Episode 45 - Pinball Art Director w/ Greg Freres

Greg Freres recounts designing art for classic Williams pinball games post-1988 merger.

Synopsis

Greg Freres discusses his landmark work as art director at Williams/Bally during the post-1988 merger era, covering collaborations with legendary designers Dennis Nordman and Steve Ritchie, the development of iconic games like Elvira and the Party Monsters and Star Trek: The Next Generation, and the evolution of pinball art from illustration to digital production.

Highlights

• Elvira and the Party Monsters won Best New Equipment (pinball) at the 1989 AMOA show for the first time in seven years; prior years video games had dominated the award
• Police Force outsold Elvira and the Party Monsters despite Elvira being the superior game; Bally name was still tainted from company troubles
• Williams art department received their first Macintosh computer in the mid-1990s shared among six artists with a sign-up list
• Greg Freres was hesitant to embrace computer art technology and took years to fully embrace it, unlike younger hires Linda Deal and Paul Barker
• Greg created original pencil sketches for Medieval Madness composition but John Youssi completed final art; Greg was overseeing slot machine work and flying to Vegas three times a year
• Steve Ritchie is difficult to brainstorm with, immediately rejecting ideas until one finally resonates enough for him to say 'I can't hate that'
• Cassandra Peterson was receptive, understood pinball, and wanted to be involved in all three Elvira games
• Dennis Nordman originally suggested party animal theme before Elvira was licensed; concept evolved from Spuds McKenzie era and became seed for Elvira game

Entities

• Bally Manufacturing· company
• Williams Electronic Games Inc.· company
• Dr. Dude And His Excellent Ray· game
• Elvira and the Party Monsters· game
• Medieval Madness· game
• Monster Bash· game
• Party Zone· game
• Star Trek: The Next Generation· game
• White Water· game
• Brian Eddy· person
• Cassandra Peterson· person
• Dennis Nordman· person
• Greg Freres· person
• John Youssi· person
• Kevin O'Connor· person
• Larry DeMar· person
• Linda Deal· person
• Margaret Hudson· person
• Pat McMahon· person
• Paul Barker· person
• Roger Sharpe· person
• Steve Kordek· person
• Steve Ritchie· person
• Thomas Blackshear· person