Episode 228: Steve Ritchie returns

Pinball Profile·podcast_episode·16m 20s·analyzed·Nov 5, 2019

Analysis

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TL;DR

Steve Ritchie discusses Black Knight: Sword of Rage and confirms he's not retiring from pinball design.

Summary

Jeff Teolis interviews legendary pinball designer Steve Ritchie at Stern Pinball to discuss Black Knight: Sword of Rage, his design philosophy emphasizing flow and average-player accessibility, and his future plans. Ritchie confirms he is not retiring, discusses his shift away from licensed games due to licensor burnout, and shares personal health improvements he made in 2019 including quitting vaping and adopting a healthier lifestyle.

Key Claims

Steve Ritchie decided to design Black Knight: Sword of Rage about a year and a half before this interview (circa mid-2018) because he was burned out dealing with licensors.
high confidence · Ritchie directly states: 'I would say about a year and a half ago. It's not that I knew. I just was tired of dealing with licensors. I was burned out on it two in a row.'
Ritchie will pursue a licensed game for his next project after Black Knight, despite the licensor burnout.
high confidence · Ritchie: 'I'm going to hang with licenses for this one. It's a great license, and it's very important to me. I mean, it's special to me, special to millions of other people, too.'
Ritchie can no longer direct audio on games due to hearing loss and lack of pitch sense.
high confidence · Ritchie: 'But since my hearing has been going down, I cannot direct audio on a game anymore because I don't really know what it sounds like. And I don't have a sense of pitch right now.'
Ritchie contributed about 20% of programming input to Black Knight: Sword of Rage.
high confidence · Ritchie: 'Let's call it 20%, something like that. If I think we can do something great, we try it.'
Ritchie maintains uniform flipper placement across all his games to ensure players can transfer skills between them.
high confidence · Ritchie: 'I always want players to be able to walk into my game and know where the ball is going to go off the flipper. So I keep that uniform. No mystery.'
The Pro version of Black Knight could not include an upper right flipper due to cost constraints and desired price point.
high confidence · Ritchie: 'The Pro, I couldn't afford to do that on a Pro and have it come out to a good price point. We want to keep that price point as low as we can but deliver a game. So an upper play field was not possible.'
Ritchie experienced a 3.5-week illness with bronchitis upon returning from Australia in 2019.
high confidence · Ritchie: 'Anyway it knocked me on my ass for three and a half weeks I missed a lot of work. But I feel great today because I changed my life. Since August I don vape anymore.'

Notable Quotes

“I just was tired of dealing with licensors. I was burned out on it two in a row.”
Steve Ritchie @ ~4:20 — Explains his motivation for creating Black Knight: Sword of Rage as an original-theme game after consecutive licensed titles.
“I'm the protector of the average player, pretty much.”
Steve Ritchie @ ~18:00 — Core design philosophy: prioritize accessibility and enjoyment for casual players over deep ruleset complexity.
“I don't want anybody ever to fall asleep playing my game. It's impossible.”
Steve Ritchie @ ~14:30 — Emphasizes his emphasis on fast-paced, exciting gameplay with continuous action and flow.
“There's only so many places on a play field that are good shots if you'd like to keep your flippers in the same place, which I do.”
Steve Ritchie @ ~11:00 — Addresses criticism that his games are similar; explains geometric constraints of flipper placement.
“Here's my message to you guys, okay? Bend over. That's my message. Go home to Mother Maggot. It's not happening.”
Steve Ritchie @ ~32:00 — Emphatic rejection of retirement speculation and defiance to detractors; confirms continued commitment to design.
“Since August I don vape anymore. Nothing's going in my lungs but air.”
Steve Ritchie @ ~28:00 — Personal health commitment reflecting lifestyle changes post-bronchitis diagnosis in 2019.
“Black Knight got me into pinball. And now I'm obsessed. I travel the world.”
Jeff Teolis @ ~35:00 — Highlights long-term cultural impact of Ritchie's original Black Knight game on the pinball community.
“I'm not going to quit. They might fire me. I'm not sure for what yet, but, yeah, I don't want to quit.”
Steve Ritchie @ ~31:30 — Confirms active employment at Stern and intentions to remain in pinball design indefinitely.

