Just wanted to drop by here and let everyone know that the Predator project is still very much alive and our prototype is almost finished. Anyone in the northern mid-west (or even further away, of course, if you're so inclined) is invited to come out to the Michigan Pinball Expo (www.MiPinball.com) from April 12th-15th in Oakland, MI to see and play the prototype first hand and play a TON of other pins for the weekend. Also, the website, www.skitbpinball.com, has been updated with some new pictures and a video or two so you can all keep up with the progress we're making with the game. Hope to see some of you at the show and play some games together!

pred_backglass1024x716.jpg

Thanks for all the kind words, guys!

@Blake: Look us up when you're at the show, we'll let ya get as many pics or videos as you like, just come find us. We're very hard to miss.

@BlackRose: This one isn't a wide-body, sorry As the game was coming together, it just didn't need to grow physically, as we were able to fit everything we initially wanted (and more) into a standard cabinet, even though at times it wasn't easy. We have a photos section on the website, but I'll leave a picture here of the whitewood so you can get an idea of the layout. There are a lot of things missing from this pic, so try to reserve judgement for when it is fully assembled I imagine it will have everything but ramps on it within the next day or two, and the ramps will be added hopefully within the week. Of course, we'll share pics here as they come.

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We don't exactly advertise much, so I'm not too surprised you haven't heard of this before. There's not a lot of reason to advertise real heavily, considering we are only making ~200 of these, so word of mouth and the appearances we're making at expos, conventions and shows should eat those up fairly quickly, we believe.
The website is as sparse as the concrete info we have at the moment. We'd love to post up the nitty gritty particulars, but we just haven't been able to land any exact monetary numbers or concrete dates. Candidly speaking here on Pinside is a bit different than official website postings, so I feel more comfortable sharing some tentative information.
Please read that a few more times: Tentative! Tentative! Tentative!
Pre-orders open on April 15th of this year (2012), either by email, phone or on the website itself. The site will be updated with all of the necessary information to get the pre-orders in. If you have a number you'd like to reserve you can make that choice, as well, assuming it isn't already taken.
Cost is a big deal, so we're working on driving that down with every decision we make. Right now, (please see disclaimer above: Tentative!) we estimate the end cost to hover in the mid-to-high $4000 range; something like $4500~$4750. We're doing everything we can to keep it under that $5000 mark.
As for the guys behind it, we are an extremely small company made up exclusively of life-long industry professionals and hobbyists. The names of the people involved are listed on the website under the crew section. If you're looking to see if we have any Steve Ritchies, George Gomezes or Brian Eddies, you won't be finding anything like that. The entire company is made up of fresh, new talent, eager to show off what we've got.

Playfield design and software is done by yours truly, Kevin W. Kulek.
Playfield artwork is done by James Dubay.
Assembly design and R&D is done by Aaron Klumpp.
All of our paperwork - both monetary and legal - is done by Kathy L. Kulek.

All of us are able to be reached directly by our email addresses on the website under the crew section. We are all also reachable by Facebook under Skit-B Pinball. We all have our own personal Facebook accounts which you can reach us at, but we kind of prefer using the company profile for this type of stuff. Conversely, if you want to just talk pinball or whatnot, by all means, go ahead and add us

The licensing and likeness costs and all that aren't really something we're allowed to talk much about, unfortunately. If you're wondering if certain characters will appear in the game / artwork, I can tell you that all of the notable characters are present in both.
I'm not exactly clear what you mean with the term "oversight." We haven't run into any qualms with anyone about how the characters are being portrayed or anything, if that's what you mean. I know there was a big hiccup with the Demolition Man over something like that with Wesley Snipes and they had to go through multiple backglass designs because of it, but we haven't had any issues with anything like that, so we're happy.

Depends on when NorthWest Champs is, honestly. I haven't been to Seattle in quite some time, and I'd love a good excuse to go back. We appreciate the enthusiasm, as always, now go change your pants.

We're on it, fellas, we really are, but it might be a few more days. We were originally going to take a video or two of the original playfield we had in it, but that was just too nasty to show and not everything worked as it should have, so we had to wait until everything was taken care of and the physics and trigonometry were all proper before posting up any real footage of the game being played. Luckily, as RGR has pointed out, we're near the end of the production cycle, so we're looking at getting all of that in line within a matter of days. I will certainly come back and let everyone know when the videos go up as soon as they are ready. Until then, thanks again for all the excitement; we sincerely feed off of it and it keeps us extremely motivated to make sure we make the absolute best game possible!

We are really loving all of the excitement we're receiving from you guys. We really can't get this done quickly enough to show it off for you!

Blake, email me at [email protected]. We can set up a time for you to come give the game a fully hands-on run with as many videos and pics as you can handle so you can relay them back to Pinside.

Todd, you live like 8 minutes away from my house... I'll send you a message in a few days and you can just come over and play the prototype Predator and spank me on my Shadow again. A day of grillin' and pinball sounds like it may be in order, what say you?

This is the magic of being a small, non-profit company. Not only does it keep the games more affordable, everything we get goes right back into the company itself as a direct investment towards the next game. Sounds like a system that works, to me.

We have to agree. While some extremely complex games out there are undeniably fun to play (Twilight Zone, Theatre of Magic, etc.), we tend to lean more towards a straight-forward design with deeper software to really bolster that replay value. The game has been designed with home users at the forefront of our minds, and we make no assumptions as to how many other games they have at home. In short, the game was designed to be accessible enough to allow someone enough excitement and fun from their first play to make an educated decision as to if they want to own one or not without having to explain intricate playfield mechanics, while still offering enough depth in the rulesets to retain that same level of fun and excitement at home for years on end, even if it's the only game in their collection.

Those are Photoshop mockups that didn't really account for the Governator's prestigious schnoz. The real cabinet will account for that. You may still freely boop the artwork, if you so choose.

We like Skit-B, though! Anyways, we may end up removing the company logo from the front of the apron and maybe even the backglass, but in all honesty we really dig how it looks on the side. Time and criticism will be the judge of that, though.

Foiled, again...

Is this a common thought so far? Interested in the feedback on this potential issue.

As per gambit's request, the name of the game is now Skit-B.*

We'll have to get some games in, as well.

*Neither true nor funny. Apologies, everyone.

Here you go, guys. Keep in mind that this is still in extremely early stages of testing, but here's a quick video showing off the whitewood in action. As always, we are looking forward to hearing your thoughts and comments on what we have so far!

Thanks! We are extremely grateful for the amount of feedback we have gotten from you guys here at Pinside.

I don't really see an issue with adding something like that. Whatever feels more natural, I suppose.

You would be right. We will be shooting for 200 games to be produced, but will go to 250 if the demand is high enough. There will be no more than 250 made, when all is said and done.

I do remember, and I shed a single tear for the glory days. I have to agree with you, too, that the Hunt feature would work extremely well in a nice, dark arcade.

This cracked me right up. The idea behind this project began as a small conversation in my basement one night about what we were going to do with an old FirePower machine in bad shape. Originally, we were going to retheme a FirePower into a Predator, and what was the only thing we were going to add? You guessed it, one single ramp! My, how the project has grown...

Pre-orders will be taken at the Expo here in Michigan next weekend, and will go live on the website shortly after that. I'll personally throw a post up here on Pinside to give you guys first chance before going live with pre-orders on the website. Small gesture for the excitement and critique we've received over here!

This is exactly what we were shooting for, thank you! There are a couple other minor things added to a few things in the game that work somewhat the same way. Bonus points for "backhanding" a hard shot? You bet!

Ramps are custom made right here in my shop. The ramps on the prototype in the video are somewhat crude, as they aren't exactly the final molds we will be using on the production machines. The ramps in the prototype were custom-formed to our spec, but when we got them on the machine they certainly needed some modification, so we literally put them through band saws and table grinders to get proper use out of them.

Without giving away too much, yes. Just don't expect like a giant Predator toy or anything like that; expect something a little more...'visually useful'?

