um, so you can do that. Um, it's actually stuff from the the Avatar video game in there. Um, too.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think some of the plants I referenced were Yeah. Like all the plants, everything in this game except for like maybe a few minor filler things are like pulled directly from the world. Like they all exist in Pandora. So I'm just like collaging all of these plants and stuff. [laughter]
So that gives you a bunch of information, but um here's here's where we started going in a different direction. We were starting to think that um you know the the star of the show is Pandora. It's not the planet. And also that that u that globe that we're developing doesn't really fit there at the scope the scale that we want. Um it's rubbing against the back wall. It's rubbing against the windshield. Uh so like we were like why are we doing this? Just make this about Pandora. We um it doesn't have to be the um the gas giant planet. So at that that that's basically this version is where we decide. You know this we're not quite on the right track. Uh next slide please.
Yeah. [laughter]
So um I don't really like custom shooter rods. Um because they feel weird. Um I wanted to have something that felt good and I wasn't coming up with anything. So actually uh Aaron, my wife suggested an arrow head. Yeah. Yeah. [cheering] Um,
and that's something that you just feels good to peel back and like let go. Um, so this is our first uh 3D print and test of the uh of the CE shooter rod. Uh, next slide, please. And here's one of our early first paint jobs on it. Um, it it got some revisions, but um um that's the only one I had a picture of. Uh, next slide, please. Um, and we decided to, um, also go with a couple McFarland toys on the playfield, the Banshee, um, which, uh, I first suggested just getting one type of Banshee. Um, just buy buy them in bulk from them. And then I proposed that to Lightstorm and they're like, "No, no, no. That that's not what you're going to do." Um, when a Na'vi gets their Banshee, the Banshee picks them. So, you're going to buy a whole bunch of them. And whatever game you get, that's your Banshee.
I didn't know that was their idea.
That's great.
And I was like, well, you're right. We're [laughter] going to do that. That I did not think of that. Um,
can't you slot it out, too? Like, if you want a different one,
if you do want another one there, they are McFarland Banshee toys. Um,
you can choose your own Banshee. I'm I'm not supposed to promote modding your game, [laughter] but um there they are off the shelf and they're pretty easy to retrofit into it. Um you can also see an earlier version of the um uh the floating mountain sculpts. Uh there's no waterfall, there's no detail on the plants and stuff like that. Um and that's something that um we ended up putting in later to make it look cooler. Uh but it is you can see the test I was trying to do. I was trying to make it so the back mountain looked like you couldn't see the the wires holding it up. Uh, and you can kind of see it, but uh, they are pretty well hidden over there. Uh, next slide, please. Yeah. And here's uh, here's an actually an earlier version of the paint. This is not the final. Um, they u it doesn't have like the vegetation on the rocks. They thought the rocks didn't really have the right texture for their um uh for their floating islands. Um and something they pointed out that I didn't realize um the m the waterfalls coming off of those mountains, they didn't they never come from the top. They come from the middle.
So we ended up moving that waterfall into the middle. Um yeah, and that's another test of like can you see the wire um from the the angle the player's going to be seeing? Uh, you can see it a little bit for the back one.
I just had an idea and I'm not gonna say it because it would [laughter] have been cool.
Next time,
Mark about 10 minutes.
Okay. Um, so there's an early um amp suit when we finally got it. Uh, we couldn't use the McFarland toy. It was a little too fragile. Uh, it was the right size, but um, yeah, it couldn't hold up. So, we had to do our own. And you can also see some more of the concept art here. Uh, an earlier version. Uh, next slide. Yeah. And that's an early paint job uh without a lot of the details. Um we called him Captain We called him Captain Stabby during the development process. [laughter]
Oh, isn't he just going to look?
Yeah. [laughter] Um so each ampsuit has like a a number on it. Um if we were it was actually Quic's amp suit, it would be number one, but we put number 10 on it because it's the 10th Jersey Jack game.
