There's probably a blog post from then announcing a new hire.

I mentioned long ago that code was one of the key components no one was talking about... glad to see it's finally on the table to add to an open discussion with JPop.

Brian and I (and the rest of the crew) are very eager to show off what it is we are all working. We also know that time and energy is not infinite.

I do know the JPOP beast. I call him a friend. We message, talk on the phone. Have shared crazy ideas for pins. He is a great designer, that X-factor in pinball design that seeks to give well engineered hardware, elegant software, beautiful artwork, solid craftsmanship, sleek animations, moving sound, etc. it's soul. One who I would love to learn from. I have worked with people like John before and been able to do some great things. Big and small. So when the owners reached out, we decided it was worth revisiting the situation and see if we could align interests and come up with a win.

Indie pinball operations cant all afford to keep a team of programmers/engineers/animators/etc on the payroll year round. Nor should they need to. And the time it takes to bring contract labor up to speed on things isnt always quick enough to keep up the momentum. We see scenario where designers can develop/prototype their games to whatever stage they feel comfortable and then be able to tap us in to help it come to fruition. If you are using FAST/MPF we can drop in and be ultra efficient. I find it really exciting because I love to problem solve. The idea of being a resource to other rad projects and help them to be as great as they can be is something I personally find very satisfying.

Our goal for the spring is to build up a game to show off the capabilities of the hardware and software. We will either be building up a game of our own or helping John with MG. Either way, we have budgeted the time to do the work it would take for a demonstration. This is time we would gladly trade towards getting John's MG rocking. Win-win.

Now business. Hell yeah we want to sell hardware. No doubt about that. We designed the hardware the way we did to use a small bill of materials, without sacrificing quality. This gets us great economies of scale. Even lets us manufacture the hardware stateside. As hardware volume increases, price per unit drops. While John has relatively short run games, when you merge a parts order to include MG/RAZA we are into the range of savings that really take the cost concern out of the equation. Our goal was to hit pricing at count 1 that was a good value for a solid platform that can take you from your custom game/prototype on through to a commercial release. But also scale up for a good price for volume orders.

So anyway, I guess my point in all this is that we are super stoked to get cracking on something. Timing is good as the hardware is out for manufacturing and the framework is maturing every day. Time to put it all to the test.

Getting to know many of the JPOP owners has been awesome. For real. Passionate people who care a lot about pinball and about John and want to see him make games for years to come. We are really giving this one more shot for the owners. But as we all know, it is John's decision. Regardless of what he decides with regards to our involvement, FAST/Mission are stoked to be a part of pinball and are looking forward to showing off what we can do in the days to come.

Aaron
FAST Pinball

Dang, posts never look that long when you are typing them! Sorry for such a lengthy post.

Aaron
FAST Pinball

What's JPop's current hardware platform for MG and RAZA?

Welcome to my world.

Freudian slip or intentional, that was funny.

I will admit to childishly (and constantly) not spelling that game's name right.

So, I have an idea.

Let's get me, the FAST guys, Aurich, and some others and let's create the first professional services group for pinball.

Are you sure you haven't been talking to Aaron already?

I'd totally be in. What a fun ride that would be.

Did you tell him to?

Aaron
FAST Pinball

Sure would! That's why we are chomping at the bit to get going on something!

Aaron
FAST Pinball

This time I had no behind the scenes manipulations!

Strategic networking!

Aaron
FAST Pinball

If John posted this on Oct 21, 2014 about Mission/FAST :

"We were able to solidify an ongoing working arrangement with Mission Pinball and Fast Pinball guys from Seattle last week. Effectively doubling our backend team. "

What is the hold up today?

Now that all is feeling nice and cozy, are there any links to some new RAZA pics, photos, details, a flipper?? Lots of folks dropping in on JPop but no body brings a camera? Oh come on...

All I've seen is a new "Drac is Back" graphic. Maybe I'm not looking in the right place?

Kumbaya ya'll....

kumbaya.jpg

If you guys are cooking something up and want an extra brain, don't hesitate to let me know.

I like the way you guys operate.

I mean, basically John was lying and that was bullshit. There's not really a nice way to say that. Well maybe there is, I think Aaron said it nicely earlier. But that's the clear way to say it.

To be honest I was surprised to read this. I visited John's shop in Oct after the Expo with the FAST guys, and we were blown away by everything just like everyone else who visited. We talked about different options for working together, but I was eager to get home to wrap up the software and Aaron and Dave were eager to wrap up the hardware. Months passed, and here we are. I actually didn’t know we were on the hook until the blog opened up.

