Vancouver, BC
Just finished reading this thread from beginning to end!
Still Predator is not shipping! 
(Topic ID: 26628)
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Predator
Skit-B Pinball, 2013
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Quoted from Nilroc:Just finished reading this thread from beginning to end!
Still Predator is not shipping!
How long did that take to read? Did you enjoy Blondetall's ponies? 
Saddle River, NJ
Quoted from Jetzxi:Did you enjoy Blondetall's ponies?
Hey! That's rather personal! 
Quoted from oopsallberrys:I was told at Allentown that this is not the final DMD; that model only has 4 shades and I think the final will have 16 shades.
I was pretty sure they swapped in the 16 shaded one for the Novemeber video. They had said that they had to go in and physically clean up the color. But you can see the 16 squares even in the newest video from a page or two ago.
Quoted from Kcpinballfan:ColorDMD will probably work for whatever color you want but don't expect to ever have full color on Predator.
Yeah, I don't expect them to go full color on it, but I also don't think it's a guarantee that colorDMD will work. For example, I have a DESW, and I don't believe a ColorDMD would fit in that speaker panel as designed, but I could be wrong. If it could work, I would much prefer the option of them installing it for me during assembly for a $1-200 up-charge, rather than having to spend $400 on an aftermarket thing and trying to recoup my costs by selling my regular LED DMD. I know that is asking a lot, and I don't expect it to happen, but I am also not happy about claims being made to me about the DMD that at the present time they don't look like they can deliver on. I view a DMD having visible gridlines to be a far inferior product to a traditional DMD, even with the improved brightness/colors, etc.
I of course allow for the fact that I could be wrong, and am misinterpreting something. I would just like some clarification on it.
Quoted from Sjsilver:Yeah, I don't expect them to go full color on it, but I also don't think it's a guarantee that colorDMD will work. For example, I have a DESW, and I don't believe a ColorDMD would fit in that speaker panel as designed, but I could be wrong. If it could work, I would much prefer the option of them installing it for me during assembly for a $1-200 up-charge, rather than having to spend $400 on an aftermarket thing and trying to recoup my costs by selling my regular LED DMD. I know that is asking a lot, and I don't expect it to happen, but I am also not happy about claims being made to me about the DMD that at the present time they don't look like they can deliver on. I view a DMD having visible gridlines to be a far inferior product to a traditional DMD, even with the improved brightness/colors, etc.I of course allow for the fact that I could be wrong, and am misinterpreting something. I would just like some clarification on it.
I understand. Maybe Kevin will chime in and let us know
Quoted from AkumaZeto:I guess nobody cared about the point i brought up so um....yeah have fun with that.
Yeah I care, not sure what can be done about the way the dmd looks? I haven't seen the current dmd in video or live to have an opinion. Kevin another question are you planning on cleaning up the dmd movie clips or is that the final product? Seems some say it doesn't look very good at all and I guess you can barely make out what is showing on the dmd. Anyway let us know thanks.
Quoted from AkumaZeto:I guess nobody cared about the point i brought up so um....yeah have fun with that.
No, they are not redoing the movie rips.
EDIT* Ok, I'll do you one better. From Skit-B themselves:
Page 26.
Does anyone else have a tough time seeing what the DMD animations are? Maybe it is just the grid lines, but I can rarely tell what the animations are?
We hear this a lot, and it's tough to get people to go on faith, so I'm going to get a little bit technical for just a second. First of all, no, it's not a bad camera or poor lighting or something, it is the DMD that looks 'muddy.' The display we're using for this prototype is a PinLED model. PinLED's are a great replacement for older DMD games and they save a lot of heartache if you have a bad or "iffy" dmd supply board. The issue is that they are designed for those older games and they only have 4 "colors" (bright, normal, dim and off). The animations we have in here are made in 16 "colors." This means that you're essentially losing 75% of the "colors" to the next closest drive-state. It's very noticeable at all levels, to be sure, but it's most noticeable in the lower end of the "color" spectrum, where the lower colors are replaced with the "off" drive-state, essentially leaving "holes" in the animations. We're picking up our new display in about a week, and we will put up a short video (no post-production stuff, just a quick look) showing the difference in the DMD quality. While the animations, I believe, are still pretty decent in their current state, I will trust that literally four times better will be acceptable to most anyone.
**AND**
gameplay and a few more easter eggs in the meantime.
7. Animations
This is the lowest one, but I'll say something like 65, maybe 70 percent. Anything with the old fonts and simple styles are getting redone, obviously, and all the mode intros are getting redone, as well, to include some text on the screen to let you know what mode you're in, along with some very brief
instructions where necessary.
