Joe Balcer.

How they did with Alien, never was a whitewood. Some half assed stuff people may have seen rough videos of, but first truly flippable game already had art on a Mirco cut and printed playfield. I don't recommend it personally.

That said, Balcer and the whole team really pulled off one hell of a stunt getting that prototype game finished as fast as they did, I for one was truly impressed. It's not easy. I know rosh has talked about long hours, and I believe it!

So when you get new information or people give you new perspectives and opinions you just stubbornly stick to your first take, no matter what? And you never apologize?

Man, it's weird what some people are proud of.

I personally find it a sign of intelligence when you're able to change your mind when presented with new information.

I don't agree with this. Good software can turn a boring game into a great game. But software can't fix bad shots. (I haven't played Houdini, not saying it has bad shots). If a game is clunky and not fun to shoot then it's gonna stay that way, even if the objectives grow in stature.

I think we've become somewhat reliant on this notion that "you can fix it in software", and it's a bad mentality for manufacturers, but it's also not great for consumers.

Why not start with a great layout, that's fun to shoot, and then put great code on top of it?