If this helps: Quoted from Andrew's last sentences in his last post in the ALIEN PINBALL - Official Game Thread - 11 days ago:

Fingers crossed!

It will be ready when it is ready

A thread on Pinside will not finish the game earlier

If the game interests you, then put the $$ aside. If the game dies not come up to your expectations, then buy something else

I am realistically hoping for Spring 2016 when finished units start shipping en masse. If its sooner than that, bonus! I can also easily live with later if it means a great pin. One of the weird things the intertubewebs brings to the table is knowledge of things occurring while they are in development....especially with startup companies (not saying Heighway is small, but they are new). Its a great and valid promotional tool to get interest ginned up, but the downside is that the public is along for the ride during the inevitable bumps and delays. When projects silently miss dates, no one else knows to blink an eye (no one other than a stressed out sales team knew to care if Pinbot was delayed by 4 months ). But when the public is hanging on every post and press release, it amplifies otherwise normal manufacturing hiccups. Its such a Herculean task to go from layout design to mass producing machines that all work precisely the same and work well....and mix in with that licensing hurdles. I think Heighway really proves they know what they are doing by successfully finishing and releasing a non licensed full pin first before diving into the super high profile license. So many kinks have presumably already been worked out. They seem to be doing everything right both in design and manufacturing. Can't wait to play mine.

Dead right. Can't upvote that enough. It's why I never announce my projects ahead of time, you'd be surprised how many months you can spend just nickpicking the last 10% of a design even when you're not constrained by parts and licenses etc. Obviously with Heighway I don't have that luxury, but the same principles can apply to the whole project.

Full Throttle being out now I think has made a world of difference. Yes, Alien isn't ready. But Heighway is shipping a game now. An original title even. And the reviews have seemed really positive, with the possible exception of people not loving the theme. And that's just how it goes with original themes, really hard to please everyone. The home collector market has changed the expectations.

Can you imagine someone trying to sell people a game based on white water river rafting now?

I wonder how interest in MotoGP is in the US compared to the rest of the world?

Anyways, point is the game itself has been praised. A fast and flowing widebody, with asymmetrical inlanes, and criss-crossing ramps, I think it will pick up steam. The theme isn't going to sell it, but playing it just might.

The trick with Alien is to do both. Sell it with the theme, by making it just as bad ass as possible for serious fans, but also get that killer gameplay. I haven't flipped it myself yet! But that shot map is really interesting. And there may or may not be video of a simulated version.

Gotta play a little devil's advocate here, because many of us were thinking that once JJP had started delivering WOZ in quantity, it meant that Hobbit would go much smoother and quicker. It's actually been in development longer than WOZ was, with no end in sight.

If Heighway is able to start shipping Alien pin by spring 2016, I think that would be a very positive thing, but I bet a lot of others would find that to be a disappointing delay.

When Heighway has the same trouble shipping Full Throttle that JJP had with WOZ you can make that analogy, but I think it's way too soon. JJP struggled for years. Heighway shipped their first games like last week. Let's see what happens first.

But there's really no sign at this stage that will be the case. Heighway is still ramping up of course, but Bacardi was a pretty good proving ground. They've already shown they can deliver. Even Stern takes time to ramp up games, they're just smart about announcing later. We saw some of it with Kiss even.

If Full Throttle does struggle then fair enough. I see no signs of it though, so I don't think it's really even a devil's advocate argument at this stage.

Alien was announced too early. It's just that simple. It should have been announced at this upcoming Expo. Show Full Throttle last year, ship it this year, show next game. Heighway was in the same position as JJP. When you're a new company you gotta play your cards early to keep up interest.

It just takes a lot of time to make a game now. Stern has a multilayered operational efficiency that's built from years of experience. Even if the other companies are making good games it's going to take a while to reach that kind of functioning.

Even though Full Throttle was announced 3 years ago or whatever, they never took money until exactly a year ago when the game had its big Pinball News announcement. At expo, Andrew was talking about getting the games out (the first ones) by Christmas... so, we're 9 months after the initial release date.

