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Avatar pinball artists detail art creation, licensing challenges, and mechanical development.
Lea Faske is a first-time pinball artist with a decade of professional game art experience from Ubisoft and Blizzard.
high confidence · Lea Faske's opening remarks about her background in video games and current role supervising art direction for Hearthstone.
The playfield is divided into five main thematic sections: water, forest, air, RDA, and characters.
high confidence · Lea discussing the playfield layout strategy and thematic organization with Mark confirming.
An actor strike during development prevented human likenesses from appearing on the playfield except for Spider.
high confidence · 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.
Scott Denise at Pinball Life developed a custom UV-reactive ring formula specifically for Avatar's lower playfield ball-in-hole mechanism.
high confidence · Mark discussing component sourcing: 'So he actually developed the formula for the for the UV reactive rings for us.'
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.
high confidence · 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.'
The playfield was designed in a damaged Willy Wonka CE cabinet that fell off a truck.
high confidence · 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.'
The lower playfield uses 3/4-inch ball bearings instead of the standard 1 and 1/16-inch size.
high confidence · 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.'
“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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Lightstorm (Avatar's IP holder) required approval of the artist before work could begin and had specific approval requirements for character likenesses.
high confidence · 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.'
No AI was used in creating the Avatar pinball artwork; all art was drawn and painted by hand.
high confidence · Lea explicitly stating: 'as I mentioned, all the art was drawn and painted by hand, so there's no AI used in this.'
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.
high confidence · 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.'
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).
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.'