Q Who is answering?

A My name is Kyle Miller and I have been the designer for all of the games in the 3D Ultra Pinball series from Sierra.

Q It isn't hard to guess you have some kind of interest in pinball's, so I wonder how come you got interested in them from the beginning?

A I'm not sure when I played my first pinball game (I was pretty young at the time and Pong was yet to be invented) but I recall that I first became what you might call a connoisseur during my college years. The pins that I played a lot back then were Gorgar, Firepower, Flash, Space Invaders, and Genie.

Q Which is your favorite pinball / pinball simulation ?

A My favorite game is 3D Ultra Pinball: The Lost Continent, of course. I'm rather fond of Star Trek, The Next Generation and Medieval Madness these days.

Q Could you maybe presentate the programming team? Those that have been involved with the 3D Ultra Pinball series.

A The game engine was first developed by Derek Lukaszuk, who is sadly no longer with us. In spite of that, his engine is still the basis for all of the games in the series. Jon Milnes, who ported the game over to the Mac platform, became the lead programmer for Creep Night, and did quite a bit of work on The Lost Continent. Derek's brother, Peter Lukaszuk was the lead programmer for The Lost Continent. Rounding up the team is Richard Tunnell, who did quite a bit of work on the logic and scoring for all three games in the series.

Q Could you presentate your role in the programming team a little more in depth? What do you do? How come you got involved in doing what you do?

A As designer, I essentially directed the efforts of the team. I came up with the concept, the graphics, and the scoring for the games. It was the programmer's unfortunate task to make sense of it all. Actually, I didn't just dump this stuff on them. We worked closely, coming up with ideas, working back and forth until we were all happy with the end result.

Q As I have understood it you are the designer of the pinball tables. Where do you get the Ideas for how the tables should look. Is there anything special you have in mind when working on the design? What is most important?

A That's a good question. It usually starts one of two ways: One way is when I have a set idea of what I want to happen (such as the graveyard in Creep Night) and then I lay out things the way they should be. The second way is when I simply look at all of the possible directions that the ball can go and try an figure out what sort of neat things I can put in it's path. Usually, it's a combination of the too. Once the first draft is worked out, there's a lot of revisions to make it work as intended or as we come up with better ideas.

Q Which table that you have designed are you most happy with?

A I'm happy with all of them, but if I have to choose just one, I think the 12th table in The Lost Continent (Dr. Hekla's Lab) gets the nod. I just like the way it plays.

Q All the tables in the 3DUP series feature some kind of moving sprite on the tables, how come you have chosen to have these things there?

A It first came up as something we could do which had never been done before. It was so well received that they asked us to put more in (and more, and more!) The use of animations on the tables is actually an extension of what we saw in the dot-matrix displays. We asked ourselves, why can't we make them in color? And why limit them to the score box? Pretty soon, we had them all over the place.

Q What is your opinion, your idea, of how a pinball simulation should be? Do you want the simulation to be as accurate as possible, simulating the real thing and maybe using the computer to create those effects that otherwise would have costed millions in a real one. Or do you want it to use the computer every possible way to get unpossible but still neat effects? Why?

A It has always been our intention to use the full capabilities of the computer to make a pinball game that you simply cannot get in the real world. If you look at the history of pinball machines, you see one innovation after another, each trying to get the attention of the consumer. There was the flipper, the ramp, digitized voices and music, dot matrix displays, animated and pop-up targets, who knows what's next? I'm certain that if they could put it in there, you would find little animated go-carts and dinosaurs in your favorite pin at the arcade. We're simply doing the most we can do with the resources available to us, just as the guys who are making the real pins are doing with their product.

Q Which is your dream layout of a real table, what layout would you like to see a real pinball using?

A The tables I make ARE my dream tables. The only thing wrong with them is that they exist only in cyberspace.

Q From where did the Idea to make the first 3D Ultra Pinball come?

