Inside Look: Stern Factory Tour Elliot and Tim talk John Wick

Erika's Pinball Journey·video·10m 34s·held·Jun 7, 2024

Analysis

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TL;DR

Stern designers discuss John Wick post-launch roadmap: speaker effects, ally leveling, contracts, and dynamic monthly quests.

Summary

Erika's Pinball Journey shares a ~9-minute clip from a Stern factory media day featuring designers Elliot Eismin and Tim Elliot discussing John Wick pinball's post-launch development. The conversation covers upcoming code updates including new speaker/shaker/light effects synced to gunshots, planned features like ally leveling systems, enemy interactions, and limited-time competitive contracts. Designers explain the iterative design process, thematic choices (translating film cinematography to pinball), and the vision for differentiated home vs. location experiences through dynamic monthly quests.

Key Claims

John Wick received initial code release (Elliot called 'Ellie in the box') and entered 3-week post-launch development runway to add features and prioritize feedback before next update
high confidence · Elliot Eismin speaking at Stern factory media day
Upcoming code update will add muzzle flash, speaker, light, and shaker motor effects synced to gunshots, with additional choreography improvements for enemy animations
high confidence · Elliot Eismin describing work done by engineer Brett on speaker/light/shaker integration
Allies will receive leveling system with unique powers that scale in difficulty and effectiveness; enemy interactions with multiballs and jobs will become clearer
high confidence · Tim Elliot describing planned ally system evolution
Contracts (limited-time competitive missions) will launch soon with push notification support, some with limited quantity availability to drive competition among players
high confidence · Tim Elliot explaining contracts feature and competitive mechanics
Monthly quests will tie to specific factions (e.g., 'Rioja Aroma month') with thematic objectives, affecting gameplay probability and providing differentiated home vs. location experience
high confidence · Tim Elliot describing quest rotation and faction theming strategy
The Blood Oath marker ball-save mechanic was designed thematically to tie to the films while limiting unlimited ball saves and requiring strategic usage decisions
high confidence · Tim Elliot explaining ball-save marker design philosophy
Enemy blocking mechanics were intentionally designed to reflect John Wick film cinematography (protagonist facing obstacles between points A and B)
high confidence · Tim Elliot describing design translation from film to pinball
Stern has a 'big team of software developers' and brings in specialized talent like Josh (Henderson), Elizabeth, and Raymond for user interface/communication language expertise

Notable Quotes

“we got Ellie in the box like first day we got everything checked everything through so now what we're in is our post launch development where we have a runway of time let's say 3 weeks where we'll add new features”
Elliot Eismin@ 0:43 — Confirms John Wick initial code release milestone and immediate post-launch development window
“one of the engineers on our team Brett I gave him the task of like come up with a way where the gunshots trigger speakers lights and Shaker motor”
Elliot Eismin@ 2:26 — Details upcoming audio-visual feedback enhancement linked to thematic gunshot mechanics
“if you're in competition mode right now and you have a favorite mode then you can figure out how to get to it you got to do your own exploring”
Elliot Eismin@ 4:45 — Explains competition mode lock-in mechanics and player agency in mode selection strategy
“we're going to get the game it's all going to work and we're going to give you good updates and like we always have we've done this for a decade plus”
Tim Elliot@ 5:11 — Reaffirms Stern's post-launch support commitment and establishes historical context
“with the quests we add we can have in a month it could be the Rioja Aroma month and that can have all Rioja Aroma theme Quest and we can actually modify the game so you're more likely to do jobs with that faction”
Tim Elliot@ 7:00 — Reveals dynamic monthly thematic rotation system and faction-specific gameplay weighting strategy
“it's a way that makes it's you don't get unlimited ball saves all the time but you have to think carefully about using them picking when you're going to use it”

Entities

Elliot EisminpersonTim ElliotpersonErikapersonJosh HendersonpersonBrettperson John WickgameStern Pinballcompany

