Thank you very much. I read some of the stuff online, and there's always some trolls out there, but I'm an engineer by trade. My profession is a mechanical engineer. I really love to do art, and it makes me feel good that I've been able to do a few things that a few people have loved. And I do recognize I'm not a professional by any means, but I think I did a good job, and I put a lot of time and a lot of energy. And you'd ask my wife about how many hours I spent up late at night doing that artwork. But I think it does have a good cohesive package and came across well, and I think it has that good bloody Viking mass to it that I was really hoping to portray. So that's what you saw, Frank. And then where'd you go from there? Yeah, so Scott gave me this beautiful back glass with these colorful characters in it. And then he gave me a base table to start with. And then I asked for some more artwork that he gave me. And then I put together the table in my visual pinball cabinet. It's way easier to program something that you could actually play than to just play on a keyboard with a monitor So I standing up in front of my visual pinball cabinet with this rudimentary table with a back glass that he created looking at shots thinking how the code going to work and then started fleshing out the rules, getting the lights to work, getting the switches to work, the coils to work. And it was exciting, you know. It was creating something new, and, you know, we were working off each other. You know, I'd show him what I made and then he'd add something and then he'd show me what he made and then I'd take that and we'd kind of work off each other and continue to develop the visual table. And then once it was fully functioning, then we started thinking about some things to add to the play field that would add some interest magnets and the ship and the hammer and some other things. Yeah, I think it was at that time where we had the general shots laid out, and we liked the flow, we liked the way things were moving. And the one thing I always hear is, you know, pinball machines got to have a great toy. You got to have that one thing that kind of draws people in, and they have an objective. So I've always been just a big fan of a pinball machine needs to have good shots. To me, the toys really don't matter that much. You know, case in point, I've got an Iron Maiden right now, and I would argue that the basis of that game is almost all in the shots. But with that, Elwin did a phenomenal job of adding some really awesome toys in the premium and LE model. We took that same approach in Legends of Valhalla, where we really focused on making sure the shots were right, the shots felt good, that it was just a fun shooting game. And then to comment on what Franken said, and we started looking at, okay, how can we add a few more elements to really draw on the Viking theme and make this a more immersive pinball? And that's when we started looking at, you know, instead of the way we had the right ramp initially, I think we just had it flowing into a whirlpool type thing. We changed that to have it actually go into a big Viking ship where we're having physical ball lock. And I know for a lot of people, physically locking a ball on the playfield while you're playing is very rewarding and fun. So we made sure to have that in the game. And then I was looking at the back panel and on so many other games, there's just not a lot that's done with the vertical panel that's on the very far end of the playfield. I thought it'd be really cool if I could mount a flipper mech on that. So, you know, most play fields now, they got like a half inch plywood piece that is on there. It's definitely rigid enough to be able to mount a flipper coil. So I put that on there and 3D designed a hammer and glued that on the end of a short flipper bat. And the next thing you know, you got this cool Thor's hammer that comes down and pretends to smack the ball like it's blasting it into the play field. So we were able to incorporate a couple of really cool, unique toys that are all tied directly into the gameplay and really, I think, helped draw that player into, you are a Viking warrior playing, you just hit this shot. And coincidentally, one of the big differences between the seven prototypes I built and the production game is we swapped a post that pops up in the back for a magnet on the production game. So now we actually have something that physically will stop the ball, that magnet's going to hold it in place, and the hammer's going to come swing down and smack it. It really has a cool element to it. I remember seeing one of those seven prototype games. Buffalo Pinball was streaming it, and I was excited because I knew, you know, my small part in it, and just to see this game that, again, was a homebrew, and I couldn't believe, watching that stream, how amazing the game was, The way it looked, the way it shot, the animations, every aspect. And I know there were some bugs, as there always are. But when that was first streamed on Buffalo Pinball, it caught a lot of eyes. And maybe even American Pinballs, too. What do you remember about that stream? I remember being scared to death, honestly. Yeah, that would have been Adam Gasek's machine. And I guess now Adam, because he actually hired me to do the artwork for the play field the back glass and the alternative back glass for Domino's pinball