At Expo, Andrew talked April for Alien (funnily, I don't think a single person in possibly the whole world believed that when they heard it except for Andrew ). Likely we'll have a prototype game at expo, and if we add 9 months to the initial April date, that puts us at January '16, 3 months after showing it at expo.

Without knowing anything about anything happening behind the scenes, shipping games to customers 3 months after expo, seems like a best case scenario and hopefully possible.

I would find it very disappointing.

Primarily because Andrew says the "realistic launch is now October expo". I'm assuming that's based on what he knows right now and what is on the drawing board and what else needs to get done.

What is crushing with JJP is the steady slow bleed of delays, over and over again, leading to zero credibility. If its gonna be spring, just come out and say it now. Don't just tell us what we want to hear, tell us the truth.

I give Andrew the benefit of the doubt, lets see what happens, hopefully the delays won't keep coming.

Will probably hinge on what the license allows to be shown. Andrew won't pull a Dutch Pinball and bring something unapproved.

Maybe Andrew should clarify what he means by October.... is that a prototype at expo, or machines pumping out of the factory?

Launch meaning showing the game for the first time, not "ready to ship!". And as I said above, depends on the license.

Anyways, I'll let Andrew speak for the rest, just don't want that "launch" word to imply more than it means.

Heh, typed while I was replying, see above. But again, I don't mean to speak for Andrew. But yeah, no games pumping in October. Think about it, Full Throttle is just now shipping in August. You gotta let your games breathe, no way the next one starts shipping 2 months later.

From what we've seen so far of Aliens, I think we'd be lucky to see a prototype of the game at Expo. I'd also agree with a Spring 2016 shipping period.

Having been on the Full Throttle ride this past year, the game seemed "2 weeks" away since January. I don't believe Andrew ever told me what I wanted to hear, it was literally 2 weeks away AT THAT MOMENT, but then something always delayed it. Part supply problems, something came up in testing, whatever.

I would agree that there has to be a better way to manage customer expectations and handle delays. The pressure is on for Alien since it is a much bigger title with many more pre-orders than Full Throttle ever had.

I agree. Even for Andrew's aggressive release schedule of 3 titles per year, that would be 4 months between releases.

Thanks for clarifying that Aurich.

The licensing and approval process would drive me crazy. I wouldn't have the patience to deal with it.

I think there is some confusion here.

Heighway announced Full Throttle 3 years ago and it's just now starting to ship. How is that any different than JJP and WOZ exactly?

The point was that you can't sit there and say "look, Heighway has started to ship it's first pin, and that means that the second one will go much smoother and faster" because we've already seen that this doesn't necessarily mean anything, as witnessed with JJP and Hobbit.

Can it be different with Heighway and Alien? Of course it can. I'm just saying that just because they've started to ship one pin 3 years after announcement doesn't mean that Alien is going to go quickly and smoothly.

And by that logic Hobbit was announced too early too.

There's no logical reason that Heighway shouldn't get the same criticism (and disappointment) with missed dates/deadlines that were promised that JJP has received for Hobbit. 2 dates have already been missed for Alien. Hopefully there won't be too many more.

I do recall Andrew kind of downplaying Nordman's criticism and skepticism regarding the April timeline for Alien and was supposedly a big part of the reason for the split.

Andrew is an impressive guy, and he was being optimistic and taking the can do attitude approach but it looks like Nordman had it right.

Either way, I'm looking forward to Alien. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to the Stern announcements.

Ah. I was talking about JJP problems once they shipped the first game. Took ages to get everyone games after that.

I'm much more forgiving about developing a game being late. It's hard. Seeing it first hand. Lot of work. Sometimes you need more time to get it right.

If it's done and you can't build them for people who've paid its a little different to me. I see your point though.

To me there are one or 2 key differences.

Since Heighway was self-financed, he chose to put everything on hold and do the Bacardi game. That delayed things, but was also his privilege since he didn't have pre-order customers to manage. He was able to generate money from that, as well as test his team and processes.

He also chose to re-tool and redesign Full Throttle from standard to wide body game after they had already designed it. Same deal though, he's paying for the party so he can take as long as he wants.

