oh the smooth soulful jazz sounds of artificial intelligence corn songs is what i'm doing How you doing? On this here Saturday morning, listeners, how are you doing? Welcome to the Patreon episode that was promised a day ago. In my defense, I had had a lemon drop or two. And having drank, yeah, I drink like twice a year, so I have zero tolerance. Was over in the town of Galena. You may have catched the live stream. Super fun. Glad to say that I made it safely to the home. No danger at all. safely navigating my way through the cornfields. Occasionally, I was on the road. Other than that, corn is quite gentle. It's a gentle lover delivering you home. I'm kidding. I had a buddy nearby. We got a ride home. Everything was fine. I have been jam-packed to the walls with activities, though, since I arrived here in the town of Benton. I want to do some more reveal just so we're all on the same page. I did manage a little time over the Patreon of WAP, so let me catch everybody up. I've moved to Benton. I bought a house. Yes, it may have been owned by a former person associated with Spooky Pinball. Some would call him the guy that started the company. Nevertheless, the home now is mine, according to at least a couple of banks. And, well, I guess technically it belongs to them. That hopefully should not hold up. Now, this isn't just a vacation home, ladies and gents. This is going to be a permanent dwelling for myself. I do have a couple of other properties I need to liquidate. So if you're interested in moving to Wood County, Wisconsin, I've got two killer properties set up. So this will be the new HQ. That's like the big reveal. I was invited by some friends of mine who happen to also live in town here, happen to also work at the Spooky Pinball Factory. You may have seen them at shows. You may have played the games that they're designing. If you manage to get your hands on the latest one before it's sold out. and you know this whole thing started out with uh kind of a casual like dude you should totally just move to town and and help us design and put together games and i was like oh my god yes can you imagine how fun that that would be and then uh it was like hey uh there's a home available you should probably come down and get it and i was like you know what yolo let's do it so i bid on this house that was right up the street i was uh instantly overbid and uh did not get that estate and I was a little bummed because like man what an opportunity that would have been although it was dropped in my lap at a time when we were not anticipating actually picking up and moving um the home we have now is quite spacious I mean it's got an indoor basketball court a downstairs arcade a bar a gym I mean it's like everything is there it's a palatial estate oh my god but uh you know we've been there for five years now this is our starting our sixth year and you know just kind of looking at like well what else can we do now I think we've done just about everything there is to do here in north central wisconsin uh we started the podcast we got the arcade uh i'm working nationwide anyway we could really live anywhere um damn it too bad we missed out on that house down by our friends when what should happen but the emory household i'm recording this right now in bugs old bedroom by the way uh also nice magenta walls dude uh you got to think resale value in these places man we need to go with some kind of tepid tan color i'm thinking. I'm at this little computer desk that's built into the wall too, like for a little 10-year old bug, and I'm hitting my knees on the recording desk. So we're going to have to, I think I can adjust the height of this. We'll raise this up a little bit, but almost surreal, right, that I'm dwelling now in this house. And officially, I've been teasing that I'm head of janitorial services over at Spooky Pinball. I'm actually assistant to the regional director of janitorial services. um wasted no time the plan was uh of course they have a game currently in active uh not development what's the one after production right evil dead's being produced uh they're around number 500 or so plus or minus a tanker trailer to australia numbers kind of jump around uh but they should be on track to uh eclipse the demand for these 888 machines uh by the end of the year and then they send uh the workers home for the holidays because they're just the nicest guys in Wisconsin. And then January, they'll be starting on the new game there. And so usually the way it works is they get their production nearly complete. And then in the fall, they start teasing and then of course, open orders for their next game. And then they retrain everybody and start at the first of the year, just hit the ground running, let's make all these games, right? So that is the plan. And then shortly after that is usually when, you know, future game development occurs, right? Now, it's always longitudinal. There isn't, you know, a game started as soon as the next one's on the line because the game after this one is, you know, kind of has to already be done. These games take, you