Pretty big news.
We should all remember where we were when we read the news.

New blood is welcome in this hobby! Already knowing how to design playfields and critique rules is a bonus.

Boom!

rd

I feel pretty certain, at least some of the shot layout and mechs of Archer will go into the premier Elwin desinged Stern game. Why wouldn't it. Stuff look great, innovative and fun to play. If only four flippers is not too costy. Or something like that. Apart from GOT LE, even three flipper games are not seen that often from Stern these days. And a playfield lock mech anything more advance than an uppost.

Of course, everything on a prototype like Archer will have to be reengineered for production. It is not any different than in-house prototypes. And would have been like that no matter which company (and types of stock parts, CPU/driver platform) would have picked this up.

Whether or not it will be an Archer themed game is another matter. Great theme, don't get me wrong. But might not be possible to license. Or seen as a too weak selling point.

Congratulations to Mr. Elwin and Stern Pinball. Exciting news.

I hope they build Archer as the design was original and looked cool - now just worried the Pro version will be dumbed down to 2-3 flippers or no launcher ???

Yeah, and how is that not helping in getting a decent head start over something like a GB, or GOT project, where several days/weeks are lost in hashing out which ruleset style to implement, and or, simply trying to making thematic sense of all the designer's (sometimes funky) insert placements?

I have complete faith in KME's abilities to enrich Stern's future catalog and will probably mourn only for a solid week if they do indeed retheme his already sweet ass shootin' layout.

Keith Urban ?

I have to agree with Soren.I think we will see some form of this design come to fruition, but I doubt the theme will be Archer.

I want to be excited, but for some reason I dont care...

Design does not seem to be an issue with stern when compared to QC, coding and filling back orders should be of utmost importance.

Its like if the Rams spent time looking for and hiring another center when they have no coach.

Congrats Keith! This should be a great move for Stern. I think he'll provide some fresh ideas based on what we saw on Archer and I know that he knows rule-sets as well as anyone outside of Lyman or Keefer. I'm excited to see what he will do as some of the layouts recently have been recycled (BM66, AS). Hopefully he will also work closely with the other developers and help architect rule-sets as well. If there is one thing that Stern really needs it is to have great rules on the games besides just the Lyman and Dwight games. Even if Archer isn't made it was a great vehicle to use as an "audition" for one of the most coveted jobs in this hobby and I'm guessing we'll be seeing that great layout in a future Stern pin! I'm still hoping that it is Archer as I think it would make for a fun game, but I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Keith who ??????

I'm happy to see new designers getting into the mix.

I respectfully disagree. Stern has put out several truly uninspired designs lately. WWE, Mustang, Kiss... From a strictly design perspective, even GOT and Star Trek are pretty boring.

Design is not everything. Great coding can help even the worst designs A LOT. (See: Hobbit, the best example, though not Stern)

Looking forward to Keith's contribution. Would still love to get a chance to buy Archer.

Please please please make Archer!!

I guess everything with this will be locked down and 9 months from now we'll get a cryptic message on Stern's Fb page about a turtleneck.