Nope, it never even got off the ground. I researched a few things on how to redo the sound effects and all that, then looked into arduinos and such to control the solenoids, then it just got to be more and more and more until we just gave up on the idea and started discussing making it a "real" pin. I actually just sold that FirePower a few months ago, which is strange because we've since started another retheme project to waste time while we are waiting on contractors and such.

Powerballs will likely glow in the hunt mode, but we don't have any Powerballs around here to try them with. Either way, we can't really just go around throwing Powerballs into our production games, but if you have a Powerball, feel free to drop it into a Predator and see what happens We did toy with the idea of red balls for a short time, but out of hunt mode it made the game look cheap and they played kinda funny.

They are looking like they will come in around $4750 or so, but for you, buddy, $4750

I'll talk to the R&D guy here who has his heart set on #13. Out of 250 possible numbers to call, you jumped at one of only two numbers we were hoping to reserve

When pre-orders open up, you will be able to claim a number you prefer, as long as it hasn't been called for yet. It's also a first-come, first-served basis, if that helps.

That's going to come down to one of those "it will work itself out in testing" kind of situations. Currently, there are only 3 people in the world who have played the game, so it is going to be hard to judge something like that until we get more people playing it in more situations. In the whitewood video, there is absolutely zero lighting sources outside of the game itself, which was in a basement at 4AM. Not exactly the target lighting conditions to test in, but I'm sure that played at least a small part in that.

The brains of the machine are driven by a P-ROC, and the power-driver boards come from the same manufacturer as the P-ROC, along with another board to drive the lamp matrix. We are working on getting some bigger companies from within the industry to get onboard with manufacturing parts for us, but if not they will have to be made in-house. We're not opposed to having parts made for us specifically, but we would certainly rather have our assemblies manufactured by someone we already know within the pinball community. The next few months will be interesting, for sure.

We get asked this a lot. In all honesty, we want to go to as many shows as possible. Not to promote the game, really, but just because we love going to shows. Seattle is definitely on our list of places we are really looking to visit, and being that it is in June helps us out a bit because there aren't any other shows conflicting with it or anything, not to mention that the game will be much more mature (maybe even complete, who knows). As far as the PHOF in Vegas, I spoke with Mr. Arnold about donating games to be put on display there, but that was over a year ago, so I will be getting ahold of him again in the coming months to check up on the situation and see what he has to say about it currently.

We always love hearing that people are liking the same ideas that we like. These are some of the things we've always felt were kind of missing in pinball, and again, we're loving the positive feedback!

This has come up more than we thought it would, as well. This is somewhat embarrassing to say, but we never really put much thought into foreign power issues and such. We have had an overwhelming amount of interest coming from overseas, so we will do whatever we can to find a way to make the game work in other countries, as well. I will be contacting the manufacturer of our power supplies to see if they offer foreign power solutions, and I will try to get a definitive answer before pre-orders open up so all of our European and Australian friends can get on the list confidently without having to wait for an answer before signing up.

We do have plans, they are currently being carried out, it should be better than some other machines, and yes, it is all hand-drawn. As soon as we have some Predator-related samples to show off, you can bet they will be posted right away.

We're hoping for a simple solution to this to work out. When you place a pre-order, your name goes on the list in the numbered position you request. If you have no number preference, it will go into the next available opening, numerically. The order in which the orders are placed will be taken into consideration, as well. In short, the machines will not be produced in their numerical order; they will be produced in the order in which pre-orders were placed. Whoever placed their pre-order first will get the next game done, whether they picked number 2 or number 250.
When your game is about to go out onto the shop floor, you will be contacted in advance. You make your deposit and the game gets built. Once the game is done, you simply pay the remainder and get your game. If you need to opt out of your pre-order, you can just contact us before your game is coming up and let us know. Of course, your pre-order spot and number would go back up for grabs, as well.

We are working towards getting completed games going out the door late this summer. Realistically, I would have to project sometime around late August/September/maybe October.

We can talk about pinball all day. This is what we love to do

Shortest possible answer: We are. More detailed answer: We have a local contractor building our cabinets and cutting our playfields with a CNC machine out of some really nice kind of maple wood. I wish I knew exactly what it's called, but I am just not a woodworker by any stretch of the term. I can find out, if anyone would like to know, but I can tell you the stuff is way nicer than any other pin cabinet I've seen. After the playfield is cut, it goes out to a local graphic specialist to have the artwork applied and clearcoated, then comes back to us for assembly. It's something of a grueling process, but it's necessary to maintain professional levels of quality that won't wear off in a small window of time.

Absolutely. I'd honestly like to get the first one moving before really discussing the next one, but I can tell you that, as long as people are interested in pins we're making, we won't stop making pins. Our company profile is set up that way on purpose. We are listed as a non-profit entertainment company, so any revenue that flows through our company needs to stay within our company. This means that every time a Predator goes out the door, we're that much closer to not only making another game, we're that much closer to getting our own fancy CNC machine, silk-screener, injection molder, etc. Whenever something else like that lands in-house, that's one less thing that has to be contracted out, and drives the cost of games down ever further.

LCD in the backbox and playfield have been/are being done already. We're not ruling them out altogether, but until a design needs something like that, we most likely won't be adding it. WOZ seems to have great presentation with their backbox LCD, and the new P^3 project from www.pinballcontrollers.com creator Gerry Stellenberg has been getting great reception and reviews with its LCD mounted under the playfield and unique ball tracking application, so I think those areas are pretty well covered for now. We're not really trying to revolutionize anything here, we just want to take an approach to the idea of pinball we all know and love and simply make it as refreshing and fun as possible.

We are actually pretty decided on the theme of our next game already, though we may always change our minds, I guess. Don't mean to disappoint, but I don't want to lead you on, either, so I can say pretty confidently that the next game will most likely not be an older idea such as the things you've mentioned here. Our next game is going to be very...well...let's just say you'll be very surprised.

We'd happily take our collective asses to Jersey! Is there a show coming up sometime soon? We're still incredibly focused on getting ready for our first 'unveiling' show here, but after that I'm sure we'll have some free time for traveling. It would be cool to go to Seattle and Jersey and back in the same year. We could just jump on one of those Dream America tour buses. They allow a pinball machine as carry-on these days, don't they??

We're going to open up pre-orders here on Pinside early. Not necessarily open only to Pinside members only, so if you have friends that are interested go ahead and let them know, as well. If you'd like to get on the list, send me a PM here or send me an email to [email protected] with the following information:

Name - This will be engraved on a numbered plate on the apron, so make sure it's spelled right and it is the name of the person who will actually receive the game.

Preferred production number - Games will be marked with their production number. If there is a number you'd like to have, like an old high-school football jersey number or something, let us know. It's probably best to include 2 or 3 numbers that you'd like, in case the ones you like have already been taken.

Contact information - An email address is good to have, but a phone number is necessary in this situation.

Where you live - Country, State, City. Full address would be preferred, but isn't totally necessary.

Thanks to all of you again for all of your interest and excitement!

For some reason I was under the impression that the Allentown show was in July... We should really focus on getting out there. Of all the pinball shows I've been to, I'm sad to say I've never been to Allentown, which is a real crime, as I've heard it is one of the absolute biggest and best shows around.

Outside of the whitewood video posted earlier this week, there isn't much new to report. We've been working out a lot of bugs in the software in the last few days and it is a lot more stable now, but that's mostly just under-the-hood stuff that hasn't affected the playfield at all. The prototype (from said video) will be live at the Michigan Pinball Expo next weekend, so I'm sure there will be a lot more pics and videos floating around at that point.

It's comments like this that tell me we're doing something right. These are some of the main thoughts we had during even the earliest stages of development on the Predator. The game has to not only be good, but it has to STAY good even after playing it for years on end. If we ever come across a Predator being used as an end table in a game room, we screwed up somewhere, and this is what we're trying to avoid.

Yes, the prototype at the show will be the same one from the video posted above. A little more complete, software-wise, but still the same machine. We are hoping to have some art samples on hand for the show, but unfortunately I can't guarantee anything on that.

