The Aussie Pinball Arcade
Aussie Pinball Forums => New developments => Spooky Pinball => Topic started by: swinks on February 02, 2013, 10:11:56 AM
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Yes thats right another pinball manufacturer - with a non license theme
"Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave" with Jpop, Nordman and Heck involved.
Podcast is here
http://www.spookypinball.com/podcast-2/
here is what Charlie had to write:
"Hey guys... thanks for the positive comments! We've got a lot to do, and a lot to prove I know. And yes we'll hire that Bryan Kelly guy just as soon as he gets the guts to move to Wisconsin and work for $20 a week! Lol...
To answer a few questions... No, it's not a re-theme of BHZA or any other game. It's all original... J Pop and Dennis are just great guys who don't mind giving us a hand. In return, we'll help them every way we can from decals to full fledged mfg if they need it.
JJP printing is just fine. I'm proud as hell of what we developed there, and the company I worked at for 20 years is still running them on 2 shifts and they look incredible. I wish JJP and every other company out there NOTHING but the best.
We are NOT taking deposits... no kickstarter, no pre sales. We are funding this ourselves, and when I have a clear window to ship games, we'll gladly take your money! I'm planning on 1/2 down, and 1/2 the day it's on the loading dock... No more than 60 days at the max to get your games. We'll sell them in groups (thinking of 25) as needed. We're not going to bite off more than we can chew and keep it sane. We'll hire as much help as is needed to keep that schedule.
There will be no LCD... for now. The goal is to give you a fantastic ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... new game every year... fairly deep rules, lots of fun stuff to do... all I'm saying for now.
There is soooooo much more to all this than I can tell you today. And honestly, I got a pile of work to do! All I ask is you see the game, play the game.... and if you like it enough to purchase one, then THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!"
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"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "
Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.
I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!! *)*
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here are a few comments from a pin side thread from the well known guys
Bran Kelly had to say:
"No deposits being taken by Charlie. He's building games all on his own dime. I don't want to speak for Charlie but by the sounds of things, his game will bring back some of what pinball has been lacking for years....t*ts and *ss and lots of locker room humor.
And trust me, he's got every aspect of pinball production lined up from operating system to cabinets to game design to artwork to parts fabrication, all the way to final production. Charlie's no fool and has many, many friends involved in pinball in one form or another.
Charlie has already sent me an employment application. The problem is, he lives 5 hours from me."
Ben Heck had to say:
Jpop wanted to do a zombie game and use me as the antagonist / villain. To which I said "Sure!" It was not, as some think, all my idea as an ego trip
So John and I have been working on that for the past year. John is going for a more retro 50s/60s sci-fi feel. The artwork is very colorful and cool.
Chuck's game is a more modern take on zombies, more "Return of the Living Dead".
Where I come in is I have been working on an open source pinball platform to help homebrewers make their own game. It comes with a "flipping framework" and can be programed like an Arduino. It is entirely microcontroller (MCU) based and does not require a PC to run (just to program it) It's an amalgamation of tech from "Bill Paxton Pinball" and our aborted "Lost" homebrew.
I sold my first few prototype boards to Chuck to develop his own game.
It is my intention to make these boards available in the future to other homebrewers, after Chuck finds the kinks for me.
Charlie said this:
"These games will be suitable for any use... home or commercial. Do I intend to push them towards operators? Not really. You guys are really the market we're focused on.
I can't do this without our buddy Ben Heck... or anyone else that's tied to all this. Not even remotely possible, and I owe them all big time. They can do things I can't... I can do things they can't. Together, we can do anything.
J Pop's zombie game is a whole other animal than ours... two totally different price points and approaches. He's in his shop, we're in ours. He's cool with our game, and I'm WAAAAY cool with his! And not just because our ego maniac buddy Ben is in it either. I Keeed I keeeed.
