Quoted from Erik:

Mind blown. Could he join with Zane Smith to sue Zidware for unpaid wages?

Quoted from benheck:

I stick with my original assessment from a few months back: John gambled that someone would buy him out - and he lost.
This isn't criminal - plenty of companies start with the intention of acquiring capital to fully achieve their goals. But those companies also have products to show - John just had art.
Ironically, all the chances to sell out seems to have come in the last six months (deepRoot, JJP, Pintasia) at which point the projects were so far behind nobody wanted to take a chance.
Maybe he should have thrown his hands up in despair back in 2013, at which point the progress of the games wouldn't have been so laughable.

Quoted from wcbrandes:

The rent was current, I'm out a lot of money, and the game was no where close to 90 or 95% complete as I was told. There is no deal. When you try to help and are lied to, I am gone. As far as doing something in Pinball in the future, sure love this hobby. Right now I am licking my wounds and trying to figure out the best way to proceed from here. I wish everyone luck no matter which way they go on this legal suit because 4 years and what we finally got to see is absolute bull poop

Quoted from LapsedGamer:

I work at a Fortune 500 doing some engineering, we still get plaques and a cool 1500 for a patent so your mileage may vary on this. If its just a good idea you get a 100 for just submitting that, 750 if its a really good idea but not worth patenting. Some of these dudes around here submit an idea a week it seems like, easy money. All that being said, patents in engineering seem to be just a huge game for the most part that basically prevents companies from using the nuclear option on each other and are rarely used offensively and more defensively if at all.

Quoted from frolic:

Does anyone know Rob Berk? Someone should make sure he knows not to book a jpop seminar this year at expo. Something tells me John would still show up and do a slide show of artwork and do a "making of Alice in Wonderland" talk. Then blog about a great expo.

Quoted from jlm33:

May be he should work for the European Union then, where farmers are subsidized when not producing goods.

Quoted from benheck:

This reminds me I need to make a shadowbox display for my Atari Landfill Cartridges...

Quoted from toyotaboy:

If you haven't already, everyone should listen to the latest "this flippin podcast", where Tommy interviews Applejuice (aka Jim Askey), the programmer from the UK about the magic girl project
http://www.podcastgarden.com/episode/episode-34b-jim-askey-speaks_91485
"John was against auto launch and ball save... he thought ball saves were for people who couldn't play very well"

Quoted from goatdan:

Novices don't really play multi player games. A booth at a local con is also different.
Ive operated games. The number of games that are left with ball three in the shooter lane thanks to a ball save shows that it is a confusing thing. Game making the last twenty or so years has been a huge clash over trying to attract new players with more simple game play, or getting long time players to come back again and again. Both have strategies to them but ball saver is actually a long time player strategy, not a new guy one.

Quoted from Razorbak86:

Richthoven's not blaming or hating the rich people who can afford the game. He's making an argument based on FAIRNESS.
He's complaining that a small subset of the Zidware Inc creditor pool (~19 "lucky" people) are about to receive "preferential transfers" of Magic Girl pinball machines (i.e., providing 100% recovery on their outstanding claims), when the REST of the Zidware creditor pool (e.g., artists, software coders, parts vendors, RAZA/AIW customers) are getting stiffed (i.e., 0% recovery on their claims).
Many Pinsiders on this thread view that as UNFAIR treatment.
For what it's worth, the U.S. Congress believes it's unfair, too. That's why they wrote provisions into the U.S. Bankruptcy Code to allow a bankruptcy trustee to recover preferential transfers for the benefit of the debtor's estate, auction off the assets to the highest bidders, and then distribute the net proceeds to ALL creditors based on the priority and amount of their claims.
What might such a scenario look like? For the sake of simplicity, let's assume that all creditors are classed as general unsecured creditors (non-priority claims). If the net proceeds generated from the bankruptcy process end up being less than the total amount of claims outstanding, then the net proceeds would be distributed on a pro-rata basis (i.e., based on an equal percentage of each outstanding claim). Under that scenario, you and the other Magic Girl customers would receive the same percentage recovery as zombieyeti (the unpaid artist), applejuice (the unpaid software coder), GLModular (the unpaid board designer), other unpaid parts vendors, and the RAZA/AIW customers who also paid money to Zidware for pinball machines. The highest bidders at the auction, likely collectors willing to pay up for collectible games, would take home the Magic Girl machines. Creditors receiving a pro-rata distribution may choose to bid in the auction, or they may choose to take their distribution and end their involvement with Zidware altogether.