Pinball Heroes: Cameron Silver

The Pinball Blog·article·analyzed·Mar 7, 2009

Analysis

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TL;DR

Cameron Silver on designing Cirqus Voltaire, Star Wars, and the pinball industry's evolution.

Summary

Interview with Cameron Silver, a legendary pinball designer who worked at Bally/Williams in the 1990s on classic titles like Scared Stiff and Cirqus Voltaire. Silver discusses his collaborative design process with John Popadiuk, the technical challenges of Star Wars, and the evolution of pinball programming from WPC to Pinball 2000. He reflects on his career trajectory from a college student in Australia to working with industry pioneers like Steve Kordek and Larry DeMar, and his current work in the broader coin-op video game industry at Raw Thrills.

Key Claims

Cameron Silver collaborated with John Popadiuk on Cirqus Voltaire playfield layout, with Popadiuk handling the engineering and buildability work
high confidence · Cameron Silver, direct quote: 'on Cirqus John and I sat down and laid out the playfield together, but then he went away and did the real work to actually design a buildable product'
The under-glass display on Cirqus Voltaire was inspired by Capcom's Flipper Football (1996), though mounting it flat and reflecting off angled glass (like Asteroids Deluxe) was considered but deemed too expensive
high confidence · Cameron Silver on display location precedent and alternative design considerations
A 'Digital Multiball' mode was designed for Cirqus Voltaire but cut due to cost; it would have required turning the ball-popper into a three-ball lockup with additional optics and metal
high confidence · Cameron Silver explaining cut feature and mechanical constraints
Star Wars pinball was designed in isolation from other engineering teams, which Silver believes negatively impacted the game's balance despite it selling three times more than Cirqus and staying in top-10 charts for nearly a decade
high confidence · Cameron Silver on personal and collaborative challenges: 'being locked away, separated from the rest of engineering...you can't design a good, balanced game in a vacuum'
WPC programming fundamentals remained largely unchanged through the WPC era; the latest WPC OS (A.P.P.L.E.) could run rebuilt Funhouse code
high confidence · Cameron Silver on programming evolution: 'It's possible to take the very latest WPC operating system...and re-build the Funhouse code to run on it'
Pinball 2000 represented a major programming shift to C++ and PC motherboards, though Silver indicates WPC was his favorite development platform
high confidence · Cameron Silver comparing WPC and Pinball 2000 development experiences
Cameron Silver worked on Ticket Tac Toe redemption game early in his Williams career, producing only about 100 units despite 'fantastic earnings'
high confidence · Cameron Silver discussing unreleased/limited machines

Notable Quotes

“Anyone can sketch a ramp here, or some bumpers there, but it takes a mammoth amount of work and skill to actually build something that shoots well.”
Cameron Silver @ N/A — Illustrates the gap between conceptual design and engineering execution in pinball, establishing Silver's respect for the buildability challenge that Popadiuk mastered
“I don't care who you are, you can't design a good, balanced game in a vacuum.”
Cameron Silver @ N/A — Core critique of Star Wars production methodology; reflects on collaborative design philosophy and regret about isolation during one of Stern's most commercially successful titles
“I certainly don't think that pinball is dead; but it's so tiny that even if it quadruples in size, it will still be tiny.”
Cameron Silver @ N/A — Industry perspective from a veteran who transitioned out; suggests structural limitations of pinball market regardless of growth
“Even though WPC was a tiny 2mhz 6809 processor, that has been the absolute favorite development I've done”
Cameron Silver @ N/A — Expresses preference for WPC-era constraints over more powerful modern platforms; suggests creative constraint as a design advantage
“I don't like either titles. Revenge is just too dark, I can't see the playfield. Episode 1 has vastly improved lighting, but I'm not a fan of the mode-based rules structure.”
Cameron Silver @ N/A — Critical assessment of Pinball 2000 titles' design balance from a designer perspective; challenges the assumption that display-heavy games are inherently good
“Working with programmers like Ted Estes, Larry DeMar and Tom Uban really shaped what type of programmer I have become today”
Cameron Silver @ N/A — Identifies key influencers in his development; acknowledges mentorship from legendary WPC-era programmers

Entities

Cameron Silverperson John Popadiukperson Larry DeMarperson Steve Kordekperson Dwight Sullivanperson Cassandra Petersonperson

