(Topic ID: 203700)
Linked Games
Alice in Wonderland
Zidware Pinball USA, 2013-
Celts
Haggis, 2021
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Magic Girl
Zidware Pinball USA, 2017
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Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland
Zidware Pinball USA, 2012
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Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (Arcade Edition)
Deeproot, 2020
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Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (Xtra Edition)
Deeproot, 2020
Topic Gallery
Honolulu, HI
Between the mystery masterpieces, fifty launch titles, and silicon valley talk they've obviously created a self-learning ai to write the game code and manage production.
Sounds like a company more focused on litigation and fund raising instead of pinball. At least that’s what I took away from the interview. I’m surprised to see the pinball veterans in the photo, though.
This will be interesting to follow.
Laval, QC
Quoted from clempo:Does anybody have any idea what Quad Assembly could be?
Another piece of jargon spewed to seem "advanced".
You want to impress me about manufacturing? Throw out terms that mean something, like lean or six sigma.
What kind of ego comes out of the gate basically claiming they are going to smash everyone else's product. The only place to go from there is down.
Quoted from Wolfmarsh:Another piece of jargon spewed to seem "advanced".
You want to impress me about manufacturing? Throw out terms that mean something, like lean or six sigma.
What kind of ego comes out of the gate basically claiming they are going to smash everyone else's product. The only place to go from there is down.
This company reminds me of a hybrid between Dutch and Heighway Pinball. The brazen "we will crush you" attitude is similar to Dutch early on. Heighway has also retained the services of Dennis Nordman and Barry Oursler. So having names and an attitude doesn't really equate to any level of success historically.
Quoted from kermit24:This company reminds me of a hybrid between Dutch and Highway Pinball. The brazen "we will crush you" attitude is similar to Dutch early on. Heighway has also retained the services of Dennis Nordman and Barry Oursler. So having names and an attitude doesn't really equate to any level of success historically.
those companies didnt know how easy it was tho
I can recall Andrew Heighway talking about ramping up to 400 machines per month. And everyone was confused because it wasn't even a question of IF they could produce that (they never did), but who the hell were they going to sell that all to?
Quoted from Whysnow:Which guy is Robert?
Hilton.
to help humor your insatiable appetite to know who people are,
let me help you by eliminating four of the staff members for you.
Quoted from greenhornet:Hilton.
to help humor your insatiable appetite to know who people are,
let me help you by eliminating four of the staff members for you.
Isn't this how Thriller moves happen. Red x's on people in pictures?
Quoted from InfiniteLives:not really...
how about just shoot the left orbit all day for theater letters till you play for 10 days
If I do that, how long will it take me to beat the 5billion score I put up the other day?
Quoted from Wolfmarsh:Another piece of jargon spewed to seem "advanced".
.
It's scheme'ing all the way
Be over confident...
Throw out buzz terms to make yourself seem associated with known successes...
Create new terms or ideas that make you seem innovative...
Tease with ideas/concepts that are enticing, yet you can't explain or give too much detail about..
Create links and analogies to well know successes
Associate with some past respected celebrity or well known person to give some impression of credibility...
It's the same psychological manipulation that con men have used for centuries.
People should recognize the formula from every 'as seen on TV' telemarketing ad... it's all the same crap aimed at pulling the same strings
Quoted from flynnibus:People should recognize the formula from every 'as seen on TV' telemarketing ad... it's all the same crap aimed at pulling the same strings
I don't even know why people are listening to this shit other than for comedic purposes.
Quoted from TheLaw:I don't even know why people are listening to this shit other than for comedic purposes.
It's a good thing I find sad situations often humorous because that is certainly where this is headed. Can't imagine uprooting my life to head to Texas for these promises.....pinball doesn't need to be revolutionized, we love it for what it is.
Quoted from Tsskinne:Can't imagine uprooting my life to head to Texas for these promises
On the plus or minus side, you could end up deep rooted there.
Quoted from jwilson:Yeah, I thought that was Trudeau at first as well, but I don't think he can leave the state right now...
His next court date is Monday, so we'll see!
Quoted from PinMonk:His next court date is Monday, so we'll see!
LOL. I can see the interview now...
"What John Trudeau just needs is a manager and a dedicated team to make sure he's focused upon designing the most awesome masterpiece pinball machines ever built instead of getting distracted online. We are confident that pinball is easy, and that it's easier still now that we have assembled the greatest pinball design team in the history of the universe."
They may end up doing something awesome, but scanning the article reads like they're pretty far up their own butt, and I still don't get how Nordman can be theirs exclusively if he's on Scared Stiff 3 for Stern.