Nice.
So a little Easter egg there. Uh next slide. Um there's some uh early art and uh the yellow buttons on the collector's edition are not standard yellow. Uh we actually picked a color to go with the artwork and that would match both sides. It's more of an amber color.
Um not that the the standard yellow looks bad on it. We just um we're like we're making our own buttons so um why don't we just do the color we want?
Um so that's a little attention to detail we did. Uh, it's in a Godfather cabinet, too. Uh, with like Guns and Roses legs. [clears throat]
Anyways,
I like that art deco on the [laughter]
Yeah.
Uh, there's an early version of the ramp molds done in wood. Actually, not ramps, they're subways. Uh, which I got to go out to the the manufacturer and see how this is done, which is really cool.
Uh, next slide. Uh, early early placeholder graphics.
[cheering]
So, yeah. [laughter] So, that that was that was before we had like the crab animations. That was that guy hanging out in the corner. [laughter]
Yep.
I was like, "Yeah, I I missed that googly eye crab."
[clears throat]
Um, so, uh, next, oh, here's a here's a picture of, uh, filming the, um, uh, the 20 minutes, uh, behind the scenes, uh, uh, making of, whatever we call it. It wasn't really making of, it was, uh, just talking about the game in depth. Um, and, uh, it was done in one of those, um, video wall rooms. uh like uh so they can do like uh all all the all the walls and the ceiling. So you can see they're actually using the ceiling as like lighting for the for the set. Um I didn't take many pictures of this um uh because I was pretty busy filming stuff and I was just so excited about it. Um, but that's actually Grant Henry uh aka Stemage who did the audio uh for this and did awesome awesome job on it. And fun fact, he also did the music for my Metroid game and guided me through how to do all the sound effects and his wife did the call outs for it.
Nice.
So I got to work with him twice. Um, next slide. And that's all the not even all of the collector's editions signatures that had to go through.
How's your rest?
It's it's fine now. [laughter] Uh next slide. And then manufacturing starts. Um so Ellies are first these here. Um so that's the cabinet line and the playfield line. Um you can see one of the protective mats they use um on the playfield so I don't scratch it. Uh that's another thing that I didn't realize that I have to make uh as part of the design process is um what's the pattern for that. Uh next slide. Here's some sub assemblies. That's sort of like the jump horn ramp that uh goes around back to the right flipper. Um the elus are already put on it when they put it in. We try to put as much stuff on a sub assembly so it's easier to assemble later. Uh make them in small bits and then put the small bits together. Uh, next slide. Uh, so there's one on the left is one of the getting to the end of the line. Um, we're still figuring out when do we put the playfield windows on? Do we put them on now? Do them on later. Uh, at this point we're putting them on till final tests, but eventually we realized um the material we use is pretty scratch resistant. So they're fine to put on earlier in the process. Uh, and the box on the right, that is the first game in a box. Uh
so that was a long time coming.
Uh
where'd it go?
Uh it went to um uh either Brett or Leonard. [laughter] So the owners of two two of the owners of Jersey Jack uh get the first off the line. Uh next slide. Uh then we had our media day. So we had people come through and tour the factory. Um so this just a picture of everybody was there. Uh next slide. And we also set these up so they could play them for the f uh some of the first people to play it. Um, next slide. And then this is the first one on location at Entarium. Um, I had trouble getting a picture of it by itself because everybody kept playing it. So, um, next slide. And this is one of the early first tournaments it's in uh with some guy who was really good at pinball. I don't know. [laughter]
Mustache.
I call that the sharpshooters.
Yeah. Yeah, it is. Yeah. Yeah. [laughter]
Um and uh next slide. Oh, that was it.
OKAY. [applause] We can take a couple questions, but remember there's a JJP uh seminar with food 6:30
pizza
food pizza and desserts this year in honor of our 10th anniversary. Okay, Ryan, you have a question.
Be a good kid and wait for the microb.