Signals

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design_philosophy: Star Wars pinball production methodology involved isolation from other engineering teams, which Silver believes undermined collaborative design principles and game balance despite commercial success
high · Silver on Star Wars: 'I was locked away, separated from the rest of engineering...you can't design a good, balanced game in a vacuum'
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design_philosophy: Pinball 2000 titles criticized for dark playfield visibility (Revenge), mode-heavy ruleset (Episode 1), ball-holding, and over-reliance on display to show off technology rather than serve gameplay
high · Silver: 'Revenge is just too dark, I can't see the playfield...Episode 1 has vastly improved lighting, but I'm not a fan of the mode-based rules structure. I feel that both games hold the ball too much, and both over-use the display'
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design_philosophy: Cameron Silver's approach to collaborative design emphasizes team effort and the separation between conceptual layout and engineering execution; singles out John Popadiuk's buildability expertise as distinct from initial design ideation
high · Silver: 'Anyone can sketch a ramp here, or some bumpers there, but it takes a mammoth amount of work and skill to actually build something that shoots well'
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licensing_signal: American Idol karaoke booth project cancelled due to music licensing constraints despite 18 months of development and significant technological achievement, illustrating IP licensing barriers in coin-op development
high · Silver: 'American Idol...themed coin-op...green-screen, video karaoke booth...we were unable to produce due to music licensing issues'
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Topics

Cirqus Voltaire design philosophy and innovationprimaryWPC-era pinball programming and evolutionprimaryCollaborative game design and team dynamicsprimaryStar Wars pinball production challenges and isolationprimaryTransition from pinball to broader coin-op video game industrysecondaryPinball 2000 platform assessment and ruleset designsecondaryIndustry mentorship and career developmentsecondaryUnder-glass display technology precedents and constraintsmentioned

Sentiment

positive(0.78)— Cameron Silver is reflective and appreciative of his pinball career while honestly critiquing design decisions. He maintains warm relationships with mentors and collaborators. Some critical assessments of Pinball 2000 titles and regret about Star Wars isolation prevent fully positive sentiment, but overall tone is nostalgic, generous, and constructive.