A Another good question. Derek Lukaszuk was working on an engine that closely simulated the motion of a ball in a 3D environment. After a bit of discussion, we decided that it would be fun to make a pinball machine. However, our first designs were pretty boring. They were just ordinary pinball games with flashy graphics. I remember going home one night and as I was giving my kids a bath, I started thinking about what would make the game really neat. And I realized that we needed to build a miniature world, with real buildings. We could use computer animation to make some spectacular effects, so why bother with the mundane?

Q The first 3DUP seemed to aim at a wide public with it's glittering graphics and animated sprites on the table. How come this path was chosen instead of the one to make a realistic pinball?

A By realistic pinball, I assume you mean a simulation of an actual arcade machine. As I mentioned before, we started out doing that, but no one was really excited with the results. I had looked at a few sims while I was developing this one (this was back in '94 when the latest sim was Crystal Caliburn) and it irked me that the sims were going to such pains to simulate something that you could walk to the local convenience store and enjoy with your friends for a few quarters. I'm sure some folks liked putting virtual quarters in the coin slot, but it didn't seem logical to me. After all, I had already bought the game, why not put it on free play? That was one of the reasons we decided to go in a different direction. The other I had mentioned before. It just seemed logical to use all of the resources that the computer made available to us. We weren't simulating a pinball machine, we were making A GAME, and we wanted to make it one that anyone could play and enjoy.

Q How come the follower 3D Ultra Pinball: Creep Night was made? Was it because fans of the pinball really wanted a follower or (if I may ask) it just sold a lot? For what I know 3dup is one of the most marketed pinballs which really must have helped the sales of it, what do you think?

A Actually, when you compare it to other Sierra products, 3D Ultra Pinball comes up short when it comes to marketing dollars. How many ads for the game have you seen in your favorite magazine? Compare that to ads for Starcraft, King's Quest, etc. The real reason behind the game's success is that it is very approachable by the average user. Pinball isn't really hard to understand, and we went out of our way to make the game easy to use. Also, you get some nice visual rewards for your efforts very early in the game. So, getting back to the question, 3D Ultra Pinball had done phenomenally well for Sierra, which led to the decision to do another. Sales is one of the most useful tools that companies have to determine the demand for their product.

Q Now the third one in the series, 3D Ultra Pinball: The Lost Continent has been released. Could you tell me a little about it. What is the thought/meaning behind it? I know it still is a pinball game, but how does it differ from the other two?

A In the Lost Continent, I decided to emphasize the story element. There is a very definite story behind the game, and you, the player, are driving it along. It concerns a trio of adventurers who find themselves in a strange land where time has seemingly stood still. They have to dodge dinosaurs and other perils to find out the mystery behind this place and ultimately escape from the lost continent.

Q How do you think TLC stand up against hard core simulations like timeshock! ? I know 3dup has received a lot of critics from die hard fans, that is why I wonder...

A I don't know. A lot of the criticism I've seen comes from individuals and not professional reviewers. There's always a small, but very vocal group that will come up and criticize any product you can name in the electronic forums. The reviews that I've read, on the other hand, have been very positive. The two products appeal to two very different audiences out there. Most of the users of our product would very likely have a hard time with Timeshock and probably put it on the shelf after a while. By the same token, Timeshock users would consider 3D Ultra Pinball too "easy" and not give it much attention. To each his own.

Q What do you think about the critics the pinballs in the series have recived, critics like: repeatable, no replay value, way-to-unrealistic, to easy, not-especially-serious-looking? (The pinball do have good sides!! but I wonder what you think about those critics.)

A I assume you mean critiques. As I've said, most of the reviews that I've read in the media do not say these things. I have seen messages to that extent from some users out there (some of which have been posted on web pages), but like I said, there will always be people who will want to slam your product, no matter what it is. It is very hard to change their opinion, and what is the point? I'd like them to be happy, and if they'd be happier playing someone else's game, then more power to them. 3D Ultra Pinball has been very popular with its fans and it has been well received by the media, so who could ask for more?

Q Are there any plans for a fourth pinball in the series?

A Yes.

Q Anything else you want to comment about?

A Just to thank you for allowing me to share my views. Thanks.