(Topic ID: 171152)
London
Quoted from NeilMcRae:Yeh but we can get pictures from google images, what I was hoping for was more about the story of building these games...
I don't think there's going to be much substance beyond 40 pictures per page layout 
Quoted from NeilMcRae:Yeh but we can get pictures from google images
But can you regurgitate all of them haphazardly onto paper with snippets from IPDB 
If so, boy do I have a business proposition for you. Plenty of paid vacation days!
Quoted from NeilMcRae:Yeh but we can get pictures from google images, what I was hoping for was more about the story of building these games...
Yeah, precious little about the games and their creation/stories, etc. Lots of photos and that's about it. Not really a great time capsule coffee table book.
It's just a picture book. Lame. Someone probably put pressure on them to get something out, so they slapped a bunch of pictures on paper and called it a day. Oh well.
Quoted from EricHadley:It's just a picture book. Lame. Someone probably put pressure on them to get something out, so they slapped a bunch of pictures on paper and called it a day. Oh well.
Printing out this thread on glossy paper would be a more entertaining read than this book.
Urbandale, IA
Quoted from NeilMcRae:what I was hoping for was more about the story of building these games...
Same...I was hoping for stories, not stuff that I can find easily through google.
Sydney
Quoted from NeilMcRae:Yeh but we can get pictures from google images, what I was hoping for was more about the story of building these games...
Time for another Paperflock flash poll:
Do you want us to take another 3 years and write some interesting text for the book? Yes/No
You folks are forgetting the kicker which was "admittedly we are a little behind where we hoped to be by today" and the "but it isn't because we are slacking”. 
It's a freaking coffee table book with images people and some text! Quote of the year!
Quoted from cooked71:Time for another Paperflock flash poll:
Do you want us to take another 3 years and write some interesting text for the book? Yes/No
As of now, I'll take it as is...just to have something. Stories would be nice, but I don't want to wait until Black Knight 7 comes out
Utrecht
Quoted from NeilMcRae:. . . what I was hoping for was more about the story of building these games...
Sorry, you'll have to read Pinball Magazine for that 
Quoted from unigroove:Sorry, you'll have to read Pinball Magazine for that
I hope that little dig means you are going to do an article on the story of Stern!
Quoted from Billy16:I hope that little dig means you are going to do an article on the story of Stern!
At some point, very likely, although an 'article' wouldn't cover it. I actually already have most of the games photographed. Priority, however, is a different cover story. But someday . . .
Quoted from unigroove:At some point, very likely, although an 'article' wouldn't cover it. I actually already have most of the games photographed. Priority, however, is a different cover story. But someday . . .
That will be a must have for me (and a lot of others I'd think). Do it!
Quoted from jellikit:Will it now include the Star Wars Home and Jurassic Park machines?
Shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! 
Quoted from jellikit:Will it now include the Star Wars Home and Jurassic Park machines?
sounds like the whole thing should be named "home edition"
Quoted from J85M:So it’s now a picture book?
I like to think of it as a capstone level college course project that they've put off until the night before it was due
and they still haven't shown any of the extras (stuff that they promised well over a year ago
mine will probably end up on ebay just to rid myself of it and try and recoup a bit of the money that was paid out for it since I don't have any kids to put it on their bookshelves along their (better laid out and easily more superior) dr. seuss titles
Quoted from j_m_:I like to think of it as a capstone level college course project that they've put off until the night before it was due.
Walsh or Phoenix?
Villejuif
Next Kickstarter book project will be: Skit-B / Kevin K: (7)(8)(9)10 years of not making pinball.
- Preface by JPop
- Interview of Andrew H. "I should have bought this licence too"
- Pictures by the Kuleks.
- Transcriptions of court proceedings.
LE edition will come with an UV-fluorescent front cover.
Quoted from jlm33:Next Kickstarter book project will be: Skit-B / Kevin K: (7)(8)(9)10 years of not making pinball.
- Preface by JPop
- Interview of Andrew H. "I should have bought this licence too"
- Pictures by the Kuleks.
- Transcriptions of court proceedings.
LE edition will come with an UV-fluorescent front cover.
And a cup of floodwater from momma kulek lol
Quoted from J85M:So it’s now a picture book?