I've never in all my years heard a term such a that, but I'm getting a little teary-eyed, too... *sniff*

Not quite, but we are pretty surprised at how many have come in from Pinside, alone. Thanks, guys!

Not really. We don't hang out on here to watch people gush about our stuff, we really like feedback and to just talk to other people in the community. Whether we build games or not, we're still pinheads through-and-through. While we have gotten mostly positive reception here, there have been a lot of people that have seen our game and just simply disliked it altogether, called it a ripoff of other games, said we don't know what we're doing, etc. One of my favorite 'reviews' we got from another forum was a post that simply said, "This is sh*t." Probably the most constructive criticism we've had, honestly. No one has been nice enough to demand we kill ourselves yet, but the ropes are ready.
In short, if you think our game is garbage, go ahead and let us know, as you wouldn't be the first and most certainly wouldn't be the last. If our presence on the forum is detouring you, don't let us get in the way. I've posted my personal email address here publicly multiple times, as well, so if you have issues with the game where you think it could have been better or if there is a particular element you dislike, by all means send me an email and we can chat about it.

We toyed with the idea of a spinner for a while, but it just kind of ended up on the floor because anywhere it was placed felt really forced. I dig spinners just as much as the next guy, but there are already enough things on the field that simulate quick shooting guns and stuff like that, and it didn't really fit the theme as much as we wanted it to.

There's no dodging this one, you are simply correct. While the ramps on the whitewood we have are pretty crude in comparison to what the final molded product will be, this is an issue that will have to be addressed with some design tweaks. Our current thought is to change the VUK rail to sling the ball down the direction of the ramp itself, as opposed to just slamming it down into the plastic, but again, it will need to be tweaked and tested and tweaked and tested and so on. We are surprised at how well our crude ramps are holding up to this abuse, to be sure, but this just wouldn't last under heavy play conditions for an extended period of time.

Let's keep this one short.
bullshit - check!
get to the choppah - check!
aint got time to bleed - check!
stick around - check!
you ain't afraid of no man, billy - not at the moment. have an idea for it though
whatever is out there ain't no man - check!
Lastly, the infamous goddamn sexual tyrannosaurus... Let's just say that we aren't above adding in Easter Eggs

See aforementioned hint towards Easter Eggs

We're doing this again? Ok!
Son of a bitch dug in like an alabama tick - Check!
Goddamn jackpot - I need to watch the movie again, I have no idea how we missed this!
Everyone likes a little pussy - probably not
Old painless - Check!
Bad ass bush - Check!
Makes Cambodia look like Kansas - Check!
Valley to the East - Check!
Ugly mother fucker - Check, Check, Check!

Yep, we got it. There's a reply in your inbox

I don't mean to laugh at something like this, but seriously, due to the avatar picture, how many of you read this in Samuel L. Jackson's voice??

AGAIN?! Ok!
Out deerrr, past dem treees... - Check!
I SEEE YOU!!! - Check!
All bullshit, all of it! - Check!
Maybe you better put her on a leash, 'Agent Man' - Check! (One of my favorites)
Gotta be a stickler here, sorry Arnie says "What the hell are you?," to which the Predator replies with the same thing, only in a really weird, alien voice.

All I wanna say right now is that there is still more to see. Also, good job on bringing up the Special Force, as that is one of my absolute favorite pre-DMD titles. Using the extra side-buttons to fire missles at the drop targets was such an awesome touch and really set the game apart from others. Of course, the jungle-ish look is going to be prominent in Predator, as well, but not in that same style as the Special Force. Also, from what I've seen and heard from our artist, the playfield art style he is shooting for is very gritty-comic-bookish. We'll see what people think of the samples when I get them.

Haven't talked to Kevin about it yet, honestly, but it's not like it would be difficult to make it there. Hopefully we'll be there.

It's complicated It's not like one of those open-domain things, or something like that, if that's what you're asking.

In short, yes. This is the first I've heard of it. Predators was pretty good, if you ask me, so hopefully they do well with another one, as well.

We shall take a silent bow

Unfortunately, yes, there is an option to turn vulgarity off

Of course! We didn't have it debugged yet in the whitewood video, but now when hunt activates all sounds on the machine are quieted except for that ominous 'clicking' voice sound. The sound system for the whitewood was on a separate table from the machine altogether, so the sound quality of the game in the video was pretty weak, but if you listen closely when hunt is activated you can hear it. Here at the shop, it is plain as day. Also, Predator battle noises are extremely prominent during "Tracking" mode, and of course (spoiler alert) during the wizard mode, as well.

Everyone in Michigan is a seasonal worker. Didn't you know Michigan is closed in winter??

Umm yeah +1 again for wicked idea.

This is where the flaming begins: I am sad to admit, as a man, that I have never seen an Alien(s) movie outside of Alien Vs Predator (just the first one). I'll attach my man card to this message if no one else has taken it from me already...

Watch the whitewood video again with the sound up. When we get ready to show the hunt mode, we have to hit a few outlane-drains to add stocks. If you listen closely while we're doing that (and, of course, talking), you can hear those exact sound effects a few times as the ball drains out the outlanes

This is something that has come up quite a few times during development, but we decided that we thought the virtual locks were a little more controlled and, to be honest, I have never really thought of 'stealing locks' as anything more of an unavoidable side effect of design. As candidly as possible, having my locks stolen has always really felt like I was getting screwed more than anything. Especially on something like Jokerz where multiball is your absolute focus and having it stolen can just ruin your game. Even on something that can handle the issue with software, like Shadow, having your physical locks stolen doesn't really screw you out of multiball itself, but having the balls come out of the shooter lane instead of the lock release robs you of invaluable Jackpot attempts with the upper flipper.
Admittedly it would be super cool to have all the balls launch out of those ejects directly into the bumpers all at once. Maybe we'll consider making this a setting or something? I can say right now that if it does get added into the game, having it set on tournament play will disable it automatically.

I can't believe this hasn't been mentioned before. In production units, the game settings, high scores, user files, and even game code are going to be stored on a small flash memory device (most likely a microSD card or the like). If anything major comes up as far as bugs or software hiccups, or even certain updates to rules / scoring, code will be patched and we will just send out a new memory stick with the new software on it. When you get the chip in the mail, it's as easy as taking the old one out and swapping it with the new one and turning the game back on. If you don't want to wait and have a bit of tech skills, the option to update the card manually will most likely be offered, as well.

But, but...what if Arnold wants one???

You definitely saw that right. This leads me to the next comment:

If I explained the system in full, it would take up like 4 paragraphs and get extremely wordy, so here's the abridged version:
The game will save virtually infinite users, limited only by the amount of flash memory that the game comes on. The files are SUPER small, so it really is spit-in-a-river in the grand scheme of things. Without doing any real math, I can tell you it would take about 2 million user files to fill the game up and cause an issue. To log in, you simply hold the login button (pretty much in the placement of your usual buy-in button) while you press start. If you don't have a user on the game already, you just pick "NEW USER" and enter your initials as if you were entering a high score, then pick your newly created user name. Users can be removed individually from the settings menus, or you can keep the file and simply clear out the stored data or Wizard Points information.
The game stores a ridiculous amount of information about you as a player; way too much to list here. The point is, the data goes very deep. Think of it as something of an expanded 'audits' file that is personalized to the player, with even more information than your standard audits file would care about. Some examples:
Tracks how many times you've attempted each mode,
Games played, extra balls, avg ball time, avg game time, etc,
Your personal highest and lowest completed game scores, along with an average score,
Tilts, warnings, left drains, right drains and center drains,
Hunts stocked, hunts attempted, hunts completed,
Game also remembers how many times you've made each individual shot, such as left & right ramps, left & right loops, "jungle hole" scoop shots, how many times you've advanced your multipliers, total pops hit and total successful skill shots. There is quite a bit more, but that is the really important stuff that I think people will be wanting to check up on.
The user file also stores info for the "Wizard Points" you can achieve. If you haven't already guessed by the context, Wizard Points are akin to achievements or table goals, if you will. There are three brackets of Wizard Points, cleverly categorized as Easy, Medium and Hard. You guessed it, the easy ones are entry-level achievements, medium ones will challenge an average player fairly well, and the hard ones are, for the most part, extremely difficult to pull off. I would be extremely surprised if someone (with the glass on!) could complete all of the Wizard Point goals within their first year of owning the machine. Here are just a few examples of the goals:

Ramp Redemption - Easy - Collect an Extra Ball earned by completing a set amount of ramp shots.
Big Money, No Whammy! - Easy - Collect your first multiball jackpot.
What's In The Box? - Medium - Collect all available mystery awards in a single game.
Money In The Bank - Medium - Collect over 100,000,000 in bonus.
Good To See You, Major - Play 250 games.
Stocked For The Winter - Complete 75 successful hunts.

