Alice in Wonderland
Zidware Pinball USA, 2013
Celts
Haggis, 2021
Magic Girl
Zidware Pinball USA, 2017
Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland
Zidware Pinball USA, 2012
Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (Arcade Edition)
Deeproot, 2020
Retro Atomic Zombie Adventureland (Xtra Edition)
Deeproot, 2020Quoted from boshua:Hopefully this isn't too wanton of self-promotion (but feel free to delete this if it is): we're putting together the finishing touches for this weekend's Deeproot podcast recording that I'm hosting at the NYCPC show and I think it's gonna be a lot of fun. Be sure to block out some time on Friday night if you're gonna be there. There may or may not be T-shirts involved.
NYCPC Attendees - get your buns to podcast central as we're about to go live.
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Oh snap. This is being streamed live. You can tune in soon to hear my beautiful voice for a while.
https://www.twitch.tv/backhandpinball
I enjoyed your interview on this podcast. For those here who might also be interested in listening, Blueberry discloses a revelation about a heretofore unknown deeproot title and the real status of Food Truck.
I saw some of it live and it was a really impressive multimedia presentation! I look forward to checking it all out after this is over.
And I got a couple cool t shirts I look forward to wearing at future shows.
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Oh snap. This is being streamed live. You can tune in soon to hear my beautiful voice for a while.
https://www.twitch.tv/backhandpinball
I also enjoyed your interview. I wish the host's had been a tad bit more informed allowing fewer interruptions, but you were great getting back on topic.
I hope you do more in the future.
Aren't we due for another Turner classic video?
Thanks, pals. It was fun. Not normally a pinball podcast but they had done a previous one with Levi and this was the follow-up. I was there to be helpful however I could.
I'm sure they'll put it out as a regular podcast for listening, though I don't know the turnaround time.
As that may have been my investigative DR swan song, I'll probably dump some photos and other stuff here that didn't get shared during previous things.
Here are a couple promotional images for unrealized deeproot theme number 218, Men in Black: Alien Crisis (shout out / credit to @keroppi)
deeproot-mib (resized).jpgdeeproot-mib2 (resized).jpgOddball collection of some photos that I don't think have been published here or on knapp. Some might be of mild interest to some. There are untold hundreds of these. I may upload them all to some file sharing service so if anyone wants them they can have them and I can delete them from my hard drive.
028_268[B6E818273804FF1B2462B050740C6795] (resized).jpg112_268[A68C7A4257C8B1D56198599F6CE254FA] (resized).jpg113_268[122633029622F4377F1781592B41463F] (resized).jpg122_268[00C6ADC479FBF1D8FC6FF75F8D394E6E] (resized).jpg169_268[8BD2B6D5B548937A2D697DB4956C1A83] (resized).jpg170_268[E7B0B3EEEE83A59607F3C959F0AC891C] (resized).jpg171_268[C4C8FE55898AFA5B0903CFB029522281] (resized).jpg172_268[C4A57D6B634A02905E79CE04F56FC1DD] (resized).jpg194_268[CC7A61AB2B9A2C0F358E502493C260DC] (resized).jpg237_268[49E407916B7D81C17BDD05D46C0FA176] (resized).jpg240_268[3C6D89DC92C5CC2E3C5163F30B651021] (resized).jpg264_268[8E0BB5193650717672B5A978DB6C9B27] (resized).jpgIMG_20220401_134909 (resized).jpgIMG_20220401_141608 (resized).jpgIMG_20220401_143949 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_123953 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_124030 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_130046 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_163711 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_173253 (resized).jpgIMG_20220411_134011 (resized).jpgIMG_20220411_134143 (resized).jpgIMG_20220419_120228 (resized).jpgIMG_20220419_120310 (resized).jpgIMG_20220420_180848 (resized).jpgbuilding_aerials (resized).jpgthe_motto_of_the_company (resized).jpg
Added 20 months ago: EDIT: Just realizing the Frank dog is a character from Men In Black.