Writing is hard.
Quoted from jlm33:Next Kickstarter book project will be: Skit-B / Kevin K: (7)(8)(9)10 years of not making pinball.
- Preface by JPop
- Interview of Andrew H. "I should have bought this licence too"
- Pictures by the Kuleks.
- Transcriptions of court proceedings.
LE edition will come with an UV-fluorescent front cover.
Better have a chapters dedicated to RV’s, pirate parties, and witch burnings, or I’m out.
Quoted from cooked71:So we’re 2/3 the way to the end of our picture book now. Woo hoo.
and only 2 years late right now. does that mean we'll see it sometime in 2020?
Quoted from j_m_:nd only 2 years late right now. does that mean we'll see it sometime in 2020?
Stop rushing them!! 
Quoted from MrBally:Paperflock will sell no pinball book, before its' time....
Orson Welles in the studio is a force of nature. My favorite...
2 weeks later
I wonder if Paperflock can get their coffee table book done by the end of this year? This game has taken 1.5 years or so to make so far. This doesn't include over 1k playing cards they had to make with approvals on the artwork from Capcom.
2 weeks later
Hi Kickstarter Backers,
We have been very cautious over the past 6 months to not mention dates because we don't want to set up another situation where we state a hopeful date and then not meet it.
But we are going to do give you a date at the end of this post!
First, where we are now?
For the scope of this book we set out to document 90 games, as well as construct a loose narrative about how those games came to be; the journey of Gary Stern's pinball career. When we first talked to Stern and insiders in the pinball community, we understood most of the documentation had been done by the company, and a dedicated fan volunteered their archive of thousands upon thousands of 35mm slides and negatives. We believed our job would largely entail scanning slides, cleaning up images in Photoshop, and uncovering long-lost company documents.
Well, there was SOME of that, but once we got going we learned the company had not documented their own older games very well, and all those slides and negatives in the photo archive had been stored in a flooded basement and rendered unusable. We had successfully completed the Kickstarter, hired a writer, interviewed game designers and Stern employees, but we suddenly found ourselves without a high quality photo resource. This clearly put us in a very tough place.
Instead of giving up, we vowed to find these games in the wild and document them ourselves. After all, how hard is it to properly photograph a pinball machine?
92f555edbb36e97a3ddf29d4c853969b h264 high.jpg?ixlib=rb 2.1.0&mark=https%3a%2f%2fksr static.imgix.net%2frendered play button.png%3fixlib%3drb 2.1
…well, VERY difficult, as it turns out. Simply locating the machines was the first and very daunting challenge. Only 50 or fewer models were produced of some of these games, made decades ago and scattered to the wind! After the machines were located, we needed to get permission to visit the facilities with a crew and lighting setup and take over a large portion of their space to photograph the machines, disrupting business in some cases. An all-day, 10+ hour shoot might result in the proper documentation of 6-8 machines. So we spent a lot of time photographing these things in the wild, from Chicago to Las Vegas to Los Angeles. Wherever we had to go, we went.
We have now documented 80 of the 90 games! This was an EPIC feat. As you probably know, most pinball books have maybe one or two photos of a machine, and most of those photos were not taken by book’s creator. And most books don’t begin to approach this many machines! Documenting this much pinball history is a first!
We aren’t stopping there. In May you told us you would rather have the book be the best it can be, instead of just going to print the way it was. So we are dedicated to making this book the best it can be, which means trying to document ALL of the games in our scope! Thanks to Robert Berk, who owns and organizes the Chicago Expo, we’re on schedule to get a few more this month. After that we be down to 6 undocumented games:
1. Baywatch
2. Lost in Space
3. Striker Xtreme
4. Sharkey’s Shootout
5. NBA
6. NFL
If you have these games and want to document them (and have your personal game in the book), please get in touch! If not, we do have some material for these games, but not as much as we would like.
Either way, our pledge to you is that we will have this book done before the end of this year! No matter what! We know you have waited. We know it has been a long road, (believe us, we’ve been on that road, too)! And we know you want and deserve a great book. So we pledge to make this book amazing and get it done before the end of the year!
Please let us know if you own any of the six games above!
Thank you all for all your support,
Dameon and Joe, and the Paperflock Team
In May you told us you would rather have the book be the best it can be, instead of just going to print the way it was.
