Transcript
Speaker: Thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
Speaker: I am Josh Roop.
Speaker: With me, my co-host, as always... Scott Larson.
Speaker: We are on episode 104, and it's been an insane two weeks.
Speaker: Like, holy crap.
Speaker: And one of the reasons that it's been insane has to do with our guests that's on this time.
Speaker: But...
Speaker: Before we get to him, if you want a godfather, where are you going to go, Scott?
Speaker: I'm going to call Zach and Nicole Minney at Flippin' Out Pinball, and they will hook you up with all your needs.
Speaker: And you know what?
Speaker: Make them an offer they can't refuse, and they'll send you a game.
Speaker: Definitely.
Speaker: And speaking of godfather and making an offer we couldn't refuse, holy crap.
Speaker: This is his third game out of the gate.
Speaker: He's lit the world on fire.
Speaker: People are very much taking notice at all the stuff he is doing.
Speaker: We have Eric Meniere.
Speaker: How are you doing, Eric?
Speaker: I'm doing great, guys.
Speaker: Thanks for having me back.
Speaker: Always.
Speaker: Well, you were like the... How do I put this?
Speaker: You were our first guest.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I was going to say.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Don't go there.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: But no, we appreciate you coming on, man.
Speaker: This game looks fantastic.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: I'm hearing a lot of wonderful things.
Speaker: They say this is probably the best shooting JJP anyone's seen so far.
Speaker: I've talked to.
Speaker: I love how you guys are getting these out the gate.
Speaker: It's like you show it and next day people are playing this.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: We're getting a ton of feedback and people are loving the shots on this game.
Speaker: It's just amazing.
Speaker: It really came together.
Speaker: And part of the thing, part of the way that we build our release is to have games in boxes.
Speaker: And that means having games fully built, developed, vetted with complete code.
Speaker: ready to go.
Speaker: You can play all the modes in the game that are there.
Speaker: You can play kiss the ring.
Speaker: You can play the baptism.
Speaker: You can play honor.
Speaker: Like those are the three wizard modes in the game.
Speaker: They are playable.
Speaker: You get, you can get them.
Speaker: You can get to them on location.
Speaker: Um, now if a location operator has got it set up where the posts are out, you know, it might be a little bit harder to get to, but, uh, you can get to them.
Speaker: You can play them.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So this is your third game.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So, um,
Speaker: Typically your first two games or so you're feeling the game, you're feeling the design process out.
Speaker: And I know that you, I know that you have, you know, you're a mechanical engineer, you're an electrical engineer, you grew up in a pinball family.
Speaker: So all of those things together, how did you, what did you learn between one and two?
Speaker: And what did you learn between two and three to bring Godfather to, to the show?
Speaker: Well, focusing more, focusing a lot on the buildability and repairability of a game is something that I've always kept as part of my designs.
Speaker: Pirates had a lot of stuff in it.
Speaker: A lot of stuff.
Speaker: And it would take hours more per game to to manufacture a Pirates than it did for Guns N' Roses.
Speaker: Guns N' Roses was easier to assemble.
Speaker: It wasn't necessarily less stuff in it.
Speaker: It was just assemblable in an easier way.
Speaker: And the same can be said for Godfather.
Speaker: you know, refining, using more of the standard parts or a common part that I designed.
Speaker: You know, there's there are three diverters in the game.
Speaker: Two of them are the exact same diverter, like with the same coil, the same spring, the same brackets.
Speaker: One of them is
Speaker: only has one part difference and it's the top part.
Speaker: But otherwise it's the same coil, same spring, same.
Speaker: That allows us to get parts into the factory a lot faster.
Speaker: There's less things, fewer things to inspect and verify that they are correctly matched to our drawings.
Speaker: And it just makes...
Speaker: The game come together in an easier way when you've kind of established the ground rules that here's a mech and we're just modifying one thing.
Speaker: Otherwise, there's three of them in the game.
Speaker: And here's another mech, the plate.
Speaker: That's the Newton plate that's in the compound area of the Godfather.
Speaker: It's the same exact Mac as the lift ramp mechanism.
Speaker: Just the top plate is cut slightly differently, but otherwise same coil, same release latch, same switch, same wiring, all of that stuff.
Speaker: So it's like they can build those two things at the station.
Speaker: a lot faster than they would build two unique mechs.
Speaker: And you have to train your assembly line, you know, only how to build one mech and you can build one fixture for getting those mechs built.
Speaker: If you are able in your design to use very similar components in more than one spot.
Speaker: What I like that you guys have looked at also that I'd never noticed until I was listening to the featurette on Flippin' Out was just little things like the compound ball.
Speaker: You could get it in there, but what happens when the power goes off and there's a ball stuck back there?
Speaker: I'd never thought of that, and I guess that's just something you guys are constantly...
Speaker: trying to keep an eye out for.
Speaker: And I was like, that would be terrible to get a game on location.
Speaker: And then you can't get the ball out.
Speaker: But right.
Speaker: It was very ingenious how you guys did that, too.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Being able to.
Speaker: Release a ball whenever we whenever the game wants to is an important thing.
Speaker: If you physically lock a ball somewhere and you're depending upon the player hitting it,
Speaker: Well, what if it's your five-year-old who's playing, you know, and they lock another one in there.
Speaker: Now what?
Speaker: Now you've got two balls stuck in there and you can't do anything about it.
Speaker: So the game has to be able to defend itself from good players and from bad players so that the game plays and does what it's supposed to do every time it gets powered on or every time the start button gets hit.
Speaker: One, how long have you been working on Godfather?
Speaker: I was shooting the Godfather Whitewood November of 2020.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: The first like real down and dirty, you know, I had two flippers and a bunch of rusty sheet metal that I screwed down to a plank of wood.
Speaker: It didn't have the moving, articulating Kappa regime mech in it.
Speaker: And it didn't have the crazy lift ramp auto feeding wire form that had this unique shape, but it had the rough shots.
Speaker: and kind of where targets might be and stuff like that.