But to be clear... yeah... this will be a full sized commercial kick ass coin op piece of equipment that will look, play, and sound great in your home or a bar."
and
"25 games at a time. If orders are knocking our shop door down, we'll hire more assembly help and get done as many as we can.
Pinball always has ups & downs (duh right?). We're in a surge right now for sure... our goal is to be as big as we need to be, but not outgrow ourselves so we can get by in the lean times that are bound to come. Do I hope it stays this way for decades? Of course! But hey... history says the odds of that are slim. Either way... we're in this for the long haul.
People are privately asking me for the price point. I have a number in mind, but until Heather the Hot Accountant has tallied up every nut & bolt on the BOM I can't really give one. Having said that... I'm hoping to give a killer commercially ready game under the price of anything else you can buy. Period!
Thanks everyone! It's been quite a day to say the least. "
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"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "
Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.
I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!! *)*
a BIG +1 from me also #*#
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"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "
Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.
I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!! *)*
I agree 100%
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Original , horror themed, oddball humour, and at least aiming for a price not stupidly around 9++k ...................at LAST !
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"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "
Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.
I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!! *)*
At last. Someone has the balls to do it the RIGHT WAY. Creativity, innovation, no pre order deposits, no massive LCD, no LE, Pro, Premium to confuse people. Just a "meat and potatoes" pinball machine. EXACTLY what the public have been screaming for !
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This sounds very promising, I am looking forward to future updates.
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to get the thread back on track, Charlie is a very talented guy and his podcast for the last 2 years has been very entertaining and I am sure he has gained many direct contacts from this part of his pinball passion. He has over 20 pinballs in his personal collection with many being the horror / spooky theme
he currently direct ink prints all the WOZ cabinet, playfields and plastics for JJP as they are friends, then Charlie is friends with Ben Heck who hang out together (and Ben is supplying the operating system and Charlie is the test pilot) as well as Jpop and Brian Kelly. He also has geek boy Blue Shirt on side who is under the wings of Heck and Pop so he I am sure he will be valuable for programming etc. So he has alot of contacts and his day job is signage hence the custom Godzilla as well as doing the JJP gear.
I think the way he is approaching it is great, custom theme, make small runs (25 at a time) and sell based on the interest. As for costs of setting up and doing runs of 25 - I think it is achievable but yes agree you need some sort of spare cash but not millions - maybe as small as $100-$150k as he can cover the graphic design and printing as well as programming and control system, just needs the playfield design and routing and you are away assuming his signage business has the room to do the assembly ??? would not have a clue on this but this is small cost in the scheme of things. Stern's overheads are huge because of the big and fast runs, the labour they hire and the big factory. Lastly he is passionate about spooky themes and has a good sense of humour so this is a great start.
Good luck Charlie and who knows a few may come down under. I sent a email with a few questions and told him of AP and this thread so hopefully he visits and can answer questions directly.
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some more details
"All shall be revealed (the game, not Heather the hot accountant) pinball people. I'd love to have it at MGC, but that would really be pushing it. I'd rather have you see it and play it than talk about it.
Elvira... anyone who has heard our show knows we are HUGE fans. Dennis wants to do the game... we'd love to build it with him. To me, gotta have our buddy Greg Freres involved or it just wouldn't be all it should be (or even slightly feel right). Time will tell, and stranger things have happened.
What a day... thanks everyone. We'll get there!"
So looks like Dennis Nordman is up for it and possibly Greg Freres so Charlie has a dam good crew on this
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If he has a signage business that is capable of reverse printing straight onto acrylic then id say its a big business.. this is not a cheap machine to buy and i only know of a couple of places in the Brisbane region that can cater for this. When i or any of my business colleagues have need for this we sub the work to them at wholesale rates.
Chances are he has screen printing capabilities also.
Own CNC routing and most likely laser cutting services etc.
Charlie would be in a very good position to manufacture a pinball, with his resources and contacts id say he is on solid ground.
The whole idea sounds very exciting.. id love to see a snippet of whats coming.