know, 18 to 24 to 36 to sometimes longer months to develop. And I'm learning a lot now, being on the inside, about exactly what goes into this process. I mean, conventionally, right, we think, okay, you go and you court a license, right? You sign the contract. Okay, we got the rights. Let's hit the ground running. You know, 12 months later, you've got you're shooting whitewood and you're developing code getting final art uh that final six to twelve months is finalizing the art getting the inserts and then ordering parts right and then two years from the date that you sign the contract the game is released it turns out that is if only that was the case if only um it's such a wild card working with uh with licensors and now i'm seeing the the vision and the genius of David Fix in choosing his unlicensed themes. Because, man, is that a big monkey off your back. Not only in terms of like what you can use but what you can expect And like avoiding changes down the road my god imagine trying to put together retro atomic zombie adventure land and at the same time having to like be, to report to a licensor who could just undercut you, and what you're allowed to use at any moment, it's insane man, insane, I'm gonna have so much more insight into this industry, into this hobby, like in probably just a couple weeks, I learned more in the last 48 hours, I think I've learned in the last three years as far as like what it takes to get a game to somebody. My God. So I'm here in town now. And the plan was, hey, when we're ready to do our next project, usually it's in, you know, the wintertime. You know, why don't you come in and, you know, kind of dote around the shop and maybe, you know, offer some suggestions here or there or something. And I'm like, well, yeah, of course. Who wouldn't want to be like a fly on the wall during like game development time? Like when X-Men was coming together. Who wouldn't have wanted to have like a voice in the room to say like, are you sure about that? Maybe we should test that a little bit more, right? So, of course, like just out of sheer enthusiasm for the hobby and a sense of duty to everybody else in there, I'd like to be at least another, I hesitate to call myself an adult in the room, but, you know, at least another voice with a unique perspective, right? And I think that's helpful for the guys too. So, anyway, I was coming down. we had this weekend off, you know, so family come down, we close on the house, we'll move some things in, we'll hang out here in the cornfields. And then it turned into like, hey, tomorrow morning, we're gonna bang on a game, you want to come in? And so, you know, I can't speak to if it's a theme, if it's a license theme, or whatever, or what the scope scale of the game's going to be, or even when you're going to see it, or even if you're going to see it. But I can say that in addition to janitorial services, I may have officially dipped my toe into actual production game design. So that has happened. Now, I'm not a Jack Danger over here, like leading a crack team, right? And I know that people are going to come out and say, but Don, you haven't created anything yet. How can you possibly be designing games? And I'm there to be like some spiritual guidance and to offer some objectivity into some design and gain some information, which I absolutely am. My hope is that I can be helpful, you know, at least at some point down the road, right? So this isn't just like me trying to humble brag. I mean, I'm very much in the throes of imposter syndrome, but I'm playing it off like I'm supposed to be there and I'm a competent adult. But I wanted to give it out to you guys, the Patreon members that support the show, keep the journey going, and keep the fire burning under my cockles to spur on content generation to really try to push this thing. I don't think we've seen the limits of where this whole enterprise that was started in my room up there in the middle of Wisconsin can really go. So thanks to all of you. I mean, I'm standing here on your shoulders, your knees, your toes, and your heads, actually, by being here. So thanks. So I wanted to give it out to you guys. This is actually what's going on. This is what's been in development for several months. This is the reason that I sold Harry Potter like three weeks after unboxing it, dressed up as Hermione. um this is why avatar ce left this is why evil dead left uh because i needed to turn and burn and get a house deposit in order to secure this place and it's locked in now it's locked in so we can all breathe we can all breathe the last thing i wanted to do was like hint to reveal something like this and then you know a million things can happen and it would fall through and then it would be like hey don uh whatever happened with that you know just forever it was like i just didn't want to you know get in that position i don't want to say anything until it was like locked down as such as it is. So what's going on? When's the next game coming out? When's the midnight reveal party? All of that up in the air. I have no idea. I'm with