Speaker: And the idea is, you know, I think I had like a rubber duck sitting where the capital regime would be.
Speaker: And, you know, idea I had like on written in magic marker, like compound area, Newton ball, question mark.
Speaker: You know, would I just have a ball in there that you would kick back and forth?
Speaker: I'm like, yeah, that works.
Speaker: It's been done.
Speaker: I'd rather, you know, figure out how I can put a real ball in there and then get the real ball back out.
Speaker: So it's been a while.
Speaker: And then with COVID never letting go and being in a manufacturing facility, having people dropping like flies every other week, coming back, of course, but being required to be out of the office for 10 days at a minimum, it took a while, especially with
Speaker: manufacturing, getting parts in the doors.
Speaker: I mean, it just seemed like anything that could cause a delay did cause a delay from 2020 to 2022.
Speaker: And I got to say, I'm impressed because we heard rumors probably a month or two ago that Godfather was coming to TPF.
Speaker: And I was just like, that has not been JJP style.
Speaker: Like you guys have always had probably a good 12 months to 18 months between each title.
Speaker: And so there's just no way.
Speaker: And then you guys dropped this last week.
Speaker: And I was like, holy cow.
Speaker: I'm impressed that you guys were able to do that because you're still feeling the effects of COVID as well.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: I know you can't speak for the company as a whole, but is this the game plan?
Speaker: Because it proves that you guys can do it.
Speaker: I just didn't know.
Speaker: I guess Jack has been touting that you'd be doing it for a while.
Speaker: So it looks like this is the thing going forward, right?
Speaker: The game plan is to release at least two games a year.
Speaker: I mean, game every nine months is the goal, what we're trying to get.
Speaker: But yeah, building the team and getting the people in that we need to get in in order to make things happen.
Speaker: That's part of growing the company.
Speaker: When I started at Jersey Jack,
Speaker: I was one of four people in the Chicagoland office.
Speaker: And now we have well over 100 people employed at Jersey Jack.
Speaker: And it's great.
Speaker: Great, you know, growing with the company.
Speaker: So the other question I have with that too, speaking of hiring people and whatnot, is there a different mentality now down at JJP with bringing everyone in from Jersey?
Speaker: And then Pat Lawler's now gone from what I understand and Richie's now there.
Speaker: I wouldn't say it's a different mentality, but we have a lot less communication gap, right?
Speaker: When I'm able to be out on the line in 10 seconds instead of 10 hours, I'm
Speaker: It makes solving problems and answering questions and making adjustments a lot faster, a lot easier, a lot more robust.
Speaker: I walked through the factory every single day and I'm able to, you know, notice small nuances.
Speaker: Well, something, something doesn't match here.
Speaker: You know what, what happened?
Speaker: And I can kind of trace back to the station where it was built and, you know, see like, okay, well, you know, this part is swapped.
Speaker: So they're not assembling it in the right order.
Speaker: Maybe that's how it got out of adjustment.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: But just being able to be there and provide that feedback loop is helpful.
Speaker: Gotcha.
Speaker: Okay, so we are at a show.
Speaker: I'm walking up to the game.
Speaker: This is my first encounter with Godfather.
Speaker: Walk me through the game.
Speaker: All right, so first, hit the start button and you choose your family.
Speaker: There are five different families to choose from.
Speaker: Choose the one that matches your play style best.
Speaker: Are you someone who focuses on modes and wants to completely blow up mode scoring?
Speaker: You're a very intense single ball player who can really manage the risk reward, the sweaty palms that come when, okay, I'm going to pass.
Speaker: I'm not going to cash out yet.
Speaker: I'm going to do the job objective one more time.
Speaker: I'm going to shoot it back in there.
Speaker: Oh, I still got 20 seconds left on my timer.
Speaker: I think I can do it one more time.
Speaker: All right, now I'm going to crank my weapon multiplier and shoot it in there and get a times 10 super cash out and really blow it away.
Speaker: Or are you a player who revels in multiballs?
Speaker: There's a family who makes multiball ball saves last longer and makes multiball scoring higher.
Speaker: Are you someone who's a much better combo shooter?
Speaker: There's a family that focuses on influence and the rewards that happen with influence.
Speaker: Influence is built by shooting combo shots around the game.
Speaker: Two other families have two different powers that also are slightly different ways of playing the game.
Speaker: Each family has its own drawbacks as well.
Speaker: So maybe I wouldn't open with that.
Speaker: It's probably a lot for just the first, very first thing you do, but pick your family.
Speaker: Look at their abilities.
Speaker: Pick your family.
Speaker: Now you can plunge a ball.
Speaker: You can short plunge into a pop humper.
Speaker: You can mid plunge into the compound area and those will advance.
Speaker: Some multi balls, get you some big points.
Speaker: If you want to go crazy, there are 22 super skill shots that you can choose from.
Speaker: You have to choose it and hit it.
Speaker: You can't just shoot for it and cross your fingers.
Speaker: It's a called shot.
Speaker: It's a called shot.
Speaker: You're going to Babe Ruth it, right?
Speaker: That's where I'm going to go.
Speaker: That's what I'm going to hit.
Speaker: And you can really blow up things.
Speaker: Instead of just advancing you toward a multiball, it'll start the multiball.
Speaker: If you can make that shot.
Speaker: And as a whole, there's groups of them that are valid and have similar rules.
Speaker: And then there's 22 individual ones that all have just crazy things.
Speaker: After you make your skill shot, there are four unique multiballs in the game.
Speaker: I recommend going for Turf 4.
Speaker: That's the easiest one.
Speaker: You can kind of fall into it.
Speaker: You collect ventures.
Speaker: We specifically made the ventures that are available the first time you walk into the game, regardless of the family you pick.
Speaker: They are ventures that are hittable from the lower flippers.
Speaker: Okay?
Speaker: So you can hit those ventures, then you can shoot either orbit and lock balls and you can build your territories.
Speaker: Hitting that bad guy right up the middle will get you some big points and will work you toward another multiball.
