For months, we’ve been quietly building something inside the walls of Barrels of Fun. The doors are finally open.

Introducing Winchester Mystery House Pinball, the next major release from Barrels of Fun, designed by Karl DeAngelo in his debut as a pinball designer. This behind-the-scenes feature pulls back the curtain on the months of development that went into the game’s haunting atmosphere, from the music and sound design I created to directing the voice-over sessions that bring the house’s ghostly history to life.

Karl and I sit down Talking Heads style to share how the project came together, with exclusive footage, production notes, and some of the surprises we built into the final game.

This game is a true labor of love from the entire team at Barrels of Fun — artists, programmers, and engineers all pushing to create something that isn’t safe or formulaic. It’s a bold step into a world that doesn’t rely on a major IP, and instead builds its own haunted legend from the ground up. People have been asking for a non-IP based pinball game, and this one delivers. Winchester Mystery House is everything we love about the genre — strange, atmospheric, unpredictable — and proof of what can happen when a small license gives us the room to get weird and make something special.

The machine will make its public debut at Pinball Expo on October 16, and this is your first look inside.

00:00 - Intro

00:22 - Barrels of Fun Game 3 - The Winchester Mystery House

01:00 - My role as the composer and sound designer

01:17 - Minchester

01:25 - Why did you make this IP instead of *insert rumored game*.

02:11 - Karl DeAngelo made a seriously fun game.

02:34 - Karl loves haunted houses.

03:34 - Brief overview of the 2 main mechs.

03:58 - Rotating Halls turntable (Mech 1)

04:36 - Cool Sound

04:40 - Dirty Pool likes inline drops.

04:52 - Dirty Pool also can't remember Flash Gordon (The Red One).

05:25 - Pepper's Ghost Hologram Display (Mech 2)

06:25 - How exploring the game works / building room values through travel.

08:11 - Not a safe game, filled with character.

08:35 - Yamaha YM2151... not 2024.

08:47 - Brief history of FM synthesis in games, and how it shaped the sound of WMH.

09:11 - Helping new players... Room color codes / in game tutorial

10:11 - Bash podcast plug.

10:27 - Apron is a fully interactive part of the experience.

10:51 - Karl's approach to designing his first pinball machine.

12:11 - Karl's giant design document.

12:31 - Not being afraid to make changes to modes to maximize fun.

13:41 - Come see us at Expo and play the game!

13:51 - Making pinball have personality again.

14:28 - Secret / Not So Secret Things

15:02 - "Unintentional Marketing ploy" - I guess it is marketing if I'm talking about it.

15:22 - What is in the game at launch!

16:50 - Crash course list of features in the game.

17:50 - The team has been busting ass to find bugs and polish WMH.

18:20 - Eric's a !#?@% / "David Van Es gives Eric a raise."

18:45 - Thank you for trusting us to make this game.

19:01 - Bad launch coverage, and our approach of a transparent talking heads video.

19:21 - That's it Karl?!

19:30 - We'll have 4 games at Expo. COME PLAY.

19:51 - Peppers Ghost looks weak in filmed footage, looks way cooler in person.

20:09 - Karl sucks at Praising the Great Pyramid.

20:29 - Bye.

🔺 Praise the Great Pyramid

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