Many of the hard goals are collected over time. No one could be reasonably expected to complete 75 successful hunts in one game, obviously. These are just examples of a few of the Wizard Points in the game; there are of course many more that you'll just have to earn to figure out This post is now officially too long, so I'm going to willfully make a dbl post after this one to answer another couple of elaborate questions that were recently asked. Bad etiquette, I know, but so is an 8 paragraph post

There is. The name has been with me for a LONG time, and has been used for lots of different things in its days. Used it as my Flash "Studio" name for awhile when I was much younger and made Flash animations out of boredom. It was also my company name when I used to buy/sell/trade new and used video games, arcade coin op stuff and pins. While we were in the process of making the Predator and it came to our thoughts that we were going to need to become a company of some sort to make it happen, Skit-B was the obvious choice simply based on the idea that we think it's neat, based on its history within our small group here in Mid-Michigan, and the fact that coming up with a new and flashy company name would only slow us down. Oh, and as for the meaning, it's an acronym. Skit-B literally stands for "Some Kids In The - Basement." We are oh, so clever, I know

Company info / background is pretty straight-forward, if you're looking for our "employees'" connection to coin-op / pinball. You know what? I just typed out an entire story here, so I'm just going to move it to my Pinside Pinball Story in my profile. Please check there to read up on our history as pinheads I'll just link it, below.

http://pinside.com/pinball/community/pinsiders/skitbpinball/stories/background-of-skit-b-pinball

There are a ton of different sayings the game uses when you start a game, and I believe this is one of them. Others include Jesse Ventura's "You lose it here...you're in a world of hurt," Billy's "There's something out there waiting for us...and it ain't no man," and Dillon's "We need the best. That's why you're here." I believe my personal favorite is Dutch, saying "We are assets, Dillon. Expendable assets."

I really don't want to give out an exact number here, but I can build the scenario for you guys. Pinside is the ONLY place we've opened up pre-orders to in the world. Barring friends-of-friends or whatnot that were clued in BY pinsiders, I can tell you that over 10% of the production run will end up with pinside members. One more reason why we just love you guys

Did I mention we just love you guys? Nothing gets past anybody here. You can't see it on the whitewood because...well...it's a whitewood, but that has been the plan all along. UV-only colors are applied over the existing playfield art to turn all the leaves blue and all of the characters different shades of red. One thing we're thinking about changing is allowing the two closest red GI lights to the flippers to stay on during hunt/hunt multiball, just to help you keep an eye down on the flippers. Thoughts on this?
People have mentioned use of a laser device to "target" the player a few times, as well. We researched this a while back, and we are left with two major points, and a potential solution.
Point # 1: Using a class one laser device makes our game a 'potential household hazard.' Based on the different heights of potential players, there is just no way we could get an OK to install these in the game out-of-the-box.
Point # 2: The concept is just too awesome to ignore, so we really need to figure out a way to make this work.
Potential solution: The game could ship with a "kit" that the end-buyer would have to install themselves. The most likely scenario would be a topper with the cannon itself housing the laser device. You could set it at your own angle, and for legal reasons, it would be one of those "by installing this item on your machine you are aware of the risks, bla bla bla" kind of stories. Thoughts on this, as well?

EDIT: I must be in quite a mood to give away spoilers and info tonight... No, I haven't been drinking or anything, but Happy Easter to those who are

Wow, lots of stuff to answer this afternoon! I guess that's what happens after writing the amount of stuff I wrote last night

It is a cool idea, for sure, but I can tell you that there isn't anything like this in the game right now. There is a unique hurry-up mode in the game, but it's not based on the armcpu nuke; it's based on catching the girl as she runs through the forest. The armcpu countdown in used in a few places as far as animations, and the Super Jackpot animation is from when the nuke goes off at the end. Recovering from a tilt is a pretty wild concept, to me, but it is interesting as hell... I wonder if something like this could be executed properly? Might take some really off-the-wall thinking to accomplish.

Talking sound bytes is so much fun This one is exactly how you stated it. Oh, I mean, "Check!"

Do you think this would have the same effect? Needs some testing, I guess.

Lasers act really strange when sandwiched between a mirror-polished clear-coat and tempered glass. The light hits the target, then just goes all over the place. It's unfortunate, but if you can't control it, you certainly can't use it in a precision environment like a pinball playfield. If someone could personally get me in touch with Stephen Hawking and some kind of gas that can slow the speed of light, we might be on to something

We're working on that. There are a few vendors/manufacturers we've been speaking with to try and get our stuff made or at least sourced from existing parts. Don't quote me on this, but I'm sure the simple stuff, like light housings, will be pretty standard, so changing bulbs in and out shouldn't be an issue.

We like to think of it as "it's a community, not a contest," but we do enjoy seeing posts like this

I don't really know, honestly. If people can get UV tattoos that last forever, I'm sure paint can come close Production-wise, the normal artwork goes on first, then gets clear-coated, then the UV paint, then one more clear-coat to protect that, as well. Hopefully that will keep it as protected as possible.

This is very likely, I like the idea. +1 for assistance on covering our legal butts

We will be toying with this over the next few weeks. As there will be potentially thousands of people coming to play the game, we should garner enough thoughts and opinions to make an educated decision.

All I'm going to say to this is "agreed."

This is probably the case. It's more of an account of what got us into pinball than your usual 'company profile.' If the info you're looking for is related to if we have worked for Bally/Midway/Williams/Gottlieb/Stern in the past, you won't be finding anything like that. We're all fresh to this particular side of the industry spectrum, but we've been in it both commercially and as hobbyists since before I started Kindergarten, if that helps.

I wish I could say more, but I simply can't say anything other than the fact that we have legal right to use the Predator license for our purposes. I hate this legal crap just as much as anybody...

This is an AWESOME idea! This option is definitely open to any who are getting a game.
We like the idea of engraving someone's name into the plate to show that the game was literally built for them. We do understand that the idea isn't really for everybody, which is why it is no problem to have something else written there or to simply have it left blank. If you're thinking for resale value, I would have "Money In The Bank" printed on it in Predator language and just tell people it says something different. To me, that would be pretty funny

The plate is most likely going to be bolted onto the apron on the left side where a rule card would go. It will be easy to change or remove if you wanted to. Hell, you could even turn it over and have your new message engraved on the other side and none would ever be the wiser

I don't see why not. I guess you can just specify when your game is on the slab to be built.

Yeah, there will be a goodie bag with a small collection of stuff that has the highest likelihood of getting busted, along with a keyfob, as well. Oh, don't forget the manual, too.

We're considering this more and more. There may be other implications, as other modes use the right eject shot, but we might be able to work that out somehow.

Never thought about it that way. You would be like the 4th person to mention that, so it will most likely be moved to a corner or taken off the side altogether. I'll see what it looks like a little smaller, but I think, visually, it might still keep that same 'subtitle of the movie' misconception. Also, the front panel pics aren't exactly to spec, and the Arnold placement won't be exactly where it is in those pictures. No nose picking for game starts.

Loud and clear Thanks!

Not again, nooooooo! Someone at AussieArcade posted that last year and I JUST got it out of my head!