I had sent him emails over the last few years asking how things were going, but that was just as a curious customer. Only last year did the deposit money come into play, and at that point an obligation to deliver a game. So my wait was not too bad for a start up.

Yes sir, and that's a huge difference!

But again, my point was specifically with regard to the overall amount of time that it has taken, and that just because their first pin is now shipping it does not necessarily mean that pin #2 (Alien) will go smoother or faster, although in theory you'd think it would.

Making pinball is hard.

Yeah, fair enough for sure.

I guess my point was only that once it's done they've got a track record they're building on delivering. But Full Throttle being done doesn't really have squat to do with Alien's progress, other than it being finished means there are more resources able to be devoted to in progress games.

Exactly.

I had hoped for them to start shipping by end of year....if they make the LE's first, then I'll be in an early run, so would be cool.

From a practical perspective, I'm not anticipating my machine until late Spring '16. Just too much has been revised ( all good, btw), and it's easy to see Andrew and Team want this one RIGHT as possible before releasing in the wild.

Think once some of the art and toys are released, the LEs will be gone, and the heat will rise.....

Given the above, I predict it will be a year late from initial target date, but Heighway appears very solid, I only have $1500.00 in until mine is built, and the wait doesn't bother me if the machine is better because of it.

Biggest difference for me ( and This is my first preorder...bought WOZ for a premium) is the " slow sell" approach. Their funding seems fine...just think Andrew wanted to gauge interest in title, and make sure we knew it was coming....

Easily the most anticipated title, machine in recent memory....glad to be a part of it...mark

I see Highway putting in a lot of work to smoothen out all the bumps in the manufacturing process. Ater only just starting to deliver their first machine, they are making sure they can have different products to their standards and. Certainly with the new playfield-robot & printer, as well as with the plastic insertion machine (or what was it?). These are all signs that they are correctly & efficiently working for the long haul. I expect that when they start pushing out game number 3 or 4 that they will have the flow going all the way and the delays will be a lot shorter. My guess would be that Alien could be available Spring 2016 indeed. Technically they are really good on track (and probably even further some people think), but are not allowed to show it.

Also in licensing, you never know when you'll have feedback if multiple people need to give their OK (certainly when working with movie-themes and different actors involved). Even when their management says you will get feeback within 14 days, those 14 days can easily become 3 months ... You gotta love licensing

So ... Rooting for Alien in Spring 2016 !!! Really looking forward to this I must admit
Go Heighway Go !!!

PS: Full Throttle @ EPC 2015 would be deeply appreciated

Can you imagine someone trying to sell people a game based on White Water river rafting now?

Gottlieb once had a game that showed people playing pinball on the backglass ! Maybe it's time for one with famous players and pinsiders on the LCD !

I second this!

It just makes sense that it will not ship in 2015. Full Throttle has just started shipping in small numbers. The run up to that is a massive undertaking. The BOM that must be acquired and put on the factory floor is huge. I don't consider it a criticism at all to think they have to get FT made and sold in some reasonable quantities before they fill the factory with parts for a second game.

I've watched some of the videos and read the posts etc. I just don't see how it could be out before 2016, but I would love to be wrong.

Waiting for this game to ship is no problem. Knowing that "rushing" a title out the door = less quality in the box (ie. decfects, not even close to complete code, ect) I for one am more then happy to wait while Alien cooks proper before bursting through my chest into my gameroom.

What I am starting to get slightly impatient about is a pricing announcement for replacement games. This is going to be the largest factor for me when it comes to purchasing my next pin. With the pricing already set for a complete NIB, one would have to assume Heighway has some sort of inclination as to this price point. Why the seemingly super tight lips regarding this info?

3 differences. The third is HFT is fun and WOZ sucks : )

I am not worrying, aliens will come and be fantastic.

But their strategie, 3 pins a year. How are they gonne do that? Will never happen. 1 pin a year would be difficult enough i think.

I think it will have to happen. They may get good numbers on Alien but I think other games will have smaller figures. So they need a good selection of games for people that already have the cabinet.