# New Details on the Upcoming Stern Venom Pinball Machine **Source:** Knapp Arcade **Type:** article **Published:** 2023-07-13 **Beat:** Pinball **URL:** https://www.knapparcade.org/new-details-on-the-upcoming-stern-venom-pinball-machine --- ## Analysis Dwight Sullivan, Stern Pinball's lead coder, revealed new details about the upcoming Venom pinball machine during a Flip N Out with Friends stream, including information about the development team, topper design ambitions, animations, sound, and novel action button mechanics. ### Key Claims - [HIGH] Dwight Sullivan is the lead coder on Venom and has been a longtime fan of the theme with personal Venom comics collection — _Direct statement from Dwight Sullivan in stream comments; third-party reporting via Knapp Arcade article_ - [HIGH] Raymond Davidson is also working on the Venom code — _Direct statement from Dwight Sullivan in stream comments_ - [HIGH] Venom topper is being designed to exceed the quality of Mandalorian's topper — _Direct statement from Dwight Sullivan regarding topper aspirations_ - [HIGH] Carnage has drones as enemies in the game mechanics — _Direct statement from Dwight Sullivan about in-game features_ - [MEDIUM] The action button on Venom will do something never done before — _Direct statement from Dwight Sullivan; claim is vague and unsubstantiated without specifics_ ### Notable Quotes > "He is the right man for the job on this game because he has been a big fan of this theme for years. He had all of the Venom comics growing up." > — **Article (paraphrasing Dwight Sullivan)**, not provided > _Establishes personal investment and thematic authenticity from lead coder; relevant to design philosophy and passion_ > "They are thinking about making the Venom topper exceed Stern's recent super fancy topper for Mandalorian." > — **Article (paraphrasing Dwight Sullivan)**, not provided > _Indicates competitive positioning and escalating topper ambitions; signals quality bar-raising_ > "Dwight spoke very highly of Venom's LCD animations and sound package." > — **Article (paraphrasing Dwight Sullivan)**, not provided > _Indicates high confidence in production quality on core game elements_ ### Entities | Name | Type | Context | |------|------|---------| | Dwight Sullivan | person | Lead coder on Venom pinball at Stern Pinball; appeared in stream comments to share development details | | Raymond Davidson | person | Code contributor working on Venom at Stern Pinball | | Joel Engelberth | person | Host of Flip N Out with Friends YouTube pinball show | | Hadi | person | Panelist from Frisco Pinball on Flip N Out with Friends stream | | Shawn | person | Panelist from Pride Pinball on Flip N Out with Friends stream | | George | person | Panelist from Don't Panic Flip on Flip N Out with Friends stream | | Venom | game | Upcoming Stern Pinball machine based on Marvel's Venom character; in development with full reveal planned for following week | | Stern Pinball | company | Manufacturer of Venom pinball machine | | Flip N Out with Friends | event | Regular YouTube pinball show where Venom details were discussed and revealed | | Mandalorian | game | Recent Stern Pinball release with premium topper that serves as quality benchmark for Venom topper aspirations | | Carnage | game | Venom supervillain character featured as enemy in Venom pinball game with drone mechanic | ### Topics - **Primary:** Venom pinball machine development and team composition, Novel action button mechanics in pinball design, Topper design escalation and competitive positioning - **Secondary:** LCD animations and sound quality in modern Stern pinball, Community engagement via streamer commentary - **Mentioned:** Enemy/drone mechanics in pinball rule design ### Sentiment **Positive** (0.85) — Dwight Sullivan's comments are enthusiastic and confident about game quality; topper ambitions and novel mechanics signal excitement within development team; no criticism or concerns raised ### Signals - **[community_signal]** Lead developer actively engaging in real-time with community via YouTube stream comments, sharing development details ahead of official reveal (confidence: high) — Dwight Sullivan appeared in Flip N Out with Friends stream comments to share multiple development details - **[community_signal]** Lead coder Dwight Sullivan brings personal thematic passion and long history with Venom IP, suggesting design decisions informed by fan perspective rather than purely mechanical/commercial logic (confidence: high) — Dwight Sullivan statement: 'He has been a big fan of this theme for years. He had all of the Venom comics growing up.' - **[announcement]** Full reveal of Venom pinball scheduled for the following week after stream, with advance details being strategically released via community content creators (confidence: high) — Article states 'ahead of next week's full reveal' and details released on regular community YouTube show - **[product_strategy]** Venom topper explicitly positioned to exceed Mandalorian topper quality, signaling escalating cosmetic/premium expectations and competitive bar-raising within Stern's own product line (confidence: high) — Team is 'thinking about making the Venom topper exceed Stern's recent super fancy topper for Mandalorian' --- ## Transcript We received some additional details on Stern Pinball's recently announced upcoming Venom pinball machine last night on the regular YouTube pinball show Flip N Out with Friends, hosted by Joel Engelberth. The panel on the show, which included Hadi from Frisco Pinball, Shawn from Pride Pinball and George from Don't Panic Flip, were discussing Venom when Stern Pinball's coder Dwight Sullivan showed up in the comments section of the stream. Dwight shared several interesting new details on the game with everyone ahead of next week's full reveal. They included: - Dwight is the lead coder on the game. He is the right man for the job on this game because he has been a big fan of this theme for years. He had all of the Venom comics growing up. - Stern's Raymond Davidson is also working on the Venom code. - The Venom team is working on an exceptional topper for the game. They are thinking about making the Venom topper exceed Stern's recent super fancy topper for Mandalorian. - Dwight spoke very highly of Venom's LCD animations and sound package. - In the pin the supervillain Carnage has drones, which serve as enemies in the game. - The action button on Venom is going to do something that has never been done before. Good stuff! I've embedded the show below for anyone who wants to check it out: _(Acquisition: raw_text, Enrichment: v1)_ --- *Exported from Journalist Tool on 2026-04-13 | Item ID: ca3514ca-2f4d-48b9-94b5-6442533c4260*