machine, that spooky contract build. So it was kind of cool that he was actually on board with being one of the original seven prototype owners as well. I remember I shipped him the game and he said, I think it was even while the game was shipping, how excited he was about it. And he was already setting up the Buffalo pinball guys to come do a live stream of it. It's just one of those. All right. You know, This is big time here. I got a game that I hand-built in my garage, put it on a pallet, and shipped it out to Michigan. Within a few days, he's going to be doing a live stream. The fact that it made it there in one piece, and again, for something that I put a lot of time into the engineering, so I don't want to diminish that, but I've bought a handful of brand-new in-box games over the years, and those things take a beating when they get shipped. I had no idea what was going to happen. And for him to have that game, pull it right out of the box, set it up, and have it work so well on that live stream, and to see the beauty of Frank's code was just awesome. And I was tickled pink when it basically made it through the whole thing with just a couple of, I think it was some switch issues or something like that in the ship. Which, coincidentally, we have fail-safes in place for that. But I just felt amazed that it worked so well. And I could tell Adam was really proud that he had the game and was so excited to show it off. Yeah, it was really great because all I was watching the stream as it was happening, I'm just yelling at the computer, you know, hit the ship, hit the ship, lock the balls, you know, start the battle, get the hammer, get the Valkyrie. And my wife is thinking, what is the matter with you? You are crazy, you know. And I said, look, they're playing the game. Look, look, they're, you know, they're doing this. It was it was quite, quite entertaining. And I remember talking to them afterwards. I wasn't available to post when they were doing the stream. But afterwards, you know, then I did talk to them and I said, you know, next time, next time you play, you could do this. Here's some hints, you know. And then that was a very, very good lesson for me because it's one thing if you tell somebody how to play your game, but it's another thing if you're not there. The game really needs to speak to you. And over the last nine months, that has been beat into my head constantly where the game has to tell you how to play it. You can't tell somebody how to play the game. the game has to speak to you in the lights, in the animations, in the messages on screen, in the sound. And hopefully the changes that we put in there will be a lot more understandable for the new person just standing up to the game for the first time. You tried to mass produce Wrath of Olympus. Pretty impressive that 70 people were willing to take this chance on this homebrew. Now you've produced seven actual physical machines of Legends of Valhalla, one on location. And I think that one on location in Hamilton, Ohio at the Pinball Garage really caught the eye of American Pinball and some others there. What was it like when you had those conversations about, why don't you bring your talents here to American Pinball? So I do want to thank especially Joe Balser because I think he was the genesis for all of this starting with American Pinball. It was back in about September, I think, that he had seen some videos. I'm not sure if he actually got into the Pinball Garage to actually play my game. But a number of podcasters and other pinball guys had been in, playing the game, streaming it. And again, it was doing well, and I think we were getting a lot of excitement. But Joe was really the guy that I think saw potential in our product. And Joe was the guy that brought the idea in front of the management team at American Pinball. And it was primarily Joe that I was talking with in September on, you know, how do we actually try to get this done? What are the steps? and it's kind of remarkable how long that whole dance kind of lasts because again it was a early September of 2020 I think when these first conversations started and it took until late December for me to actually get a contract in place with American Pinball but it was really great that he was able to get that going and I was able to get the game in and get it in front of the AP management and again all of their experts to take a look at it and see if it was really worthwhile. And while I'm talking about this, I do really want to give a big thank you to American Pinball in general. A lot of people, I think, out there in the pinball world understand how risky original licenses are. You can have a grade A license theme and the pinball could probably play like crap and you could probably still sell a few hundred, if not a thousand of them. But when you bring an original license in, you really have a niche market there. And for American Pinball to take the risk and give me this chance. I just can't think of enough. So it's been really exciting. Scott, I have always said, always, theme is fine and that's great. It might be something that lures you to the machine, but if the game plays great, if it's got good code, it's a great game. It doesn't matter what the theme is. I have many games that I could care less about the theme because they're great playing games. I've been interested in games where it was theme-based