Speaker: So flail around, hit the stuff that's blinking on the play field.
Speaker: You'll get into a multiball, you get into turf war and then keep nailing that bad guy up the middle and you'll be able to take out those capos.
Speaker: What was your mindset heading into Godfather and what was your ultimate goal after all that?
Speaker: So there's a lot of people who have very strong memories of the first time they saw Godfather, what it means to them, what that franchise means to them, how important it is in our cinematic history.
Speaker: There's a lot of people who say that The Godfather is the best film ever made.
Speaker: It is a fantastic film because of the mood it sets, because of the drama that is in there.
Speaker: I wanted to be able to capture the
Speaker: the best parts of the Godfather, the most remembered lines, the most remembered scenes and get them into the game, but do it in a way that has the action and the excitement that would keep players vested and interested in the game.
Speaker: It's hard to keep people excited in just a drama in a movie.
Speaker: That's mostly about dialogue and the influence or interaction between different, very powerful characters.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: with the underlying tone of violence and action.
Speaker: But the violence and action in Godfather is very sparse, right?
Speaker: There's a couple of very memorable scenes.
Speaker: Most of the movie is about the drama that happens outside of the action.
Speaker: So I wanted to be able to tell a story set in the Godfather universe, which is you're a member of the family of any one of the five families, and you're trying to take over New York City.
Speaker: There are these iconic scenes
Speaker: And we based the modes around the iconic scenes in the movies, but we wanted to come up with bad guys that you were fighting, that you were taking out.
Speaker: Came up with all those different themes from the movie, like something like a turf war where you're expanding your territory.
Speaker: People are attacking your stronghold, your compound, visiting the old country, going to Sicily and seeing the enemies that are hidden there and exploring those regions.
Speaker: And then just being able to
Speaker: kind of take in the ambiance of the big, big scenes like the baptism.
Speaker: How would I portray the baptism in a pinball machine?
Speaker: Well, you have to go and take out the other heads of families.
Speaker: How would I do that?
Speaker: Well, they're going to be protected.
Speaker: So I'm going to build this rule around taking out their bodyguards first, their capo regime is the lieutenants of the family before you can get to this big mode, this baptism mode.
Speaker: But in that mode,
Speaker: showing michael in the church and then showing his lieutenants taking out the other heads of families is something that yeah we can do that we can leverage these assets and show the most iconic scene in in film history in an exciting way i specifically went through that scene time and time and time again to get all the shots captured to get all of the um objectives there you know there's
Speaker: lead up, lead up, lead up this fan, this bad guy gets taken out and then lead up, lead up, lead up, this bad guy gets taken out.
Speaker: And then you hear the priests say, you know, Michael, do you reject Satan?
Speaker: And then boom, another guy gets taken out.
Speaker: And Michael says, yes, I reject him.
Speaker: And then another guy gets taken out.
Speaker: Michael, do you reject all of his, his charms or woe or whatever he says?
Speaker: And then another bad guy gets taken out.
Speaker: And so like following the scene,
Speaker: And pushing that into the gameplay was really a fun thing to do.
Speaker: And I think when people play the mode, they're going to get the same kind of chills I'm getting when I'm talking about it.
Speaker: it's such a great scene i actually sadly i just watched godfather for the first time last weekend and holy crap that scene is amazing yes regardless how you feel about the rest of the film like the juxtaposition between good and evil and that scene alone just and thought of you guys integrating that into the game like as soon as you said that baptism was one of the wizard modes i was like perfect it makes total sense right and it really it really inspired a lot of the artwork from the game
Speaker: I mean, the stained glass window in the center is such this beautiful, iconic artwork piece that I carried that stained glass motif up into the user interface.
Speaker: And it's all because of this scene in the church, right?
Speaker: In the baptism scene where it's extremely powerful.
Speaker: And like you said, the good versus evil in that like four minutes of cinema is so powerful.
Speaker: How did you coordinate the call outs for this game?
Speaker: A long time ago, I wrote the rules concept for the game.
Speaker: With Pirates and with Guns N' Roses, Keith was the guy who wrote the concept of the rules, the concept of the gameplay.
Speaker: For my third game, I came to Keith with a notebook.
Speaker: And I'm like, here's what I want the Godfather to be.
Speaker: He looks at it and he's like,
Speaker: you need to take a step back because this is over the top crazy.
Speaker: I had, I had, you know, these crazy ideas about player versus player interaction and stealing and, you know, taking pirates and going just like to the crazy next level where you were actively taking them out.
Speaker: And, you know, when you take out their lieutenant, do they lose points or they lose balls or they lose a whole bunch of stuff.
Speaker: But when you take a step back and you're like, well,
Speaker: if I'm player one and I kill off everyone else in the game, you're negative 5 million points before you've even plugged a ball.
Speaker: Like, well, okay, I understand.
Speaker: We probably shouldn't do that.
Speaker: People are going to end up getting punched in the head.
Speaker: Okay, but that could be a great option.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: And think about that.
Speaker: You could do like a Mafia bloodbath mode where you put four players in and your goal is to stay above zero.
Speaker: And don't choose one path.
Speaker: You can choose so many.
Speaker: There's a lot that could be done.
Speaker: And then what will the license order prove?
Speaker: And what can we program in there with the time we have?
Speaker: But the voice call outs.
Speaker: So we came up with the rules.
Speaker: We refined what we were looking for in the rules.
Speaker: And then we come up with a script.
Speaker: And I wrote the script.
Speaker: I asked for feedback from the team.
Speaker: And then I directed the
Speaker: the two recording sessions we had with our voice talent, a real cool guy who was excited to do this project.
Speaker: And, you know, directing voice talent is something that I've done on all of my games.
Speaker: The first session that I did for Pirates and, you know, kind of one of those pinch yourself moments, like Kevin McNally, a world-renowned player,
Speaker: actor, the star who played Josh Me Gibbs in all five pirate movies.
Speaker: I'm directing him.
Speaker: He's in a studio and I'm saying, well, no, sir, can you please emphasize jackpot a little bigger?
