Grilling the Game: The Recipe Behind Barry O's Barbecue Challenge
Summary
TLDRIn this heartfelt video, the narrator discusses the development of 'Barry's Barbecue Challenge,' a pinball game honoring Barry Oursler's 40-year career in game design. The game, initially titled 'CarHop,' evolved to reflect American barbecue culture after discovering the name was already taken. The script details the game's design process, from initial sketches to the incorporation of thematic elements, and the emotional journey of creating a tribute to Barry after his passing during development. The video captures the passion and dedication of the team as they transform the game into a fitting homage to Barry's legacy.
Takeaways
- 🚗 The speaker attended a car show and barbecue challenge, which inspired the game 'Bario's Barbecue Challenge'.
- 🎮 The game is a tribute to Barry O'Neal's 40 years in game design, with the speaker having a personal connection to the 'Space Shuttle' pinball game.
- 🔄 The game's theme changed from 'Car Right' to 'Barbecue' to avoid confusion with an existing game and to capture Americana culture.
- 🍔 The game design process involved visiting various barbecue restaurants in Texas to capture the essence of American barbecue.
- ⏳ Barry O'Neal was known for his fast development in the industry and had submitted his design for the game in January 2022.
- 📝 The initial design had elements like Spinners on ramps, which were kept throughout the development process.
- 🔄 The game's design went through several iterations, with the speaker and Barry O'Neal working closely to refine it.
- 🕰 The game was initially planned to be called 'CarHop', but the name was changed to 'Barry Alzer's Barbecue Challenge' after Barry's passing.
- 💔 Barry O'Neal passed away due to complications from cancer treatment, which deeply affected the team.
- 🏆 The game aims to honor Barry O'Neal's legacy and his contributions to the pinball industry.
- 🎲 The game design emphasizes simplicity and affordability while maintaining the challenge and fun of pinball.
Q & A
What is the name of the game that Dave and Barry Alzer were developing together?
-The game they were developing is called 'Barry's Barbecue Challenge'.
Why did the game's theme change from 'Car Right' to 'Barbecue'?
-The theme changed because 'CarHop' was already a game title from the 1980s, and 'Barbecue' was considered more representative of Americana and the essence of summer gatherings in the United States.
What personal significance does the theme of 'Space Shuttle' have for Dave?
-The 'Space Shuttle' theme is significant to Dave because it was his first pinball game ever played, and it inspired his passion for pinball.
What was the original name of the game before it became 'Barry's Barbecue Challenge'?
-The original name of the game was 'CarHop' before it was changed to honor Barry Alzer.
How did the development of the game progress after Barry Alzer's passing?
-After Barry Alzer's passing, the team at American Pinball continued to develop the game, incorporating elements that Barry wanted and ensuring that the game would be a tribute to him.
What was the first draft of the game design like?
-The first draft of the game design was a simple sketch with Spinners on the ramps, and it served as a starting point for further development.
What elements from the barbecue theme were initially considered for the game inserts?
-The initial inserts considered for the game included CarHop, Burgers, fries, and drinks, representing elements of a barbecue setting.
What was the significance of the rule of three in the game design?
-The rule of three is a classic design principle used by Barry Alzer, which was applied to the game's ramps and other elements to create a balanced and visually appealing layout.
What type of display were they considering for the game to keep it simple and affordable?
-They were considering an alpha-numeric display or a dot-matrix display to keep the game simple and affordable.
What event did Dave organize in 2009 that was related to pinball and barbecue?
-In 2009, Dave organized a pinball show in Niagara Falls, New York, which coincided with a barbecue festival and a car show, creating a unique event that combined multiple elements of Americana.
How did the game's development timeline progress from the initial draft to the final design?
-The game's development timeline involved multiple iterations, starting with a basic draft, then adding inserts and rules, and finally refining the design to incorporate the barbecue theme and pay tribute to Barry Alzer.
Outlines
🚗 Introduction to Barry's Barbecue Challenge
The script introduces Barry's Barbecue Challenge, a pinball game designed by Barry Oursler and the narrator. It discusses the game's development, the inspiration behind it, and the personal significance of the Space Shuttle theme for the narrator. The game's evolution from an initial car theme to a barbecue theme is explained, reflecting the quintessential Americana experience of summer barbecue festivals and car shows. The script also highlights the rapid development process of the game, with Barry's whitewood drawing submitted in January 2022 and the incorporation of various elements like drop targets and spinners on ramps.