Just want to drop a note here to say that I'm going to be pretty quiet on the forums for a few days, as I will be leaving for expo with the game in tow. Busy times, as always, but I will be doing my best to keep you guys updated as much as I can. Also, if there are any last Pinsiders on the fence about a pre-order, tomorrow is the last day I will be able to take a pre-order before they go open to the general public. Just a reminder. Thanks for everything, guys, we really appreciate all you have done to help us and the project!

Today was just setup for the show, but we couldn't just leave it there turned off. Todd S was just taking a break and was nice enough to share a few pics I've gotten a lot of emails today, so I will be processing those tomorrow, as I am dead-on-my-ass tired. Got lots of pin to play tomorrow!

Lots to answer tonight. First of all, the show was a blast and we are more tired than any time in our lives. Lots of people got to play the Predator and at times there were lines ten deep to give it a shot. Only minor problems with the game all weekend, and our crude ramps survived the whole show! Anyways, on to the replies.

Yes, as long as nothing catastrophic happens, we will be in Allentown next month. Hopefully we will be able to have a more complete proto for that show, but this one seemed to work well enough.

It has been known to happen, but from a cradled position? For now, good luck on that. We'll have to test it after we get the new ramps built and installed. In a perfect world, it would be possible, but not very probable to execute deliberately.

Thanks We get more and more involved with the show every year, and this year is no exception. There is just an overwhelming amount of work that goes into these shows, and along with giving limitless thanks to the guys who put on the show, it's good to help out as much as possible. At the end of the weekend, everyone is dead on their feet as they're unloading the last truck, but it's always a good time.

This was a bit disappointing. While the game was in the shop, we tested it at full volume and it was obnoxious, so we thought it was fine. At the show we left the game on full blast and it was almost completely drowned out by all the games surrounding it. During the conference it was extremely loud, though, so that was nice.

I don't see us putting a shaker motor in it, but I don't see a problem with adding a bit of software to control a shaker motor at appropriate times if you wanted to add one in.

This:

Gary Stern didn't hang out at the show for very long at all, but Jersey Jack Guarnieri thoroughly enjoyed playing Predator and gave honest, real world compliments on the project. He was a genuinely real, nice guy who took us and the project itself very seriously. I don't believe there are any pics, though.

Yeah, as soon as we put the other ones on, we knew it would need to be changed. The new design is way more reliable, way more visible in more light, and doesn't risk being broken when you raise the playfield. Again.

Yeah, we do too. I don't know if it was intentional, but EV left it at the show, so it will now adorn my desk until he asks for it back

I can't believe more people haven't called us out on this yet. Most of the DMD animations will have layered, programmed text in them. We just used the Comic Sans font because it was selected when we were doing the test animations. So, yes, they will all be updated when the new animations are done.

Hell yes we do.

It's coming. Trust me, we're pretty anxious, as well.

We have bigger plans for the arm blades. Stay tuned.

Kevin suggested this to Kevin as soon as they were attached. The ramp entrances (the right, more than the left) were a bit of an oversight, and the playfield is going to be adjusted to open them up quite a bit wider and give an angled opening at the base to allow shots. We were legitimately impressed whenever anyone made a right ramp shot on purpose on this prototype.

Yeah, a lot of people didn't know what to think of the game at this stage. We had to keep reminding people that this prototype was less than a week old when it came to the show. This is also why we are hoping to have a more refined proto when we get to Allentown.

This is one of my favorite pics from the show. The guy playing in the pic was a really cool guy, too

Who?

No, that was YOU. We still had to drive an hour, get our games from a drop point, and drive another hour and a half home. Yeah, it's almost 6am and I'm on the computer... I wonder if my wife will go for the whole backrub idea at 5:39 am...?

For prototype purposes, we might find some place on the playfield to secure him to for now. Whatever we do, double-sided tape won't quite cut it next time

This is absolutely true. While most of the suggestions we've talked about are cool at the least, some we've gotten (not necessarily from Pinside) are pretty silly. We're certainly not trying to build a made-to-order machine here, but even ideas we don't personally like can be viable if they're simple, such as the shaker motor coding. Most of the ideas we talked about at the expo revolved around toys, and there were some sincerely awesome ideas on the table. Let's just say that I have some phone calls to make.

Sure. I should have put this up before, so thanks for reminding me, Pete. Like you said, these aren't Predator-related, and they probably don't reflect the exact art style for the playfield, but these should settle any worries about talent in the art department.
n2327351406555528231.jpg n2327351377863909761.jpg

This is still the plan. I can't wait to see it come together, and I hope it's all worth it!

I know, the talent the artist has simply blows my mind. I'm on pins and needles to get ahold of some Predator-related stuff to look at!

Photoshopping was not an option for this project from the beginning. I miss truly awesome artwork and dammit, we're bringin it back.

Probably. I kinda think that shaker motors, while pretty cool, are very 'fluffy,' and aren't necessary for production games. That being said, I can totally see why people like them, and it makes little difference to me to make it easier to install the mod if you want it.

I haven't even talked with the guy who will be making the toys yet, so we are still in the 'coming up with ideas' phase. We have a pretty solid rule, here, though, regarding the toys that will be going into the game: All toys, no matter what they are or where they are on the machine (playfield or not), WILL have something to do with the gameplay and WILL interact with either the player or the ball in some way.

If you ask me, taking money without having a product ready has too many chances for something to go wrong. Besides, what if I died or something before the game came out? My wife would certainly thank you all for your deposits, though, so she could afford an HUO Attack From Mars to bury me in

I'm not too into comics, but I absolutely loved the Civil War series. Didn't recognize the artwork, though. For shame!

By all means! We'd love to have people come hang out at the shop for a few hours and play some games when their games are done.

Our pre-order list looks like an incredible round of Battleship took place on it, with boxes checked off all over the place. We're pretty excited, to say the least!

We did record the speech, but I haven't taken a look at it yet. I can post it in a couple of days, if you'd like. There isn't a lot of new information in there to you guys, but it was fun nonetheless. We started by getting some information about the game and the process out there, but I'm not gonna lie to you guys, people were getting bored with the techie info and honestly, so were we. So at that point, we just called everyone to the front of the hall and let them get up close and check the game out and it turned right around. Lots of people were having fun with it, and had tons of exciting things to say about it. Blakesell got to play it in front of everybody, too

Nobody does...

Actually, no, we haven't. I do like some of the ideas on here, but Russo, I really doubt we are going to use ALL of them

These are also already called for First tilt warning: "You're ghostin us, motherf&*@er," second tilt warning (or, if you have it set to more than 2, all tilt warnings after the first): "Bullsh#t!," and finally, upon tilting, "You give our position one more time, I'll bleed you, real quiet..."

Expo was fantastic. We got to sit around all day and talk about our games, others' games, games in general... If you're asking about the reception to the Predator, we heard some incredibly awesome things both directly and indirectly from people of all "importance levels" in the industry. Most importantly, everyone who came out to play the Predator had more than enough chances to get behind it and really see what it could do. Also, from watching others playing and gathering feedback we were able to make some final decisions that we were on the fence about, along with taking valuable notes on shot layout changes. Nothing too drastic--no shots are being moved or removed--but we now know exactly how to balance the shot angles and openings to make for a challenging yet accessible game. Some rules and software will be altered as well, based on performance of local players and suggestions from the people who were the most involved in the game. Namely, completing the inlanes/outlanes will net you 4 hunt stocks instead of 1, and mystery awards will be lit by making loops instead of by making one of each shot. There are a few more "under the radar" changes that are being made, as well, but I think those are the ones that stuck out the most.

The next show we will be going to is Pinfest at Allentown. We are really hoping to have a brand new playfield done with the new shot dynamics and have some software issues tweaked and fixed before we come out there, so keep your fingers crossed. Also, the cabinet art should be done and applied to the cabinet by the time we get out there, so that's a bonus, as well. We aren't currently committed to any other shows at the moment, but we're always open to ideas. I don't want to give away too much, but I don't see many pre-orders lasting through the Allentown show.

