I question this entire thread

Ted Estes and Balcer have both left JJP. Smaug was not designed and not implemented as per the rumor.

I question whether the Hobbit will be done by November with all of these departures.

Ted is software and joe was layout design, right? Who was in charge of smaug design?

I heard it was Joe, but I'd like confirmation on that

What a tease!

Ted has not left... Go have another one guy!

As far as I know Ted E. Is working with Pat on his game. He posted to the group on Friday. So I'm guessing he is still around.

Great,

Glad to know this as the Rumor mill had him leaving

Pat is putting together his dream team from the 90's. I'm hopping.

Go on.......

No idea who's in charge, but Matt from Back Alley confirmed he's doing the sculpt.

By "design" i assume we are referring to the mechs here which i assume Joe completed already.

I'm in on the same thought... Even hope they will sculp a mountain-like miniature landscape in on top of the apron, as the map depicts...

I heard a rumor JJP showed a flippin' whitewood, which probably was an early version. And they are probably more ahead than they showed the public according to some whispering voices.

Joe seem to have left* and Jack responded like "his work is done". The rumor goes on like the engineering and programming department can continue working on the Hobbit as planned. I even heard something like "The hobbit is ahead of schedule".

Clearly they haven't designed and thought out Smaug yet at this stage of development. Probably because it's the most striking character of them all and a large piece of the upper left PF area will be solely build AROUND Smaug... The rumor can't be incorrect since there has never spoken a word or asked a question about the implementation of Smaug up till now. Could it be they totally forgot about it

The right question would be How many machines JJP can ship out when The Hobbit 3 movie releases in theater?

*) Me as an Architect can tell that the designers work is 95% in the early stages up untill the final design goes into engineering process. After that it's more a matter of monitoring. Then it's obviously not really cost efficient to keep the designer in the payroll in full... Just my 8 cents.

The third Hobbit movie clips and such won't be in the game until it releases on DVD/blu-ray. Not allowed.

Actually, quite the opposite. A map is MORE important if the game is not linear.

--Luke

Yes heard that too. I also believe it was said on the JJP forum that a couple of those clips will be incorperated in feature updates and it didn't impact the overall design of the game.

Me as an Architect can tell that the designers work is 95% in the early stages up untill the final design goes into engineering process. After that it's more a matter of monitoring. Then it's obviously not really cost efficient to keep the designer in the payroll in full... Just my 8 cents.

How do you explain WOZ

I heard a rumor JJP showed a flippin' whitewood, which probably was an early version. And they are probably more ahead than they showed the public according to some whispering voices

I originally thought that the interactive map may be an LCD on the apron but I'm thinking its more likely that the map will be printed on the apron and then LED lights will be placed across various points representing a players location in Middle Earth that corresponds to the rules. Maybe the far right location on the apron is the Shire and all the way to the right is the Lonely Mountain with a bunch of points in between.

I think rumors pro and con are plentiful.

I would think Jack would do everything in his power to get TH out sooner than everyone is expecting. Too much bad taste left in many peoples mouth from WOZ. I know I was frustrated waiting about 6 months longer than I was originally told. All is good now as it's a fantastic pin that I've been enjoying since February, but I've held off buying the TH my distrbutor has on hold for me because of the delays with my WOZ. Could JJP survive a debacle on TH like WOZ? Probably not.

what if the map has several paths you can take. Each path would have different path of modes and objectives you could take. kind of like a choose your own adventure book, so it can play differently depending on how you want to play and what you go for.

I'm thinking objective based multi balls like lotr but more complex. Multiple shots and combos need to be made.

Disagree completely.

To what purpose? To blink in one spot, and then randomly blink somewhere else?

Pointless.....

I would think it would act like inserts to show completed progress toward a goal, though not necessarily linear.

This. ^^

If it's linear, you don't need a map to show you where you're at. You'd know where you were at by whatever mode was running.

--Luke

I haven't heard anything. Members of the JJP Google Group created a post about requesting a Memorial Day update but nothing came out of it. I would have thought we would have seen the playfield art by now.

Wow jumped in here hoping to see some pf shots or pics of TH only to find words of war....

Not if you like interactive and visual feedback.

It is rumored an update will come soon. However, it has only been 6 weeks ago that the last update was released. In the meanwhile we have seen a 'teaser' picture with some of the playfield art revealed

personally, I hope they never do an update again. Then it just shows up at a show. Would be nice to have some secrets and get some actual Wow factor going on.

Totally agree.

Never going to read this thread again till Santa has delivered my present coming Christmas

For anyone who is homesick for the shire this is for sale on cape cod.

hobbet.jpg

that looks nothing like the shire or anything from hobbit town.

Jack mentioned at the North West Pinball show that Jean-Paul de Win did the playfield art. He also mentioned that the upper left flipper was removed. A couple shots of the playfield art around the inlanes was shown.

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/48529172

Thats me at 9:16 in the video.

Yep...the upper left flipper is replaced with a slingshot behind a rubber. There wasn't anything to shoot with it so it went.

playfield art is fully done. yup upper left flipper gone, not a bad thing if nothing to shoot for

Hmmm...more changes this late in production, cant's say yet if it's a good thing or bad at this point.

I like the idea of a slingshot instead of flipper there, make for more action.

Pretty sure Jack said in the video that he plans to have test games out in September.

LOL, this didn't just happen. It happened long ago. Just like the artwork change on the cabinet. The side with the white Orc is no more.

so what do the cabinet sides look like now. Glad they got rid of the white orc as scary to look at all day.

Really? This would be great if true, please confirm source.

How long is long ago? I remember seeing the upper flipper on the white wood video that surfaces in April..?

That whitewood and video is really old too.

Source is very reliable...also heard that there is a chance the LE might have different artwork than standard too.

Ok, thanks, I'm hopeful. LE with Smaug on the cabinet would be cool.

yeah dragon would be much better.

I think the way to be able to get new information is NOT to mention sources. An even better way is not to spill new info, but that's never gonna happen, for people want to share the 'news' they hear (with the little I hear I'd like to share too, though in doubt if I can/should tell something or not, I don't spill the information).

The left-upper-flipper being replaced is news: I think it shows JJP listens to comments and wants to improve. Maybe it's not perfect that it wasn't already removed in an earlier stage, but on the other hand: better late than never, and I suppose it was being thought of as an option earlier, maybe even before the whitewood-video released was with this flipper still there (and I think that whitewood wasn't brand-new when the video was released).
That said, you're right that 'long ago' still can't be that very long. But that doesn't have to be bad, just see how many things can be done in a few months (i.e. TBL seems to being developed pretty fast, Ben Hecks game went quite fast as well, seeing there wasn't a full team on that game).

Well, great times for pinball with so many new games by different companies coming up!

Great video. Hobbit update from 21:08 till 24:20

In the video Jack says only 30% of The Hobbit has been revealed.

Here are some pictures I took from the video. Not the best quality but to give an impression:

The Hobbit LCD.jpg

The Hobbit Playfield left inlane.jpg

The Hobbit Playfield right inlane.jpg

Looks like the art is divided in a light and a dark part. Maybe a day and night mode will be included?

When Jack was talking about Pats game I got goose bumps. He is assembling the original dream team.

Software, software, software.