Transcript

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When we first approach pinball designers we don't expect to get a response starting "I've been following your blog for some time and really enjoy it", but that was the case with this week's Pinball Heroes guest! If he already reads The Pinball Blog then he must know how it works, or perhaps he was softening us up to ask for a fee or maybe, just maybe, we could push our luck a little further than we have before.. Let's Try... Ladies and Gentlemen, The Pinball Blog proudly presents Pinball Heroes: Cameron Silver. Cameron was employed at Bally/Williams in the nineties and worked on titles such as Scared Stiff and Cirqus Voltaire. The Pinball Blog. So you're Cameron Silver, the way I see it is you worked your nuts off on pinball machines and then John Popadiuk put his name on them? Cameron Silver. Well everyone worked their nuts off, at least on the games I was involved with. They really were team efforts, and I never encountered anyone who slacked off or didn't pull their weight. So on Cirqus John and I sat down and laid out the playfield together, but then he went away and did the real work to actually design a buildable product. Anyone can sketch a ramp here, or some bumpers there, but it takes a mammoth amount of work and skill to actually build something that shoots well. I'll add here that I gave Cameron an alternative question in case the first one was a bit too blunt and he kindly answered that one as well! TPB. Whose idea was the display under the glass on Cirqus Voltaire? CS. The location of the display was not new, since Capcom had a display there for "Flipper Football" in 1996. Whether John had thought about this before is something that I honestly do not know, but when he suggested it to me I didn't hesitate to jump on-board. We actually talked briefly about mounting the display flat and reflecting it off an angled piece of glass (ie: like Asteroids Delux and Pinball 2000); it would have allowed us to do some neat tricks, but would have been quite expensive. We did have a "Digital Multiball" mode in the game for a while - using the same idea from the video mode in Theatre Of Magic. The display served as a second playfield, and the idea was to knock down all targets to get the jackpot. You'd shoot physical balls into the display by shooting the loops, and could have up to all three balls on the display at once. It was pretty cool! However to do it properly would have required turning the ball-popper into a three-ball lockup (with three additional optos and more metal), which was too much money to devote to one single mode that wasn't really related to the theme at all. TPB. How stiff were 'Team Stiff' when meeting Elvira?CS. No comment! :) Actually she was amazing to work with, a lovely person who really loved pinball. She had loads of fun recording speech for us (a lot of it being improvised on the day), and added a huge amount of personality to the game. TPB. Which machine did you most enjoy working on and which was the most challenging? CS. The machine I most enjoyed working on was definitely Cirqus. First of all it was the first game I was involved with right from the start, and second of all it began with John unrolling a blank sheet of paper and asking the team "so, what game should we make?!". Considering that less than 12 months prior to that I was a college kid / tech in Australia dreaming about pinball, it was unreal. Most challenging was Star Wars. The technical challenges have been discussed numerous times, but for me there were personal challenges too. The biggest thing for me was being locked away, separated from the rest of engineering. I don't care who you are, you can't design a good, balanced game in a vacuum. I mean this honestly when I say that Star Wars actually turned out pretty close to our original vision, but I still think it could have benefited from outside influence. Still it sold at least three times more than Cirqus and remained in the top-10 charts for close to a decade, so I probably shouldn't complain too much. TPB. What started with an email to Dwight Sullivan turned into employment in the pinball industry, the stuff of dreams for many of us! I guess the chances of that happening today are pretty slim. Apart from the suit and haircut, what advice can you give a wannabe pinball designer in their quest for employment? CS. First would be patience, the second would probably (unfortunately) be to find another way to pay the bills. I certainly don't think that pinball is dead; but it's so tiny that even if it quadruples in size, it will still be tiny. I'm in coin-op video now (which I love), but even that is minuscule. TPB. The Pinball Blog is known for it's vast knowledge of programming(!) 10. PRINT "The Pinball Blog is da best". 20 GOTO 10. Did pinball programming change over the years with technology or were the basics the same throughout? CS. Things didn't change that much through the WPC years. In fact it's possible to take the very latest WPC operating system (which we called A.P.P.L.E), and re-build the Funhouse code to run on it. Things obviously changed a lot when we started working on Pinball 2000, which was all C++ and PC motherboards, etc. Even though WPC was a tiny 2mhz 6809 processor, that has been the absolute favorite development I've done (admittedly a big part of that is the final product). TPB. Was there a machine you worked on that never saw the light of day? CS. I don't know if it qualifies but I worked on a redemption game called Ticket Tac Toe when I first started at Williams, and we only built about 100 of those; despite the fantastic earnings. Local pinball enthusiast Rush Luangsuwan and I added a custom built gumball dispenser to TTT for Pinball Expo 2007. More recently, I just finished working on a coin-op, green-screen, video karaoke booth (themed to American Idol) that we were unable to produce due to music licensing issues. A huge shame considering the amazing amount of work (18 months), incredible technology, and long list of "it's impossible" we were able to overcome. TPB. I personally prefer Star Wars Episode 1 to Revenge from Mars but some might say I'm in the minority (or Zac Stark raving bonkers). When people ask why one Pinball 2000 title is more 'popular' than the other I tell them the cost of the license influenced the budget for rules on SWE1, but to be fair, I completely made that up! Am I anywhere close to the truth? CS. Short answer: no. Long answer (for me anyway) is that I don't like either titles. Revenge is just too dark, I can't see the playfield. Episode 1 has vastly improved lighting, but I'm not a fan of the mode-based rules structure. I feel that both games hold the ball too much, and both over-use the display; however understand that it was intentional to over-use the display in order to show it off (Episode 1 actually uses up less image space than Revenge). Amazingly though some people still don't "get" that platform, which really boggles my mind. Wizard Blocks had lighting that was a vast improvement over Episode 1, and a much more pinball-like ruleset. TPB. Who that you met during your pinball career was the most influential to you, and who are you still friends with today? CS. Working with Steve Kordek on my first game (Ticket Tac Toe) was amazing, and I thoroughly enjoy catching up with him a few times a year. Working with programmers like Ted Estes, Larry DeMar and Tom Uban really shaped what type of programmer I have become today, and I remain close friends with all three (I still see Tom several times a week, and chat with Ted and Larry almost daily). Dwight Sullivan opened my eyes to the amazing world of game mechanics, and is still one of my dearest friends. (Coincidentally as I type this, I can hear our testers playing "La Grange" on "Guitar Hero Arcade", anyone know what pinball machine used that song? Hint: Dwight programmed it...) TPB. What does Cameron Silver do to pay the bills today? CS. I currently work at Raw Thrills, which is one of the largest coin-op game houses around. We are headed up by Eugene Jarvis, and have released the "Fast And The Furious" driving games (three of them), Nicktoons Racing, Big Buck Hunter, and "Guitar Hero Arcade" which is rocking seriously hard. TPB. Finally can you sum up your involvement with pinball in one word or sentence. CS. Yes. And there you have it, a great interview with Cameron and hopefully more of what you guys want to read. Many thanks to Cameron Silver for being such a great sport and answering some random questions! Cameron was already reading The Pinball Blog which is just great, so if YOU'RE reading and you're a pinball designer or contributed significantly in other ways to the industry drop me a line and we'll hook you up. Or if you're a regular Joe like me, then let me know who you'd like to see interviewed on Pinball Heroes and we'll try and hunt them down! Cheers Nick The Pinball Blog