I don't want to sound too businessy, but that will really end up coming down to cost and appearance. There aren't going to be any Premiums, Pros, LE's, LLE's, B-I-N-G-O's or Special Editions or anything like that, so room for extra stuff like that is pretty slim if it doesn't become the default for the game itself. The effect looks super cool on like a Tron, but for Predator I'm not too sure. I guess we should just ask everybody else here what they think?

Truth be told, I have no idea. If someone is that into mods, then I would suggest they offer to make them for other Predator owners after they get one done.

Seattle is pretty far, as you said, but we're really considering it. We would almost need to drive out there, because I'm not going to trust the prototype to a shipper just yet, so there are a lot of variables involved in such a long trip. We'll see what transpires, I suppose.

Then next time you talk to Terry, tell him thanks for supplying over half of the parts to put the prototype together!

Heheh nice. It's also George Takei's birthday today, so a big nerdy shoutout that direction, too

Yeah, I'm a little behind on real updates here. Matt and I have been talking passively, and while we haven't come to terms on exactly what's going on, we know that something will definitely be going on. So yeah, Matt from BackAlleyCreations will be making the toys for the Predator!

While I'm on the subject of adding to the list of people who will be helping out with the project, there are a few more announcements to make.

I've spoken with Michael Pupo of Flipper Fidelity and he will be coming up with the sound system for Predator. An audio solution of this caliber is sure to get the neighbors' attention when you start the Showdown wizard mode.

Another announcement is that Marc and Paul from MacroSpecialties have gotten on board and will be providing Predators will all new parts sourced from industry standard spec. This means everything on your game can be ordered directly from Marco if you need a replacement, all of the intricate workings under your playfield will be as familiar as ever, and all of the parts will be just as tough and robust as you could expect.

Lastly, I'm not sure if he wants his name mentioned in conjunction with the project or not at this point, but a very well known supervising sound editor who has worked on the Predator series in the past has shown some sincere interest in working on the project. This is balancing on the question of if Fox will help us out with a few things, at the moment. More on this as it develops.

It really is tricky. The hard part is to not succumb to throwing every idea we've had into it!

At this point, would it be unforgivable to sign my posts, as well? Oh well, I'll do it just this once.

#1

Note to self: Add an extra small one to BigPhil's rubber ring kit.

Pre-orders don't cost anything. If you would like to get on the list, simply PM me and I'll let you know what info we need. If you look back on page 3 of this thread, there is a post about the info we need, as well.

This is pretty accurate. It may change slightly, but this is a good base of thought.

Within the next month or two. I'm really pushing to have the first "real" game done by the end of May, so it can be brutally tested and beaten on for a while and get on to moving completed games as soon as possible. I almost feel bad for the fact that other people will be playing the game before you guys, but it's unavoidable. The game needs to be tested into the ground before going out. It simply can't be a disappointment in any way.

If I get any more orders from the D, I'll ask them if they'd like to add their game to your shipping unit. On a side note: Ich spreche Deustch nicht so gut. I've seen a lot of questions on Flippermarkt.de that I can barely understand and certainly couldn't answer properly. Would you mind letting some info out over there if I asked you to? Thanks in advance.

Order the ring and we'll put it inside the game with a little Predator toy holding it out to her. That's a Kodak moment!

Pete, I'd like you to know that I thought your wife was pretty cool even before she said that

Even for the deposit alone, I'm thinking the PayPal fee on that would be like 75 bucks. If someone knows a way around that, then maybe, but damn, that's huge!

We have arranged for the game to go out to a very popular pinball venue in southern Michigan. If you're close enough, by all means, come play it I have a hard time imagining leaving the game out on location...

Thanks! As long as we can afford to make games, this is what we plan on doing for a looooong time

This is a big indicator that we have an awesome theme. I can't count how many times I've had to watch Predator while building ideas for modes and such, and it never got old. Even while working on the dots and the sounds for days on end, I still winced at the nasty parts and giggled at the funny parts. Especially Hawkins' jokes. Those are classic.

We're going to need at least one set of interactive toys by then, to ensure that they work and aren't at risk of being battered and broken by air-balls and such.

We thought about stuff like this, but I doubt it will make it into the game, at this point. There are a few more 'unorthodox' ideas we are considering that are pretty similar to this, in nature, though.

The reason the play in the video is so heavily favoring the right side of the playfield is because we were using all right-side hunts, because I was on that side of the machine and I was more able to reach in and hit those switches by hand at the time. When you want to command a 'hunt,' you hit the button on the left side of the cabinet to go for left shots, or the button on the right side of the cabinet for right shots. I think this makes for a pretty perfect balance, based on the fact that it's always ready to add flow in the direction you need it.

I just got off the phone with Matt from Back Alley a few moments ago, and I can assure you, there will not be a lack of playfield toys

Couldn't resist: Get to da choppah!

No, the playfield artwork is being hand-drawn by a professional artist. We should have some samples to post shortly.

Well, you know: The Dude abides, man.

Oh yeah, I forgot to throw that out here. The name has been removed from the sides and the front of the cabinet.

I dunno, probably. Haven't really thought about that yet. I'm sure we can have a couple extras made up in a week or two.

I'm looking for a place to add in the follow up "you got time to duck?" at the moment

The Wizard mode is based on the final showdown between Dutch and the Predator (hence the name Showdown, which I'm not sure has been mentioned here or not).

This is on the community, at this point. I promised myself I wouldn't show off any WizMode footage until I've seen someone outside of the shop make it there first. Maybe we'll see at Allentown

I doubt it, at this point. Wireforms are extremely expensive to have fabricated, and we don't want to use an existing ramp from another game just to get stuff cheaper or something. The material we will be using on the final ramps will be MUCH sturdier and more robust than the ones you've seen on the whitewood so far, so that should help a bit.

Got it

Lots of talk about Wizard Mode, all of a sudden... I'll explain a bit of it, but I'm gonna keep the visuals under wraps for a bit longer, sorry 4-ball multiball with 30 seconds of ballsave timer, then the mode ends when all but one ball ends up in the trough. All shots (ramps, loops, ejects, etc) are worth a decent value, and add 5M to the Showdown Jackpot which is collected at the Jungle hole. When collected, the jackpot resets back down to it's starting value. Lots of visual and audio going on as well, of course. I think it makes for a very familiar-yet-fresh wizmode: Total chaos that only the most skilled of players will be able to truly control. As far as when you'll see it, you guys gotta earn it! Would you really want to see the wizard mode on the internet, as opposed to in your gameroom??

This kind of falls under the same category as the spinner discussion earlier in the thread. Targets are cool, but for the software and ruleset, they just weren't necessary. The targets in the center are obviously important as they are used to light locks, but other than that, there really isn't much reason to add any more. In nearly all of the rubbered-off areas are switches to add nominal point values and sound / lighting effects, so it's not like it's just dead bounces there, as well.

Perfect.

Thanks, Pete In all seriousness, though, the wizard mode isn't terribly hard to get ahold of. It's true that I am a competitive player, but it's not like I can just dial-in the wizard mode on this game like a Demolition Man or Addams Family. On Shadow, which I've had in my house for a little over a year now, I can reach the final battle about half the times I play, if I'm really shooting for it. With Predator, it's about the same, so far. If I want to simply run the modes out by cradling through the mode timers and being "cheesy" about it just to get to wizard mode, it may be something like 60% of the time, or so. If you were trying to do everything on the machine in one game, though, you would have to be a much better player than I am. Maybe on my best day I could come fairly close, but seriously, good luck...

This guy gets it

There are 2 coded in there right now, and many more going in. Likely not accessible by button codes, though; they will be in other spots within the game.

Quick note: We're going to be on the Spooky Pinball Podcast on the first!

PM sent. Emails have been coming in from all over the world by the bucket load, but I'm slowly getting to all of them. Wife approval is not something that should ever be taken lightly

You were the first kid in the neighborhood with a Nintendo, weren't you?

Foiled, again...

