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Your Wish is Granted! | Tales of the Arabian Nights by Pedretti Reveal Podcast
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It's been 30 years since the original Tales of the Arabian Nights was released. Now Pedretti has brought this classic back to life with a modern take! Join us as we go over all the challenges of taking a beloved game and turn it into a modern masterpiece
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Transcript
Introduction and Nostalgia
00:00:07
Speaker
Thanks for tuning in to Loser Kid Pinball Podcast. I am Josh Rupp. With me, my co-captain. Scott Larson. Scott, it's new pinball. New pinball is always good, right?
00:00:17
Speaker
New pinball is always good, and especially when you're getting something with a legacy connection with people. And it probably harkens back to what people really liked about pinball when they were younger and got into it. That's why these remakes are awesome. So excited to talk about Tales of the Arabian Nights today.
00:00:35
Speaker
And if you're going to get Tales of the Arabian Nights, where are you getting it from? So reach out to Zach and Nicole Minney at Flippin' Out Pinball. They've always been helpful
Guest Introductions
00:00:42
Speaker
with us. Now, there are two versions right now, but right now ah the 30th anniversary is sold out, but the Legacy Edition is still available. And so go ahead and reach out to them for all your pinball needs. And we are excited to see this game.
00:00:58
Speaker
So it is sold out through flipping out for the, we're going to call it the LE edition because that's kind of typically what it was, right? But if, like you were saying, the legacy edition or the classic edition is, is still want one. You can't get one. And speaking of getting one of these, we have two wonderful guests on today. We have the man himself,
Choosing the Theme
00:01:18
Speaker
Andrea Pendretti joining us to talk about not only this, but everything they've been doing and the mastermind behind the circuit boards and whatnot, Aaron Davis from Fast Pinball.
00:01:30
Speaker
Thanks for coming on, you two. Hi. Hello. its exciting Yeah, talk pinball.
00:01:41
Speaker
We're excited to have you both on All right. You went with fun house originally. That's one of my personal favorites. That's what I grew up on. I love, I just love this game. obviously I have one. It's fantastic. I've, I've really enjoyed this. So I heard tells of the Arabian nights was coming. Cause I'm a huge, uh, J pop fan. I love world cup soccer. So it felt like a no brainer to me to do tells of the Arabian nights.
00:02:06
Speaker
What made you guys decide to pick this as your next theme to move on from fun house? After
Modernizing Classic Pinball
00:02:11
Speaker
Funhouse, we just wanted to make something that is it's really a kind of iconic game. And the we had some other titles to pick and choose. But Tales of the Arabian Night is one of my favorite games.
00:02:28
Speaker
And i really love the theme, the atmosphere, and I'm a huge fan of the layout. And said, okay. I think we can go all in with this amazing game and try to try to make it in the best way as possible and try to make every everyone in this community have one Pace of the Arabian Night in their collection a super modern and innovative way and there with a new platform made by our friend in the US at the vast bimbo. You know, but I mean, it's it's also the kind of thing that like, you know, your vision for how you wanted to do this game. um
00:03:10
Speaker
I think that's the part that, you know, we as FAST always like to support the people building and designing creating games. So like when you've got a very specific vision of how that should come across, we'll throw out little ideas and stuff like that that might extend that idea. Or how do you how do you make it stable and reliable and make it so that the guys writing the code can like write the kind of game that they like and have the kind of control that they need. So
Balancing Originality and Innovation
00:03:32
Speaker
I think that this this project like you know, probably even more than, or definitely more than Funhouse was like, there's Tales of Arabian Nights, but then it's like, how would we bring Tales of Arabian Nights together, like in this day and age?
00:03:43
Speaker
And I think that's what the the vision that Andrea had with this stuff really comes through. And we just, we just kind of said like, how far can we push it? Like, you know, we had some crazy ideas we wanted to add in, like the the transparent PCBs underneath, like just new tech things we wanted to drop into the game. And it's not always going to fit, but maybe it does. And I think there were some fun ways to put that into the game. But, um but no, I think your vision for like how this game came together was like, you know, head and shoulders above, you know, previous games. Like this is, this is the kind of game that like you walk up to it and you're like, this is pretty. Like I just, you can stand and look at it and it's just beautiful.
00:04:18
Speaker
And so that's one of the questions when you're trying to deal with people's The nostalgia factor. So anything, you know, we're we're looking at close to 30 years ago when this game came out. It was made by Williams. ah Production was around 3000. So it was ah one of the lower ones. And it was when pinball was it was probably declining a little bit. and So I don't think too many people have the opportunity to play this game in a pristine form.