What is crazy is on the very same day, John posted:

"Lying to customers is not the way I work, to make them go away for a while."

He can be a very nice person, and obviously is capable of doing some very cool work, but the picture being painted in this thread is not good.

.

Amazing.

Supposedly FAST was on board 5 months ago according to JPop. Only they weren't.

That apparently was a lie too.

Couldn't have said it better Mike. I forgot about that EM blow off story.

Look, John is a REALLY nice guy, he has great innovative ideas (usually, sometimes it's a rehash of something from a really old pinball machine nobody's seen for a long time because he really is very retro in his personality). He's super passionate about pinball (it oozes from his skin).

I volunteered after hearing him on a podcast saying he needed help, yet the work trailed off after about the 3rd project, and when I asked him why he wasn't responding to my emails he finally replied "you can pickup a phone". Dude you asked for volunteers and you got them, and now you're upset I'm not chasing you to work for free? He's also very vague in what he wants, and I often had to pull parts from my own pinballs so I could model them in 3d because all he sent were photos making it impossible to model from *I take that back, he once gave me a pop bumper body and a cap*

I really hope these machines DO get done, it would be such a shame for all that money and work to go to waste.

Luckily FAST/Mission are easier to work with than Fox when falsely announcing something. Yeah i said it.

Heck
PROC
GLM
DK Pinball

The trail of programmers, designers, minions, project managers, etc... I guess we are all difficult to work with and overly demanding. There are so many people who are too nice to say anything publicly. I'm a pretty nice guy too, so this will be my last post like this, it's just been driving me crazy seeing guy after guy getting JPOPed. Another post about how someone talked to him and they are sure that this time everything is on track really just was too much.

Hey I wish the new guys the best but this really reads like the guy who has been married 6 times and wife number 7 is just sure she can fix him.

Would love to here from Antonio about the state of his board system. If we end up with FAST, is he another guy that ended up working for free to have his work junked?

Working for free is bad for morale.

Yes, but it also buys you the freedom to walk away when you want. If you work for cheap, even if you aren't properly compensated, the person paying will always feel like you owe them something. That can be much worse than free.

She can't by herself. But she needs to bring the whole family down on the dude to shape up or he's out of the will.

With the significant amount of money raised, I don't understand why people are being asked to work for free. Working for credit against an upcoming macbine makes sense as trade, but asking people to work for free for a for profit company doesn't make sense.

I guess I still don't see the path to any real leverage on Jpop to not be the boss anymore... I.e.what happens when the first thing he disagrees with like paying somebody for their work comes up.. Is he really going to let go? His personality seems like this is impossible?

Are you going to hold lawsuit over his head or what? I

Not only that(IMO), but a machine that is in the 5-figure range, that only a handful of fortunate people will be able to own, and most likely won't put on route. Oh yes, peasant, you can work for free to build that tower, but you may never set foot in it.

Not exactly "pinball for the people". In fact, quite the opposite.

Having owners show up and work for a few hours/days in the shop is one thing, but these are not buyers. These are people looking to get paid and then have the terms changed on them. Really not liking what I'm hearing.

This is the guy for the job for the software/board-work..!!, Let's get a production team together.!!

Seen it in person.

image.jpg

Brian brought the Portable Pin to life on MPF in no time. While fighting a migraine.

Aaron
FAST Pinball

Your two beautiful people on the Jpop Job. Thank you.!

Lol. Roy and I are outside that shot. That's Brian and Dave.

Aaron
FAST Pinball

Nevermind, staying out of it.

I don't think these can be put on route, or he will not support you if issues arise. Class act!!-

Didn't you know, it's jpops new project!!

Pinballs for Humanity.

rd.

When I bought my Lexus, I popped down the Lexus plant a few days a week and screwed the doors on.

Worked out quite sweet.

rd.

Isn't this how most projects go? You know like the manager pisses off all the staff or fires them, then gets way behind on all his work, makes up stuff about who's doing the work now and current progress, then his customers come in and do the work for him while he gets paid. Pretty standard stuff really, I see it all the time.

Obviously just kidding. I'm sure something will get worked out, the games look great from the photos we've seen.

You seem to have a super awesome sense of passive aggressiveness and sarcasm. Please don't take that the wrong way. I'm impressed.

Are you by chance from or living in the pacific northwest?

Nope, not from NW.