Yeah. It was really fun, I can't wait to hear how it turned out!

That's definitely the game you're hearing. We know better than to tease people with Little Richard...

We will certainly let everybody know when the pre-orders are all taken. So yeah, not yet

I think I'll send a machine to your neighbor's house, instead. The name plate will say "Not Phil's, but real close!" What do you think?

Bad publicity for us!

We are off to the Allentown show in a couple of hours. See you guys there!

Holy cow, guys, what a night. The show here at Allentown was seriously one of the best we've been to, and there was tons of interest in the Predator. It was nice to meet a lot of Pinsiders in person, as well as other people who we've talked to over the last few months. The really wild end to the night is that we let a bunch of pinheads from Montreal talk us into bringing the game up into our hotel room (didn't take much convincing, honestly) after the show closed down. There were something like 10 guys in the room with the game for about the last 5 hours or so, and we're just now getting to bed. What a blast, seriously. Big shout outs to Scott, Ian, Silvain (sp?), and everybody else who hung out for the better part of the night!

On a side note, I have been somewhat neglecting my emails and PMs while out here in PA, but I promise everybody I'll be getting to them within the next day or two.

Tomorrow morning we're going to be stopping by the sound manager's studio to nail down some info and ideas, and I'll make it a point to ask about attaching his name to the project officially. After that, it's a long ride home to check those emails and sleep for about a year...

Stay tuned, there are a few more tricks up our sleeve to be released fairly soon

HOME! Joking aside, we don't have any current plans to go to any more shows, at the moment. There are a few we're looking into, but for now we need to focus a bit on the game, itself. There have been huge leaps with the game, physically, in the last month or so, but there are still just the two of us that are working on the actual 'development' end of the game, and it has been somewhat neglected in that aspect while doing public appearances and shows and such. We're not taking ourselves off of the social 'map,' but we have lots of work to do. Before we go off to another show or other public showing, we need to get our new whitewood installed with new ramps (those who have played the machine know what I'm talking about) and new shot modifications, not to mention the new modes that are being added at the same time.

For sure! We had a blast, as well.

It's not like it was a planned thing; the idea came up during a cigarette break in front of the hotel at like 10PM. The party don't stop just because the show was over!

Don't worry, no matter what they'll tell you, they were pretty jealous of ya for being the first on the list

This is the angle we're looking at right now. We'll let you all know how it pans out.

Believe me, we were too We're gonna have to get together again soon and hang out. Maybe a trip out through Canada is in order?

Scott,

Please see above comment

#55. Check your email

You need to do your paperwork better! In my vows, I literally stated that anything my wife wants done needs to be asked of me at least three times, and I made it known that I will always buy unnecessary stuff, including gadgetry and electronics (which I classify a pin as both, and so must she). Cover all your bases, brother

All that aside, I just finished going through all of my emails and Pinside messages. If I missed anyone or you didn't get a reply, please let me know asap. Catching up is hard to do

Like we aren't gonna be there?

Ugh, you gotta love those gigantic fluorescent lights that stretch RIGHT over the flippers/slings

There isn't any music from any outside source going into the game. It all comes directly from the movie's soundtrack by Alan Silvestri, save Long Tall Sally which was obviously Little Richard, but still comes from the movie.

I know, I've been a little scarce here on the forums lately and definitely with my emails. Not to throw too much personal life into the thread, but I've been a bit under the weather and I just had three teeth yanked out of my head this afternoon as the icing on the cake (those who saw me at the Allentown show may remember I spent about half the weekend drinking anbesol and holding my cheek). The game is still moving along at a decent pace, so don't worry, I've just been making Aaron work extra hard on tweaks and physical changes while I plug away at the computer working on a couple new modes

Again, if you're reading this thread and are waiting on an email response, I WILL get to it within the next day or two! Thanks, everybody

Got through all my emails again this morning. Again, if you sent me a message and haven't gotten a response, please email me again, as the message was likely lost. Thanks!

Not really, no. Screen printing onto the cabinet would be terribly expensive and would push production time through the roof for us. Part of the big bag of goodies will be a standard black set of leg protectors though.

I've personally seen some decal 'nastiness' with a Transformers LE around the legs on the front of the cabinet. I personally think that having the graphics go all the way to the edge and using leg protectors will be less of a risk, honestly.

Hopefully. Time will tell, I suppose.

I say we shouldn't sticky this thread, in particular. I'm going to make a new thread with all the relevant info right in the first post so people don't have to dig through this monstrous thread to find information. That being said, what information do you guys think is relevant enough to be included in the post?

Thanks for all the well-wishes, guys. I'm back to normal now, for the most part, and have been working on quite a few things with the game's software. I'll do a video update pretty soon showing everything when it's up and working right (well, at least right enough to show properly), but I'll share a bit here real quick.

Login system is being revamped quite a bit. We had mentioned the idea to a couple guys in Allentown, but now the updated stats viewer is becoming a reality. When you check your personal user stats, you can now check TWO users side-by-side for direct comparison / bragging rights. This will likely cause fights, but it's pretty cool to be able to do

Tracking mode now stays in UV for the duration of the mode, and there has been some serious sound / music manipulation to add to the ambiance of the mode.

Reveal mode has been completely changed. Originally, it chose a set series of shots you had to make in order to complete it, but it just felt too much like the Tracking mode. Not to mention once you knew the pattern, it got a little boring. The 'theme' of the mode remains the same, but the mode has now become an Add-A-Ball. When the mode is started, another ball is thrown into play immediately, and every time you hit the two lock targets in the middle, another ball is added. After 15 seconds, balls are no longer able to be added. While the mode is active, ramp shots are worth a set score plus a value multiplied by how many balls are in play. Mode is over when you're back to one ball in play.

Triggering Hunt mode now stops all other music and sounds from playing while you try to take your shot. Helps to focus a lot better, and gives the mode more of the feeling we were shooting for when we thought it up.

A few of the Wizard Points achievements have been rearranged, and a few of them have been omitted or replaced.

New easter eggs have been added!

The biggest update comes in the form of a new mini-wizard mode that I had hinted towards in another thread, and those of you who talked to us at Allentown may remember me saying that we had just thought up a big addition to the game on the drive there, and this is it. This is a huge addition to the overall game, both physically and on the software end. We're still working on the finer details of how this works, but there are going to have to be at least six new lamps placed on the playfield, and maybe even one more at every major shot, as well. I'm not going to say too much here yet, as we're still working on it, mentally, to make it all come together, but I'll give you the really important notes that you're probably wondering.
-This is another 'passive' mode, so you can access it and / or work towards it at any time.
-Yes, that means it's another stackable multiball, also.
-The mode is activated by making general shots on the playfield a set number of times.
-Playing the mode requires more thought than raw skill.
-That's all for now

Here's another one of these posts... Just finished with my emails again, so if you sent me something and I didn't reply, please send again. Thanks!

We are still alive, but the emails have been lacking attention as of late. I always appreciate the words of encouragement, as well

It should be noted that while I haven't gotten around to my emails just yet, there are still some Predators to go around. If you've emailed me to get on the list, don't worry, I'll reply in a day or two.

Also, I couldn't help myself on this one. Aaron made me promise that I wouldn't show off our little side project until it's done, but somebody posted the duck hunt gif and now I just have to. NOTE: This is DEFINITELY not a production game, this is a retheme of a Williams Valiant for our private game room only! Pretty pretty please don't ask us to make another one.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/7674/1000046x.jpg 100_0046.JPG

We are still here.

Sorry for the lack of updates / communication, but we are really close to crunch time on this and haven't even had the time to reply to emails or even post and say hello. We are still alive, the project is still moving forward, and I will be getting to all these posts and emails very shortly.

Keep the faith, brothers

I read this like 5 minutes ago and I'm STILL laughing...

This is what it's all about, pretty much. We can take a salary, but it has to be documented and considered "reasonable" in comparison to the money flowing through the company, so while we will be able to survive, we won't be showing up to any shows with sexy foreign cars and slick suits or anything. My 15 year old American pickup truck and t-shirt-n-jeans will suit me just fine. For the people, by the people, I suppose...