🔄 Design Iterations and Barry's Legacy
This paragraph delves into the iterative design process of the pinball game, with Barry being described as a fast and efficient game designer. The script mentions the second iteration of the game's design, where elements like CarHop, burgers, fries, and drinks were introduced as part of the game's inserts. The importance of maintaining simplicity and affordability in the game's design is emphasized, alongside the use of classic Barry design elements like the rule of three action on the ramps. The narrative also shares personal anecdotes about working with Barry, including visits to barbecue restaurants in Texas for inspiration and the emotional impact of Barry's passing during the game's development.
🏆 Honoring Barry's Memory and Game Development
The final paragraph focuses on the emotional aftermath of Barry's passing and the decision to rename the game to Barry Alzer's Barbecue Challenge in his honor. It details the team's determination to continue Barry's vision for the game, incorporating his design preferences and ideas that were discussed prior to his passing. The script also discusses the game's mechanics, emphasizing its simple appearance but challenging gameplay, and shares a personal story of a high-scoring game session between the narrator and Steve, highlighting the game's risk and reward elements. The paragraph concludes with reflections on the game's title and its connection to classic pinball games from the past.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Bario's Barbecue Challenge
💡Pinball
💡Car Show
💡Americana
💡Game Design
💡Space Shuttle
💡CarHop
💡Whitewood Drawing
💡Barbecue Festivals
💡Rule Set
💡Barry Alzer
Highlights
Introduction of 'Bario's Barbecue Challenge', a pinball game developed as a tribute to Barry Ots' 40 years in game design.
Emotional significance of the game for the speaker, as 'Space Shuttle' was their first pinball game experience.
The game's initial concept was 'Car Right', but it evolved due to the existence of a game named 'CarHop' and changing times.
The essence of Americana and summer barbecue festivals captured in the game's theme.
Barry Ots' reputation as the 'fastest gun' in the pinball industry and his rapid development of the game.
The game's design process, starting with a simple draft and evolving through iterations.
The importance of the 'rule of three' in pinball design, evident in the game's ramps and other elements.
The game's transition from 'CarHop' to 'Barbecue Challenge', reflecting the American barbecue culture.
Barry Ots' favorite activities, including visiting barbecue restaurants in Texas for inspiration.
A historical pinball event in Niagara Falls, New York, which combined a barbecue festival with a pinball show.
The first draft of the game's design and its significance in capturing the initial ideas.
The iterative design process, including discussions on scaling and display types for the game.
The game's affordability and simplicity as key design goals, influenced by Barry Ots' vision.
The impact of Barry Ots' passing on the project and the team's decision to honor him by renaming the game.
The team's commitment to continue Barry's vision and incorporate his design preferences into the final game.
The game's challenge to master, reflecting the classic design of games from the Williams era.
Personal anecdotes of playing 'Barry's Barbecue Challenge' and the competitive spirit it fosters.
The game's title as a fitting tribute to Barry Ots, aligning with classic game themes from the past.