Page 43.
Yep again. Predator dialing in a command on his gauntlet is still going to be used for the general mystery award animation, but of course it will be "prettied up" before we're done.
Page 44.
The new DMD is definitely an improvement. After we tweak a few more things I'm sure it will become the monstrous improvement we were looking for
*So maybe they just still need to do some tweaking. You'll have to wait for their reply on that one.
Quoted from navajas:Wow. That doesn't look much at all like Arnold. It's like a toy of a really outstanding cosplayer or stunt double or something. Cool statue though.
Still looks better than when he pulled his eye out in Terminator haha
Quoted from TigerLaw:I am ready for an update. Can't help myself; I'm greedy.
You and I both!
Quoted from NinJaBooT:Bueller?
We just got back from my niece's HS graduation party in Pa. She had never heard of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." I have to send her the DVD.
Dan
Quoted from MrWizzo:We just got back from my niece's HS graduation party in Pa. She had never heard of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." I have to send her the DVD.
Dan
I use to love that movie!
Quoted from MrWizzo:We just got back from my niece's HS graduation party in Pa. She had never heard of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." I have to send her the DVD.
Dan
hey, i was wondering what to watch tonight, here you go ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off''.
i'm curious also, update please.
On a recent post, someone quoted Gary Stern saying that it costs a million bucks to develop a pin.
I wonder how many bucks the skit-b team will have in developing Predator. $5000 x 250 = not a lot of meat on the bone.
Quoted from maddog14:On a recent post, someone quoted Gary Stern saying that it costs a million bucks to develop a pin.
I wonder how many bucks the skit-b team will have in developing Predator. $5000 x 250 = not a lot of meat on the bone.
I would say it costs at least that to be honest with you. Licensing costs to a company like 20th Century, code development, original artwork, board development, etc. Time, time, time. Time to build the code, create the animations, design the toys, dealing with the studio on art revisions, etc.
Hats of to these guys because, like JJP, I doubt they are bringing in much profit on their first game.
Quoted from maddog14:I wonder how many bucks the skit-b team will have in developing Predator. $5000 x 250 = not a lot of meat on the bone.
We're getting the benefit of "slave labor" on this one. The boys won't be fairly compensated for all their hours.
Quoted from frolic:We're getting the benefit of "slave labor" on this one. The boys won't be fairly compensated for all their hours.
I was just gunna say the Team could probably make more money working in a sweat shop
In a third world country... Lucky for us they love pinball 
Quoted from maddog14:Gary Stern saying that it costs a million bucks to develop a pin.
That's for Gary Stern who has a building, high paid developers, and plenty of employees with health care...we got a few guys in the basement... 
Dag nab it. Stern and Skit-B are back to back at Tacoma, and Stern's giving away an X-Men. I can't make my seven year old sit through three hours, 90 minutes of it being Gary giving the same talk he's given for, what, a decade? Fiddly sticks. I want a free pinball machine, even if it's X-Men Pro.
I'm pretty sure Skit-B should raffle off Duck Hunt.
Quoted from navajas:Dag nab it. Stern and Skit-B are back to back at Tacoma, and Stern's giving away an X-Men. I can't make my seven year old sit through three hours, 90 minutes of it being Gary giving the same talk he's given for, what, a decade? Fiddly sticks. I want a free pinball machine, even if it's X-Men Pro.
I'm pretty sure Skit-B should raffle off Duck Hunt.
What did your Mom decide re Captain Nemo?
Dan
What are the odds of getting an updated production order list/email? I would like to know where I fall in the current run and a general estimate of how things are progressing/ when I need to have the remainder of my $$$ ready to go.
Have the SkitB guys thought about setting up a google group/doc that is limited to be 'read only' for the 250 emails of those that are 'in'? It is logistically pretty easy to do and would be a good way to share some of the potentially more sensitive info as things progress...
Just a thought.
Obviously, just anxious for the next update >> hopefully with more info on timing.
Quoted from MrWizzo:What did your Mom decide re Captain Nemo?
Dan
Too much money / risk left up in the air regarding import. :-/
Really too bad because the theme is perfect for her, the art gorgeous, and the new attempt at music is great. I think she's now waiting to play an Oz to see what JJP is all about, and if she likes that waiting to see how Hobbit and/or Star Wars (if someone / whoever does get that liscense) shakes out. I have this terrible gut feeling that missing on Nemo will be a horrible mistake.
Quoted from maddog14:On a recent post, someone quoted Gary Stern saying that it costs a million bucks to develop a pin.