and maybe there's a little bit of disappointment. So really, at the end of the day, it comes down to is if it's a good game or not. So I think people just need to play it for themselves and make their own decisions. Yeah, absolutely. And again, I can't thank Frank enough either because I think he's really taken Legends of Valhalla to the next level as far as code and the software and light shows. And for being an original theme, I think we have just an amazing gameplay experience. So I think people will be able to get over the idea that it is an original theme. and I think we really do have an outstanding product here. So, Frank, you had to be excited when you found out, okay, this is going to American Pinball. I'm stepping up to the big leagues. Yeah, that was a great day when Scott gave me a call and said they were interested and I was ready to get started. It's been a long time coming, you know, four years working on Wrath of Olympus and then another three years working on Legends of Valhalla and then the last nine months of extra time, you know, crafting it to the American pinball standards. And I think it's a dynamite game right now. It's a fun game to play. Everybody that plays it really, you know, finds something new each time they play it. I think the music really forms the environment as you're playing. You're in these battles. You're hearing these great sound effects, these great call-outs. And then you have this amazing Two Steps from Hell soundtrack. They are just such talented musicians. and we are just blown away that we're able to use that music and really enjoy that. It really brings that theme forward. Well, I want to talk about some of the differences between the original game you made. This has the typical American Pinball beautiful LCD screen. So you had to change the back glass. You've got to obviously change some of the animations. But let's talk about the production. You still have that Thor hammer on there. You still have the ship. What were some of the big differences and improvements once you did this mass production with American Pinball? The most noticeable change is, again, that we added a magnet around that orbit. Previously, there was a post, which worked great for stopping the ball and allowing it to go into those upper rollovers, where we had that tied into a specific code feature. I believe it was a 2X scoring. Working with the American Pinball team, especially Natasha and Sophia, was great, because we were able to figure out how to get a magnet mounted in there where it didn't interfere with all the other components I had and just really brought us to the next level. So that was probably the biggest physical change that I saw. Otherwise, I was really, really happy that we were able to move ahead with basically the exact same layout that the previous seven prototypes have had, the one that's at the Pinball Garage in Hamilton, Ohio, that my good friend Brad Baker was kind enough to help out with the project, and he put one on location for the last year. which has just been awesome for game testing. But part of this project and working with American Pinball was we wanted to get it done as quick as we could, and we didn't want to put a lot of time into making a lot of changes. And as an engineer, I know firsthand that any little change that you make downstream can have big consequences later on. So it was nice that American Pinball was able to give me that kind of freedom and flexibility to maintain my original design intent and keep all the features that I really wanted in place. Otherwise, yeah, from the prototype games to the production, we added 3D plastics on the slingshot, the scoop flasher on the left. We had a huge improvement with the new game has this really awesome pile of skulls that lights up and glows in your face when the scoop's going to eject. We added those extra 3D plastic sculpts, the Odin character and the Valhalla gates to just bring it to that next level. But otherwise, yeah, the rest of the play field is pretty much the same. We did change the back box. I didn't want to have to go in and totally redesign and create a brand new cabinet from scratch. So it made a lot of sense to leverage what American Pinball had. And I personally wanted to make this an American Pinball machine and not a Riot Pinball machine because I see a long-term relationship with them. So it was good to be able to get it in their cabinet and make it look like an American Pinball machine. But with that, we did need to change the trans light. You know, before we did have an HD LCD display in the original seven prototypes, but that display was in a standard type speaker panel like what Stern and Spooky Pinball have today. So there was a considerable amount of work that went into adjusting and modifying the Translight art to now have this giant display smack dab in the middle of it, as well as reworking some of the side art and the back box head art to make that work with an American Pinball cabinet. But again, most of the game was all pretty representative of my original vision and the original seven prototypes. Frank, what did you change in the programming once you got to American Pinball? So American Pinball uses a different framework. We both use a skeleton game framework, but they've had many advances to the skeleton game framework that they've used and their models going forward from Houdini to Oktoberfest