Speaker: It's very exciting, right?
Speaker: So directing voice talent is something that I never thought I would be doing.
Speaker: Second game, you know, directing slash to, you know, can you put a little more energy into that jackpot call?
Speaker: It's like, yeah, I don't really like voice acting.
Speaker: stop my thing.
Speaker: Like, I get it.
Speaker: We got to do it.
Speaker: This guy was an actor.
Speaker: This guy, Zach, that did the voice work for us.
Speaker: And he was awesome.
Speaker: He did a great job capturing the different, the essence of, you know, he's kind of one of the crew with you.
Speaker: He's like, hey, you know, maybe you should go do this.
Speaker: The Don's waiting for you.
Speaker: You know, kind of providing you, you
Speaker: the type of feedback you need as a player without, you know, like a condescending, he's not, he's not in the ranks above you.
Speaker: He's more like your, your guide to where you should be doing things for your family.
Speaker: We were then able to also pull hundreds.
Speaker: I could, I could find the exact number of lines from the films.
Speaker: And that was amazing.
Speaker: me going through and, you know, reading the transcripts from the movies and then looking, you know, actually listening to the movies themselves, going through each of them line by line.
Speaker: And, okay, I have, this is the set of talent that I'm able to use voice work of.
Speaker: And, you know, what would that line make sense?
Speaker: Well, I'll find a place for it.
Speaker: I'll find a place for this one.
Speaker: I'll find a place for this one.
Speaker: This one, I probably can't figure out something, but I'm going to clip it anyways.
Speaker: And I'm going to throw it to the programming team and see if they can find a place for it.
Speaker: Wanted to have as much from the films as possible in here.
Speaker: Okay, the vibe I'm getting when I see Godfather and I see the way you're integrating it, it almost feels a little bit like a role-playing game.
Speaker: And I mean that in a very positive way.
Speaker: That sounds like you're trying to guide, you know, you're choosing a path, but it's also a little bit of a choose your own adventure because you're picking which house you're going to.
Speaker: And then he's like, well, maybe you should go and try to shake down the guy on the street or maybe you should.
Speaker: Mm hmm.
Speaker: there's definitely essence of like board games in this, you know, I've been locked in my home for months playing board games with my wife and my sons.
Speaker: Um, there's definitely, there are three different economies that you're controlling as you're playing this game.
Speaker: You've got not only your, your points, um, which is the, the kind of economy that everyone's familiar with in a pinball machine, but you have your influence and your level over the different, um,
Speaker: different levels of influence that you can attain when you get influence over beat cops, which is the lowest level.
Speaker: Your, what is the perk there?
Speaker: I think your, your ventures score slightly more points.
Speaker: Once you get influence over detectives, then your jobs are worth more points.
Speaker: Once you get influence over the chief of police, you get more things and every level you rise, you get more perks that influence the rest of the game.
Speaker: As you're playing jobs, you need to recruit soldiers.
Speaker: So in order to start in the Don's office, you need to have 25 soldiers that you get.
Speaker: But which job you choose, where it is on the stained glass window, it affects the things next to it on the stained glass window.
Speaker: There's little artwork insert arrows that are pointing to the neighboring stained glass windows.
Speaker: So for example...
Speaker: The Sicily multiball has two jobs next to it.
Speaker: If you play Sicily multiball first and you do well, it positively influences the two jobs that are next to it.
Speaker: If you play those two jobs first and you cash out your values, one of them gives you an extra ball and add a ball to your multiball.
Speaker: And the other one, I think, gives you a higher super jackpot value.
Speaker: So your strategy that you're choosing on which job to start, which multi-ball to start, kind of the order in which you play those things, um, is definitely like a choose your own adventure kind of idea.
Speaker: The weapon economy is another thing that you are managing as you're playing.
Speaker: So you can build up a multiplier, you hit spinners and it adds to your weapon counter.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: You have to use that action button to select which level of weapons you're bringing on your mission that you're using.
Speaker: It lasts for 10 seconds.
Speaker: So, you know, you're starting a multiball.
Speaker: All right, I'm going to crank up my weapon multiplier and I'm going to play this multiball for 10 seconds with a 3x or a 3 point or a 4x or a 5x.
Speaker: The more times you use a multiplier, the higher ceiling you can earn.
Speaker: So you build that up.
Speaker: When's the best time to use this multiplier versus, well, if I use it early, I can get a higher value later.
Speaker: Your territories that you're taking over, those are more kind of, again, resources that you're managing as you're trying to build
Speaker: how many neighborhoods you control.
Speaker: You get perks for owning a distinct borough of New York City and more perks for owning more boroughs of New York City.
Speaker: There's definitely a lot of deep nerdy rules that go into this thing.
Speaker: You don't have to know about any of them.
Speaker: You just want to whack a ball and hit the big bad guy up the middle.
Speaker: You know, you're probably going to stumble your way into a multi-ball.
Speaker: You're going to have fun hearing these guys talk trash to you.
Speaker: But for the players who are really into rules and managing play styles and risk management as they're choosing to cash out now or start a multiplier here, it's all there for the player.
Speaker: So do you feel like there was more challenges with Godfather or more freedom?
Speaker: Because it seems like if you happen to build a world, you had some freedom there.
Speaker: Well, relative to Guns N' Roses, I would say there were more challenges.
Speaker: But we definitely had to play in their sandbox.
Speaker: This is our lore.
Speaker: You need to hold on to this lore.
Speaker: But when I told them, well, here's my idea.
Speaker: I want to live in this world where the movies take place, but not necessarily follow the entire script of the film.
Speaker: Because that's linear gameplay.
Speaker: Boring.
Speaker: It's not fun.
Speaker: Yeah, it's boring.
Speaker: I don't want to just...
Speaker: play wedding favors literally the first time.
Speaker: Every time I start a game, I want to be able to pick any of the eight scenes that I want that I want to play through and see these different characters.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Variety on how you can tackle a game to me is very important.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So they they gave us the freedom of, you know, using whatever scenes we wanted for the talent that we had acquired from the first movie or the second movie.