Id love to buy from one of the new manufacturers... its a balance of theme and price for me, so i look forward to the end result because the theme has already won me over
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I agree Retro, I am keen as well.
Got a short email back from Charlie - he is concentrating on making a good pin first and then will worry about the 240v 50hz power issue. But he is making the games to be RHOS compliant for overseas shipping which is good.
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"ORIGINAL THEME (I freakin' miss those!) game, at a price that is more affordable. No LE's... "
Hallelujah! I really am sick of the lack of creativity in current games theme wise.
I think the last non-licensed theme was....um....oh yeah - Coconut Island!! *)*
At last. Someone has the balls to do it the RIGHT WAY. Creativity, innovation, no pre order deposits, no massive LCD, no LE, Pro, Premium to confuse people. Just a "meat and potatoes" pinball machine. EXACTLY what the public have been screaming for !
+1 Amen!
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the theme has already won me over
What is the theme ?
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the theme has already won me over
What is the theme ?
"Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave"
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I like what I hear so far, especially the "no limited" and "no money up front". This is where the some of the other players have got it wrong imo. One pinball that plays the same and wait until it is released before paying any money.
Looks like they are going about it the right way, small production runs, controlling costs. A custom theme is something that the hobby has been screaming for.
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I like what I hear so far, especially the "no limited" and "no money up front". This is where the some of the other players have got it wrong imo. One pinball that plays the same and wait until it is released before paying any money.
Looks like they are going about it the right way, small production runs, controlling costs. A custom theme is something that the hobby has been screaming for.
I agree I'm hoping its successful and I'd better start saving I like what I'm hearing :-)
Peter
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Thread cleaned up. Keep the thread "on topic". This is a Spooky Pinball thread.
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I like what I hear so far, especially the "no limited" and "no money up front". This is where the some of the other players have got it wrong imo. One pinball that plays the same and wait until it is released before paying any money.
Looks like they are going about it the right way, small production runs, controlling costs. A custom theme is something that the hobby has been screaming for.
I agree I'm hoping its successful and I'd better start saving I like what I'm hearing :-)
Peter
Couldn't agree more . . . The sooner the better $%$
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Great news, good to see some more "little guys" taking on the big boy, competition can only mean good things for pinball
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Posted by: ktm450
Insert Quote
Great news, good to see some more "little guys" taking on the big boy, competition can only mean good things for pinball
+1
I recall seeing the pinballnews link yesterday posted by Swinks (in another thread) as a reminder of how big 2012 was for pinball - Wow, I can't believe there's another player to add to the mix so this year looks like it could be bigger again.
Early days but there are some really good ideas and definitely will give even more choice to pinball. Good to see another pinball enthusiast taking the plunge!
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I just posted this video for the Zombie Adventureland but the first few minutes detail the Ben Hecks board which Charlie I think will be using for his spooky pin
&feature=player_embedded
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Ok a bit more information in which corrects some of what I stated previously.
- Charlie worked for a large print company, so did not own but worked there for the last 20 years in which his last day was the end of Jan as he is now full time doing Spooky Pinball so he is serious.
- Out of interest the company doing the playfields is still doing them and interestingly does 200 completed playfields in 4 days so expect to see some machines coming soon.
- He has hired a suite close to home to start his boutique pinball company.
- Flipper Fidelity is a partner supplying the sound system
- Pinball Life is a partner supplying pinball hardware
- Ben Heck is the official supplier of the games board set
- The official crew for Spooky Pinball is: Charlie and family of course, Dennis Nordman, Blue Shirt, and JPop (not sure on the arrangement but he is going to be a key team member, but still has to finish Zombie Adventure Land and Magic Girl) I think Brian Kelly is also going to be part of the team as well and Ben Heck I think as well.