to Hot Wheels. I was able to learn those changes and use some of those changes to make the game even better I increased the resolution of the scoreboard and the display Scott produced all new artwork for all of the characters and part of the display. And then I created a bunch of animations that we didn't have before, simply because there were new tools that were available then. And then we decided to scrap the call-outs that I made for the seven prototypes. And, you know, American Pinball was gracious enough to have sound engineer and about nine different voice actors to provide some voices for our legends. And then, of course, we had our announcer right here reprise his role as Odin, which is our favorite character in the whole game. It was fun to do that. I got to work with Matt Kern, who was wonderful. and really gave precise direction on the vision that Frank and Scott had. And it was a lot of fun for my part. So thank you, Scott and Frank. I know I was on the original prototype and never knew where we'd be today. But anyway, it was a lot of fun, but it's all Matt Kern in your direction. So let's talk about the team at American Pinball, because you two had been working by yourselves, just the two of you. Everything that went into it was just the two of you. But now you've got a wonderful team, and especially when you look at somebody like the senior mechanical engineer in Zofia Ryan, who has done so much in years past with Williams and now with American Pinball. What was it like to work with a team and Zofia specifically? I tell you, it was tremendous. The core team members for Legends of Valhalla from American Pinball are just highly skilled, very talented, and so easy to work with. And for me personally, working with Zofia was just a lifesaver. When I brought my game in, my personal game into American Pinball in December, I had no idea where the project was going to go. They wanted to get the game in and play it for a few days themselves, have their experts come in, review it, look at it. They really wanted to do their due diligence to make sure that this homebrew game was something that they could actually see being a production game. And we got through that phase. And then Sophia was hired, I believe, in late January, early February. And I just love her to death. She works really hard. She's very talented. She really has a keen grasp of picking up concepts, and she and I had no problems at all working together. So our method was, I had a full 3D CAD database of my game that was basically required in order for me to make the seven identical prototypes. But when we look at making seven identical prototypes where I'm in my garage getting flat cut, laser cut, stainless steel metal ball guides in place and I'm hand bending each and every single one and finessing them and tweaking them and carefully, painstakingly putting them on $1,000 play fields, I can do that personally. I'm vested in it. I care and I've got the skill set to do it. But to take a game where I'm hand building stuff to make it production ready, where you've got random employees coming and going and they got to be able to follow an assembly guide and just shove stuff in place and make sure it works really takes a considerable amount of time. So for us to do that, I had to go in and completely re-engineer every 3D component I had. I had to work with Sophia and Mitesh and David Brennan of American Pinball and find out what stock parts they had, because a lot of what I was using was just what Pinball Life provided. And again, I'm going to give a plug out to Terry from Pinball Life. He is a homebrew dream as far as what he can provide to people to actually make their one-off games. But again, to get it to production, we had to look at, you know, what parts does American Pinball readily have? What parts can we get? And, you know, where do we need to finesse stuff to get into place? So once I went through and kind of re-engineered everything and got all my ball guides perfectly designed where we could have spotting holes in place on the play fields and everything was as robust as I could with spade bolts in place to make sure that the entrances and exits of the orbits were all straight exactly where they needed to be. I was able to send all of that database over to Zofia, and then she did the painstaking, and I can't thank her enough for doing this, the work where she'd take, for instance, a 3D ball guide, and she would figure out what that looks like flat, send that off, make full 2D engineering prints so that American Pinball has something for measurement and inspection to make sure that new parts that are coming in meet the spec, and then take all of that and create a documentation package so that their assembly line can actually build this thing. It was just an incredible amount of work that she did. And again, working with her, we never had any issues. It was just worked really well. We pushed things off of each other. What do you think about this? What do you think about this? And it's kind of funny. I think there's a running joke right now at AP. I was able to visit probably half a dozen times over the course of this project. And it was almost every time I'd get in there, They'd ask me a question, and I'd give the answer, and Sophia would be there, and it would be the exact answer that she told them. So the running joke was and is that Sophia is always right.