00:04:46
Speaker
So that's one thing that's great about having an opportunity to buy a ah newly newly minted classic game. Now, here's the question. When you're approaching these type of nostalgia things, there are there are ways of making it modern versus ways that people may feel that it's not exactly how they remember it. So how do you walk that line to say, we want to bring the technology together ah We want to bring the game up to the current technology, but also remain consistent with the gameplay that people remember 30 years ago. And
Remake Complexities
00:05:23
Speaker
you can even talk about having the two options there and the the two different R packages. So take it however you want.
00:05:30
Speaker
First of all all, I think is the artwork part. Because ah obviously what we have done on this game with the Legacy Edition, we just wanted to keep the original artwork exactly the same as it was in the original game. Because we know that a lot of people are kind of nostalgic and they want to see exactly the game as it was made by Williams with the same artworks, with everything in the in the same way.
00:05:57
Speaker
And what we have done will be there with Tales of the Riven Night, we have just choose to do an anniversary edition with a modernized, super modernized look made by Brian Allen. and But we keep it and in a little bit separate.
00:06:13
Speaker
things that, okay, if you want to have something been super modern made by ah an amazing artist like Brian Allen, you can buy the anniversary. But if you want to be like a, like more less a normal kind of lover of the original Tales of the Arabian Nights, you can pick the Legacy Edition with the original artwork. I think it's something that we have to take always in consideration when you do a remake.
00:06:37
Speaker
There is always a part of your potential customers who want to have a lookalike original game with more modernized stuff with something more ah light show something like that that makes the game more pretty so but ah they want to make their game feel and look exactly as the original one because they love Tales of the Baby Night as it was.
00:07:04
Speaker
And another part is about how the game it works. And that is something that we have to little bit, we can talk with Aaron about the electronics part, because it's really, really important. And we have spent a huge amount of hours, day and nights to make the game works and plays
00:07:31
Speaker
99.9% as an original brand new case of the ribbon nights. It is really,
Technical Improvements
00:07:37
Speaker
really important for us. And that's where we have spent a huge amount of hours. Another part is about the the software.
00:07:45
Speaker
Software is another really, really important part because a lot of people know exactly how a ribbon night works and all the game rules and stuff like that. But, uh,
00:07:57
Speaker
With a new game, you can have a a little bit more extension and you can go a little bit in the direction of the tournament players or or a customers who are really great on playing pinball at their house and they want to have a game that is more...
00:08:16
Speaker
and more deep in rules and the tales of the arabian nights was not super deep we can say in that way and and we worked a lot on that on that side too but yeah i didn Well, I was going to say too, like even just Sam working on it, like Sam's their lead programmer on the game. Like it was fantastic having like his experience come in. And so that we're not having to say like, you know, make this feel right.
00:08:44
Speaker
It's like he already had a very high bar of how this game needed to feel. And in fact, this was the first project um he'd worked on with Fast Electronics in it. And I loved our first and initial interactions where it was like, Yeah, so, but I mean, is there going to be latency? Do I need to deal with that? And I'm like, no, it's fine, it's fine. And he's like, well, yeah, but I mean, it can't be too slow with lag. I'm like, no, it's fine. And I kept kind of, when I looked back over the messages, I'm like, I kind of sound like a jerk here. like And we got on a call with ah Dave and with Eli, you know my Dave, my partner with Fast, and Eli, who works with us on the daily basis. And we get on a call and in like two minutes, he asked a few key questions, got some very specific answers that talk about like the kind of control that he has from the software side. So he's not going to have to you know make excuses for or compensate for. He can just control it exactly the way that he wants. So I think that was like ah a big thing for him to be able to say, like, I know what I need to do here from a pinball expectation side and and having, you know, him having worked on the software for other remakes in the past, he already knows what that like acceptable threshold is. And it's like it's got to feel like it has to feel. So I think it was very cool to be able to support him and not have to teach him what
00:09:54
Speaker
what was important and what mattered. So all of
Production and Collaboration
00:09:57
Speaker
that stuff under the hood made um the the vision and the the the play experience of Totan just you're you're in the world now.
00:10:05
Speaker
You're not like you're not judging every input and output and how everything feels. um But I think that's a pretty important part. So once people are able to kind of suspend the critique of it's not as good as it was before, um they don't need to do that so they can just get in and enjoy the game right away.
00:10:22
Speaker
Well, and and let's be honest, too. I mean, there's been a handful of remakes made from a handful of companies and CGC has been considered one of the upper echelons of that. Right. And so for you guys, I got to applaud you to go out and get the crew that did the CGC remakes that people revere is some of the best remakes have been made. And to bring that in to Pedretti and to utilize that, i mean, it just it now totan just slides right in next to your attack for Mars, your medieval madness, and it feels cohesive.
00:10:54
Speaker
This game looks fantastic. The lighting looks great. Um, yeah. Just tell me a little bit more about what did make you decide it it you know, we're bringing on CGC. How does that even happen? You know?