Signals

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code_update: Next John Wick code update will add synchronized muzzle flash, speaker audio, playfield light, and shaker motor effects triggered by gunshot events, with planned iterations on enemy animation choreography and presentation
high · Elliot discussing Brett's work on audio-visual feedback integration; multiple references to iterative refinement of gunshot effects
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gameplay_signal: Ally system planned to include multi-tier leveling with scaling difficulty, unique faction-specific powers, and evolved enemy interaction mechanics; enemies will interact more clearly with multiballs and jobs
high · Tim Elliot detailed explanation of ally progression layers and enemy interaction improvements
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gameplay_signal: Limited-time competitive contract missions launching post-launch; some contracts feature limited quantity availability to drive player competition; will include push notification system
high · Tim Elliot describing contracts as upcoming feature with limited quantities and push notifications
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product_strategy: Planned monthly faction-themed quest rotation (e.g., 'Rioja Aroma month') to differentiate home play from location/competition play; quests modify game weighting to increase likelihood of faction-specific jobs
high · Tim Elliot explaining monthly theming, faction-specific objectives, and gameplay probability adjustments
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design_philosophy: Enemy-blocking mechanics intentionally translate John Wick film cinematography (protagonist navigating through obstacles) to pinball; ball-save marker mechanic ties thematically to Blood Oath concept from films

Transcript

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0:02

what's up everybody in this episode I'm going to share with you a clip I got at the stern Factory now you may or may not be caught up with pinball news but I was one of the people that got to go to Stern's media day so that was incredibly exciting I'm still editing that video so stay tuned for that however I do have this small clip I can share about like roughly 9 Minutes of Elliot and Tim talking about their new game John Wick job literally every day I I go through and play the games um test all the mechs make sure everything's working before gives them the Box that'd be my job here if they're hiring me that's I want his what he does not the decal veh that that seem and today was a big day because we we got Ellie in the box like first day we got everything checked everything through so now what we're in is our post launch development where we have a Runway of time let's say 3 weeks where we'll add new features and prioritize what we're going to put in the game we'll evaluate the feedback already reled and then we'll do another update and one thing coming in this update that's going to cool especially for Le buyers oh this is the wrong level again is um just in John Wick's house I to get to that mode we added the Shaker and speaker light muzzle Clash code that sncs up with so I'm going to keep going to that if because uh ell anything to talk about I guess um we could talk about kind of like how it all came together and the iterations on things like um I think George said at some point but home okay we home yeah we are okay we'll show you a thing then I'll I'll go back to talking I got to wait for them to okay so yeah this is this is our Whitewood three an iteration of our Whitewood three that we ended up doing um the first one basically kept 90% of it and like only this side remained and threw the rest out cuz it was not shooting super well so it was yeah this is the the third iteration this is a lot of iterations we do just to make sure it's fun shoots well there's a lot of development that goes into that so I'm doing this with B search this is how I play to yeah when I see like a 4 billion score with no explanation C I wonder how you did that wow 150 combos in a row that was pretty cool so what we're adding in our runway for the next release is you know one of the engineers on our team Brett I gave him the task of like come up with a way where the gunshots trigger speakers lights and Shaker motor so going for that I get some enemies going here I got a so this is now new so that was like our first idea was like okay we get the muzzle flash and then we go from there and we always iterate we always talk about like what else can we do you know cu the John Wick jump when he lands we can get a sound there we can get a new show there but it looks so good especially when he's facing the camera and he shoots this way that maybe wait wait loading he didn't notice he didn't notice he shoots a lot of people yeah I thought there were no G on the screen they're on the [Music] screen so he's throwing people around so we're we're going to keep working on you know what can we do with the speakers to like get that kinetic like feedback into all the gam yeah yeah a lot of the thoughts on the lighting was just to immerse you more into the movies yeah not do like fancy like light shows with SS with movies it was more just like how do we immerse you more and I got to tell you guys I'd love to be at home with my nose in the computer coding this game right now cuz it's so like I have so much more to do but I'm I'm here today I'm glad you guys are