Yeah, this comes up pretty often. It's hard to say what the whole project will end up costing just because we've just hit the really expensive part. It might end up being over a million, I guess we'll find out. If he's only talking about the actual development part and not the manufacturing, I'd be raising an eyebrow pretty high.
Quoted from gearheaddropping:20th Century, code development, original artwork, board development, etc.
This is why pinball development works better as a community than a contest. One motivated person can do a lot, for sure, but when people come together to help out, you can achieve what seemed impossible.
Quoted from frolic:The boys won't be fairly compensated for all their hours.
Awww Sure we will, though. You've given us so many tools, resources and contacts that we can do what we love until further notice. That's better than any amount of money, honestly.
Quoted from Concretehardt:the Team could probably make more money working in a sweat shop In a third world country
That might be true, but we have our own sweat shop right here in the good ole' US of A
Quoted from spfxted:That's for Gary Stern who has a building, high paid developers, and plenty of employees with health care...we got a few guys in the basement...
This is the logic I used when I first started going down this path. Let's hope we're right!
Quoted from navajas:Fiddly sticks. I want a free pinball machine, even if it's X-Men Pro.
If you sit through our seminar, you get a free pony!*
(*pony offer is fake and does not exist)
Quoted from navajas:I'm pretty sure Skit-B should raffle off Duck Hunt.
Starting bid? 
Quoted from Whysnow:What are the odds of getting an updated production order list/email?
I'll keep this in mind when the next batch of update emails go out, and I'll hopefully be able to include updated production order information. I think that is a great idea.
Quoted from navajas:I have this terrible gut feeling that missing on Nemo will be a horrible mistake.
I've been looking at Nemo more and more recently. Those guys have some seriously cool ideas that apply nicely to an "updated classic" approach that I'm really diggin' on. If I had some spare funds, I would jump on one.
Quoted from Whysnow:Obviously, just anxious for the next update
Updates are coming along, but not nearly as quickly as i had hoped. We're really pushing for the next update to be the last, and we're VERY close.
Sorry for the long post with no real new information to give. I guess I'm just in a talkative mood. Does pinside have a chat function somewhere?
Quoted from SkitBPinball:Does pinside have a chat function somewhere?
Yes. It's called "New Predator Info Thread".
Now, stop humoring these people and get that thing polished up for Tacoma!
Villejuif
Quoted from navajas:Too much money / risk left up in the air regarding import. :-/
Really too bad because the theme is perfect for her, the art gorgeous, and the new attempt at music is great. I think she's now waiting to play an Oz to see what JJP is all about, and if she likes that waiting to see how Hobbit and/or Star Wars (if someone / whoever does get that liscense) shakes out. I have this terrible gut feeling that missing on Nemo will be a horrible mistake.
I might be among the very firsts to receive Nemo. I promise I will post videos and pictures as soon as I get it. Your mother may decide then. I know there are a few units left for sale so jump if you like what you see!
Quoted from navajas:I want a free pinball machine, even if it's X-Men Pro.
X-Men pro is a kick butt machine. It doesn't have the annoying Ice Man ramp and the night crawlers on the LE don't really add to the LE experience on that game. The only cool playfield feature X-Men pro is missing is the spinner around Magneto's magnet (not a big deal). The artwork and backglass are nicer on the LE as well, but that is minor.
I'm big on total theme integration. Also, my brother and friend are voice actors. The call outs in that game are cringingly awful. I'm one of those people who gets embarrassed for OTHER people's fuck ups and I actually blushed the first time I heard X-Men in action. It's also why you never hear about Ahmed Best anymore. I just couldn't take it so I killed him and stashed his body under George Lucas' toilet.
Quoted from navajas:I'm big on total theme integration. Also, my brother and friend are voice actors. The call outs in that game are cringingly awful. I'm one of those people who gets embarrassed for OTHER people's fuck ups and I actually blushed the first time I heard X-Men in action.
You might find this is a game worth revisiting since the last code update. I stuck through this sucker and all the crap that was associated with it and I'm happy as I can be now. In fact, the two games I play the most by far now are X-Men and LOTR's. My beloved Tron LE and my Doctor Who (which some people refer to as my oldest child) see almost no action right now.
Quoted from The_Dude_Abides:X-Men Pro is a bad ass pin if you don't want it I hope it goes to another pinhead that loves it.
I haven't won it yet Dude. When I do I'll be sure to give it a fair shake before calling you up for a trade.
Quoted from Mr68:I'm a little disappointed this thread hasn't hit 5000 posts yet.
Kim
If we can get an update it will get there 
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