Transcripts
[Music]
there he is hey Dave here you go I just
came back from the car show right car
show you know how much it was they got
cars and bikes and everything here at
the barbecue challenge absolutely
something that I'm hoping you're going
to discover when you play this game
Bario's barbecue challenge a game that I
am pleased and thankful to both American
pinball bar aler and a whole team here
to have this game developed and present
to you I I'm just
hoping that this is a worthy tribute to
Barry alzer's 40 Years of game design
I'll tell you when I was talking with
Barry yeah and he let me know what the
gist of the initial design was going to
be when he was inviting me on the pro on
the project to be CoD game designer with
him and he said space shuttle and I got
to tell him I got to remind him that
space shuttle was my very first pinball
game I ever played in my life so that is
why space shuttle holds a very close
feeling in my heart it's like the
release of this game is a loop of my
life okay really that's what it feels
like that I got like I get to have my
name anywhere near Barry to release a
game based on Space Shuttle my first
experience in pinball is the reason why
I'm in pinball today and then some
people ask me all the time they go why
barbecue well so originally the game
started out as car right but I explained
to Barry that a game called CarHop had
already been developed by gly back in 84
85 and not only that times have changed
there weren't really a lot of car hops
in in the United States however we came
across something that's truly
Americana Americana to the point that
every summer there are hundreds if not
thousands of barbecue festivals corn
boils big kind of outdoor Gatherings
where there's car shows or just like the
one we're right here at right right yeah
going on across America and in these
moments there's some real fun things to
do so we captured that Essence in the
pinball Barry was the fastest gun in the
industry understand that so in January
of
2022
right Barry had already submitted his
Whitewood drawing in fact I think St he
had submitted this drawing already to us
and in fact if you can see over here on
the right there's the the drop targets
are way over here on the right side The
Spinners are still on the ramps the
saucers are in the spots there's just a
few fine points that we had to make um
the barbecue theme is not random I went
to many barbecue restaurants in Texas
with Barry it was one of the very uh one
of his favorite things to do right and
when he was ready to go to lunch you
better be ready absolutely okay I do the
same thing with you you better be ready
okay and so there were quite a few
barbecue restaurants we Texans went and
visited uh many days so and it was one
of the things that he took his uh good
friends to and I was I'm glad to be able
to count myself one of them so so to go
back a few quite a few years earlier in
2009 okay this is some time ago wow I
put on a pinball show in Niger Falls New
York and it was with a barbecue festival
at the same time and we had a car show
so we had a barbecue festival outside a
pinball show inside with about 100 pins
and we had a car show going on at the
same time plus a band and a bunch of
other things and it was a it was a hoot
of a weekend perfect and most people
were like this this is what's going on
well when we talked about barbecue
it just started coming together when uh
this game was going to be called CarHop
and we started to work on it uh we just
want to get something down nice and
quick just to get the ideas down
absolutely all right just to get
anything on paper based on the you know
quick design the first draft and here it
is here is the first ever draft draft
there's not much on it but I keep it for
the history of it because it is
literally the first thing that Barry and
I wrode on to see what was going going
to be in the game all right and this is
one of those just get it down really
quickly and as we're talking about other
things we'll get back to it later and
then you know at least we'll have this
and we'll get things started and my
initial rule set was based off this
skeleton got it right and if you look
back far enough even right there we
already had the Spinners on the ramps
because the ramp Spinners were something
that I had always thought would be
really cool we go back in history far
enough we could see it on some games
like capcom's Kingpin on the center ramp
so there are many times that you know we
borrow little things but we definitely
had some fun with this so Barry was the
fastest gun and he was developing this
very fast he had basically submitted
this to Steve myself the engineering
team here at American pinball and that
was on a Friday and he was uh with the
phone call was pretty easy uh he was so
excited about shooting the game playing
it couldn't wait to come back up here to
Chicago to spend time with people and
talk about it and uh he um gave me all
the paperwork I had set up a time frame
with him it was the end of January and I
said to uh Bar says give us about a
month to two months maybe you know he
was going through some cancer treatment
at the time and he said probably by
around April he'd be good so we we while
this is happening understanding in the
background Barry and I are still talking
I mean I'm on the phone with him we're
talking about you know updating certain
different versions of this I can go over
here get more versions of it and this
like wait let me give me a give me a
moment I'll be back okay I'm back okay
more more iterations right so this is so
while that that timeline was going on
here I have a second iteration where we
started getting in what some of the
inserts were going to be so some of them
right so we have m we have CarHop we
have Burgers we have fries we have
drinks we have soda here right so things
are starting to come together yes we are
still finding that these are the locks
the drop Target Bank was still on the
right we were still wanted to see how
was that going to work would it be
possible to have that sweepable effect
into the top hole so we were still
experimenting with some of that