00:11:08
Speaker
Well, I, I think we have, uh, finalized all the production for Funhaus. We just the wanted to see what what was all the feedback and direction from there for the football community, all of our customers. and We read a lot and and we have spent a lot of time reviewing all the feedback from ah from all of our customers and players and people who have played Funhaus more or less everywhere in the world.
00:11:38
Speaker
And the we just ah choose to to give to our customers the best experience as possible in our next game and the and you know we have to be honest here and we already know that games from cgc was amazing on the software side and the And has you as you can easily understand, that the season was not so so hard for us. We just go and that we pick the best person as possible that can work with us, cooperate and make the game that I really love the best game as possible for our customers and for the pinball community. Because
Community Feedback and Gameplay Depth
00:12:28
Speaker
I think it's really important to take into consideration that a huge amount of pinball people didn't have played
00:12:36
Speaker
arabianized at all because it's a kind of hard to find game and and you can find in really good collection but it's really hard to find for example on a public location or something like that and the normal people people cannot cannot too easily find one to play and the and do we try to to find the best way as possible to to produce obviously the best game in their quality for the for the past standpoint and for the software.
00:13:10
Speaker
and And that is really, really important to us as Pedroetti that the our game is on the software side I think, on the same and level as other remakes that was made in the past comes from a CGC, wi we can say their name.
00:13:29
Speaker
But yeah, it was a kind of easy to choose, to be honest. it it It took one one minute to to be taken but by me. I love that decision. yeah yeah It's like we we can get everything all tuned up just right. And then you want someone to just push it to the limits, like you know on the software side. At the same time, it's like on the aesthetic overall of the game. Like, know you don't want any one of them to have to be like, hey, it's beautiful, but it's kind of not fun to play or so it's it's kind of inconsistent. And I think that, you again, that's that's one of the best parts about, I think, the experience of everybody kind of involved is like everybody's standards are real high.
00:14:06
Speaker
And I think that like, you know, Andrea's decision on like, you know, getting the new programmers and stuff involved was really about like, let's make no excuses here. Let's raise the bar all around because that's going to encourage and motivate everybody else to like do their part even better and stuff.
00:14:19
Speaker
One complaint about Tales the Arabian Nights is it is super shallow. Like one of the modes you start and you have to hit like one pop bumper and that completes the mode. So is there going to be more software to help deepen that code a little bit?
00:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, it looks like that you want to have some insider news and some new. some reality. Yeah, well, what we are doing and what we are working right now is to extend the rules on the game.
00:14:49
Speaker
And it's completely different from what we have done in the past. We are not going to do a 2.0 stuff like that game. We are going to extend existing game game rules because we really think that are already amazing, but a little bit too to short, as you say. And extend index teamed game code in the way where do not change the game experience.
00:15:13
Speaker
What I'm saying, if you are a not amazing player, maybe like me, you can do one pop bumper and just go straight to collect the jewel, you know.
00:15:24
Speaker
But if you are a great player, player you can enhance the jewel and get more points. and the and when you and collect the jewel you have a huge amount of more points and that generate more um i don't know if i can say everything but you can get a little bit more extension on the rules and maybe another mini wizard mode i don't know if i can say so but we are going to seeing it pretty pretty soon on i think but yeah that is the idea to extend the the rules and the code in a way where the the players the two potential player the
00:16:14
Speaker
really beginner or not so great like me that i like to shop in general up everywhere and a good player can have a really different or extended game experience that is the absolute idea yeah I guess I want to add to that, like, you're not a terrible player. I mean, I've been over to your facilities like two different times now. And one of my favorite things is I'll be out milling around on the floor, bugging people about something. And I i hear games getting played and it'll be like you and Gabrielle up there like playing. And it's not just like, look at this game. It's like they're trying to beat each other.
00:16:49
Speaker
But I
Quality and Consistency Challenges
00:16:50
Speaker
mean, it's it's it's great to see that like people building and manufacturing pinball also playing these games and playing them hard and being able to like have that experience, not just standing back from your offices and watching boxes ship out. I mean, these guys like play pinball. And I think that's ah that's a that's something I think that like any of these things that people build and design and create, um if the people building and creating them and taking them to market are actually like players, um that just kind of seeps out into it. And I think that's something that like I always loved seeing was like, you know, I'm out here trying to be productive on their floor and they're up there playing and now I want to go and play more pinball. You know, it's it's a good vibe over there for sure.
00:17:29
Speaker
Now, there there are a lot of rumors regarding what limitations you have. So, For example, if there are software, if there are known software bugs in a classic version, are you able to actually fix those when you're actually making the making, remaking the game? That's one question. And two, ah are you going to be able to, hey, say you want to just play the classic version, even with a single pop bumper target? Are you able to swap back and forth between the extended code and the classic code?