Speaker: We didn't have to play them in a specific order.
Speaker: We were able to introduce our own characters that fit in this world in this time period and say appropriate things for the time and for the people they are.
Speaker: So there was some creative freedom.
Speaker: We're still playing within their sandbox in order to make it work within the brand.
Speaker: You talked about this story.
Speaker: Tell me again how you got Slash to play on this.
Speaker: So while we were doing Guns N' Roses, we watched a lot of Guns N' Roses concerts because we were trying to pull up the best images, the best video cuts that they gave to us.
Speaker: It was 18 concerts that were each three hours long.
Speaker: And they had high definition audio and video for all the concerts.
Speaker: Well, in watching this, and then when we went to the concert as well,
Speaker: Every time Slash would finish his crazy long 10-minute solo and go into Sweet Child of Mine, the last motif he would play before starting the iconic Sweet Child of Mine solo was the Godfather.
Speaker: And it was all beautifully choreographed, right?
Speaker: The lights in the venue would turn this like orange and red, and it would be just Slash in there centered playing Speak Softly Love.
Speaker: So I found out that I was doing Godfather and it's, I still hesitate every time I say the name out loud, right?
Speaker: Even though the game's been launched, I've been not saying the name out loud for, for two and a half years.
Speaker: I found out I was doing Godfather.
Speaker: I was just finishing up, you know, Guns N' Roses had been finished by me and it was coming through the production cycle now, getting ready to launch.
Speaker: And I was talking to Slash about GNR and what we were doing with it and the different concepts there.
Speaker: And I said, oh yeah, the next game that I'm doing is the Godfather.
Speaker: I stopped and I paused.
Speaker: And of course, you were fishing.
Speaker: You were fishing.
Speaker: And it didn't take long for the bite.
Speaker: He's like, Eric, I have to do that music for you.
Speaker: Like, okay, twist my arm.
Speaker: Sure.
Speaker: So, yeah, he was...
Speaker: He's awesome.
Speaker: He is such a pinhead at heart.
Speaker: And he just loves the creativity that goes into making games and making anything.
Speaker: I mean, he's so talented at what he does.
Speaker: And he appreciates the creativity of others.
Speaker: What a dude to work with.
Speaker: It's just been a wild, wild ride.
Speaker: And he was so stoked to do this.
Speaker: I saw it like...
Speaker: The Easter egg of him in the game, we put in the code as he's as he's ripping it out.
Speaker: There's he's normally a very stoic guy, right?
Speaker: Don't often see him have big emotions right at the end when he looks up at the camera.
Speaker: He gives us just this this grin where he knows what he just did was so cool.
Speaker: OK, now he's also not the only legendary guitarist that you got to work on this game.
Speaker: That is true.
Speaker: That is true.
Speaker: So tell me more about Mark.
Speaker: So Mark is a huge pinball nut.
Speaker: And I first met Mark when I got a phone call from Jack saying, Hey, Mark Tremonti wants to talk to you.
Speaker: I'm like, okay.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: About what?
Speaker: Like, well, he just got a Pirates delivery.
Speaker: He bought it secondhand and a forklift went not through the side of it, but through the side of the box and messed up the decals and messed up.
Speaker: And so I get Mark on the phone.
Speaker: It's like, look, man.
Speaker: If there's anything you can do.
Speaker: And this was a year ago, maybe a year and a half ago.
Speaker: So Pirates had been out for a while.
Speaker: He's like, do you have any decals, anything I can put on my game?
Speaker: I just paid over 20 grand for this thing.
Speaker: Came in with a big scar down the side of it.
Speaker: I'm like, yeah, let me see what I can find.
Speaker: And I was able to get some decals for him, send them out to him.
Speaker: And he came for a tour of the factory and I'd been listening to, you know, I knew Creed's music, but Alter Bridge was definitely more my jam.
Speaker: And just the way Miles sings and the way Mark plays guitar, it's, it's incredible.
Speaker: It's an awesome performer.
Speaker: When I found out that,
Speaker: He was such a big pinhead and he, he couldn't stop talking about how excited he was to be in a pinball factory and how I have the coolest job in the world.
Speaker: And I'm like, okay, rockstar.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I, the pinball guy has the coolest job ever.
Speaker: You're, you got it.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: He kept saying, is there anything you ever need, any music, anything at all?
Speaker: Just let me know, man.
Speaker: I'd love to do whatever you need.
Speaker: I just love pinball so much.
Speaker: I'd love to be a part of a game.
Speaker: I'm like, okay, I appreciate that.
Speaker: I'll keep that in mind.
Speaker: And then Mark sent me a track before it had been released of him singing Sinatra.
Speaker: And he sent it to me because we'd become friends.
Speaker: And he's like, hey, I want you to hear this new project that I'm working on.
Speaker: It's for charity.
Speaker: We're raising money.
Speaker: It's called Take a Chance.
Speaker: And it puts people out of their comfort zone.
Speaker: So Mark, the like...
Speaker: just heavy guitarists, you know, that is on stage and it's black t-shirt, just like ripping guitar, puts on a suit and sings like Frank Sinatra.
Speaker: And he hired the touring company, the touring band that played with Frank originally.
Speaker: You know, a lot of these guys are in their sixties, seventies, still the same guys are playing horn and piano and the same arranger that, that performed with Frank.
Speaker: They all came to work with Mark on,
Speaker: his album and when he sent me this i'm like oh man sinatra and the godfather have such like this this turbulent history together like all right mark i need you to sign it on disclosure i need to bring you into this project it's like oh yeah here here it is all right so
Speaker: I'm doing the Godfather and I'm wondering if you want to add some music to it.
Speaker: It's like, oh yeah, man, which guitar you want me to use?
Speaker: You want me to use this one?
Speaker: You want me to use this one?
Speaker: I'm like, no, no, you need, I want you to sing, speak softly, love like Sinatra.
Speaker: And he's like, done.
Speaker: Let's make it happen.
Speaker: But let's go all out.