But talk like this explaining their "no assembly line" concept seems especially nonsensical/unrealistic:"Quad Assembly will provide rapid and dynamic on-demand manufacturing abilities that current pinball manufacturers will have a hard time to match. We’ll be able to throttle and provide process fluctuations with flexible distribution. Following this concept allows for cross-functional staffing resulting in higher productivity and decreased manufacturing costs."
Quoted from flynnibus:It's scheme'ing all the way
Be over confident...
Throw out buzz terms to make yourself seem associated with known successes...
Create new terms or ideas that make you seem innovative...
Tease with ideas/concepts that are enticing, yet you can't explain or give too much detail about..
Create links and analogies to well know successes
Associate with some past respected celebrity or well known person to give some impression of credibility...
It's the same psychological manipulation that con men have used for centuries.
People should recognize the formula from every 'as seen on TV' telemarketing ad... it's all the same crap aimed at pulling the same strings
The only people that can possibly be con'ed here are past zidware customers that file a claim and deeproot employees.
For the rest of us, they don't take pre-order money, so anything they say is noise until your distributor shows you the machine in a box.
Quoted from gliebig:If I do that, how long will it take me to beat the 5billion score I put up the other day?
I dunno, you literally never drain tho if you can hit an orbit. Which makes it a shitty tournament game like the post said you were responding to. I play my first two multiballs with combing the last theater letter into the hurry up mb start. I can beat you score in like 15-20 min? That's not a great score for a decent player O_o it's coded with flaws like most of the jpop games which was the point of the prior post.
Quoted from PinMonk:But talk like this explaining their "no assembly line" concept seems especially nonsensical:"Quad Assembly will provide rapid and dynamic on-demand manufacturing abilities that current pinball manufacturers will have a hard time to match. We’ll be able to throttle and provide process fluctuations with flexible distribution. Following this concept allows for cross-functional staffing resulting in higher productivity and decreased manufacturing costs."
Now that I read it again, this sounds like on-demand manual construction in China in small batches with employees trained for many different tasks.
Quoted from PinMonk:cross-functional staffing resulting in higher productivity and decreased manufacturing costs."
This essentially means that the people in the picture get to design the games, order the parts, build an assembly line, build the games, sell the games, ship the games, and support the games. It's going to be so much more efficient then stern though and having Dennis who designed the game also build the game will save them tons in time and money........
Get in on the ground floor while you still can. Only a certain number of investors are going to be given a chance at this golden egg.
Quoted from clempo:Now that I read it again, this sounds like on-demand manual construction in China in small batches with employees trained for many different tasks.
What could possibly go wrong there, eh?
Utrecht
The combination of Jpop & Oursler could be very interesting. Barry Oursler tweaked plenty of games for other designers at Williams and that is probably one of his strengths. In terms of designers the talent is certainly there. Now let's wait and see how starting up production will go. I have my doubts about doing a biblical-themed game. That's just asking for trouble.
Quoted from unigroove:Barry Oursler tweaked plenty of games for other designers at Williams and that is probably one of his strengths.
Yeah, apparently he worked best with others in terms of guys like Python being the idea man and Oursler making it work. Him being lead designer with JPop as the starry-eyed idea man might make for something worthwhile.
Still, JPop. There's no rehabbing that rep.
Quoted from InfiniteLives:I dunno, you literally never drain tho if you can hit an orbit. Which makes it a shitty tournament game like the post said you were responding to. I play my first two multiballs with combing the last theater letter into the hurry up mb start. I can beat you score in like 15-20 min? That's not a great score for a decent player O_o it's coded with flaws like most of the jpop games which was the point of the prior post.
Cool. Make a video. I'd like to watch and learn. 
Quoted from InfiniteLives:That's not a great score for a decent player O_o it's coded with flaws like most of the jpop games which was the point of the prior post.
I beat Kevin Kulek in a tourny on TOM.
Sorry i just thought Kevin deserved to be in this thread.
Does anyone know who helped tweak/finish World Cup Soccer? Any good stories there?
That's one of my favorite games that somehow has JPop attached to its credits.
Quoted from PinB:Does anyone know who helped tweak/finish World Cup Soccer? Any good stories there? That's one of my favorite games that somehow has JPop attached to its credits.
I'm Guessing Jpop was in charge of the Purple?
Quoted from clempo:The only people that can possibly be con'ed here are past zidware customers that file a claim and deeproot employees.
For the rest of us, they don't take pre-order money, so anything they say is noise until your distributor shows you the machine in a box.
Where's the money coming from? Someone is paying for the party, even if it isn't us.
Quoted from frolic:Where's the money coming from?