00:18:04
Speaker
Yes, we can absolutely do that. In the service menu, you can just ah go and choose the version that you want to play. If you want to play the original game rules, you can just go there and there and say, active they the original game rules and you can play as ah the game as it is in the original. And with the orange display, dramatic style too.
00:18:31
Speaker
and the On the bugs, we have worked at quite a lot to get all the feedback online about the well-known bugs about the Arabia night, and we have fixed them all.
00:18:46
Speaker
And some of the bug in the game was kind of hard to fix because you risk to change a little bit the
00:18:58
Speaker
The game structure, we can call it that way, the game experience. and But some of the bugs that are kind of, fetch we have just removed it quite easily. and like It like exploits in the game. that People know the game, they can just like fast track their way through it and stuff. And that's yeah that's not fun for anybody, you know? So those kind of changes, it's not even it's less of a bug fix, more of like just an enhancement or make the game play better.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah, I know that there was some hurdles with with Funhaus. What did you learn from Funhaus going into Tales the Ravion Nights to help with production and the physical build of the game?
00:19:33
Speaker
Well, I think it's ah it's kind of a lot because for many people, I think if you go outside and ask about in the pinball world about ah it's easy for you to make ah it's more easier for you to make a remake game or a completely re brand new game.
00:19:51
Speaker
I think that 99% of the people are going to reply. It's more easier to do a remake. It's absolutely more easier. But in real life, it's it' harder.
00:20:03
Speaker
We have produced original games and the and the remakes. And after, i think, 10 years that they're working in this in this industry, i can easily tell you that it's more harder to produce a remake because you have a huge amount of people that the in their mind the game it's supposed to play differently in the remake in the remake world because maybe they have played a ribbon i 10 years ago or 20 years ago or a um brand new uh a ribbon night or a
00:20:38
Speaker
not so great, ruby night or they played one time at a show or one time at a location or or blah, blah, blah. It's always kind of hard to make all of these people happy and to try to make everyone happy. We have we have to spend a huge amount of time on funhouse first, but the half the funhouse. We have to sit down and take all the stuff on that we have done in a great way Fan House and try to make ah greater for our Arabian night. and And for example, we have spent a huge amount on the Flipper feeling, for example.
00:21:19
Speaker
it seems kind of easy stuff, but it's really, really hard stuff to reproduce the same flipper feeling on a new remake compared to to an old one, Arabian Nights, that is driven by different system and with a different ah um software architecture and blah, blah, blah. We have spent a huge amount of time there, and we have spent a huge amount of time on make all the mechs works better.
00:21:52
Speaker
not compared to the original game, but works great in the new modern world because a lot of mechs did not exist anymore and we have to to produce from more or less. ah With all the drawings that was from from original Williams,
00:22:09
Speaker
and CAD and it was a lot of work but what we have a learned is to try to make the best game in the quality side and don't and spend a huge amount of time on feeling.
00:22:27
Speaker
I think the feeling is the really, really most important word when it comes to remake. I think on the remake side, the game needs to play, yes, great.
00:22:39
Speaker
That is important. But you need to feel like the original. That is really, really important for us more or less 99% our customers. Well, and with
Logistics and Customer Support
00:22:50
Speaker
the remakes being harder, it's like, imagine putting a game out and you have an instant, like critical assessment of the game, not just like, oh, I think it looks pretty or it seems fun. It's like this part is slightly different than the one I knew. And it's not necessarily like it may have been um a game that was altered, but it's the only one they ever knew.
00:23:09
Speaker
to them, it's wrong. And they may be wrong. So I think that like that's that's something that is difficult about the remakes is kind of resetting people's um first experience with it. You know, it's like you want that experience to be great. But again, like in these games that have smaller runs, I mean, like you look at Funhouse versus Totan. I mean, it was like five times as many fun houses made. So a lot more people got to experience a fun house, like in a reasonable state where Totans are either like pristine and hidden away at people's houses or, you know, The one we had here that we got from Todd McCullough to use as a dev game had been on location and beat to hell. Like it's it's like a every post is bent, pieces are broken. So when I asked if we could you acquire that and then put it into a dev process over here, he was all thumbs up. He's like, that game has seen a rough life.
00:23:56
Speaker
you know So the idea of like being able to get one of these um that had lived ah a rough life and then replace it with one that's better, again, like this is something that like you know people who experienced that totem on location experienced a rough totem. So are are we going to have to undo their opinion of this? or are they going to be so excited about how pretty the new one is that they just dive right in and never think again? And I think that's that's what you can try to do with the remake is make the experience you know fresh and new so that you kind of suspend all that nitpicky little stuff. you know Now, let's also talk about the the challenges that you have with manufacturing. So you're an Italian company, so you're actually manufacturing in the northern part of Italy.