Speaker: Let's do something incredible that no one has ever done in pinball.
Speaker: You know, let's, let's see how big we can make this.
Speaker: And so working with him and with Kerry Dedman, the composer, Kerry made a 40 piece orchestra arrangement for Speak Softly Love.
Speaker: And so we performed it.
Speaker: We were in Chicago.
Speaker: We went to a studio and
Speaker: There were 40 musicians who were in the studio that day.
Speaker: The horns did their part and then the strings all came in and they got set up and they did their part.
Speaker: And I was there for the string session.
Speaker: I was wearing my suit and Mark was wearing his suit.
Speaker: Jack Guarneri was there and he was wearing his suit.
Speaker: So we were all completely dressed up.
Speaker: All these string players were playing and then the percussion section was playing and we recorded the whole thing.
Speaker: Then Mark stepped up to the microphone and we had the tracks laid down from all the performers that just went.
Speaker: And Mark was singing, Speak Softly Love and doing four or five takes for each stanza that went through.
Speaker: And then he's like, all right, Eric, time for you to take a chance.
Speaker: And I got one chance to step up to the mic and belt it out.
Speaker: And I did.
Speaker: And it turned out quite well, if I do say so myself.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: Well, you do have a music background.
Speaker: Yes, very much so.
Speaker: Music has always been a part of my life since I was a kid.
Speaker: I've got to say, though, I love that you guys have put yourself in the game, too.
Speaker: I mean, I've seen all the little Easter eggs.
Speaker: You as a mafia man holding the Tommy gun on the artwork.
Speaker: Uh-huh.
Speaker: Uh, the pitchers of the PJP employees is some of the capos.
Speaker: And there's Ken.
Speaker: Every time I see Ken, I'm like, I wouldn't, I wouldn't want to meet that guy in an alley.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And so it's even great that you're in the music too.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's, it's a lot of fun when you get the freedom to be able to, you know, put yourself into your work.
Speaker: Not just blood, sweat, and tears, but your likeness, your voice, your image.
Speaker: It really brings a smile to your face, being able to be there and be a part of it.
Speaker: So are you ahead of one of the families then?
Speaker: I am one of the Capo Regimes of the Corleone family.
Speaker: So if you choose the Cuneos or the Stratzis or the Petalias, you get to beat me up.
Speaker: And the other Corleone Caporegime is Mark Tremonti.
Speaker: His image and likeness is there as well, and you're beating him up.
Speaker: So if you ever wanted motivation, now is your time.
Speaker: If you want to beat up Eric, in the baptism scene, you want to take him out as one of the leaders, this is your chance.
Speaker: So tell me about the collector's editions.
Speaker: So from what I have been gathering, that's actually been selling very well because people love all the integration on it.
Speaker: So tell me about how you made that feel even more Godfather than a standard pinball machine.
Speaker: So I wanted to have the game play the same between the limited edition and the collector's edition.
Speaker: So I was set on just creating art pieces and bling and kind of visual, visual upgrades to your machine that are super cool, but don't directly impact the play field and the way the game plays.
Speaker: So there's a couple small play field modifications, again, that don't interact with gameplay.
Speaker: There's a,
Speaker: getting the glitter into the play field, seeing it in person.
Speaker: It's, it's, it's incredible.
Speaker: There will be two of them on the floor at TPF to be able to see it in person.
Speaker: There's a couple of little,
Speaker: little tweaks that I made that when I look at them now, it's like, oh yeah, that's, that's relatively minor.
Speaker: But the like nine months of R and D that went into learning how to print a liquid gold ink onto the back of a PETG play field plastic and have it shine in a way that makes it look
Speaker: Incredible.
Speaker: There's a lot of R&D that went into it.
Speaker: Printing on metallic, backed, and reflective decals for, like, the apron, the bottom arch, right?
Speaker: Just another... If you're looking at the game side by side, like, oh, wow, that's really intense, visually sparkly, reflective, really cool stuff.
Speaker: Having the topper was, you know, this...
Speaker: concept that I had.
Speaker: I'm like, all right, I want two mobsters and I want a car in the middle.
Speaker: And a sculptor I worked with just loves to take, you know, I'm like, I figured the car is like that big, you know, mobster's gonna be like this.
Speaker: He's like, all right.
Speaker: So the car is this big and it's set at an isometric view.
Speaker: So when you look at the car from the front, it looks really cool.
Speaker: And it looks, when you look at it top,
Speaker: it's like, it's squished.
Speaker: It's a forced perspective view.
Speaker: So the car looks like the front of it is a lot bigger than the back of it.
Speaker: And that makes it look like it's driving toward you and it's huge.
Speaker: Look at it from the top.
Speaker: You're like, my brain broke when I'm looking at this thing.
Speaker: Cause it's, it's scaled weird, but you'll never see it from the front.
Speaker: And then the two mobsters, um, that move and they shoot and they can follow stuff around.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: They're standing behind sculpted barrels.
Speaker: I mean, there's tens of thousands of dollars worth of sculpting, worth painting, tooling.
Speaker: I don't... The number of times that I was... What's the appropriate word?
Speaker: talked to strongly from our financial people about the cost of tooling that goes into components for the collector's edition.
Speaker: I can't even keep track of how many times I was asked to pull back, pull back, pull back.
Speaker: This is too much.
Speaker: This is too much.
Speaker: The leg sculpture covers that go on the game and they're held on with magnets.
Speaker: You know, I just wanted to have
Speaker: elegance and glamour and the 1940s and 50s gangster style elegance where you've got these plush chairs and golden ashtrays and just this...
Speaker: sick amount of money and opulence that is there.
Speaker: I really wanted to capture that in the collector's edition with the way that these gold pieces were made and the laser ash with reflective red backing with different slogans from the movie.
Speaker: gold mirror, back glass ink, just all these things that, that, you know, make you feel like you are a very wealthy mobster with your, with your golden lions there on your game.
Speaker: Well, you, you didn't bring up one thing that I thought was really fascinating on the topper.
