BlahCade 32: Zen, and the Art of Digital Pinball

Stream/RSS/Download: http://shoutengine.com/BlahCadePodcast/zen-and-the-art-of-digital-pinball-13958

iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/blahcade-podcast/id1039748922?mt=2

Blab.im: https://blab.im/BlahCade

Back to back interviews. Yep, we’re pulling out all the stops to keep New BlahCade fresh as possible.

This week Bobby from Zen Studios joins us on her Sunday afternoon to talk about a motherload of subjects. It’s a fantastic interview, and almost double our normal length. I’m sure you won’t mind though.

It’s both an enjoyable and informative session so get streaming and let us know if you want to hear more of this type of content by tweeting [MENTION=5676]Blah[/MENTION]cade, [MENTION=459]jaredmorgs[/MENTION] or [MENTION=134]shutyertrap[/MENTION]s.

Segments

• Bump In and Ads - 0:00
• Introductions - 0:45
• Blab Woes - 1:00
• Shiny New TV - 1:35
• Monoprice.com Advert (not!) - 2:35
• Bobby from Zen Studios joins - 5:00
• How Bobby became Community Manager - 6:00
• How many titles does zen support? - 6:28
• What's the most challenging title/platform to support - 6:50
• Chris' first Zen support case - 8:16
• 3D support - 9:30
• What is the most challenging platform - 11:30
• Team size - 12:15
• Zen's Design Philosophy - 13:15
• How long does a table take to release - 15:45
• Homage to tables past - 17:00
• How much input do licensors have on tables - 18:38
• Why no Kickstarters? - 20:30
• Dealing with Disney Merger - 22:00
• The holy grail of licenses - 24:15
• Balls of Steel Animation Style - 25:20
• Moon Night? Why? - 27:00
• Blab Questions - 28:00
• On Customer loyalty and cross-buy - 29:00
• Tournaments? Anybody? Bueller? - 30:00
• eSports - 31:24
• Core Code System - 32:25
• Dynamic lighting - 33:15
• Head 2 Head - 34:00
• How eSports Works - 35:48
• Why Flash Sales and Discounts? - 36:10
• Humble Bundles FTW - 38:00
• On table builds that mimic reality - 38:40
• It's called Pinball "FX" for a reason - 41:15
• Crazy ideas are mini games - 42:52
• Bring back the Roto target! - 43:15
• PvZ on Mobile? - 46:35
• Stern used Excalibur as the blueprint for GoT - 47:55
• Pinball FX1 Tables on new platforms - 49:40
• Strong slings, and designer preferences - 50:36
• Release Cadence - 53:15
• Embedded rules in tables - 53:55
• Bobby picks Zen Book Club tables - 58:15
• Outro - 1:03:00
• Sponsors and Outro - 38:00 min

So... is it a law that virtual pinball studios have to have a "Bobby"?

Fungi said:

So... is it a law that virtual pinball studios have to have a "Bobby"?

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I actually touched on that!

Man, what a great asset it is to have a capable, committed and charming community manager.
Priceless.
I love the people at zen now.

Fantastic episode! Bobby/Barbie (Borbie? Babby?) was such a great guest - and you´ve been excellent hosts once again. Tons of great insights and great chemistry!

And yeah, the two South Park tables really are the new benchmark of what Zen is capable of, looking forward to more impressions from you on those two. They´re especially good with inserts and guiding you along the table. The voice clips are inserted beautifully, and make the tables delightfully noisy, something I´ve always criticised about older Zen tables: They used to be rather dull in the sound departement. Hearing screams of the manbearpig (I barely know the show but I already like that thing) or the nasal voice of Cartman is a beautiful cacaphony. Fantastic flow, too.

(Avengers: Age Of Ultron has a fun horseshoe/u-turn right in the middle, which gives it a particular oldschool feel - that´s one element I´ve always loved on real pinball and never thought I´d see on a Zen table!)

The little Frozen joke made me smile. Rollergames style - DON´T LET IT GO! (3..2..1..) LET IT GO!

Looking forward to the next episode! Your podcast is such a gem.

Now would be a good time to remind you all that reviews are really appreciated on things like iTunes and other aggregators.

Thanks for the feedback here as well: all of it is appreciated.

jaredmorgs said:

Now would be a good time to remind you all that reviews are really appreciated on things like iTunes and other aggregators.

Thanks for the feedback here as well: all of it is appreciated.

Click to expand...

I actually forgot about that. Reviewing now

Just ordered some cables from monoprice. Thanx syt

Kolchak357 said:

Just ordered some cables from monoprice. Thanx syt

Click to expand...

Oohhh, what kind?

shutyertrap said:

Oohhh, what kind?

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Seriously? Talk of cables perked up your tail? And you wonder why the Blahcade Backroom exists.

I bet they were cheap

Fungi said:

Seriously? Talk of cables perked up your tail? And you wonder why the Blahcade Backroom exists.

Click to expand...

I don't wonder at all! If people hadn't complained about my other interests intruding on their pinball listening enjoyment, there'd be no need

shutyertrap said:

Oohhh, what kind?

Click to expand...

Just a couple 3 foot bargain hdmi's. I needed to replace one and figured I'd order a spare as well since they were so cheap.

Great listen. Thanks for all your work guys with these podcasts.

How about interviewing this guy who is launching a Kickstarter for his Pinball Construction software. The demo played very well.
http://www.vpforums.org/index.php?showtopic=32576&p=326733