3:50

here thanks but it's like you know my my painting's not you going to put the eyebrows on the bot of Lisa oh don't know thinking about it kind of thing going on so Tim is there a way to uh change their jobs um right now I don't think there is but it's is there a way Raven well uh if competition mode is on then whatever faction will always start the same job but if it's not on hitting different in either case hitting different shots so if you hit like the left ramp it'll light the New York mode so I no the high table lights if you hit the it's every shot so the last shot you made right whatever the last shot you made but that just lights the faction the actual mode right now I think is random unless you have competition mode on I don't know where that's going I don't know Tim's plan I'm not talking about yet cuz I'm still iterating but if you're in competition mode right now and you have a favorite mode then you can figure out how to get to it you got to do your own exploring gotcha Tim I think you've heard a little bit about it you want to talk about missions that are coming and how that's going to work I know my favorite thing to talk about what's coming next in know um sure I like like we ship the games right and it's like you're going to get as you guys know cuz you guys are opening inv people you're going to get the game it's all going to work and we're going to give you good updates and like we always have we we've done this for a decade plus as you guys all know uh Joel even last night you were saying oh 6 months I can't wait to see it I hope you play it more but to me now it's 6 months cuz there will be more stuff but um in general the flow of the game and the layers of the game to be added we have um first of all the allies right now right it's all obviously level one each alies is going to have a unique power that that pertains to the enemies and how those interact qualifying allies is going to get more difficult but their power is going to get much more substantial with enemies the actual interaction between enemies and multiballs and jobs is going to become much more clear even little things like the choreography of like enemies moving we're going to make a lot better light show on that and one thing I'm going to do to make the game presentation better is is you're going to get like your first shot's going to be the lit enem is going to start the mode as a location mode and that's going to have more of a story to it rather than it just kind of happening in the background now okay and that'll make the enemies count make sense stuff like that so like we put stuff in chunks and we iterate on it and we kind of know where it's going but you know to get the game in a state where it's Pro we can shift it we can play it and then we we build on there that that's always like our our balance and development and in the environment and pretty soon will be launching the the contracts that are going to come out and basically ask you to go compete and so people who can get to the game and play the game will be able some of them will be limited quantity so only a certain number you know it won't be limited quantity one like it is in the movie but it'll be limited quantity so only a certain number of people can achieve it so everybody's going to have to compete to be the first so so right now these factions are kind of like arbitrary but with with the quests we add we can have in a month it could be the risk Aroma month and that can have all risk Aroma theme Quest and we can actually modify the game so you're more likely to do jobs with that facture those those jobs matter more and that's our transformation for making the game more of like a you know static thing you go out and play and it's fair we're trying to differentiate the environment of like competition you know it's always going to be fair but at home if you have a new month new Quest new objectives a new way to play I think that provides a more interesting experience in the direction we're going and that's why it's so cool to have the game shipping now and the adoption Insider and the technology that to to really bring that ahead The Medallion that you have over there I saw it opened up earlier um what is triggering nothing thing is it the two uh standups that are over there these are connected right now they're linked to this rule that everyone's been confused about about why does the light turn solid we know we hear you we asking um yeah I was just trying to come up with a way to thematically tie the Blood Oath marker from the films where you have the con quence you use it or on the pro it's always little up but here it's got the coil is not to be taken the second one and then you need to to cash out your marker and get a new marker reissued to you by battling the adversary and it was a way that makes it's you don't get unlimited ball saves all the time but you have to think carefully about using them picking when you're going to use it is this the time to use it's the goal we always have a goal with every mode we're putting in and it just takes some time to get there and dial it in yeah that's something that that makes us feel a lot more like John Wood to me the way is that's a really good I mean the whole concept behind right the enemies are blocking the shots I mean that's from the cinematography right John Wick can't get from point A to point B without 20 stunt men coming after him and he's got to take him all down so like how do we translate that to pinball you know that's that's our job as the pinball experts to come up with the way that isn't annoying but like keeps you engaged with it and that's the fun part that's and with the question things we have we'll be putting out if you want them you can get push notifications that'll say hey there's new there's new things to do new things to go play uh for people to enjoy so you know it's optional you can do it if you want it you don't have to do it if you don't want it but it'll make you feel alive and it it's a lot of fun with the fiction right and and John Wick they all get the text messages about the bounties so we're we're playing on that I like that it's like you know makes sense probably to you guys more like pinball like how does something in the film connect to this and um yeah it's like from for the beginning of time in pinball like how do you communicate is something as simple as like time is running out everyone knows look legs faster and faster and faster right like you have that queue that's so ingrained in our heads but that's not something that's clear to everyone when you're explaining oh this is how you're going to communicate the rule so I mean like I said we have a big team of software developers we bring in people like Josh Elizabeth Raymond who are from the you understand that language right of like blinking means hid it and pulsing means you know a little bit different right solid means it's there all right over andap out thanks again for watching I hope you guys enjoyed this clip what do you think about the new John Wick game do you think the features that they're creating are really cool what about the contracts let me know in the comments I'll catch you on the flip side