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Stern Venom

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Free Play Pinball Podcast Ep 23: Venom With Dwight • The Pinball Network - Podcast Addict

Free Play Pinball Podcast Episode 23: Venom With Dwight Hosts: Amanda Hamilton & Bill Webb Special Guest: Dwight Sullivan, Senior Game Programmer, Stern Pinball Amanda and Bill emerge from their hiding places to get Venomized with Dwight Sullivan, lead programmer of Stern Pinball's newest...
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Free Play Pinball Podcast Episode 23: Venom With Dwight

Hosts: Amanda Hamilton & Bill Webb

Special Guest: Dwight Sullivan, Senior Game Programmer, Stern Pinball

Amanda and Bill emerge from their hiding places to get Venomized with Dwight Sullivan, lead programmer of Stern Pinball's newest game, Venom. Check out the end of the podcast as Dwight shares a few sentimental moments with the crew and asks for our listeners' help.
 
J85M said:
Oh sorry Scott, I remember you posting that before sorry. So other than 3 LEs, no premiums or pros?
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I just checked pinball.co.uk and you can still pre-order an LE.

Highly unusual that especially if it's still only 5 he's getting.
 
Alpha1 said:
I just checked pinball.co.uk and you can still pre-order an LE.

Highly unusual that especially if it's still only 5 he's getting.
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The original 5 were gone straight away. Then phil managed to get some more. Not sure how many extra he got
 
Scott-UK said:
The original 5 were gone straight away. Then phil managed to get some more. Not sure how many extra he got
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A cancellation maybe?

The great thing about Stern and Electrocoin pricing most people out is Phil isn’t exactly short on other manufacturers he distributes for, so he’s able to offer, what are becoming genuine alternatives as @Gonzo spoke about recently.
 
J85M said:
A cancellation maybe?

The great thing about Stern and Electrocoin pricing most people out is Phil isn’t exactly short on other manufacturers he distributes for, so he’s able to offer, what are becoming genuine alternatives as @Gonzo spoke about recently.
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But if you forgot about the Le the prices of alternative games is more
 
J85M said:
A cancellation maybe?

The great thing about Stern and Electrocoin pricing most people out is Phil isn’t exactly short on other manufacturers he distributes for, so he’s able to offer, what are becoming genuine alternatives as @Gonzo spoke about recently.
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I obviously don't know the numbers but I'd imagine Stern are a very large percentage of his sales.
 
Marvello said:
I obviously don't know the numbers but I'd imagine Stern are a very large percentage of his sales.
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Oh without a doubt they have been massive for him and us as a community but Venom seems to have hit a wall mostly due to the price it seems and rumour is Jaws/Elwin will see another price increase.
 
CHRIS B PINBALLS said:
But if you forgot about the Le the prices of alternative games is more
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Pulp fiction, scooby doo, cactus, alien, lov, out of the most current options from alternative manufacturers are all cheaper than a Stern premium and arguably more packed.

Use pro pricing and yeah they are cheaper but Venom is bare, those fast lock systems are clever but barely a feature, they should have took those out the pro and put in the changing features.

TBL is 500-700 more than a premium? I haven’t looked so I could be wrong but TBL has always been praised for the amount that’s packed into it.

I love me some Stern, just a passing comment that they are making the competition look more interesting, especially if they bump the prices again with Elwins next.
 
Stern are acting like it’s early 2019. it’s financial lockdown now. buyers are very short on the ground. The rise of pinbars has kept them going a bit longer. crash coming.
 
I can't be the only one who thinks the changing playfield is boring? So instead of a particular shot coming out in one place it comes out in another...so what, it's just a diverter, hardly a toy. The fastlocks are clever and look fun for a short time but think it'll get old fast. And the swing out Spiderman thing with danglies ....meh.

It's fine though, you can't expect everyone to want every machine. I'm certainly looking forward to playing one though, like every new machine.
 
Toys can be fun but you have to look at the whole package, and code will always make or break a game. From what I've seen, heard and read I like what they are doing with the code. It seems different from the usual copy & paste rulesets and the level up system means more people will get to see the latter parts of the game.

Along with the changing playfield (Premium/LE), the music changes depending which host you choose so hopefully it becomes less repetitive.

It's great we have options and if you don't like this then there is always another release on the horizon.
 
J85M said:
Sounds like Jaws is going to be very much like Jurassic Park, a generic shark (Dino in JPs case) pinball adventure with the title slapped on it.

