Because the Munsters is supposed to be easy and those targets are easier.

Collectors are selling because the game is too easy for them. I'm sure there are people who don't play hours of pinball every month (let alone every week) that find Munsters is the right level of difficulty for them. I think Stern made the right move by making an easier game. They needed an offering that could be enjoyed by non-players.

I also think the theme is weak and don't blame them for not wanting to put a ton of money into developing a crazy deep game that probably won't sell a ton because of the theme. I think the game depth is good for operators, yet the theme doesn't make much sense for operators. It's kind of a head scratcher.

Their next offerings will likely be back to what is now considered standard depth. It seems they are rumored to have some better themes and those will demand the resources for a more fully featured software package.

Doesn't have the game yet but calls it "phucking" awesome and that it'll be the pride and joy of his collection.

Stern loves you as a consumer.

And for the record, I don't think the game sucks. I think it's just boring AF. But that's 95% the theme not resonating with me. It could be the same basic layout, code, with another good art package of a theme I'm more into and I'd probably love it too. But it's the Munsters and there are dozens of other games at the same (or lower) price point that I find much more appealing.

That's cool man. You do you.

I think it's safe to assume that Stern does a few whitewood revisions. But at the same time, I feel like John Borg is cutting and pasting stuff from different CAD models to rapidly prototype the initial design and then spends the rest of his time doing something more unique (ie lower playfield in Munsters, Groot bash toy in GOTG, toy box in AS, etc..)

Is Lyman that amazing, or does he just work that much harder than everyone else in Stern's coding department?

Don't get me wrong, Lyman has lots of great ideas and understands the game from a competitive standpoint better than most. But compared to Dwight it mostly seems like Lyman's code is better because he puts that much more time into it even if he isn't being paid for it. Stern finally seems to be hiring a lot more coders, and the Iron Maiden team did an excellent job for first efforts. Maybe it's as simple as an issue of resource allocation at Stern and Dwight was overloaded.

That said, someone else should hire Lyman because he is a workhorse of a coder. It's gotten to the point where his name sells a game as much as the playfield designers name (for pinheads at least, the general consumer doesn't care). Although a few games with Lyman's name attached are stinkers...

It's also a huge assumption that Stern is capable of throwing together a good looking LCD package in short notice when most of the LCD games look acceptable at best. Batman 66 looks great, but it's mostly video clips surrounded by Franchi art framing the clips. Beatles looks good, but it's not aspiring to much. Iron Maiden graphics are passable for the most part. Star Wars and GOTG look bad. I haven't spent much time with AS, but it seems fine.

Plus who knows how much more that would have made the license.

Yeah don't get me wrong, he's an amazing employee and most companies would love that sort of enthusiasm at work. I hope Stern compensates him very well because he alone redeemed Batman 66.

Thanks for cutting out the part where I praised the Iron Maiden team. Sorry for making my messages too long for you to read through?

Stern just needs a better work pipeline. They handled the DMD to LCD transition poorly because the underestimated the substantial increase in the work.

And the display is actually extremely important part of the game. That's what draws the attention, that's where you immerse the player (if you wanna cheap out on toys), that's where you tell people what to do, that's where people who aren't playing will watch. Yeah yeah yeah, you play looking down at the playfield. But to say the display is unimportant is to ignore decades of people loving the rewarding animations when you accomplish goals in all the classic DMD games. A pinball machine is a sum of all the parts and the display is a critical aspect.

All I said was he was the hardest worker, that does not imply that the rest are lazy or any of that other nonsense.

I never said he wasn't happy, wasn't properly compensated, dumb, etc. All I did was point out he is a valuable resource and any sane businessman should try to poach him. You find the best people and figure if you can get them on your staff.

Like how you think I'm insulting the man when I'm praising him as an employee is mind boggling.

The playfield was done, but what was the coding like? I've only seen so much of "Archer" and it seemed very different and not very fleshed out. But I don't know. Maybe Elwin had it all scribbled down in a journal and was ready to tell a coder exactly what he wanted.

If they're reading pinside, they have thick enough skins from years of abuse from the regulars to deal with me saying that Lyman looks like the hardest worker from the perspective of an outsider.

I totally agree about the vari-target.

The layout is great and I'm sure Elwin did a lot of whitewoods to get it to the point where Stern was interested in buying it. But then Stern still had to redesign it for Spike, they made new toys for the premium version, and then had to get it ready to be mass produced. (And of course other teams were doing all the art, sounds, and programing). Having the core playfield layout done was definitely a substantial jumpstart on the project, but that's just one aspect of many in getting the game to the line in a polished state.

It stands out because it was from a first time designer and not from one of the half dozen guys that has designed every Stern game for the last few decades.

Yes, a friend is waiting to see what Stern has this year. He's going to either buy Brian Eddy's game because he loves his other games, or he'll buy a Lyman coded game because he knows it'll (eventually) keep him entertained the longest. He probably wouldn't show up to work for a month if Lyman coded Eddy's next game.

Did he mean the Taxi catapult shot?