You can't compare the cast of Chicago's Second City (including Tina Fey) and Elvira (professional) to the voices in this game...you just can't....audio goes a long way in pinball, and there's a reason MM and SS are so popular - audio is a big chunk of it. Again - bad acting/recording/mixing doesn't = camp.

There's nothing wrong with constructive criticism. No one's saying the game is a piece of shit. It's really cool! ....but if some of us have critiques of the art & voices - that's just our way of rooting for it and wanting it to be the best it can be!

$6250

I like the redesign much better

That looks great Ben. Speaking as a non-customer with no stake in the game, but also someone who got to see and play it at Expo I'd call this a real upgrade. It feels like it matches the playfield better. It also feels more like a commercial machine (bold, easy to spot from across the room, ghost spiral draws in the eye), which isn't a knock at all, because to me that's what makes it feel like "pinball".

Looking forward to the translite reveal, I think the concept was just fine, just the execution could have been better. Hand drawn could be a serious upgrade over a photo.

BAZILLION TIMES BETTER!!!!!!!

I think it looks great too.

rd.

That looks fantastic. I am looking forward to the video. This could be my next purchase.
Thanks Ben!

Also like the new side art.

Really like the new side art. Nice work listening to fans/consumers and changing your plans. The backglass image hand drawn sounds very cool too.

Looks great Ben, like how the playfield art flows to the cabinet, well done

A designer that listens to the customers. Others should take notice. Looks great Ben!

New art is THE BOMB. Thank you, Ben, for taking the feedback.

As far as the voices go, I will have to let the video speak for itself. I'm unable to play it, so I'm looking forward to seeing it and judging for myself how it all comes together. You are sticking to your guns on it, so I will take that into account and try to evaluate it on your vision.

Can't wait to see video.
Damn it. I may need to buy this one too!

the new side art looks great. I think you captured the true essence of classic pinball side art with it. fwiw, I like the original side art also. with the new art you should sell a ton of them. tell Charlie to put on a pot of coffee. he is going to be putting in some hours.

I didn't compare our voice talents to those games... I compared our humor style to those games. Nordman came up with dialogue in SS, we watched him do the same thing in his own voice in Ben's game. Fun and funny stuff, and still can't believe that guy gives us the time of day. Blessed isn't the word for it.

The "bad acting" is by design (and mostly one character). It all makes sense when you hear it in game play. Some of it is overly long, and up to Ben if he wants to change that. I say just don't cut off the speech calls if you want that much dialogue.

Audio balance... yep, that we absolutely need to repair and we will. What you saw at Expo was close to production in the build quality (still polishing small things there as well) but the code was still being written literally in the car there, and at the show. Only so many hours in the day, and Ben chose to focus on rules (all 6 ghost battles, many sub modes, and wizard mode are already in there!) rather than polish all 800 or 900 lines of speech.

Ok... I'm getting back to work on that promo video while Ben continues to work on art. We will make both available to the customer, and let them choose which they prefer.

Nice, I like that side art a lot more.

Well, this alone might make a big difference. Good luck with the polish.

is there any way to confirm what precommitment number we are?

BTW >> I loved the game at expo and am super pumped to see the finished product!

Lighting was fantastic in the game already and what I saw of the ruleset was great!

Can anyone who played at Expo comment on how it "felt", shot wise? I won't be able to learn that from the video.

Thanks... we'll get there. And I certainly don't mind the critiques... when you take a game that isn't 100% polished to a show you know some will see the work done, and others will see the work left to do. I'm just happy (with a few minor bugs) the game worked for 4 days straight of non stop abuse and play. We unloaded it Monday morning after Expo, and went right back to playing it more.

Ben has to be the first guy in pinball history to do, and count with me... playfield layout... cabinet art... playfield art... backglass art... plastics art... script... dots... programming... board design... engineering... direction... music... hell at one point he was even routing his own playfields!

We've all helped, but the bulk of this game... all Ben Heck. He's got a whole lot to be proud of on this. I'm just glad he sees us fit to mfg the game for him.

Thanks everyone... have a great Tuesday! If you live in Wisconsin... we're just going to have to lean on each other for support and deal with this Aaron Rodgers injury together. I swear it was as if a million football fans suddenly cried out in terror, and were suddenly silenced.

Yep... [email protected] She's the gate keeper of the sales list, and she makes great french toast on Sunday mornings.

Frolic... the shots are smooth and awesome! Looove the inner ghost loop especially. The flippers at Expo were a little funky admittedly... I changed to a different switch after the show (was using leaf style like older games) and it has gotten better, and Ben has changed the pulse thingamawhatsit in code, which seems to make all the difference.

Pulse thingamawhatsit is TM of Spooky Pinball LLC and not to be used without permission.

It feels AMAZING. It felt like a combination of nice flow and shot layout with a good amount of unpredicatibility and some stop and go. The ghost return U loop is great, the hellevator is nice, the outside shots are also good. Hard to really describe but it felt both uniqiue and familiar. Very clean play/feel to the shots where they were all makeable with medium difficulty, which I consider to be perfect.

The code and lighting effects are going to be top notch. I actually like the game call outs and even though they were very hard to hear at expo, what I could hear was very funny. I did not make it to Ken's voice work at expo but hope to get another shot on the more complete game in the near future. Charlie/Ben can I come play some weekend?

This pin does look great and I am REALLY interested in buying this pin. I absolutely love the theme, with the haunted house effects and overall campy feel. This pin reminds me of the game Which Witch, and a little bit of Green Ghost mixed in the batch. Love the right side ramp and the creepy opening doors and secret passages. I'm just waiting on the final price and pre-order instructions. Great job Ben and team!!

