The Bro Of Flow: John Borg Part 2

TL;DR

Silver Ball Chronicles examines John Borg return to Stern and Indiana Jones pinball design.

Summary

Key Claims

• Indiana Jones was originally a different layout that Borg put on a back burner when they couldn't lock down the original license

  high confidence · David Dennis, citing John Borg from Top Cast episode 27

• Indiana Jones: The Pinball Adventure licensing meeting in San Francisco with Lucas Films was rushed; Borg had to take handwritten notes during a PowerPoint presentation and was told he could not have copies

  high confidence · David Dennis, quoting John Borg account of the licensing process

• Keith P. Johnson, a coder on Indiana Jones, later criticized the game's rule design as having diminishing multiball returns and excessive shot repetition requirements

  high confidence · David Dennis, citing Keith P. Johnson from Head to Head A A Pinball Podcast episode 41 (2018)

• John Borg publicly stated he was disappointed with Indiana Jones and considered it far worse than CSI, and that he was not the lead designer

  high confidence · David Dennis, citing John Borg comments from Keith P. Johnson's podcast appearance

• Many pinhead players hated Indiana Jones while non-pinhead/casual players loved it

  medium confidence · Ron Hallett, observation from personal tournament experience

• Modern script/license presentations are faster and more restrictive than in the 1990s; designers likely no longer receive advance script access

  medium confidence · David Dennis, speculation based on comparing historical licensing practices to Crystal Skull experience

• Sam Stern employees were laid off in 2008-2009 during the Great Recession, but John Borg survived the cuts because he was the only in-house designer remaining

  high confidence · David Dennis, noting industry context of the era

• Indiana Jones machine had an arc toy mechanism similar to Apollo 13's 13-ball multiball system

  high confidence · David Dennis and Ron Hallett, describing the game's mechanics

Notable Quotes

• “John is one of those Gen X brothers who just exudes cool, calm, relaxation. It's kind of strange because John Borg designs are not calm and relaxed at all for the person playing.”

  David Dennis @ ~early — Sets up the central tension in Borg's design philosophy—cool exterior designer but intense gameplay

• “Indiana Jones had yet to actually be released. And yet John is talking to this sort of the grandfather of podcasting, if you will, about, oh, you got to see this new design.”

  David Dennis @ ~mid — Highlights unusual pre-release media access and the early nature of podcast coverage

• “I went out to San Francisco and met with Lucas and I saw a PowerPoint presentation on the movie. They read me an overview of the movie while the slide presentation was going on. I asked them if I could have copies of the notes, and they said absolutely not.”

  John Borg (quoted by David Dennis) @ ~mid — Reveals restrictive IP licensing practices and rush process that contrasts sharply with 1990s experiences

• “I'm disappointed in some of my games. Having been involved with the likes of CSI and Indiana Jones, I think Indiana Jones is a far, far worse game than pretty much anything else. The fact that my name is technically listed on there is definitely disappointing.”

  John Borg (quoted by David Dennis) @ ~late-mid — Designer's frank self-critique of his own work; shows willingness to acknowledge failures

• “There's so many weird decisions that went into that game that elude me. Your first multiball is an eight-ball multiball. Then your next one is five. Then the next is four. And then the last one is a two-ball multiball. Why would you have diminishing returns?”

  Keith P. Johnson (quoted by David Dennis) @ ~late-mid — Specific technical critique of poor rule design; demonstrates post-release industry reflection

• “To be fair, every pinhead I knew hated it. Every non-pinhead I knew loved it.”

  Ron Hallett @ ~mid-late — Captures the game's split reception between competitive and casual audiences

Entities

Signals

• ?

  personnel_signal: John Borg returned to Stern Pinball in 2007 after seven-year absence working in non-pinball industries (slot machines, redemption games, kitchen equipment design)

  high · David Dennis: 'In 2007, the opportunity did come back again to work at Stern' and context of Borg's 2000 Austin Powers departure

• ?

  business_signal: Stern underwent significant staff reductions in 2008-2009 during Great Recession; only John Borg survived as sole in-house designer after Steve Ritchie and Pat Waller departures

  high · David Dennis: 'Many of the employees at Stern were let go in 2008, 2009... John was one of the few survivors' and 'he was their only in-house designer'

• ?

  licensing_signal: Licensing practices became more restrictive over time; Indiana Jones licensing in 2007-2008 involved rushed PowerPoint presentations and prohibition on note-taking copies, contrasting sharply with 1990s script access

  high · David Dennis quoting John Borg: 'They told me I had to take notes as they were reading the story very quickly' and 'They said absolutely not' to copying notes

• ?

  design_philosophy: Indiana Jones marks early visible emergence of John Borg's distinctive design fingerprint, though still somewhat unrefined compared to later Stern work; shows left-to-right shot flow design methodology

  medium · David Dennis: 'So it's like he's taken him like 10, 15 years to sort of develop that style and fingerprint, and we're starting to see it more and more throughout his games'

• ?

  product_concern: Indiana Jones suffered from poor rule progression design with diminishing multiball returns and excessive shot repetition requirements ('woodchop' mechanics), limiting competitive depth