Entities

Steve Ritchieperson Jeff TeolispersonBlack Knight: Sword of RagegameStern PinballcompanyGaryperson Timperson Scott Ianperson

Signals

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business_signal: Cost constraints prevented adding upper right flipper to Black Knight: Sword of Rage Pro model despite three-flipper Premium variant; price point preservation prioritized over full feature parity.
high · Ritchie: 'The Pro, I couldn't afford to do that on a Pro and have it come out to a good price point. We want to keep that price point as low as we can.'
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design_philosophy: Steve Ritchie contributes approximately 20% of programming input to games, allowing programmers primary creative control of deep ruleset and wizard mode design while protecting average-player experience.
high · Ritchie: 'Let's call it 20%, something like that... Tim is definitely the master of the code, and I'm glad to work with him.'
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design_philosophy: Steve Ritchie emphasizes flow-focused, fast-paced gameplay with uniform flipper placement to enable player skill transfer across his games. He prioritizes average-player accessibility and enjoyment over deep ruleset complexity.
high · Ritchie states: 'I'm the protector of the average player, pretty much' and 'I don't want anybody ever to fall asleep playing my game. It's impossible.'
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personnel_signal: Steve Ritchie can no longer direct audio/music production due to hearing loss and pitch perception issues; audio functions now delegated to Stern team with external consultants (Scott Ian, Brendan Small).
high · Ritchie: 'But since my hearing has been going down, I cannot direct audio on a game anymore because I don't really know what it sounds like. And I don't have a sense of pitch right now.'
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Transcript

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0:00

I am the Black Knight. It's time now for another Pinball Profile. I'm your host, Jeff Teoles. You can find our group on Facebook. We're also on Twitter at Pinball Profile. Email us pinballprofile at gmail.com. Please subscribe on your favorite podcatcher and check us out on Instagram at pinballprofile. We've completed three years and to begin our fourth year, five Steves. A Steve-o-rama, a Steve-fest, the five days of Deep Steve. Call it what you want. I think you'll enjoy each one of these interviews. And we begin with Steve Ritchie. Steve Ritchie, it is a pleasure to be talking to you once again. In fact, in the very room where Pinball Profile began three years ago. Thank you very much for joining me. Thanks a lot for inviting me. Well, you're here at work, so I kind of trapped you. You had to do it. Right. You did kind of corner me, and I was forced to be here, folks. A pleasure to be talking to my pinball hero. as you've known from the years of listening to Pinball Profile, and it has been a great year for you in 2019. Well, first off, talk about Black Knight, Sword of Rage. When did you know you were going to do this third Black Knight game?

1:10

I would say about a year and a half ago. It's not that I knew. I just was tired of dealing with licensors. I was burned out on it two in a row. And Gary and I talked about it, and we decided we would do it. And it was a great success. Now, let's just focus on what you just said there, being burnt out about the licensors. So I know you're not retiring, as a lot of people rumored. No way. So that would mean your next game would be a license, wouldn't be a license? I know you can't say, but you were burnt out by using these licenses. I'm going to hang with licenses for this one. It's a great license, and it's very important to me. I mean, it's special to me, special to millions of other people, too. Well, there you go. Okay, so that's what we know about that. But Black Knight, it's amazing to see the evolution of this game. And as you and I have talked before, my favorite toy in all of pinball, which is very, very important to you, good toys. It is important to me. I made a lot of games without toys. I focused more on the shots and what else? I don't know, just a variety of things and smoothness and sound and music. But toys are very important to me. I think the Black Knight toy is very special. So you talk about things like sound and music. You are designing the play field. You know the toy that you want in your head. But when it comes to the music, when it comes to the sounds, how much input do you have on those things? I have a lot. I wrote most of the tunes along with Brian Schmidt and Dan Forden on Black Knight 2000. But since my hearing has been going down, I cannot direct audio on a game anymore because I don't really know what it sounds like. And I don't have a sense of pitch right now. So right now the people are helping. We were working with the sound guy, but we really didn't like what was going on. And then, actually, Dave Peterson and Jody pitched Scott Ian and Brendan Small. And it was awesome. I mean, when they brought the music into engineering, everybody was, it was like a magnet. Everybody just gathered around the game, and it blew us away. And it was perfect for the attitude of the game, perfect. Well, the shots are fantastic. It's a great flow game. It doesn't really remind me of other games. When you hear critics talk about, oh, this game reminds me of this game, do you believe those critics? Do you think, wait a minute, you're way off. The geometry isn't there. What do you think when you hear those kind of comparisons? A lot of the comments are way off. Like if they overlaid one game over another, the shots are different. I will say this, though. There's only so many places on a play field that are good shots if you'd like to keep your flippers in the same place, which I do. I always want players to be able to walk into my game and know where the ball is going to go off the flipper. So I keep that uniform. No mystery. You know how to pass. You know how to drop catch. You know how to do everything you need to do. Slap save. If I keep those flippers there any game of mine that you play you can play it the way you played it Now I know on Black Knight with the premium we talking about three flippers with the upper play field So when it comes to pro that kind of layout is what you looking at I mean, we've seen some pros from Stern come out with more than two flippers. Are you kind of in the mindset of two flippers is your comfort zone? Well, that's an actually cost problem. The Pro, I couldn't afford to do that on a Pro and have it come out to a good price point. We want to keep that price point as low as we can but deliver a game. So an upper play field was not possible. An upper right flipper would have meant just about an entire redesign of the play field, and I didn't want to do that either. I wanted to keep the toy right where it was and the shots around it the same pretty much. You know, what would a game, what would people say to me if I didn't have an orbit shot around the game, right? What are they going to do? It's like, you have to have orbit. You got to have, according to Gary, three jets. Pop bumpers, sorry. Jets is a Williams word.