These are some of his quotes from his podcast which gives a good intro of his plans in the first 6 minutes:
"will be building custom and product machines"
"no kick starter page, no deposits, no pre-orders, no boasting"
"going to produce a game that is great, plays well at a great price"
"will have originality and art of the 80's and 90's game play (deep rule set)"
"art will be done by a crazy guy that loves spooky but is not in the pinball industry"
"no re-inventing pinball but it it style and personality"
"ramps, metal fab, playfields, cabinet all done locally"
"programming and rules by new talent"
"but also will make pins for others like Ben Hecks Ghost Squad"
Attached are a few images from his facebook page showing his logo, factory, signing of Brian Kelly (and think that is Blue Shirt next to him) and a screen shot from his website of a poll he was running for a particular spooky theme so it may give us a defined direction and what was considered but is going for the people's choice.
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and a couple more
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I agree Retro, I am keen as well.
Got a short email back from Charlie - he is concentrating on making a good pin first and then will worry about the 240v 50hz power issue. But he is making the games to be RHOS compliant for overseas shipping which is good.
We actually don't need RoHS compliance for Australia (well, not yet anyway). That's a European thing and is actually proving to be a lot of WANK!
I think the 220V issue will not be a problem at all - I doubt they would go down the route of "protecting" the game boards by locking them to 50Hz - that's pretty dumb (and especially dumb of Stern IMO) especially seeing how a 12yo electronics enthusiast can get around this.
I would buy this machine based on what I have seen already......
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I am with you, sounds interesting and I will be watching hoping to get one if cool.
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Yep, good luck to them and I will be very interested to see what they end up with at what price!
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Very tempting indeed.
Peter
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Isnt it funny..
We know nothing about this pin except its zombie based... Charlie rejects the selling platforms of the now 2 big suppliers..JJP and Stern and he just wants no frills pure pinball 80's/90's style.
Given this minimum information it has our absolute attention.. why??.. Because it is what it should be.. cool theme and a promise of fun.
I have a couple of contacts in US who are actively involved in pinball production.. or are good friends with the powers that be. Im hoping they have some sort of input here.. would be cool to have a man on the inside!
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Isnt it funny..
We know nothing about this pin except its zombie based... Charlie rejects the selling platforms of the now 2 big suppliers..JJP and Stern and he just wants no frills pure pinball 80's/90's style.
Given this minimum information it has our absolute attention.. why??.. Because it is what it should be.. cool theme and a promise of fun.
I have a couple of contacts in US who are actively involved in pinball production.. or are good friends with the powers that be. Im hoping they have some sort of input here.. would be cool to have a man on the inside!
+1, agree with what you are saying.
For me I am not trying to hype things up, or make t bigger than what it is. But for the last year I have enjoyed his podcasts, and we have sent a few emails back and forth and he is just so passionate about horror and pinball which is refreshing and for him to jump in the deep end and go for it, you gotta respect that.
It would be great to have a insider, though he did say he is going to be quite open about his build. He needs the money so sure we will see something in the near future.
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Ive already emailed my guys and asked the big questions... fingers crossed!
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Ive already emailed my guys and asked the big questions... fingers crossed!
Cool, make sure to let us know anything that can be shared.
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You never know.. its always worth asking
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He needs the money so sure we will see something in the near future.
A very good friend of mine started a VERY successful business in the 80's that he eventually sold for many millions of dollars.
He told me that his main path to success was employing EXCELLENT salesmen and he shared with me his secret for choosing them.....
He would look a job hunter squarely in the eye and ask them if they were married with kids...mostly they would answer yes...then he would stare intently and ask them where their girlfriend lived???
He always employed the ones with a family AND a girlfriend AND a flash sports car as they were the ones who HAD to make sales targets to pay for everything - the ones who only had a family didn't give a rats.............
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Ok... dont know anyone involved in the SPOOKY Pinball... but i did turn up this.
Its funny as i got this through on the email today with a "sworn to secrecy until instructed otherwise" condition attached and then an hour later, got the go ahead and a link to this website..LOL... weve seen this before!!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/tiltwarning/bring-back-the-arcade-the-art-of-play
Heres a couple of shots of the backglasses in printing progress..