Cool - I'll hold off further critique until it's complete.

Yes! Style & personality on a backglass really sell the tone of the game. Since you're going for funny, make them look funny! I think you can still sell the "reality show" aspect in the art somehow...having a guy with a camera (with a AMH logo on it)....maybe a TV by the title with the "show" depicted on it.

1) yeah, the night vision wasn't the issue. It was the photos. More than anything, they did not mesh with the playfield art (and now the new cabinet art). And the older cabinet art in particular, kind of felt like they were play-acting.

2) Sounds great to me.

I personally have a really high resistance to photographic images on something like a backglass. It's a real turnoff. The backglass is your chance to really show what you're up to, it sets the tone for the game more than anything else. I get what you were going for, but it just didn't do it for me on a lot of levels. Not least of which is that it just plain didn't fit the playfield and feel of the game. That's why your new cabinet art is so satisfyingly better, it feels like it belongs.

I'm always hesitant to get my creative director hat out too much on people, it's your project and vision, but since you're plainly asking and obviously receptive to feedback here's my thoughts on the green:

I think it's a classic case of allowing a concept to supersede everything. Again, I get it, I understand the night vision part, but you really lose so much dynamic energy by tone washing out the entire image into green like that. I would encourage you to let it go. You could certainly reference it, but open your color palette back up. Let some of the blue and yellow from the cabinet art in. Let things pop. I want to see your backglass from across the room and be drawn over to see what's going on.

You're mocking these reality shows, but something to keep in mind is that your ghosts are real. Maybe there's a sweet spot, where the night vision mode is still kind of there, but the supernatural is superseding it. A swirl of ghosts refuses to be bound by silly camera lens restrictions and is weaving around the protaganists with white and blue and yellow.

2) If we're re-drawing, we're thinking we'll make the people even more stereotyped. The valley girl will have bigger hair, the hero more square jawed, psychic older and more of a crazy cat-lady. Does this sound better than simply re-drawing the photos?

Yes! Push them as far towards cartoon and caricature as you can. That fits your theme in a beautiful way, and will ties them to the playfield better too.

My two cents, take it or leave it. Your game is great, all I want is to see it shine.

I love that even though Charlie and Ben have put there whole lives into these things and it's their artistic vision they are still open to changes/criticism. It's a breath of fresh air to other larger companies who will delete your comments on Facebook for making any type of suggestion or ask a question on code timing. Even the smallest hint of criticism will get you an instant ban. These guys on the other hand are doing things the right way.

Originally I was on the list for PZFBTG, which my wife and I love the art for, and didn't even think about America's most Haunted/Ghost squad as an option. After seeing the shot layout and features (especially love the elevator) and possibly better art, I'm officially on the fence for this one too and looking forward to upcoming video and pricing information.

if you are redrawing then i vote more boobs

Fixed that for you.

Bigger boobs

That's why this ROCKS!

PZFBTG.jpg

Yeah. let's face it you will sell more games if you can get the backglass to be sexy - look at the Gottleib's of the 1960's!

Alecia Crowley crossed that line right out of the gate on my game Ben!

Much better

ben, look at the thumbs up you've gotten for the new cabinet. You'll never be able to please everyone, but that was a good call. I wish you the best with the new translite.

Ben,

Really cool pin. Looking forward to see it and play it somewhere / someday. Wish I could be on the list, but I am already overcommitted... (wondering who would break first: my banker or my wife?).

Exciting times for pinball. Who would have guessed 5 years ago one would have to make choices on which NIB pin to buy?

Perhaps the backglass could also reference the playfield art in some way. The characters already appear on the playfield in sillhouette, I think it would be a good idea to make it clear that these are the same characters. Maybe have them in a similar stance/position, have the spooky buildings in the background or something like that.

Having grandkids, I really don't have a boob issue with games like Scared Stiff. But you crossed the line with Alecia's silver dollar nipples with a stack of dimes!!

More boobs the more better, you can always do a "modesty" decal like Elvira had. I think there is a direct correlation between back glass boobs and pin sales.

See, and then there are

See, and then there are the girls like mine who will willingly Dress-up as Alecia to win some awesome stuff! (She is still willing to be the live-action spokes model btw! haha)

Man, I must be the only one that really 'got' the original package. The new art looks good too, but the old was just as good if you take the whole theme into account. Campy cheesy ghost hunters, essentially paranormal activity meets scooby doo. It takes a certain sense of humor to get it I suppose, but it was all there Sometimes we take this stuff so damned serious that we forget to step back and try to see the personality of the creator coming through the product.

No way that's crossing the line! It's perfect.....

Yep... we strongly suggest you keep that one!

Bryan Kelly will tell you privately he really enjoys those silver dollars and stacks of dimes. When Deb's not listening.

It wasn't hard to "get", it just didn't look good. It happens, you have a concept, but taking it all the way to its logical conclusion doesn't give you the best end result. The good news is Ben is taking the steps needed to fix it, without (as far as I can see) compromising his vision.

That's how the push and pull of boutique projects goes. It's about creator vision, but you're also creating a commercial product too. Can't wait to see the end result now!

That's because the Canabalistic prison warden is a BADASS!

Let me know if you're heading over there to play. I'll join you guys.

I got the night vision thing, but absolutely hated the photos

Absolutely. Also generally agree with the boob comments. It can be done in a way to maximize wife approval. Look at the Bally Strikes and Spares girl as an example, or Elvira. The optimum word here is "camp". Pinball camp (and nod to pinball art of the past) almost requires over the top (pardon the pun) pretty girl artwork.