00:24:36
Speaker
Now, the market for pinball, I know is worldwide, but a high percentage of your sales will be in the United States. So can you address the challenges it it is about manufacturing outside of the U.S. and bringing to the U.S. market or even to the international market And what are some ways you're able to overcome that?
00:24:57
Speaker
I think our the connection between US and Italy are pretty strong. And it's pretty easy for ah for us to ship stuff in US or at a good really price. and and And it's really fast.
00:25:16
Speaker
And to be honest, I think the It's more harder sometimes to have a better kind of shipping and the relation in the inside of Europe or with some of Australia, for example, there on the price standpoint.
00:25:35
Speaker
And I think we are really in a kind of lucky like a spot of the world here in Italy, if we want to do business with the with the US, to be honest, because of the the business partnership be between Italy and the US are so strong that we didn't have any kind of problem to to to ship our games or or find them or get any problems during, I don't know, international shipping or transport or stuff like that.
00:26:04
Speaker
And we are super lucky that we have really an amazing kind of distributed network in in the US that are helping us a lot on them um get games out to to our to to our customers and get our came to the customer's house in a really safe way. It's just really, really important. You know, the the worst feeling is when you open up a new Pimble machine and you are super happy and excited to play it and it's maybe destroyed by transport. That that that can can happen, unfortunately, to to everyone in the world. But we didn't have any of this kind of issue.
00:26:44
Speaker
And that's just really, really great from my point of view. That's just really important, I think. Pinball is never destroyed by shipping. I don't know what you're talking about. That never happens.
00:26:56
Speaker
I had a bunch of cabinets shipped up here that we, we, we buy like second cabinets for like the home brewers and stuff. And the guy brings a truck and and he's like, oh I got some damage on this one. I'm like, I've never had damage here before. He's like, you've never had a pinball machine damaged before. He's like, this is going to be your first and it will happen again.
00:27:13
Speaker
And I was like, that that hurts my heart because I don't want to have broken stuff show up. But now I'm just like everybody else. I've got broken pinball parts arriving at my house. So.
Community and Experience Emphasis
00:27:22
Speaker
if you're shipping from Italy and then you're, you're bringing it over, ah do you have enough supply that if there's an issue with people, are they able to get a quick replacement?
00:27:32
Speaker
Cause I know some of the challenges with other manufacturers is they actually want you to ship it back to them to have it fixed and then send it back to you, which seems like a crazy amount of turnaround. So what, what is your remedy on the horrible situation where someone gets a damaged product? So.
00:27:50
Speaker
Yeah, on ah on this kind of ah really horrible kind of situation. We have some um we have two warehouse in in the U.S. and we ship pasta actually to to them.
00:28:05
Speaker
We have this kind of situation really nailed down in a fast way. where we can they can ship back the game to to us. We can refurbish and send them back.
00:28:18
Speaker
Or we can ship the path that they need to refurbish their game and more or less the day after when they open up a ticket to our a Freshdesk system.
00:28:28
Speaker
And that is really, really important, I think, because for the customer support and customer standpoint, it's ah we have worked at a lot on that side and that we have hired more people in Dutch in the US on their territory. And the one is Lloyd Olson, loyd awesome ah really, ah really famous kind of people taking in the industry and in the in that world, i think in the galaxy, we can go in that way.
00:28:56
Speaker
And he's super happy to reply on direct phone calls for customers who have problems or who want to have some information or who want to have someone who reply to their question about the about the game.
00:29:12
Speaker
Because, you know, sometimes some customers don't know the behavior of the game and want to have someone who reply to their potential question about how the gameplay is or like it's normal, you know? And sometimes the reply is easy, it's yes.
00:29:27
Speaker
But if you have a person who replies in five minutes, you feel safe and you feel in a great kind of spot. And there that your decision to buy one of our games, it was a great decision, you know?
00:29:41
Speaker
And the yeah, we have worked on that way too. And we have hired more people, we have more parts starting in the US and we have loved you know? He is great. would say the looks of this game are amazing. The lighting on this between the lighting and the mirror blades, it just looks more modernized.
00:29:58
Speaker
What made you guys decide to head in this direction with the lighting and whatnot? Yeah, if we have a choose to use the, well, I think just to be clear that from my point of view, the taste of the Revanites,
00:30:11
Speaker
just need myer mirror blades yeah and the no other artwork or stuff like that. It's already so great, the game and the atmosphere in the game that needs other stuff included as in the artwork standpoint.
00:30:30
Speaker
And that we added the new side lights. And it's um because we have seen that it's something that can generate a lot of great momentum and a new atmosphere and can can give to our game a huge benefit because you know that the on the Arabian night there are some really cool kind of momentum and there are some really cool kind of new m lights and the atmosphere that can be generated during every kind of tales.
00:31:05
Speaker
And that's just something that we have worked a lot on, generate the the animation on the display that are kind of in the same atmosphere and colors pattern as the light show on the on the play field.