(http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr243/retropin/BG_EVIL_MANSIONmultipleWIP_zpsce28e995.jpg)
(http://i488.photobucket.com/albums/rr243/retropin/BG_EVIL_MANSIONsingleWIP_zps98ba7da2.jpg)
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yeah, there linked to the tilt warning custom pinball
http://aussiepinball.com/index.php?topic=9977.0
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He always employed the ones with a family AND a girlfriend AND a flash sports car as they were the ones who HAD to make sales targets to pay for everything - the ones who only had a family didn't give a rats.............
That is at once the most cynical, funny and insightful thing I have ever read. Stumped for the correct smiley...... @.@ :lol ^^^
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I sent Charlie a email letting him know of the new and improved exposure on AP and if he had time to post to join up and do so otherwise I would do it on his behalf. This was his response.
"Very nice, and thanks Jady!
I'm not the most "social media" active guy out there. I like that stuff, but really want to let the game do the talking for me. We'll keep after it, and I want to see this game out there in a timely fashion! :-)
Hope to ship some games down under for sure! Australia has some serious pinball fans to say the least.
Charlie"
So I think as long as the game is good we will have some come down under #*# and that the design will allow for our power, but of course it has to built first and detailed to suit our power.
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a possible teaser image of some artwork - confirmed not to be clip art #*#, and some girlies in there as well #*# #*#
"Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave"
and not to forget his Godzilla mascot in front of the image - Godzilla being his first custom re-theme where it all started.
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here is that image showing in full, looking good
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a guy on pinside said that he spoke to charlie in Feb and the goal price range is $4.5k, so with freight etc we could expect to see this for around the $5.5 to $6k ^^^
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a guy on pinside said that he spoke to charlie in Feb and the goal price range is $4.5k, so with freight etc we could expect to see this for around the $5.5 to $6k ^^^
Under 6k sounds great
Peter
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Thanks for the updates Swinks,i was thinking it may be a bit more than that.If he can put out a very nice pin for up to 5.5k plus shipping I would still be happy.I am looking forward to some more updates inc some pics of the playfield layout.
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Ben posted this on Pinside
"First I should mention this is separate and different from Ben Heck Zombie Adventureland, which is a JPop game featuring myself as a Zombie Overlord. That is a JPOP game with me in it, Ghost Squad is a game designed & written by me (with input from others)
Back to Ghost Squad, the idea here is to make a pin that can be reproduced and sold. Which is why we went with a custom theme. We'd also like to sell the [driver] board set to other homebrew folks. It can be programmed in the Arduino environment.
If people like the way it shoots, the voice calls, the animations, etc, the idea is Spooky Pinball can run a batch. It is a standard 128x32 DMD game, stereo sound.
For MGC I hope to have the following working:
1) Hellavator Multiball
2) Doctor Ghost battle (voiced by Dennis Nordman, 2 ball multiball)
3) Hotel Psycho Ghost battle (voiced by Bryan F'ing Kelly, 2 ball multiball)
4) Ghost Photo Hunt! (hurry up shot making mode)
5) Haunted Bar Ghost battle (voiced by Mrs Chuck Emery)
6) Pin Gulp caddy attachment "
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Price is very good on this and i like the way it looks.. well.. it actually looks like a pinball should with no cut and paste tacky pictures.. good solid colours.
Be interested to see the finished product and for once i could be swayed to buy in the box
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I hope the price stay affordable but like most items the price tends to blow out but I hope not, love the PF shine my Trons the same almost a deep mirror affect.
Peter
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A few people have been commenting on the sexy art and how it may not be family / wife friendly, this what Charlie had to say
"We know the art isn't for everyone. We aren't building thousands where we'd need to appeal to a mass market. We promised a fast, fun, original theme game that was aimed at dudes who like old school sexy pinball art, and that's what we're doing on game #1. These are college girls... Alecia Crowley is a goth chick turned zombie that is going to get revenge on the obnoxious cheerleaders. That's the basic premise in a nut shell. When the game is done, you'll see the rest for yourself.