If anyone can make a great shooting game with zero assets like JP it’s Elwin. Likely why they gave the Jaws licence to him, it was one of the reason he got JP supposedly.
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Does he deffo have that license? From my experience in writing a game with Jaws assets and based on the original movie then there's really not a lot there it's boring to work with.

Obviously you can make fun a game out of any IP and even a pretty simple layout but there isn't much there in Jaws. As long as it a nice collectors piece the IP will sell it.

I think that's what a game like that needs, keep simple, difficult and dial back from all the mobile grind they start putting in.
 
dave said:
Does he deffo have that license? From my experience in writing a game with Jaws assets and based on the original movie then there's really not a lot there it's boring to work with.

Obviously you can make fun a game out of any IP and even a pretty simple layout but there isn't much there in Jaws. As long as it a nice collectors piece the IP will sell it.

I think that's what a game like that needs, keep simple, difficult and dial back from all the mobile grind they start putting in.
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All the usual info leakers seems to be saying it’s JAWS, it’s been mentioned a few times on a discord group I’m part of that it will be generic like Jurassic park was, using the theme/licence and creating a game that is not restricted by the movie/s.

Totally agree with you working with JAWS assets makes for a boring game and there is not a lot that would fit a fast passed game of pinball, although Pinside seem to disagree. Personally going for a custom narrative like JP makes the most sense plus you could have a challenge/play mode where you are Jaws.
 
The Jaws licence has been on Pinball FX for years. Tilting the playfield side to side on a real machine would be interesting.

 
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Marvello said:
It's been on Pinball FX for years. Tilting the playfield side to side on a real machine would be interesting.

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Pretty fun but would make for a boring real world pin. I’m expecting an orca that locks balls and tips up to release them from Elwin and Harrison after the building mech.
 
J85M said:
All the usual info leakers seems to be saying it’s JAWS, it’s been mentioned a few times on a discord group I’m part of that it will be generic like Jurassic park was, using the theme/licence and creating a game that is not restricted by the movie/s.

Totally agree with you working with JAWS assets makes for a boring game and there is not a lot that would fit a fast passed game of pinball, although Pinside seem to disagree. Personally going for a custom narrative like JP makes the most sense plus you could have a challenge/play mode where you are Jaws.
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Yeah it's gotta be coming. If they did that without it being tied to the first movie then it could work but I think people would prefer to have a piece of the movie here. Like with most of them (aside from pulp fiction) they can't rip the movie in most cases.

Would prefer you were the main 3 killing the shark in the end, a wizard mode that you could get to easier than current standards, hard but doable after practice.

Will be interesting to see anyway it's so iconic it should be a real pin no matter how it's done.
 
I think there are a ton of possibilities with Jaws but the shark has to be big.

Having been doing the bowling on Lebowski, there is no reason why a similar feature of harpooning the barrels couldn't be accommodated somehow.

There's numerous options for the boat which could capsize or just be a bash toy.

Three serious mechs there. If they can use the callouts from the original film alongside the iconic music it's a winner.

Nice little 'clear the beach' video mode and you'd have a packed game.

I think this is almost impossible to mess up with Stern's top team on it.
 
Gonzo said:
I think there are a ton of possibilities with Jaws but the shark has to be big.

Having been doing the bowling on Lebowski, there is no reason why a similar feature of harpooning the barrels couldn't be accommodated somehow.

There's numerous options for the boat which could capsize or just be a bash toy.

Three serious mechs there. If they can use the callouts from the original film alongside the iconic music it's a winner.

Nice little 'clear the beach' video mode and you'd have a packed game.

I think this is almost impossible to mess up with Stern's top team on it.
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I couldn't see Stern ever doing something like the lower PF in Lewbowski, they don't seem to take many risks with new mechs. I feel like they've played it safe for a long time.

Look at JP, apparently an amazing game, but I think that's more because of the layout and rules rather than theme integration. You have to pay big money just for the T rex to eat the ball.
 
David_Vi said:
I couldn't see Stern ever doing something like the lower PF in Lewbowski, they don't seem to take many risks with new mechs. I feel like they've played it safe for a long time.

Look at JP, apparently an amazing game, but I think that's more because of the layout and rules rather than theme integration. You have to pay big money just for the T rex to eat the ball.
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They might save money, paint the T-Rex grey and call it a shark 🦈
 
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