00:31:22
Speaker
That is really, really important to to get the the final great looking kind of of our game. That is really, really something that we have worked a lot on.
00:31:34
Speaker
And the mirror blades are like the the way to go is for this game because it's got a lot of high stuff along the sides. So the idea of packing a lot along the sides with artwork would kind of clutter it up in my opinion. So the mirror blades kind of give you this landscape you're looking into. And I think that the way that Andrea set up the back wall,
00:31:50
Speaker
with the LED light in it. So looks like the sky in the background behind the buildings is like, you know the lighting is changing there. But it looks like it's kind of moving beyond the edges so that the the skyline carries on as you look back into the game. um But but like the way you're describing like that that that lighting that kind of goes everywhere, it really is something that like as you're playing it, it feels so full and complete. And it's only like when I'm watching like a video I took later on to see what it is I was feeling because it's like the light coming up the sides in sync with what's on the display and the back box, even like what's behind the back box, like off the wall there, it creates this whole full lighting. So it's not even just like you're standing in, if you're standing back watching somebody else play, you're looking at this whole big experience happening over there. And it's not just, you know, watching somebody score go up. It's like that there's, they're, they're having an experience that you're going to be, you know, up next to go and play. So I think that, that, that, that experience going out beyond just the play field itself, um, it's really immersive. It's really complete. And I, I think that's one of the coolest parts about, um, the enhancements that were added to this game.
00:32:58
Speaker
And you did the same treatment for the, uh, the DMD, the classic DMD. So you mentioned before that, The historical one is the kind of that yellow orange color, but you did the the same treatment with the dots that other remakes have done where you you made it a little ah more detailed, but still kept that dot matrix feeling with the color rise. Is that fair to to say how you've done that?
00:33:25
Speaker
Yeah, we can say in that way. And, uh, obviously on that, we can have started to, to have an animation guy who who made the the display, but yes, we cannot give it too much of the, of his secrets away, but, uh, yeah, he did ah an amazing work on the, on the display to try to generate more, more detailed the kind of, um, animation.
00:33:50
Speaker
That is really, really important, you know, but up there yeah Now, in addition to this, there is one, the challenge with making a remake is because when you look at modern games, there are more bells and whistles that typically come with the games, whether or not it's a mechanism, whether or not it's light show, whether or not it's anything going on. And the challenge is when people see a classic game, the knee jerk reaction is, hey, why is it priced this level when it is a when it's a classic game? So let's talk about a little bit but about the pricing.
00:34:27
Speaker
Excuse me. I know it's there's a lot that goes into just even the hardware and making it. So tell us how the price how we came to this price and ah why does it still cost as much as a a modern game that has more bells and whistles?
00:34:47
Speaker
Yeah, but I think they on the pricing, I think there is a kind of... um It's really not so easy to to explain because there is a kind of misunderstanding between houses, pinball manufacturing and the community. For the community, a remake needs to cost less as a new kind of game, you know, an original a kind of new design. But in real life, if we go and look into Tales of the River Night in terms of parts,
00:35:18
Speaker
and the mechanical parts. It's a kind of, I can tell you, it's a lot of parts and are really expensive parts and and we have to we have to redo a huge amount of impossible to to find parts.
00:35:37
Speaker
For example, I think another huge benefit, I think, for the community is that that all the parts that we have developed are more or less all made from original drawings by Polly Williams. And the if one of our of your... um and or the people who is watching this at this interview need a part for refurbishing their game that they they need. don't know, they have lost one of the cages, you know, and and they don't know how to find. It's impossible to find kind of parts.
00:36:09
Speaker
If they just send us send an email, that we can ship one to them. That is a really kind of great new opportunity for the pinball world. And we did the same on the on the LAMP and on the Gini because we have found out that on the on the market, the 90% of the parts, because we have quite a huge, like more than 20 LAMPs and Gini from a different webshop and parts supplier.
00:36:39
Speaker
And we have found out that all of these parts was made with the I cannot say, but we can just say in that way, not from the original Bally Williams. Variations. Yeah.
00:36:52
Speaker
Yeah. And what we have done there is just, we choose to, okay, we use the original ah Bally Williams CAD, the original design, and we go and reproduce the original Genie, and missuri maintain everything as it was the original one, and the lamp.
00:37:11
Speaker
And we have done more or less the same for a huge amount of other parts. And that that kind of stuff is expensive, you know. And and on the same on the same side, a lot of people say, okay, but you have already there the the software, you know.
00:37:29
Speaker
It is something that more or less a lot of people say, but the software is already there. No, we have spent, I think, more than 10 months to redo the software and to make work in a modern way to just have the possibility to fix the bug that you were talking about.