Nuf' said... back to work."
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a basic one a thread name change as we know the name now.
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charlie posted as lots of people are showing interest
"It's a world wide list... just email me at: charlie@spookypinball.com and I'll add you."
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I'd be interested in another zombie theme do we know anything else about it at all?
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nah thats it for info, but he is being secretive and avoiding the opinions and just will appear with it finished and then take money - so no pre-order so a matter of watch this space.
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#*# yeah on the list
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I'm confused this Is different from ghost squad yeah?
Peter
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I'm confused this Is different from ghost squad yeah?
Peter
Yeah everyone is doing ghost / horror themes, but all with a a different approach
Jpop is doing Ben Heck Zombie Adventureland with Ben just starring as the character in the game
Ben Heck is doing Ghost Squad but Spooky will manufacture if well received by people
Spooky (charlie) is manufacturing Pinball Zombie From Beyond the Grave - qty based on demand, with deposits not taken until the game is in production and interestingly Spooky will be using Ben's Boards Set
!@# So have I confused you more !@#
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#*# yeah on the list
+1,Heres hoping he can deliver a game with a WOW factor.
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A few people have been commenting on the sexy art and how it may not be family / wife friendly, this what Charlie had to say
"We know the art isn't for everyone. We aren't building thousands where we'd need to appeal to a mass market. We promised a fast, fun, original theme game that was aimed at dudes who like old school sexy pinball art, and that's what we're doing on game #1. These are college girls... Alecia Crowley is a goth chick turned zombie that is going to get revenge on the obnoxious cheerleaders. That's the basic premise in a nut shell. When the game is done, you'll see the rest for yourself.
Nuf' said... back to work."
Alecia Crowley = Aleister Crowley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley
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A few people have been commenting on the sexy art and how it may not be family / wife friendly, this what Charlie had to say
"We know the art isn't for everyone. We aren't building thousands where we'd need to appeal to a mass market. We promised a fast, fun, original theme game that was aimed at dudes who like old school sexy pinball art, and that's what we're doing on game #1. These are college girls... Alecia Crowley is a goth chick turned zombie that is going to get revenge on the obnoxious cheerleaders. That's the basic premise in a nut shell. When the game is done, you'll see the rest for yourself.
Nuf' said... back to work."
Alecia Crowley = Aleister Crowley
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aleister_Crowley
Have read most of his work and have some rare recordings of him reciting the Enochian alphabet amongst other things
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Mad Englishman! %.% %.%
Sorry, forgot to specify which one. <.> <.> %.% %.%
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Charlie is going to be at the Midwest Gaming Classic this weekend with some reveals - hopefully some art or start of a pinball ????
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the rumour is the backglass artwork will be released at the show
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Here is a release by Pinball News, a little old but is still current.
Charlie announced his intention on the latest Spooky Pinball podcast, and said he would be working with Ben Heck, Dennis Nordman, and many others to make his games under the Spooky Pinball LLC brand.
The first of these games is to be an original zombie theme, but different to the Ben Heck's Zombie Adventureland currently being developed by John Popadiuk and Ben Heck. Charlie says his game will be a more modern look at zombies compared to BHZA's retro '50s/'60s style.
Charlie also said his game will not feature an LCD and will be much more focused on classic pinball design, with sexy women and plenty of earthy humour in a completely different style of artwork package.
Another difference is how Spooky Pinball will not be taking pre-orders or trying to raise start-up funding. Instead, Charlie will fund the initial development and manufacture himself. He will make the machines in small batches of 25 which will be sold with a 50% deposit taken at the time of order, and shipping taking place within 60 days.
