Jorl Finch works at Wildfire studious and at the time of the interview he was working on the then upcoming Balls of Steel.


Q Who are the ppl that are working on pinballs at Wildfire.

A There are three people who work as the core team developing Balls of Steel at Wildfire. Our web page gives some of these details, but I will summarise:
* Stephen Atkinson - graphics rendering, sound effects, table designer
* Darren Baker - engine programmer, Windows programmer
* Joel Finch - project manager, gameplay programmer, table designer

Q How do the group work, do they gather around a old pinball in a dark cellar and plan their next pinball or how? :)

A We have an office in Brisbane, Australia. We've made numerous trips to local pinball arcades and even some pinball machine distributors to collect details about the "real" machines. The WWW has also been a valuable source of pinball information, both for real tables, and computer pinballs.

Q What are the members of the groups opinion on ball physics, layout,themes and similar concerning pinball programming. What do they work after, and please don't answer we work to achieve the best, that I know, but more how do they look at it.

A We are working to give fun, addictive gameplay, combined with interesting visual effects, and clean, sharp graphics. We are not dead-set on producing the most accurate simulation of real pinball machines available, rather we want to produce an enjoyable computer game which is based on pinball.

Q The upcoming Balls of Steel is in 2D, will the group go over to 3D in their next pinball? Since 3D is something, if used right, gives a pinball simulation the true atmosphere and playability (IMO). I'm aware you choosed to have your current game in 2D because of some reason wanting to show the back of the table, will they because of this stay on 2D and not ever go over to 3D?

A Balls of Steel is not strictly 2D - the view we use is enough away from plan-view to give the layout some depth. At the same time, the view is direct enough to clearly show the table design and all the table features. It allows for more complex table designs than other, more angled 3D views.

Q Even if this question might have been answered in the one above I'll ask it, what is the groups plans for their next pinball.

A At this stage, Wildfire has no details available regarding plans for further pinball games. All of us here are quite tired of companies that make all sorts of claims about new products and never deliver, so we prefer not to make any such announcements until we can be certain of fulfilling those claims.