I see they have great revision control (sarcasm) on the vacuum form bucks, I'm guessing John managed this since it was his project. While dates separate parts from each other, they tell you nothing about what they represent. One company I worked for, the testing department would always joke "Is this the latest sample? The latest latest sample? Or the latest latest latest sample?".
If you truly want to track a project (and learn from your mistakes), you should have some sort of revision system with a detailed log that describes each revision. Something like:
rev 00 - First ramp sample, ball never makes it all the way
rev 01 - Decreased incline by 5 degrees, ball can make it to top but now gets stuck, should make next revision shallower
rev 02 - Ramp now down to 20 degrees, ball makes it all the way around now
magic_girl_bucks (resized).png
Quoted from toyotaboy:I see they have great revision control (sarcasm) on the vacuum form bucks, I'm guessing John managed this since it was his project. While dates separate parts from each other, they tell you nothing about what they represent. One company I worked for, the testing department would always joke "Is this the latest sample? The latest latest sample? Or the latest latest latest sample?".
If you truly want to track a project (and learn from your mistakes), you should have some sort of revision system with a detailed log that describes each revision. Something like:
rev 00 - First ramp sample, ball never makes it all the way
rev 01 - Decreased incline by 5 degrees, ball can make it to top but now gets stuck, should make next revision shallower
rev 02 - Ramp now down to 20 degrees, ball makes it all the way around now
[quoted image]
IMG_20220404_124018 (resized).jpgIMG_20220420_180835 (resized).jpgIMG_20220420_181206 (resized).jpgIMG_20220420_181210 (resized).jpgIMG_20220420_181234 (resized).jpgIce's comments about what it was like to walk through the building come to mind now as we see more of these photos. The scale of what was going on there is crazy. But we are talking about $50 million lit on fire.
Quoted from frolic:Ice's comments about what it was like to walk through the building come to mind now as we see more of these photos. The scale of what was going on there is crazy. But we are talking about $50 million lit on fire.
I can see why Ice believed these games were being built. It's an incredible amount of work that was put into random game parts/samples.
Quoted from Honch:I can see why Ice believed these games were being built. It's an incredible amount of work that was put into random game parts/samples.
It's like I've been saying for a year: there's no way Robert wasn't actually trying to make games. It was just done with unimaginable incompetence.
IMG_20220330_191803 (resized).jpgIMG_20220401_134532 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_124039 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_130339 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_130344 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_130349 (resized).jpgIMG_20220404_130711 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_163645 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_163659 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_163732 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_164559 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_173219 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_173230 (resized).jpgIMG_20220409_173253 (resized).jpg
Quoted from Honch:I can see why Ice believed these games were being built. It's an incredible amount of work that was put into random game parts/samples.
Agree for sure.
I get the view on Robert and ALL the accurate descriptions of him….but dang there sure had to be ALOT of other incompetent leadership, designers and engineers. To bring this much forward and not get a game built - sad.
Quoted from DoorCounty:Agree for sure.
I get the view on Robert and ALL the accurate descriptions of him….but dang there sure had to be ALOT of other incompetent leadership, designers and engineers.
Fewer than you'd think. Org was top-heavy like nobody's business. Basic deal, Robert plus two top guys. We already know Robert's deal. The others:
- One guy: completely unqualified owing his position as Robert's right hand to being Robert's friend. #1 Goal: Yes man anything Robert said and stroke his ego. Primary responsibilities: Communicate Robert's wild/misguided/impulsive decisions when Robert was present (minority of the time). Make terrible decisions without knowing anything about the business or listening to people who did when Robert was away.
- Other guy: reasonable guy and competent engineer. Lived several states away and would come into town sometimes. Not the type to rock the boat, stick his neck out, or otherwise push back if/when he knew things were going sideways. Resulting in an enabler of a different variety.