Pinball News asked Charlie why he decided to enter the increasingly crowded world of pinball making. He told us, "First and foremost, we've got incredible friends and support from people in the right places. Ben Heck, Dennis, Terry at Pinball Life, Michael at Flipper Fidelity, and a cast of locals that could build a rocket to Mars if the world would let them (and we might). Art, metal fab, plastics, cabinets & playfields, programming... it's all there. We'll be doing all our own printing as well."
With the right people with the right skills, what, we wondered, will make Spooky Pinball's machines different from those produced by all the other companies now in the pinball manufacturing business? Charlie explained, "What we're going to offer are games at a great price that the average pinball guy can manage. They will look incredible, have plenty to do on the playfield, and have a fresh take on art and style that hasn't been seen in pinball before. Kind of a mix of early '80s originality with '90s game play... but we have no guides we have to follow. We won't reinvent pinball, we're just going to make games that are meant to be played by men that will act like teenagers every chance they get."
He continued, "We have no intentions of competing on a Stern or Jersey Jack level for sales numbers. We're going to build quality games and keep our small town roots firmly in place. There are no pre-sales, no kickstarter pages... we'll build them out of our own pocket, and when you order a game, you'll have it in a timely fashion. That's it... We're going to do our best to streamline the entire process, and show a small company can produce games as well as anyone ever has."
As always, Pinball News will keep you fully informed of all the latest developments with Spooky Pinball's exciting new move into pinball manufacturing.
http://www.pinballnews.com/news/spooky.html
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some photos of the cabinet and translite from spectators - the game inside was ghost squad. It was said that Charlie is making his own cabinets in house and that they look well made.
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A couple more photos, and remember it has Ben's Ghost Squad playfield and green dmd, and Dennis, Charlie, I think blue shirt and bug in the photos
- I like the way the translite is framed in effect with the continuation of the speaker and dmd panel
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Artwork looks pretty sweet *%*
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Looks very nice ^^^.
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It's kind of funny to see the components of the two games together, particularly as the are both in development.
Cabinet art looks nice. I think both titles will be quite popular, It will be interesting to see how many get made once production gets under way and how many come to Oz.
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Charlie said to me that he has a few requests to go on the list now from Aussies
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Charlie chimed in after the show to share some thoughts
"Morning pinball people. And holy s**t am I exhausted!
Sorry I don't post in here much. We've been crazy busy getting this thing together, and I was very happy with the response we had at MGC. Our whole point of taking Ben's game in our cabinet was to show that we are serious about this, and I think we more than accomplished that. We will be mfg Ben's "Ghost Squad" as well as our "Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave" at pretty much the same time. I always get asked about release dates... let's go with this, Ben feels his game will be complete by summer. It's my job to gather the parts, stress test unique toys (Hellevator... eeep!) and make it happen. We'll get there.
Oh, there is a reason the word "Pinball" is in our title... will make more sense later. There's also a reason our backbox is a little funky. Personally, I love a mystery. You won't see a ton of updates on "Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave". I'm going to work as hard as I possibly can on it, and hopefully it speaks for itself... if there aren't a couple of them being played at Expo, I'll be crushed.
Iceman... love ya dude! Glad you are talking about Alecia Crowley's nipples now anyway. I have no ill will or animosity towards anyone, really and I mean that. Although I think Heck did eat the last of my beef jerky in the car on the way home that sonofa...
Thanks so much to everyone for the support on pinside, FB, and those who took the time to come talk to us in person at MGC. And a HUGE thanks to Steve Ritchie for the cool endorsement on FB... if you think that didn't make Heck and I giddy like four year olds who just took the whole cookie jar, you'd be wrong.
Hey, if anyone happened to catch video of our son jamming out with the AC/DC tribute band in the lounge on Saturday night, I'd be thrilled if you sent it to me... holy crap was that a cool parent moment!
