Quoted from starfighter:

my .02
Indie pinball is here to stay because of one reason:
Demand
The demand for new games will outstrip the supply offered by Stern or JJP. Not because Stern or JJP can't build enough machines, but because they will not able able to build what the public wants in the time they want it.

Quoted from starfighter:

Agreed, but while Stern is tied up cranking out mustang type games for months on end, others will be using new technologies to create platforms & push pinball in other directions.
Innovation leads design, factory speed doesn't.

Quoted from rosh:

While the idea of putting up all your assets for a loan, sounds great, putting out pinball machine is a risky proposition, but more important is that even if it is very successful, it is not going to have some huge payday. So I think it becomes hard for anyone to take that level of risk when the upside is as limited as it is.
If the community wants to see these pins come to life, we have to find the right balance. Again, I'm not saying throw money at something based on flyer or a first whitewood, but when you see a game that is 'complete' (meaning physically and code), ready for production, then at that point I think if you are interested in the game (have played it, etc.), then I think that amount of risk in doing some level of a deposit and doing a pre-pay of a good percentage of the game when your machine is ready for production, is not unreasonable if we want to continue to see games like Wooly get made.
I do believe that the boutique makers, to succeed, will need to hit the road. There is a huge percentage of potential buyers for a theme, that are just not going to put any money down if they can't see and play the game in person. Having it at expo is great, but it seems you need to get the game to the different regions of the country. Hopefully in the case of Wooly, if Scott does not get the sign-ups he needs, hopefully he will figure out how to do that (easier said than done), so that more people can see and play it. Clearly in that thread there is a lot of 'love what i see, but I need to see it in person' types of comments.

Quoted from rosh:

... believed we could get to the point where others would than be willing to take the risk (which in this case was getting VCs to invest), but I can tell you there were points in time where we were 'well, if we don't raise money by the end of the month we need to roll up the carpets and call it a day', we took that risk, and fortunately we were able to find VCs who believed in the vision and were willing to open their checkbooks...