you guys. I'm not involved in decisions on marketing or game release, but they have told me that I'm allowed to give impressions. And I've mentioned to you guys that I've played the next spooky title kind of, I don't know, extensively, multiple times. Now, I'm not allowed to take any photos. I can't take audio samples. I can't reveal any gameplay elements, though I would love to. But what I can do is be a teasing little bastard, so that's what I'm doing. Shout out to my buddy Mitch Johns. How you doing? Huge supporter of the show. Great proponent. Good friend. And my first house guest was by yesterday. We were hanging out. I've got a Pulp Fiction downstairs in the game room, which is, by the way, wired for 25 pinball machines. Ready to go. No more blowing up circuit breakers when I have parties. I'm excited. the former occupant here he had like a full basement of games uh sit down arcades driving games shooting games um and like 25 pinball machines and i was down there and i saw all of them on and working and uh and and nary a circuit being blown so this house was designed with pinball in mind so it's kind of perfect it's kind of i don't know about the magenta walls here at bugs room like this has got to change no wonder kid has so many issues my goodness it's so dark in here i got the windows open the sunlight is streaming in and the the the walls are just absorbing all the light energy that enters here like it feels cold it feels cold i'm in a crypt i'm in a crypt i gotta go go to menards and get some paint and throw some tan up in here or something so we can get a little bit more levity uh but my goodness what position have i found myself in impressions on the new game uh donna's a good yeah donna's it better than evil dead I don't know. That's up to you. That's up to you. I was talking to Mitch yesterday when he was over. We have Pulp Fiction down there. And I asked him, like, you know, some of the rumored themes that are out about this game. You know, what sort of things would you want to see? And he rattled off, like, three or four pretty good ideas. And I can say that, you know, the ideas that he was rattling off, every one of them was discussed and had occurred to the designers. And every one of them has made its way into the game in some form, If it's not a physical mechanism, it's something on the screen. Like, it's integrated. And I think that probably the theme I think of this game You know spooky games tend to have themes Not just the licensed theme looney tunes tcm evil dead but theme as far as like what are we trying to do with this game like what's the thing that we're going to do uh halloween was let's do a ton of upper playfields see what we could do with that uh with scooby-doo was like let's do a wide body that shoots like a narrow body it has a huge upper play field that's essentially a play field on its own they did that uh looney tunes and tcm was like let's make a game with as much flow as we can put into it right i think everybody could agree like shot to shot like that game flows from one to another uh so the theme of evil dead was mechanisms let's put as many mechanisms and things in this game as we possibly can uh bill of materials be damned right so i think the theme i'm trying to settle on what the theme of the next one is and i think that theme is integration i i think uh really you know we saw it with evil dead with bruce campbell there and just everything you put in here i think we're gonna see this thing absolutely dripping head to toe with theme immersion like you're gonna walk in and just like become one with the machine like the machine's gonna grab your wrists and pull you into the theme with the modes with the the the aura of the game from from topper to bottomer i i think that's what we're gonna see with the theme here and then um some delicious franchise art i can't wait for people to see this game i remember when i saw it for the first time? Yeah, yeah, for the first time, for the first time. Was it? Yeah, I think. Yeah. Anyway, Monica was there with me too, and I got to see her reaction seeing this for the first time, and it was like that's how I knew it was going to work, right? It was like seeing her see this and just like, oh, my God, yes, and just her running on over to it, right? Didn't have a chance to look at what mechanisms were in the game, how many wire forms were in the game, if there were any bricky shots, right? If there was anything that didn't work, if there was shooter lane rattle, none of that business. It was just like the whole thing, that aura there, just pulled her right in. And so I think that's kind of the reaction that most people are going to get. So is this game objectively better than Evil Dead? Well-determined, and I think it's going to be 60-40 split. I think 60% of the people will say absolutely. I think 40% will say that game's really good and I love that theme integration, but I still want to give the edge to this thing. And that's going to come down to just your own personal whatever. This game can definitely stand on its own next to it. I mean, it's