Ok, I'm going back to work. The shop is trashed from all the thrashing last week to make it to MGC... and we've got games to build. LOTS of games to build!"
first photo:
Steve Ritchie having a game - with this said - "The King playing Ben Heck's "Ghost Squad" in our "Pinball Zombies From Beyond The Grave" proto cabinet. Our favorite quote of the weekend.... Steve Ritchie saying "Hey guys, this game DOES NOT suck!". ;-)"
you gotta love the second photo:
DMD lists Dennis Nordman and Jpop and Ben Hecks playfield is in Spookies Cabinert - I think they all get along
third photo:
cabinet shot
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a little combined video with Ben and Ghost squad - but he does does say his goal to sell the machine at $4.5k ^^^
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just for those that may be interested Charlie is selling t-shirts and translites
http://www.spookypinball.com/games-swag/
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anyone interested in a Pinball Zombies can email Charlie
charlie@spookypinball.com
to be put on the list (no deposits required)
He is expecting to have finished ones ready for expo in October but told me his goal is to have machines finished and hoped to start going out the door before this date.
You can also email Chralie about getting on the list with Ben Heck's Ghost Squad as Charlie will be building them.
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Development update
Charlie is onto the second version of whitewood and Dennis Nordman has inspected it and overall was impressed and advised a few small changes.
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comment from Charlie on his facebook
"Pinball Zombies From Beyond the Grave can now be played with the glass on. This sure feels like a monumental step! Lol!!!! ;-)"
good sign, hopefully some photos soon, can only wish.
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some updated info from their 38th podcast about the game:
- they played a game on the podcast to sort of prove that it works, scores and is a functioning game in midway of development but looses it on a podcast
- announcement that all games will have X-Pin Pinball dmd displays
- people that order a Pinball Zombies can choose between a Blood Red or Zombie Green DMD
on the podcast was a good informative interview between Charlie and Brett from X-Pin about led displays and dmd design - the guy has gone to alot of effort to ensure all systems run on the available power. He is also in the midst of developing a 7 digit display that will fit into the classic bally 6 digit games so you will have no issue with score roll over via a dedicated plug and play design. He brought up also a interesting fact that Stern had to change to a Green dmd product as Europe would not allow the plasma displays any longer which explains the change to the classic dmd that we all know.
display info - http://xpinpinball.com
podcast here - http://www.spookypinball.com/podcast-2/
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Another art release with the art not as green - looks good
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Keen to see this pin up & going ()
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a little update:
a pinsider asked on the progress:
I've said publicly if it's not at Expo in October I'll be upset with myself... but time will tell. I make no solid set in stone prediction.
Ben Heck's "America's Most Haunted" (aka Ghost Squad) will beat ours as the first game we produce I'm sure. He's much farther along than we are.
Just happy to be doing this and enjoying the ride!
We've been playing it since February... we're tweaking the hell out of the rev 3 whitewood right now. I want to have it right so there is no rev 4.
LTG is correct, it's moving along nicely! Now it's more like an art project or writing music... deciding what's good, what needs more, and most importantly... when to call it "done". We're a long way from that "done" word.
Goal is just to have a fun game, great theme, and a good price point. We'll get there.
Back to work... got a ball trough to get right.
Without the team of friends and family I have, we'd have no chance of making this happen. I'll be forever in their debt... especially that Ben Heck guy, and that big fellow my kids call "Uncle Dennis Sasquatch".
I don't wanna babble and I do have a pile of work to do... so really, thanks to everyone for the support. It means a lot to all of us who are just trying to do what we love here at Spooky Pinball.
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a little more
KT does have an official list, and everyone is in the order they emailed their request in. No money down... you'll see the game before you commit and money. When your name comes up you can buy at that time (half down, half when it's on the shipping dock) and you will get your game in a timely fashion.
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I can't wait to see what these guys come up with. Ben Hecks game looks interesting so far.
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here is a DMD teaser,
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some early stage progress photos released
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a few more
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a video
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here are 2 videos of Steve Ritchie playing Charlie's Pinball Zombies. Steve also advised about dome of the art and Charlie will be making some changes.
seems to have some unique skill shots on ball launch
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