Answering my own question, 2.4 million from 19 people:
To get people to cough up $2.4 million, you're going to lay on the hype.
Quoted from PinB:Does anyone know who helped tweak/finish World Cup Soccer? Any good stories there?
That's one of my favorite games that somehow has JPop attached to its credits.
I'm not sure how clear the details are on that, but it seems like it was Steve and/or Mark Ritchie maybe?
MARK: Yes, that was the beginning of the end, Star Trek, World Cup Soccer, that’s when it started to slide.
STEVE: Oh, World Cup. World Cup was taken over.
MARK: It wasn’t a bad pin, it’s still all right, actually we still operate it.
STEVE: In the end it turned out to be pretty Ok, but in the beginning it was handled by a newbie. The game designer was a stubborn newbie, and it had to be taken over by someone else.
MARK: Did this happen very often?
STEVE: Actually it never happened before unless somebody died or got sick.
MARK: Did he abandon the project or did he just get the sack?
STEVE: Neither. He cooperated, learned and latter did Theatre of Magic and some other really good work. But when he first came in he thought he just knew everything about making pinballs and it is just not that kind of thing. You have to live it for a long time, you must have an affinity for mechanicals and you have to be able to work with other people.
MARK: Working with others is essential, unless you are a going it alone.
http://www.pinball.com.au/special-products/steve-ritchie-interview-part-1/
Quoted from frolic:Answering my own question, 2.4 million from 19 people. To get people to cough up $2.4 million, you're going to lay on the hype.
And they are probably all betting that they will get the first RAZAs off the line.
Quoted from kermit24:This company reminds me of a hybrid between Dutch and Highway Pinball
Quoted from Aurich:I'm not sure how clear the details are on that, but it seems like it was Steve and/or Mark Ritchie maybe?
Larry DeMar stepped in, I'm told.
Quoted from PinB:Does anyone know who helped tweak/finish World Cup Soccer? Any good stories there?
That's one of my favorite games that somehow has JPop attached to its credits.
I always thought it was steve ritchie but "someone else."
STEVE: Oh, World Cup. World Cup was taken over.
MARK: It wasn't a bad pin, it's still all right, actually we still operate it.
STEVE: In the end it turned out to be pretty Ok, but in the beginning it was handled by a newbie. The game designer was a stubborn newbie, and it had to be taken over by someone else.
MARK: Did this happen very often?
STEVE: Actually it never happened before unless somebody died or got sick.
MARK: Did he abandon the project or did he just get the sack?
STEVE: Neither. He cooperated, learned and latter did Theatre of Magic and some other really good work. But when he first came in he thought he just knew everything about making pinballs and it is just not that kind of thing. You have to live it for a long time, you must have an affinity for mechanicals and you have to be able to work with other people.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Steve Ritchie:
STEVE: Oh, World Cup. World Cup was taken over.
MARK: It wasn't a bad pin, it's still all right, actually we still operate it.
STEVE: In the end it turned out to be pretty Ok, but in the beginning it was handled by a newbie. The game designer was a stubborn newbie, and it had to be taken over by someone else.
MARK: Did this happen very often?
STEVE: Actually it never happened before unless somebody died or got sick.
MARK: Did he abandon the project or did he just get the sack?
STEVE: Neither. He cooperated, learned and latter did Theatre of Magic and some other really good work. But when he first came in he thought he just knew everything about making pinballs and it is just not that kind of thing. You have to live it for a long time, you must have an affinity for mechanicals and you have to be able to work with other people.
Those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it...
Quoted from spfxted:Hey! Anything that can POSSIBLY get those poor basturds their money back (or a machine) is worth a look see!
This is like the 3rd time they’ve been promised a lifeline.
At this point it’s past funny and is approaching cruel.
Quoted from spfxted:Hey! Anything that can POSSIBLY get those poor basturds their money back (or a machine) is worth a look see!
In 4 years you'll be posting this same thing for the next group of poor bastards that monies went to bail out the original poor bastards
Quoted from CrazyLevi:This is like the 3rd time they’ve been promised a lifeline.
Hope is eternal... 
Uk
Quoted from InfiniteLives:not really...
how about just shoot the left orbit all day for theater letters till you play for 10 days
Then take it up with Jeff Johnson.
ToM has a great layout, buttery-smooth flow, great toys and features, and is gorgeous.
I hope to own one someday, even with subpar software.
Quoted from alveolus:Then take it up with Jeff Johnson.
ToM has a great layout, buttery-smooth flow, great toys and features, and is gorgeous.
I hope to own one someday, even with subpar software.
It is, however, way too easy to hang around long in a small collection.
Sydney, Oz
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