not, you know, there's no question on that. But it's going to come down to, like, you know, this game I'd give, you know, an 8.8 and this one I'd give an 8.7. Like, they're right there, you know? But as far as, like, if one has to be better, I think people will be split. And it's basically that theme immersion. If this theme really speaks to you, it's your favorite. it if evil dead if you were a really big fan of like evil dead and bruce camel and like that whole world then yeah you'll probably still think dead's better um but i mean they're both they're both great and they're both essentially sold out already so um i was talking to the guys and basically just the interest list on the the dealers and distributors is enough to eclipse all the numbers and so spooky's gonna hold back and have some games just for themselves to sell and just, you know, even doing that, it makes it even harder. So if you're not on a list, my God, get yourself on a list. You know, I was listening to Kaneda and he was mentioning, just go to a distributor and just pay them in full right now. And, you know, maybe right now you're 68th in line, but if you pay them in full, you're number one. I don't know that I can recommend anybody to do that. If you've been listening to this show, you will have known that you should have just put your name on a list if you're, you know, in the market to purchase a new pinball machine. You should absolutely have had your name on a list on this already. And it's just an interested list. You know, if it reveals and you don't like it, you want to wait, like, that's totally fine. You're not obligated, but at least you got a spot in line. But I can see people that are probably like, you know, yeah, I think I'd really want to go on this. They're getting invoiced and they're paying dealers. It's happening. I don't know which ones. I don't know which dealers. I don't think Jeff is doing this with Mad, but, you know, he's a pretty straight shooter. I can't say that about all dealers and distributors. Haven't met them all, but I have heard some mixed stories. Everybody's got their own little flavor. But we all got our own dealers that we like dealing with. And so go with your guy, talk to him, and be ready because this thing may get released next month. I haven't heard any hard details or anything. I've heard dates thrown around, and they're kind of like all over the gamut. But we are approaching that launch window, I would say. Definitely not at Expo. I'm not anticipating anything like that. Though the guys might completely surprise me, it would be an absolute shock if they did that. So I don't want to hype anybody up to think that, well, maybe we'll see something happen at Expo. I'm going to definitively say that, no, that's probably not going to happen. But I think we'll be entering that window right around that time. If this was an eclipse, you might notice that, like, the sun's feeling a little bit softer around Expo. But, like, it's not eclipsing yet. But we're entering that penumbra, right, that transition period. So what else has been going on? I got into town. I checked out the local skate park down in Galena, Illinois. Amazing place. Did that live stream from the town. Everybody that visits here, if you're from out of town, we're going to Galena because it is the coolest little town. It's like a downtown that's got all the shop fronts are full, fun little restaurants, fun little shops, cool little places to get eats and drinks and things. They do ghost tours. Ulysses S. Grant's home's in town. Like, it's historical, and it's not far from here, like 15, 20 minutes, and boom. Cutest little town in Illinois. Oh, my goodness. And then Dubuque's not far from here, and then my little town, and then there's some other little towns scattered around too. So, actually, from where I was living in northern Wisconsin, you know, I was in a town where I had an Aldi, had a Walmart down the street. I have to journey a little bit farther now to get those sorts of things, about 10 to 15 minutes instead of five. Not a huge deal. My target was about 20 minutes away. The target here is about 20 minutes away. So essentially kind of a wash in the same Um my job is changing Um I going to have a travel job So while I in town here and there like pinball shenanigans to get up to that what I be getting up to And then the rest of my time will be split on the road out of state doing my traditional career business. So yeah, that's what's going on. That's the big reveal. I moved to Benton and now I'm helping out in the factory. I hope like, you know, But Stern Pinball's had this Ryan Policky that for their factory tours, if you're an employee of a pinball company, you're not allowed there. Now, I haven't signed any contracts. I'm not a 1099. I'm not a W-9. I don't have any contractual obligations. It's really me just kind of hanging out here with my friends and like, what are you guys working on? Oh, why don't you try this? This is a cool idea. Or, hey, here's something that I saw or something that I heard that might work. What do you