Speaker: You actually may,
Speaker: be in the running for one of the coolest features of a topper with having the knockers on both sides and the guys shooting at you.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I, I had an epiphany as I was, as I was developing this thing where I was going through coil tests and,
Speaker: And when you go into coil test, you can manually fire any coil in the game by just hitting the start button.
Speaker: And I hit the knocker coil, crack!
Speaker: And I'm like, that sounds like a gunshot.
Speaker: Oh, it sounds like a gunshot.
Speaker: Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack.
Speaker: I'm like, oh man, I'm doing this.
Speaker: I got to make this happen.
Speaker: And then I'm like, all right, there's two guys on top.
Speaker: If I fire this thing at 20 times per second, I'm probably going to melt something.
Speaker: So I bet I can fire it at 10 times per second, but I need two of them.
Speaker: And that's how fast a Thompson submachine gun fires, a Tommy gun.
Speaker: It fires 600 rounds per minute, 10 times per second.
Speaker: I ran the test for about two weeks in our prototyping and build shop.
Speaker: And it carried throughout into production.
Speaker: So people were there.
Speaker: About every 25 seconds hit here.
Speaker: What the hell's going on?
Speaker: Calm.
Speaker: And 30 seconds later.
Speaker: And I remember going out to the floor and telling people, I'm like, I'm going to be testing a very loud mechanism.
Speaker: It's going to be happening regularly every 30 seconds.
Speaker: You will hear what sounds like gunshots.
Speaker: Do not be alarmed.
Speaker: It is just a mechanism that is firing in the engineering lab.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I gave people fair warning.
Speaker: It is controllable as far as it doesn't have to be on.
Speaker: You can disable it in software if you so choose.
Speaker: It is on by default, though.
Speaker: It will be there as part of the game by default.
Speaker: And you'll have to go in there and shut it off if you have neighbors or family or anyone else.
Speaker: Or live in a high crime area.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Are your dogs skittish?
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: I did want it to be a feature that was controllable, but it is going to get your attention when you set up your brand new game.
Speaker: That is awesome.
Speaker: And what's funny too is I remember when we came in October, Ken was nice enough to give us a tour.
Speaker: Because the day you guys were doing tours is the day that we did the flip in the script on autism.
Speaker: And so Ken's like, well, you guys can get a private tour.
Speaker: Obviously, that's what you're doing.
Speaker: So we really appreciate you guys letting us in.
Speaker: And I was so intrigued because we're going through the floor.
Speaker: But obviously, you were working on some of the mechanics.
Speaker: And you could hear...
Speaker: testing the mech in the background i'm like i just want so bad just go over there just take a peek but i think we all would have been super curious if you were testing that mech during the tour yeah yeah now you were you were probably hearing
Speaker: the lift ramp mechanism, the different drop targets that are in the game.
Speaker: We life test everything so much to make sure that when this game is on route and getting beat up for dollar plays, the game survives and it makes money for the operators.
Speaker: So the shooter on the collectors is the severed horse head.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: It is.
Speaker: I hope...
Speaker: I don't get angry letters from PETA.
Speaker: Again, that's one of those.
Speaker: You ask someone who saw The Godfather 15 years ago.
Speaker: They remember that scene.
Speaker: Absolutely.
Speaker: They remember Jack Walt in his bed with his golden sheets, waking up covered in blood and just his scream with the horse head.
Speaker: Fun trivia is, you know, what's the name of the horse?
Speaker: Cartoon.
Speaker: Cartoon, yes.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It's it's just such an iconic scene.
Speaker: It's like how and I was reading some of the chatter that was going around.
Speaker: You know, there's going to be a severed horse head multi ball or something.
Speaker: And I didn't want, you know, this game to be tongue in cheek, you know, kind of making fun of.
Speaker: I felt like it was a elegant way of getting the horse head in the game that just fits so perfectly.
Speaker: It's really nice, actually.
Speaker: There have been some custom shooter rods that have been weird, you know, that are weird shades.
Speaker: Like I've got a, I've got a Homer Simpson in a donut that I had on my Simpsons pinball party.
Speaker: But that thing is like this big, you have no finesse or control.
Speaker: It's like, ah, okay.
Speaker: It didn't work.
Speaker: I wanted to have a shooter knob that fits and feels good in your hand.
Speaker: And this horse head is the right shape.
Speaker: It fits, it conforms to your hand when you grab it.
Speaker: It's almost like you're holding the handle of a pistol or something, right?
Speaker: It's like, it's that shape when it's in your hand and it just feels good and you can pull it back and let it go.
Speaker: So that's great.
Speaker: The feel of a shooter rod is important.
Speaker: It's important.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Right shape.
Speaker: So one other thing that Ken had pointed out to us is you guys still have it set up.
Speaker: Your rotisseries and stuff can still do wide bodies if you want to.
Speaker: Is there any future plans to do wide bodies there at JJP?
Speaker: There is nothing preventing me from doing a wide body or from any designer doing a wide body.
Speaker: A lot of it comes down to
Speaker: Wide bodies are more expensive.
Speaker: When you've got the extra inches on a play field, it can't just be open space.
Speaker: You know, you got to fill it up with stuff.
Speaker: And stuff is expensive.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: And stuff is not expensive just on bill of material, but stuff is expensive in design.
Speaker: stuff that's expensive in prototyping, in getting parts into the building and getting them inspected and getting them stored, like storage space.
Speaker: If you have more unique parts, it takes up more space on your shelves.
Speaker: And that's all like, that's all measurable as a cost to the company.
Speaker: So it is totally doable.
Speaker: And, you know,
Speaker: If the right license comes along and my heart and soul says this needs to be a wide body, it'll be a wide body.
Speaker: Nice.
Speaker: So it's not out of the cards.
Speaker: You're saying there's a chance.
Speaker: There is a chance.
Speaker: There's absolutely a chance.
Speaker: So you brought back the hot rails.
Speaker: I did.
Speaker: But you're using... Okay, tell me about how you did the unique aspect of integrating the hot rails on the apron.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: So it's really pragmatic, actually.