Okay,
run over there. [laughter]
Just go ahead.
I was told somebody told me you had to lose weight, so I made a run. It was Jillian. Jillian's fault. All Jillian's fault.
So, first of all, I just want to start by saying once again, congratulations to both of you for accomplishing this monumental task. Um, I am so proud of of I met you today, but I'm proud of you, too. I'm so proud of [laughter] Mark for everything he's gone through. I have a question for each of you. Um, let's start with Leia cuz your your first your presentation was fantastic. We don't get to see a lot of people. We don't get to see a lot of in-depth from the artists around here. They kind of just melt into the background and go away. And I'm so glad that you're here and that you're telling us a little bit about about your process.
So, one of the things I found out from Mark during his venting during this process at the our league night is uh the UV inks. Yeah.
So, I want to know how was it working with the UV inks on the playfield for you? How did that like factor into your decision process? And did you have any surprises where something looked awful in UV or better in UV than you expected? But like how much of that was even your problem?
Not much of it was my problem actually. That was JP. I think
JP and Mark Moler did actually did that [laughter] layer.
They they enhanced her work with the with the UV stuff. Yeah.
So, they just showed you something and you're like, "Here, it's better." And you're like, "Oh, it is
right." I was like, "Cool." [laughter] Great.
It was It was The thinking was sort of like Leah's doing a lot of work and uh we don't want to burn her out too much, so why don't we offload this other task to our uh internal artists. Yeah,
I love that.
And so, Mark, I I've made it a tradition of asking a very like sentimental question at all of your seminars. I'm going to skip that just one time. So, now you've finished this entire process. Shut up. I already It's fine. Um I'm already going to cry. Don't make me do it. Um, [laughter] I will. Um, so now that you've been through this entire process and uh you and I have had a couple of like nights where you're like, "Oh, what a rough day." Or, "Oh, this was a great day." I still remember the day he came to me at league and told me, "I got my artist." He was he wanted you so bad on this project and he wasn't sure he was going to get to have you. And he was ear to ear grins all night. Even though I'm pretty sure he got his ass kicked at League.
Oh, yeah. Probably. [laughter] But he was like, "It doesn't matter. I got her. I got my artist." He wouldn't tell me who and that was fine, but like he was so happy to have you. So that was a small victory along the process. So we have battles every day.
We We came from home brerew where we're doing literally everything ourselves and no one is going to tell us no for any reason. And you go into a world where you are now part of a massive team and there are any number of people above your head that can tell you no whenever they want to.
Mhm. However, you found out eventually as the game designer, some of those people you get to overrule, say, "No, I'm the designer. It's my job." So, what was the biggest battle during this process that you won because you knew you were right? I don't care if it's cuz you said so or because it we tried everything and found out that you were right, but what was your best personal victory
during the entire creative process, no matter how big or small,
that you can tell?
What made you the happiest? [laughter] just say careful
the artist right here. We already went over that one. I gave him the easy answer. He got his artist. But what [laughter] else?
Besides that, um being able to keep both lower playfields.
Yeah.
Which one was on the chopping block?
The pop bumper one.
I'm glad you kept it.
I was basically you have this much time to make it fun or else it's gone.
Uh so we made it fun and it's in the game. So
I'm glad you succeeded. So again, congratulations so much to both of you. All right. Well, uh, the real test though,
are you going to do another pinball machine ever?
Yeah, if I have the opportunity.
All right, that's the right answer. [applause]
Okay. Well, I think uh we we're a little time constrained here, but uh you guys are coming back for the 6:30 event and the game is here. We'll be talking about that and the rest of the JJP team that happens to be here in Malber will be all up front here and pizza will be out in the hallway leading over over to this lower door here.
So see you then.
All right. Thank you all for coming.
Thank you so much. [applause]

_(Acquisition: youtube_auto_sub, Enrichment: v4)_

---

*Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: bc49677f-f906-409d-9d0c-55d04523056c*