Uh, the poll was "do we take 2 months to clean up the pages or ship it as-is", not the same as "We're still shooting machines, maybe we'll be done by the end of the year".
Quoted from frolic:Hi Kickstarter Backers,
After that we be down to 6 undocumented games:
1. Baywatch
2. Lost in Space
3. Striker Xtreme
4. Sharkey’s Shootout
5. NBA
6. NFL
If you have these games and want to document them (and have your personal game in the book), please get in touch! If not, we do have some material for these games, but not as much as we would like.
I know a certain Baywatch example that could be photographed on cardboard without legs. Seriously though, if these are being photographed from home collections, I can only imagine some of the modded / purped out monstrosities that will show up in this book...if it ever gets done. 
Quoted from LesManley:I know a certain Baywatch example that could be photographed on cardboard without legs. Seriously though, if these are being photographed from home collections, I can only imagine some of the modded / purped out monstrosities that will show up in this book...if it ever gets done.
so, are you saying that some unknowing pinsider may end up with these atrocities as a "secret santa" gift in 2020 (since they obviously won't make the end of the year deadline)
Quoted from j_m_:so, are you saying that some unknowing pinsider may end up with these atrocities as a "secret santa" gift in 2020 (since they obviously won't make the end of the year deadline)
That is always a possibility 
...but 2020 might be a bit optimistic even so I wouldn't worry quite yet.
Ok I have more questions than answers now but they are saying it will be a physical THING in my hands....by the end of this year.
1) There is "a dedicated fan volunteered their archive of thousands upon thousands of 35mm slides and negatives". Who the hell is this person that has this stuff? 
Also in previous updates it was stated that they were given access to Sterns cd archive. Did they use both archives? Or did they use only the cd archive and photograph games manually? They state "once we got going we learned the company had not documented their older games very well, and all those slides and negatives in the photo archive had been stored in a flooded basement and rendered unusable". Wonder what was on the slides and why some dedicated fan has confidential internal documents stored on slides. This is just like MAJOR to me.
2) On finding these games to photograph "Simply locating the machines was the first and very daunting challenge. Only 50 or fewer models were produced of some of these games, made decades ago and scattered to the wind!" Why didn't they reach out to Pinside or the community in general??? Why have they been so damn secretive on this project? I would imagine most collectors would want to be like "that is my Viper in the official 30 Years of Stern Pinball book". So instead they go to the PHOF where they put random crap in their games instead of a troll in "Roller Coaster Tycoon" and the game is full of coil dust, etc?
3) They state "An all-day, 10+ hour shoot might result in the proper documentation of 6-8 machines." Ok fair enough that makes sense! However this KS was funded nearly 3 years ago. I mean stuff happens but like holy crap! Que the vacation photos...
4) In the past they wanted to document 100 games but it looks like it's now 90. I think they researched how many games Stern made and finally settled on that number. Either way this makes me wonder how big this book will be. Is it like 90 pages at least of games?
5) Then he comes up with "As you probably know, most pinball books have maybe one or two photos of a machine, and most of those photos were not taken by book’s creator. And most books don’t begin to approach this many machines! Documenting this much pinball history is a first!" Like really dude? REALLLY? https://www.google.com/search?q=pinball+book&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS856US856&oq=pinball+book&aqs=chrome.0.0l3j69i60l3.1902j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
6) They do another slap in the face to backers by saying "In May you told us you would rather have the book be the best it can be, instead of just going to print the way it was." Oh you mean when you put a gun to backer heads for our valid complaints of how you mismanaged this whole KS then validating your "do it right or you get crap" poll? Ohh you thought a high quality project which was as I quote verbatim "We believed our job would largely entail scanning slides, cleaning up images in Photoshop, and uncovering long-lost company documents." So just scan, Photoshop, repeat. That isn't high quality because I can do that.
7) They say NFL, NBA, Sharkey's Shootout, Striker Xtreme, Lost in Space, Baywatch as the remaining games. I have never seen an NFL, only 1 NBA at Pinburgh, seen a few Lost in Space, a few Baywatch, a few Striker Xtreme and 1 Sharkey's Shootout. They then FINALLY ask the KS for help. Like why didn't they do this at least 2 years ago or when the KS funding period was active? Like why now at the tail end of the project?