Quoted from benheck:I wouldn't blame the employees. It was Blobert's decree they make 10 games at once. Ultimately it's his fault... Along with the fraudulent funding.
Agree the buck stops with Robert.
But day to day who the heck was running the place? It takes more than 1 very bad actor. Robert wasn’t always there I understand.
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Fewer than you'd think. Org was top-heavy like nobody's business. Basic deal, Robert plus two top guys. We already know Robert's deal. The others:
- One guy: completely unqualified owing his position as Robert's right hand to being Robert's friend. #1 Goal: Yes man anything Robert said and stroke his ego. Primary responsibilities: Communicate Robert's wild/misguided/impulsive decisions when Robert was present (minority of the time). Make terrible decisions without knowing anything about the business or listening to people who did when Robert was away.
- Other guy: reasonable guy and competent engineer. Lived several states away and would come into town sometimes. Not the type to rock the boat, stick his neck out, or otherwise push back if/when he knew things were going sideways. Resulting in an enabler of a different variety.
Ok this makes it understandable.
Quoted from benheck:I wouldn't blame the employees. It was Blobert's decree they make 10 games at once. Ultimately it's his fault... Along with the fraudulent funding.
Correct, except it was more than 10.
Quoted from DoorCounty:Ok this makes it understandable.
Which is to not to say there weren't some employees just collecting a paycheck. But it would be hard to blame them given the environment and management.
I’m still missing something - if someone with insight could possibly provide …
DR arranged for a media hype demo making folks sign NDAs etc etc - how could anyone decide to call in outside experts when the designs were so far from functional/ production — the demo revealed the real status to the community. Why do that and not continue the charade? Were they delusional and believed they were really close to production release?
Can’t believe this saga is still on fire.
So Turner bought a bunch of shit and basically these dumpster fires are going to get dragged on for another decade?
Jpop’s bad ideas are like a Phoenix, despite all the odds they do not stop coming back from the ashes
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Oh snap. This is being streamed live. You can tune in soon to hear my beautiful voice for a while.
https://www.twitch.tv/backhandpinball
Direct link here: https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1566768679?t=02h33m54s
Quoted from Oscope:I’m still missing something - if someone with insight could possibly provide …
DR arranged for a media hype demo making folks sign NDAs etc etc - how could anyone decide to call in outside experts when the designs were so far from functional/ production — the demo revealed the real status to the community. Why do that and not continue the charade? Were they delusional and believed they were really close to production release?
I cover the story behind this in the deeproot episode of The Pinball Show.
Quoted from Pinballs:I agree with the posts- DR should have made one game. I feel the same about HP- instead of zero interest Full Throttle, they should have focused like a laser beam on one title- Alien.
Get some sales, make some money.
True.
But, the company was built on stolen money. It is probably for the best, and a small miracle of management incompetency, that not one single pin was ever produced. It is probably for the best that no one will ever own a pinball machine from deeproot.
Quoted from gdonovan:Been a few weeks since I checked in, I miss anything?
Yes, JPOP has just started a new company called DeepScrew. They will be shipping a new and improved RAZA, "soon".
If you send your deposit money now, you'll be added to the "Deeply Screwed" list!
Quoted from mbeardsley:Yes, JPOP has just started a new company called DeepScrew. They will be shipping a new and improved RAZA, "soon".
If you send your deposit money now, you'll be added to the "Deeply Screwed" list!
Land Rovers don't pay for themselves.
Quoted from mbeardsley:Yes, JPOP has just started a new company called DeepScrew. They will be shipping a new and improved RAZA, "soon".
If you send your deposit money now, you'll be added to the "Deeply Screwed" list!
Also John will personally come to your house to deliver the Deepscrew... He'll also set up your game.
Oh boy
46e904f80f26bd48fc135863af36af4041e9b102 (resized).jpg
So I suppose the hard work of American Pinball part of is producing the broken pre-deeproot jpop versions of the game?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/magic-girl-to-be-at-expo-courtesy-of-american-pinball
I have to ask, is expo going to sell a single additional ticket because magic girl is there?