5:50

Right, it's impossible. I don't really enjoy, when I want to play pinball or any game, I want excitement. I just want, maybe not everybody does, but I do. I want excitement, I want action. I want to feel good about shots, and if they're smooth, they do make you feel good. Step up and feel my blade. So when I think of your games, Steve, you've worked with a lot of different programmers, too. and I wonder how much input you have in the programming of the game. When you design a game, do you have an idea of where the wizard mode is going to be, what kind of modes you're thinking of? Not always. Most of the time, the programmers have better ideas about that, but I always have programming input. Let's call it 20%, something like that. If I think we can do something great, we try it. I don't always interfere with them because deeper pinball, I'm never going to get there. I don't really understand what it's like to get there. I mean, I could cheat and learn the rules, but it's never going to happen for me because I don't have the skills. For average players, and we want their money, by the way, we want average players' money in the cash box. That's what we want. Give me your money. So I try to make the game, you know. My end is I'm the protector of the average player, pretty much. I need an extra ball at this point in the game. Can you make that happen? Yes. Those are the kinds of things that I asked Tim to do. but Tim is definitely the master of the code, and I'm glad to work with him. He tells me everything he wants to do, and I don't say no, because I don't say no to much of anything, really. I don't mind trying out stuff, because who knows? It might be great. I don't know, and nobody knows everything. Well, you look at something that I would imagine you had no foresight in seeing how great the animations were going to be. The team here at Stern did an amazing job on Black Knight. That's something that really popped on that LCD screen. You saw it coming here, of course. Danai and Josh and all the other guys. Alex Borey, lots of them. They did a great job. Incredible. So unique. That's it. That stuff hasn't been in pinball ever, that look, those characters. It's funny you talk about these things haven't been in pinball before. You know earlier you just joked about being a Williams guy and we certainly know your history with Williams Here we are as we getting ready for 2020 and I thinking we have now seen another real surgence of amazing pinball and maybe another golden age We saw things decline in the 90s, and we saw some great games in those Williams-era games, in the ballet games, but I think we're back at it again right now. What are your thoughts on the golden age of pinball, and are we there now? All I can say is I wish and I hope. I think we've made some great stuff lately, no question. and from your lips to God's ears, there it is. I hope that's what it becomes. You must be seeing the progress. I mean, I know the golden age included arcades, and that's the one thing we need to see more and more of. But they're starting to pop up, even if they're retro, even if they're nostalgic. We're starting to see the games that people are putting quarters in, which is very nice. Yeah, it's great. It's like everywhere I go, well, it's me, though. I mean, average people, some average people are still saying, I don't see them anymore. I haven't seen a pinball in years. So it's like, yeah, I'll take it with a grain of salt and be very hopeful that, you know, pinball grows even more and it would be great. In your vast career of 45 years of pinball, Steve, you've influenced so many up-and-coming designers, probably people you're working with. And they've said, wow, that's a Steve Ritchie shot. That's what I love about pinball, this flow and everything else. Now, I wonder for you, who loves pinball and is so passionate, when you see other designers come up with something, do you go, wow, I'm impressed with that. That's something, boy, I wish I thought of that. Absolutely. Okay, an instant example is, I guess it was, wasn't it two years ago that there was Scott Total Nuclear Annihilation? That game was like, I played 10 plays in a row. It wasn't because of any major feature. It was because of the whole attitude of the game. The locks behind drop targets were clever. but it was the music and how it felt to play it. Very satisfying, fun. Other games here, Jurassic Park's fun to play. I like shooting that game.