Don't get me started on this one... The only reason I knew a bit about how non-profits work to begin with is because I saw a slew of commercials about the American Cancer Society and wondered, "If you're spending all your proceeds on cancer research, who the hell is paying for these commercials?" Well, a little Googling and statistic checking reveals that these "charities" use more than half of their "donations" to raise awareness of the organization (commercials & promotions) and to maintain the organization itself (pay people who work for them). We never claimed to be a charity, that's for sure, but the business model seems to work for us just fine. Even if we had a couple million dollars of profit sitting around, we would blow it on more manufacturing equipment and tools and stuff anyways, I'm sure

Just yours, Dan

You guys are insatiable! We're trying to get everything to fall into place for a really big update in video form, but it's taking a bit longer than we thought it would. We've added a couple things to the playfield and gotten the shots tweaked to where we think they are just about perfect, so that means yet another playfield swap. Gotta have this new prototype as close to production quality as possible before the show in Chicago next month so we can finally have a chance to show the game to the public without having to explain a bunch of future changes (ramps!) over the players' shoulders.

If I told you all of the changes we've made since the last time the game was out in the wild, this would look like the changelog section of a shareware readme.txt file, so I'll just hit the high notes for now.

Changes:
1. Balanced scoring issues across a few of the modes. Each mode, when completed properly, awards points within a 15-30M window of one another. This doesn't exactly apply to Unload or Reveal, which are more dependent on how they are played and how long they are active for their scores. As a refresher to newcomers to this thread, Unload is a mode which lasts 30 seconds with all 4 balls out on the field with unlimited ballsave and all shots on the field are worth their initial value +1,000,000pts. If played well, this mode usually nets between 95-145M. Novices seem to average closer to 50 or 60M or so. Reveal is handled a little differently now, which I will get into in a second.
2. Completing H-U-N-T inlanes and outlanes now adds four hunt attempts instead of one. One just simply wasn't enough. Game now starts with 4 attempts available at outset, as well, which I'm admittedly worried about but doesn't seem to have posed any balance issues just yet.
3. Hunt Multiball has been revamped in both scoring and playstyle. Previously, it would select a random shot and light it for 5 seconds then change to another shot. This required a level of control that I simply do not possess, and caused a lot of other players to become a little disappointed when they achieved the Hunt Multiball and didn't see much of a score increase afterwards. After the revamp, Hunt Multiball now selects a random shot (out of the two ramps or two loops, for a total of four possible), waits 5 seconds and selects another, leaving the first one lit, as well. This process is repeated until all four shots are lit or a successful shot is made on a lit ramp or loop, at which point it resets. The player is rewarded for making the shots it selects first by decreasing the value of the shot based on how many have been made lit. In short, if you hit the first shot before it adds another one, you earn a big 40M, but if you wait until all four are lit, nailing one nets you a quick 10M. Can you control the madness? Your scores will definitely show it.
4. Mystery is now lit after making 8 collective shots on the loops (4 left and 4 right, 2 left and 6 right, etc) instead of one of each shot.
5. Showdown Wizard Mode is now worth quite a bit more points overall, and the sounds have been balanced better to be louder and more obnoxious. Your wives will thank me at 2am.

Additions:
1. Mystery now has a 1-in-5 chance of starting Quick Multiball; a simple, two-ball mode in which all major shots on the field are worth 10M apiece. This mode is also stackable with the standard Multiball and Hunt Multiball modes, but not Showdown, Unload or Reveal.
2. If you remember the old Reveal mode, then you are one of the few. Originally, the mode would pick a random shot and, when the shot was made, pick another random shot and ended after six shots were made. As a player, I'll admit that this mode was just very boring and...blah. That being said, it has been completely scrapped and has been totally redone. Reveal is now something of an add-a-ball mode in which the Jungle Hole, Left Eject and Right Eject are lit as the active shots. A ball is added to play when the mode starts, and once for the first time either of the ejects are hit, for a potential of 4 balls in play at a time. Each of the three shots are worth the same point value, which increases when another ball is added and decreases when a ball is lost. Mode is over when the player loses all but one ball. Ballsave is active for 9 seconds after each ball is added, and if you have already lost one of the added balls when you add another, you get both of them back. Of course, this mode stacks with Hunt Multiball and standard Multiball, but does not stack with Unload or Showdown.
3. Login is now operating as intended. Login is optional, of course, let's just get that out of the way. Instantiate the Login screen by holding the Login button (located where most games have a buy-in button under Start) while you press start. If you're not yet in the list, you simply select new user and enter your initials as if you had just gotten a high score. If you are in the list already, just page over to your initials with the flipper buttons and press start or ball launch. Repeat this process for any or all other players who wish to log their stats. The entire process seems to take about 2 seconds per person, and the novice players around here are just as quick on the process as the veteran players. The next video will cover this system very in-depth.
4. Stat tracking is coming along very nicely, as well, but is not quite finished yet. When outside of normal play (i.e. not in the middle of a game), you can hold the Login button and press the Ball Launch button to instantiate the stats screen. Once you do that, you are presented with a similar screen as if you were logging in, only no new users are allowed here, obviously. Page to your initials and press start or ball launch again to view your stats. The stats screen shows every little bit of information the game collects about you and how you play in a series of screens which pans vertically. Here you can see how many multiballs you've gotten, how many jackpots and super jackpots you've collected, and how many times you've reached the Showdown wizard mode, along with all the little details right down to how many left ramps, right loops, center drains, etc that you've ever had whilst logged in, along with how many Wizard Points you've achieved and much, much more.
5. Added the ability to check two different users' stats side-by-side. While checking your own stats as denoted above, simply press the ball launch button again to select another user's initials to add them to the stats screen. After selecting the other user, the stats will be presented the same way as before, in the vertically scrolling manner, except there will be a line through the horizontal center of the display which divides the first user and the second user. This way, you can directly compare blunders and achievements against a friend. I would like to note that, of the 15 or so regulars that play Predator here, I'm currently leading in a few departments
6. Mini wizard mode has entered final testing. This is another mode I am quickly falling in love with. Mode is accessed "passively" by making a number of shots during regular play. When the requisite has been fulfilled, the mode starts immediately, regardless of what is going on, making this stackable with any and all other multiball modes in the machine, including Unload, Reveal and even Showdown, not to mention standard multiball, quick multiball and hunt multiball. I won't give away the meat of the mode at this point, though I can say that the mode appears to be pretty straight forward at first, but only a real fan who has watched the movie a few times will truly figure out and understand how to get the most out of this mode.

How was that, Adriano?

CIA got you pushing too many pencils?

I heard that. We have to live here LoL. You should have your game before it gets too bad

You guys will probably get the Chicago prototype after the show as long as nothing too major comes up with the hardware.

We have been focusing a lot on software in the last few months. Thanks to all of the suggestions and feedback we get, we are able to really nail down how we want the game to play and grind through the code to make it all happen.

There are a few. I'm sure you'll be able to get in touch with some of the guys who get one.

It's V8 butter jelly time?

If you are within reasonable distance, you should ALWAYS go to the Chicago show. Too much there to miss, if you ask me. PinBrawl is a blast for everyone, even novices and pros alike, the seminars are usually a lot of fun, devs and designers wander around the show floor all day and love to chat, the tournaments have giant payouts, the showroom has all of the wildest stuff in the world, and the casual game room is just full of great games in tip-top shape. I can't say enough good things about the show, honestly, I haven't missed the Chicago Expo in years. Oh, and we'll definitely hang out and play some pinball while you're there, as well

I assume you're referring to #32 from above. He got on the list within the first 50 orders and asked for #32, I had just failed to email him back the number he was assigned.

Ted... You must have an entire hard drive full of weird and random gifs...

Oh, and word on the street is that there is a new Predator thread here in the forums. It might be somewhere around http://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/new-predator-info-thread and just might have some new updates in it...

*plays sad music*