think? Oh, hey, that's cool. maybe if we don't do that idea at least this time, I think we'd like to do that in the future. Or that makes me think of this. Maybe we should, you know, so there's some benefit to that. But as far as like, you know, punching a time clock, you know, filling out the W-2 form, I haven't done that. So I wonder if that means I could still go on the tours. I will say I've been on about 10 factory tours at Stern, which is probably enough for a lifetime. I do attend. Just always fun to walk around there and see the Hennepin Press and watch people screw plastics to wood. But it's fun. I don't have any animosity towards any pinball companies, Haggis notwithstanding, Deep Root notwithstanding, although I struggle to call them companies. Those were scam boxes. But, no, I think we got love for everybody here, even the designers over at Stern. Great work for what they do. You know, the barrels you'll hear some choice opinions on. Of course, I've always had great interactions with those guys, so I don't have any ill will towards them. Looking forward to what they have coming in the future. I haven't heard really any substantiated rumors at all about what they're working on. Anything from Fifth Element to Die Hard to what are the other rumors? More Jim Henson stuff. G.I. Joe I've heard. I honestly have no idea. I don't know when we're going to see a game from our friends down there at Barrels. I don't think Dune was quite the sales success that Labyrinth was, and Labyrinth sold about a thousand units and took a little over a year to get there until we saw Dune and then Dune kind of struggled a bit I think we were supposed to see it at TPF and then it wasn't there but it was like the month or so after so I wouldn't expect to see anything for barrels until TPF probably at the earliest you know assuming Dune did 600 in sales you know five to six hundred they'd probably be ready for another game to drop in order to continue releasing games around that time period. So I think this would be a good reset. Get Dune out there, continue to work the code, and then when TPF comes, drop some fire. This is Texas. This is your home state. This would be a great opportunity to show your game there. Spooky's new game will probably be at TPF, and I'm sure it's going to be sold out before that show even happens. So this would be a good time for them to shine. I don't think JJP will have a new game out. I mean, Harry Potter's still doing some gangbusters. So aside from, like, a launch from Multimorphic, a launch from Turner, I think that's probably maybe CDZ might drop something. Maybe something materializes with this Big Bang Bar nonsense or some Razzes or whatever. But, you know, none of those are, like, real major players. So, yeah, this might be a good opportunity for Barrels to really show us what they're working with and just kind of, like, you know, kind of keep continuing to have your coding team work on Dune, but otherwise get production set and ready for a new release for TPF. I think that would be reasonable. What do you guys think? What do you guys think? There's the reveal. There's what's going on. That's why I sold some games, and that was the project that I'm working on. This home will allow me to hopefully construct an actual working studio with better audio quality, better visual quality. I can do my live streaming from one location. This wasn't a switch that was flipped, though. I'm still splitting my time between kind of my old homes and this one. we now have to suddenly prep homes for sale right this all kind of came kind of quick and then there was a lot of changes with a job changing too but it's all part of the flex so this transition year of 2025 marches on and then 2026 will be a dawn of like the next era right i think we'll go don's pinball podcast season four we'll kick that off in january and we're essentially that'll be the first one where we're based here in the the new compound so i'm excited for the future let me know in comments below email me don spinball podcast at gmail.com jump on the discord jump on the facebook anywhere you want to find me uh you guys are patreon so i want to give you the straight dirt as soon as we get it and the home's only been closed on for a week and i've been working exceptionally hard every single day since then uh this is the first time i've had like a weekend off where i'm not traveling i'm not in an airport um i'm not in a uh yeah what do you What do you call it? What do you sign? The signing off the leasing office, the land person. I'm not going to edit this. I'm going to sit on this. The title company. I'm not sitting at a title company. I'm not on the road driving. So here it is. That's what happened. Give me your thoughts while I kick it back over to the soulful sounds of corn. How many times have I felt disease? You want to see the light. Nothing in my life is free, is free. Sometimes I cannot take this place. Sometimes it's my life I can't take. Sometimes I cannot feel my face. You'll never see me fall from grace. Something takes a part of me. You and I were meant to be.