The one time centerpiece show of the pinball industry seems to be turning into a clown show.
Nycpc is where it’s at !
Quoted from CrazyLevi:I have to ask, is expo going to sell a single additional ticket because magic girl is there?
The one time centerpiece show of the pinball industry seems to be turning into a clown show.
Nycpc is where it’s at !
Conceivably? From an effort and ingenuity standpoint, it's pretty cool that some random guys were able to eventually get this disaster to be largely functional.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:I have to ask, is expo going to sell a single additional ticket because magic girl is there?
It's a cool project that also has name recognition... more so than most homebrews. Relax.
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Oh boy
[quoted image]
So I suppose the hard work of American Pinball part of is producing the broken pre-deeproot jpop versions of the game?
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/magic-girl-to-be-at-expo-courtesy-of-american-pinball
the real question is, will jpop show up and be like "see i told you it works!"
and then he'll be like "pssst.. tell me how you fixed it so i can make more of them.. im still being sued by the original buyers"
Quoted from flynnibus:It's a cool project that also has name recognition... more so than most homebrews. Relax.
Just seems like expo gets shittier every year and I’m wondering if this is supposed to reverse that trend.
The best thing about expo last year was the tournament/tournament after party.
Quoted from mbeardsley:Yes, JPOP has just started a new company called DeepScrew. They will be shipping a new and improved RAZA, "soon".
If you send your deposit money now, you'll be added to the "Deeply Screwed" list!
In Australia, that's basically what Deeproot means. There, root is slang for the more vulgar form of screw. It could be surmised that the Deeproot name was, and has always been, a euphemism/loose slang for huge penis. Take from that what you will, but the extrapolation is feasible.
Quoted from Miguel351:In Australia, that's basically what Deeproot means. There, root is slang for the more vulgar form of screw. It could be surmised that the Deeproot name was, and has always been, a euphemism/loose slang for huge penis. Take from that what you will, but the extrapolation is feasible.
Oh and how we laughed at the 5 days of deep root!
Quoted from CrazyLevi:I have to ask, is expo going to sell a single additional ticket because magic girl is there?
The one time centerpiece show of the pinball industry seems to be turning into a clown show.
Nycpc is where it’s at !
I'm really hoping to make it to expo this year (my first pinball convention because I'm a freakin hermit) and I'll be honest, checking out magic girl would be a highlight for me. I have zero interest in owning one, even a working one, but just knowing the story and all that I'd like to see it in person. Sounds cool and interesting.
Quoted from CrazyLevi:Just seems like expo gets shittier every year and I’m wondering if this is supposed to reverse that trend.
The best thing about expo last year was the tournament/tournament after party.
My understanding is that MGC is the convention to be at these days here in the midwest and has overtaken expo as the premier pinball convention. Really hoping to make it to one of those as well.
Quoted from benheck:Yet another example of most people on the planet being more capable of finishing a game than JPOP.
I plan on using some Deeproot Pinball stuff in my build. But I do not think Ben is including me into this group. Maybe Jpop will surface at TPF 2023. He is due for a new job, likely another upstart in the biz.
Quoted from greatwichjohn:I plan on using some Deeproot Pinball stuff in my build.
What will you be using and why?
Quoted from greatwichjohn:Maybe Jpop will surface at TPF 2023. He is due for a new job, likely another upstart in the biz.
Umm no, he wont
Quoted from blueberryjohnson:Oh boy
[quoted image]
Oh, those "interprid" builders.
I'd trace it back to 2011. I don't think 2015 really conveys the full extent of the train wreck.
Quoted from Mr68:What will you be using and why?
He's including you I'm certain and will most likely respond soon.
Umm no, he wont
Some of this stuff, or if anyone else contacts me with useful parts.
https://www.pinballlife.com/deeproot-rescue.html
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