00:37:51
Speaker
We are not talking about something that is emulated, you know. It's something that was completely m redone with a new kind of machine and and it's another part that is kind of expensive. And it's the same for the animation. All the animation was redone. And we are talking about, I think, more than 25,000 PNG completely redone by hand, pixel by pixel. you know We are talking about lot of work plus ah
00:38:28
Speaker
Obviously, I think they them the game, we did have saved, we can call it that, a cent on the quality and on the stuff included in the game. And that ends up in a price that is from my point of view, is the correct price for a brand new Arabian night with all the stuff that we are including and the and the all the amazing work that from my point of view we have done.
00:39:00
Speaker
Because i mean you're really using like the original Totan is like, this is the game we want to go and make and then extend. It wasn't like you're you're copying and pasting and then adding a few little things. Like it it really is like, I mean, yeah Andre mentioned like the mechanisms. I mean, it's like, look under a Totan. It's like, there's lot of unique mechs in there that it takes to do those things. Like the the cages that come up there to grab the balls and stuff like that. I mean, there were some things that even even in that regard, like because, you know, Sam has rewritten the code for this. There were things that like, if you look at an original Totan, they have like dual wound coils on those cages coming up.
00:39:33
Speaker
But due to the the number of drivers they had to use to control them in the end, and that's why when they come up, they just sit there and buzz super loud because they pop up and then they're holding them and pulsing them a different way. And we looked at that and said, well, if we're going to use these, we have the available drivers, let's use like the hold coil. So when they pop up, we can hold them once they're up. And that makes for a more stable electronics foundation. So it's not like just buzzing really loud, which is strange for someone who doesn't know pinball to know like, is this wrong? Is it jammed up? ah It can be a shocking sound. But those some of those areas are places that we can make it actually physically feel better. So when Sam knows now that he has two drivers to work with, and so he can go into his original code, change that. So when it pops it up and then switches to a hold coil, now it's holding those cages up. um Those are the kind of like enhancements that are much more straightforward to do when you have a fresh code base. So while the um existing game was there, it was almost like
00:40:28
Speaker
you know, an inspiration point to go and say, recreate this thing that existed. And I think that now being able to change that stuff into having, you know, RGB LEDs and or RGBW LEDs all throughout the game, um you're having to change what used to be a light going on off into when this signal would have happened. I want to play this lighting effect instead.
00:40:47
Speaker
And again, like the way that that code base is set up, it makes it more straightforward to integrate that kind of thing. And i mean, it and it just looks super pretty. So the idea of like now, if we think an effect that translated from an incandescent bulb is too obnoxious and LEDs, you know, might just be too jarring. um Those things can be adjusted.
00:41:05
Speaker
And I think that's one of the things I love most about seeing the videos of the game being played is like it really is really pretty. And I see some of those things knowing how the code works behind the scenes and how LEDs and stuff are controlled, where it's not just turn that light on and off. It might be ah a shading show pattern that gives it a twinkle. And it may be, you know, something that you almost don't even notice. It doesn't stand out as this shockingly like cool lighting thing, but being able to appreciate like how good lighting design um affects the game. um The attention to that detail through this game is like super, super cool.
00:41:39
Speaker
I think there's a lot of people excited to get their hands on this game. You've talked about all three 99 has, has sold out from Pedretti to dealers. And, um, you're, you're focusing now on the, uh, legacy edition.
00:41:54
Speaker
When can we start seeing these being shipped? When can we start getting them in homes to start enjoying these wonderful games? Yep, the games are already right now on the assembly lines and then we are going to post some pictures and show something pretty soon.
00:42:11
Speaker
And the the first games are going to be sent out in the mid of this month to some to the US, some to Australia and some here in Europe.
00:42:22
Speaker
We are going to ship the, I think it's something like the 60% anniversary edition, 30% legacy edition.
00:42:33
Speaker
And think that people can can enjoy and play the game pretty pretty so That is really, really important for us to get this very first feedback and have people that start playing and love the game like we are we are loving here in our factory and the assembly that we we play non-stop, to be honest. And that I'm practicing.
00:42:58
Speaker
yes I'm excited to get a full dress one here. Like people have started to see like, you know, we as fast, like from the supporting standpoint, we're more excited about the engineering side. We, you know, we want to see a game get played to death, like just, just beat up, you know? And it's not like, you know, not the judgment of like, what do you think of the game? Whatever. It's like, we're, we're like touching coils. We want to see our things heating up. Is the code driving all the stuff correctly? So when this game was announced, I'm getting messages going,
00:43:26
Speaker
when can I come over and beat up on a Totan game? I'm sorry, I mean, play it very aggressively, you know? So a lot of these tournament players and stuff like that, they really know this game super well. And they they're excited about the idea of it potentially being in tournament play. Because, you know, as as more and more tournament players um are becoming aware that some of these titles that have just never been included, um a new title is fun. So as soon as they hear that option exists, they want to play it as soon as possible.