Quoted from hool10:Like why now at the tail end of the project?
at the tail end??? This project just started in May of this year 
no seriously!
Quoted from hool10:Ok I have more questions than answers now but they are saying it will be a physical THING in my hands....by the end of this year.
1) There is "a dedicated fan volunteered their archive of thousands upon thousands of 35mm slides and negatives". Who the hell is this person that has this stuff? Also in previous updates it was stated that they were given access to Sterns cd archive. Did they use both archives? Or did they use only the cd archive and photograph games manually? They state "once we got going we learned the company had not documented their older games very well, and all those slides and negatives in the photo archive had been stored in a flooded basement and rendered unusable". Wonder what was on the slides and why some dedicated fan has confidential internal documents stored on slides. This is just like MAJOR to me.
2) On finding these games to photograph "Simply locating the machines was the first and very daunting challenge. Only 50 or fewer models were produced of some of these games, made decades ago and scattered to the wind!" Why didn't they reach out to Pinside or the community in general??? Why have they been so damn secretive on this project? I would imagine most collectors would want to be like "that is my Viper in the official 30 Years of Stern Pinball book". So instead they go to the PHOF where they put random crap in their games instead of a troll in "Roller Coaster Tycoon" and the game is full of coil dust, etc?
3) They state "An all-day, 10+ hour shoot might result in the proper documentation of 6-8 machines." Ok fair enough that makes sense! However this KS was funded nearly 3 years ago. I mean stuff happens but like holy crap! Que the vacation photos...
4) In the past they wanted to document 100 games but it looks like it's now 90. I think they researched how many games Stern made and finally settled on that number. Either way this makes me wonder how big this book will be. Is it like 90 pages at least of games?
5) Then he comes up with "As you probably know, most pinball books have maybe one or two photos of a machine, and most of those photos were not taken by book’s creator. And most books don’t begin to approach this many machines! Documenting this much pinball history is a first!" Like really dude? REALLLY? https://www.google.com/search?q=pinball+book&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS856US856&oq=pinball+book&aqs=chrome.0.0l3j69i60l3.1902j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
6) They do another slap in the face to backers by saying "In May you told us you would rather have the book be the best it can be, instead of just going to print the way it was." Oh you mean when you put a gun to backer heads for our valid complaints of how you mismanaged this whole KS then validating your "do it right or you get crap" poll? Ohh you thought a high quality project which was as I quote verbatim "We believed our job would largely entail scanning slides, cleaning up images in Photoshop, and uncovering long-lost company documents." So just scan, Photoshop, repeat. That isn't high quality because I can do that.
7) They say NFL, NBA, Sharkey's Shootout, Striker Xtreme, Lost in Space, Baywatch as the remaining games. I have never seen an NFL, only 1 NBA at Pinburgh, seen a few Lost in Space, a few Baywatch, a few Striker Xtreme and 1 Sharkey's Shootout. They then FINALLY ask the KS for help. Like why didn't they do this at least 2 years ago or when the KS funding period was active? Like why now at the tail end of the project?
Regarding the question to the statements they made: one can never tell the same lie twice....
Quoted from hool10:Ok I have more questions than answers now but they are saying it will be a physical THING in my hands....by the end of this year.
"Either way, our pledge to you is that we will have this book done before the end of this year! No matter what!" - Paperflock
They only said they pledge to have the book DONE by the end of this year...not that anyone would have a physical copy in their hands by then. If/when the book is finally "done" (as in editing, photos, layout, commentary, etc. are complete and finalized) they could still take forever to finally get it printed and shipped out to all the backers. No one is getting anything before the end of this year.
Quoted from LesManley:"Either way, our pledge to you is that we will have this book done before the end of this year! No matter what!" - Paperflock
They only said they pledge to have the book DONE by the end of this year...not that anyone would have a physical copy in their hands by then. If/when the book is finally "done" (as in editing, photos, layout, commentary, etc. are complete and finalized) they could still take forever to finally get it printed and shipped out to all the backers. No one is getting anything before the end of this year.
"We're just waiting for Stern to sign off on the copy..." remember that one, from a couple of years ago?
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