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LoserKid Pinball Podcast
LoserKid Pinball Podcast
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Ep 77: Earning Wings with Tim Sexton and Raymond Davidson

PodcastAnalysis updated today1 hr 21 min listen
From the creator

Ep 77 is here and we talk the many levels of coding with Tim Sexton and Raymond Davidson. We talk Rush, competitive pinball, and a couple of secrets.

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Highlights

  • Tim Sexton and Raymond Davidson have been working on Rush since around the time of Led Zeppelin 1.0 announcement or before, with approximately 13 months between Led Zeppelin and Rush production.
  • Tim Sexton has contributed to eight total Stern games, with Rush being his third as lead developer.
  • Raymond Davidson official title on Rush is 'Wingman' (second-in-command software), and he joined the project early in the whitewood phase rather than near shipping.
  • Rush has 16 songs with live footage videos assembled from multiple concert performances, not repeating footage within a single song playthrough.
  • Competitive pinball experience helps code designers because it provides familiarity with diverse rule sets, shot mechanics, and design patterns across different eras of machines.
  • Lonnie D. Ropp has worked at Stern since 1987, 'since literally the first line of code was written at Stern.'
  • Stern Pinball Inn. Insider now has a tab showing employees, making it easier to follow designer accounts.
  • Rush has approximately 114 available songs (described as slightly less than a possible 150).

Notable quotes

“When we get the first game and it doesn't light up and nothing moves, Raymond joined at that point, and we both had whitewoods. Yeah, and Tim was like, all right, make all the devices do stuff. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, what?”
Raymond Davidson
“So you're telling me Bugs Bunny's probably not going to make the cut?”
Scott Larson
“More complicated doesn't necessarily mean more fun.”
Raymond Davidson
“I have an encyclopedia of like, oh, I could do the AC/DC similar rule or the Family Guy inspired rule and I always mix and match and add my own spin to it, but if I ever am low on inspiration, I have a whole back catalog to pull stuff that was fun.”
Tim Sexton
“With a music game in the LCD era, you want to create an audio and visual and pinball experience that makes sense with what you have because the music is like that main ingredient of the game where you are not, you're stuck with it.”
Tim Sexton
“Going in person and watching people play the games is the best way to see if they're enjoying something. Are they aiming for something? Are they ignoring it? Do they understand what's happening?”
Tim Sexton
“Canada has a rule where over 30 percent of the music you play has to be from Canadian artists...France has that for French artists. This is actually very common.”
Tim Sexton
“Keith's like that mode's super fun. I'm like, yeah, it is. It's so simple, though.”
Raymond Davidson

Entities

  • Flip N Out Pinball· company
  • Stern Pinball· company
  • Deadpool· game
  • Led Zeppelin· game
  • Rush· game
  • The Avengers· game
  • X-Men· game
  • Loser Kid Pinball Podcast· organization
  • Dwight Sullivan· person
  • Ed Robertson· person
  • George· person
  • Jody· person
  • John Borg· person
  • Josh Roop· person
  • Keith· person
  • Lonnie D. Ropp· person
  • Nicole· person
  • Raymond Davidson· person
  • Scott Larson· person
  • Steve· person
  • Tim Sexton· person
  • Zach Sharpe· person

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