then I started to get a little bit of
what the rules might
I mean this is still very dirty as far
as the inserts this is just getting them
down as to what the numbers might be
notice you might notice the scaling is
quite small yep on this or different
plans on what what type of scaling this
might be correct would it be a uh alpha
numeric right we we to alpha numeric we
toyed with a dot matrix dot matrix
display right because I mean one of the
keys of this game is to have it be a
simple looking game right also more
affordable game more affordable game all
right so that's kind of where the
scaling was you can see The Telltale
rule of three action going on with the
ramps and some of the other aspects that
are classic Barry design I would say
absolutely and so we move on
to the next contestant here right so
here is where you can slowly start
seeing the radial design coming into
play as far as the inserts right this
would be would become a key Point later
yeah it does look like a clock for a
subtle reason which wasn't quite
developed here yet but was in my mind
right so and so yes things are more
start starting to go into play we still
have the malt we still have the soda we
still have the targets here we still
have this we still have the Spinners on
the ramps and all of that so as you can
see I'm very glad I was able to keep all
this history by the way this is this
feels this is uh very very very close to
my heart and I'm glad I have all this
and I'm glad that you all will be able
to see this absolutely as it was being
developed because I mean it was and is a
great honor and privilege to have been
working with Barry knowing that I mean
as you we were talking about Barry was
in discussion becoming up here yep to
Chicago I already was up here I was
already going to be discussing things
that I needed to talk with Barry about
like I wanted to ask him what uh medium
Burger means that doesn't you know
things like that you know that we were
working on to to uh to really solidify
the design get it made get it shooting
and then move on from there and
essentially me serving as Barry's
understudy on my journey to become a
game designer myself correct that was
the plan yes and we kept developing the
plan and we were about ready to build
the whitewoods right and then
unfortunately that fateful day probably
3 days after he submitted his drawing to
us uh his wife called me to tell me that
he had we had he had passed due to
complications doing his cancer
treatment which took the wind out of our
sales for a moment I know you were
beside yourself I know where I was I was
in I can point to right to that room
where I was in the office you you were
standing outside my office and you had
that look and I had already known man
before that time I mean yeah before that
time I got the call from Kathy right we
talk okay I uh calm myself down I think
you know I grieve do what you have to do
right I think we all grieved for a bit
right then you got to get yourself
together and be a professional
understand that Barry had touched a lot
of people in this industry yeah a lot
and we had a lot of people in this
industry come together and basically
called out you know that Barry was a
great guy and we we we did a press
release about his passing and it was
tough on his family
of course and we we worked hard but I
think it was like a two days after this
we brought the team together and that's
when the name changed the name changed
from barbecue challenge to Barry always
barbecue challenge right we knew we were
going to honor the man and Steve kind of
locked himself in his office for the
next couple days at that point I was
like I I decid first thing I did was
there were again as I said before there
were things I were going to be
discussing with Barry got it when we met
yep I
hurriedly wrote down wrote down and got
all my notes together so I didn't lose
anything CU if I lost anything that
would just hurt so much if I did so I
want to make sure I get everything down
make sure these are the things that
Barry wanted these are things that I
wanted these we talked about these are
things we were going to discuss right
got them down on the initial rule set so
that they would be retained and then as
I was doing that slowly but surely I
started making the game Barry's game
correct and you'll see what that means
later those of you who have already
played the game those of you who have
been to the seminars know what that
means be pointed these things out but
we'll get to that later and and some
people are still discovering what that
means and don't be feel bad when you see
this video and you learn some new stuff
today so I mean granted this is a great
game it's like we said
before simple on the outside but hard to
master it also you got to risk it got in
order to get it you got to risk it for
the brisket right you got to risk it for
the brisket there you go I like that
that's a good new
term understand that you know Barry 's
barbecue challenge Steve and I have been
playing against each other we've
actually streamed it you could see it on
our American pinball stream there was
one night where during the stream it was
Ray and me versus Steve right and I we
had put on a one billion points and
Steve Bowen was at 20 million with one
ball left cuz I did nothing one ball
Bowen I had did nothing up to that point
because I was risking things and not
cashing in he risked it off like my
Barbecue Cooking was just not quite
there like I had it but then I would
mess up at the end and just like
barbecue shows you got to present your
meal correctly that's correct otherwise
you will be punished for that and I was
and they weren't up to that point yeah
but you you ended up putting like two
billion points three billion points in
you know pass this and we were like okay
understand that barbecue challenge is
yet not a a just you know weird title
but it's a great title because it fits
in with the genre of the classic games
from the gone by Era of Williams and Bal
when they did things like taxi and Diner
fish fish tals you know now we have
barbecue challenge la
[Music]
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