00:43:53
Speaker
You know, so they can get their hands on it. They can learn those subtle code changes so that when it does show up someplace, they've got some inside advantage. So ah yeah, getting those over here and getting people playing them will be fantastic for sure.
00:44:05
Speaker
What do you gauge your success by to make this a successful adventure to say, okay, so we were able to do fun house. We were able to do a tales of the Arabian nights. and exploring possibilities of doing future games. So for you, what is the success with this release?
00:44:26
Speaker
My personal, I think, ah success is when the first customers receive the game and they feel the difference or they feel how the games, how the games play and how much and they feel how much love and passion we put in and produce this game.
00:44:44
Speaker
You know, it's something that I think some customers are going to really feel it. on the On the sales, obviously, if you have a huge amount of sales, we are going to be super happy and we go and have some some good kind of time in the company. But obviously, from my point of view right now, that this game is successful when people see the passion, the quality, and they start feeling how much we have put in this game and the and get excited to get our next remake.
00:45:24
Speaker
And that that's the real success. It's building our our community. And we already have one I receive a kind of a lot of emails and texts on my phone and and some messages to Facebook, obviously, f from our from our guys and customers and the people in our community. But it's growing.
00:45:51
Speaker
And I think with this game, it's growing more and the more people we have ah we have in our community and that we have in our and kind of potential buy a list for our next remake is ah it's our main success here.
00:46:07
Speaker
I think it's really cool to you brought up like the idea of like the people that feel compelled that message even just right now, like, you know, the the people that have had their hands on it and like, you know, some of the showrooms and things like that are getting prepared to stream it and things. um You know, I'll get messages like about it, like, hey, i I finally got to play it like this feels great, you know? And again, it's like they don't have to do that. You know, I mean, it'll come out in their streams and things like that. But I i think it's kind of special when people make a personal reach out just to say like, hey,
00:46:36
Speaker
I understand how much freaking work it is to make a pinball machine. And I'm standing here in front of it right now. And I think this is cool. And I just wanted to like, make sure you knew how cool I thought this was. And those little like reach outs, like they mean a lot. You know I mean i think that in pinball in general, the, the critical things that get spread out all the time, all over the internet, it's not hard to find a critical comment about a pinball machine. Like they're everywhere, you know, but I think it's one of those things that it is, it is a, um,
00:47:04
Speaker
it it puts a smile on your face. like you know it It makes the working the late hours not feel so bad when somebody sends you a message and says, like, dude, keep doing this. like You're doing a good job. So um to everybody that's sent messages to Andrea and their crew and even to us over here, like it's it's well received. And it's not to say, like don't send the critical things, but if you've got a critical case that you can say, hey, if you do this, this and this, I see this happen, like the problem solver me goes, let's dive in and fix that, you know, but um but I think the interest in people who are in the community have spent time with games, um feeling compelled to engage directly, that that is that is what pinball is all about. Like and in in the end, like we're all building and making and creating things. But
00:47:45
Speaker
um the time spent with people who are enjoying them, like Andrea was saying, it's like, you know, that's the part that really matters, you know, all the money and selling stuff aside, it's like, what a cool place to be in when you make a product that's intended to be enjoyed by a group of people or you know, even you by yourself. um That is a fun thing to be able stand back and watch and see people enjoying it. So.
00:48:04
Speaker
Well,
Conclusion and Contact Info
00:48:05
Speaker
we appreciate having you guys on. it has been very insightful. I'm so excited for this. You guys have went leaps and bounds with this next remake. I can't wait to get my hands on and play one of these games.
00:48:18
Speaker
If you do want someone reaching out to you, give you feedback, whatever may be, what is the best way to get a hold of you two? Well, we are not a huge company here in Piretti and more or less all the all the feedback through social media are pretty straightforward, but actually to to me, more or less. And we have our Facebook, current our Instagram and and that or just send us an email. It's pretty easy to find out how our direct contact.
00:48:47
Speaker
And the well, you can come here and visit us. Yeah, go to Italy. Yeah, if you want to take a flight here in Italy and you can visit the company like many others in the during the summit, it's pretty common here. We have some from the US and visit our company.
00:49:05
Speaker
But the yeah, it's ah you just can send us an email or a text or a comment in the social media and then reach to us. and work yeah You can email Aaron at fastpinball.com if you need to send a message. But otherwise, we're all around.
00:49:22
Speaker
And if you need to get ahold of us, we are loser kid pinball podcast at gmail.com on all the socials at loser kid pinball. If you like the swag, if you want a fun house, loser kid shirt at silver ball, swag.com slash loser kid.
00:49:34
Speaker
ah what else am I missing? Scott, why don't give us our like final thoughts? You know, I just, as the same Toten, your wish is granted.
00:49:52
Speaker
you