Speaker: And this is one of those, you know, I should have done this the first time around, but it's an improvement that I made in The Godfather over Guns N' Roses.
Speaker: Having unique items on your bill of material is more expensive.
Speaker: On Guns N' Roses, the left hot rail was a different length with a different length LED strip.
Speaker: So it's a different part number, a different assembly number.
Speaker: All that stuff needs to be drawn and created by the mechanical engineers and inspected by incoming and then stored.
Speaker: On Godfather, they're the same exact piece.
Speaker: And me, being an electrical engineer and mechanical engineer and designer, I'm like, all right, boom, the hot rails are on.
Speaker: Boom, the apron is on.
Speaker: I know I got lights under there because I know the hot rail extends another four and a half inches underneath the bottom arch.
Speaker: So I grab the...
Speaker: the Dremel, I'm like, cut a hole in it, and I'm like, yeah, I can see my lights again.
Speaker: I gotta do something with that.
Speaker: Alright, it's gonna be a health meter for my bad guy.
Speaker: Actually, I had a couple different ideas.
Speaker: Maybe it's an ammo counter.
Speaker: Maybe it's a timer that's showing a countdown.
Speaker: And then I settled on it being a health meter.
Speaker: Um...
Speaker: I was trying to think of a good, like how many more hits do I need to hit this guy?
Speaker: Or I got to look up at the screen.
Speaker: Okay, it's like I can do that if I trap up.
Speaker: But now it's like I can see it's green or it's yellow or it's red and it's flashing right down here.
Speaker: It's very visible to the player.
Speaker: So it's a pragmatic of, I have those lights there anyways.
Speaker: I have to use them.
Speaker: I got to figure out a way to use them and integrate them into the game.
Speaker: And I'm like, all right, health meter it is.
Speaker: It's great that you're utilizing the stuff that's already there, right?
Speaker: Like it was like, well, I already have those lights there.
Speaker: Might as well use them, right?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: When I look at the at the wire forms, there's one that reminds me a lot of one of my games.
Speaker: Black Rose.
Speaker: So.
Speaker: You have that comes straight down the middle, but the modification in Black Rose, it just hits a 45 degree angle and goes up a little bit.
Speaker: It always hits the glass too.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Oh, it always hits the glass, which is great.
Speaker: It's kind of like whitewater.
Speaker: It always hits the glass on Insanity Falls.
Speaker: So as it's coming down.
Speaker: I was surprised when I watched gameplay because I thought it would come down, shoot up and hit that standup target in the, in the shots lane and then go firing, like screaming down to the middle.
Speaker: But it actually like, and that's a straight shot, but it seems still very controllable.
Speaker: So tell me about why you put that in and what was the thinking behind it?
Speaker: So I love the idea of a shots target.
Speaker: There's just,
Speaker: Every one of my games, I design in risk reward.
Speaker: It's very risky to make a shots shot because you are standing on a razor's edge.
Speaker: If you miss that shot, it hits the sling and goes straight down your throat or you fire too late and you just fire and the ball wasn't on your flipper, right?
Speaker: But if you can hit that target,
Speaker: It can be worth something big, really big.
Speaker: But shooting an in lane is a skill that only very advanced players can successfully pull off repeatedly.
Speaker: I wanted there to be a way for a casual to experience a Shatz target.
Speaker: So I wanted to feed the wire form into the target and have it come back down.
Speaker: So they could feel what a Shatz hit would be like by making something that most people can make, which is a very up the center left ramp.
Speaker: When it's coming screaming down there, it can hit that target and come back so fast.
Speaker: You've got to be on your toes.
Speaker: It is a very fun mechanic in the game.
Speaker: The speed of it is whipping around the ramp, coming down.
Speaker: the geometry that was designed for that wire form so that, you know, anytime you can pick up a ball with your hands and put it anywhere in a game, the ball has to be able to get out of there because in gameplay, it will happen.
Speaker: You know, it might be one in a million, but if you can put a game, a ball there by hand with the assumption that the glass is on.
Speaker: So something that's, you know, this far away from the glass, you can't put a ball in there, but,
Speaker: If you can put the ball there, it will happen in gameplay.
Speaker: And then the ball is stuck.
Speaker: So that wire form, it needed to actually go kind of uphill, right?
Speaker: It was coming down past a point and then it had to go back up the play field and direct energy against the normal motion of travel.
Speaker: So the ramp had to be designed that it was very, very steep at the end and then banked so that it would come up and around and go into that target.
Speaker: So I had to build up enough speed as it was coming straight down the playfield.
Speaker: I had it kind of curving around a little bit, but the ball would move too slowly as it was, you know, meandering down.
Speaker: So I had to get it straight.
Speaker: So it had enough energy to kind of go back uphill and then roll back down.
Speaker: A lot of geometry challenges with wire forms on on this game.
Speaker: This marks your second mature theme.
Speaker: Are you starting to become known as the mature theme guy down at JJP?
Speaker: Um, I don't shy away from it.
Speaker: It was Willy Wonka talking in the background.
Speaker: Make a wish.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: I don't shy away from it.
Speaker: Um, I have no objection to mature themes.
Speaker: I, uh,
Speaker: Understand that there's an audience for good family-friendly themes for Toy Story and for Willy Wonka and for The Wizard of Oz.
Speaker: You know, those are very good family-friendly, bring the whole family together.
Speaker: There's also an audience for mature themes, right?
Speaker: I wouldn't want...
Speaker: my only pin in my collection to be an only mature theme.
Speaker: If it's mature all the time, right?
Speaker: I think God, I think Godfather is great because it doesn't have to be only the adult theme.
Speaker: You turn on the adult, uh, featured videos, you know, these explicit videos of, of blood and violence and people getting shot.
Speaker: Like not something I want my kids to be playing on my game.
Speaker: Same with, um,
Speaker: Guns N' Roses.
Speaker: There's songs that are kind of held behind an adult filter.
Speaker: I wanted my kids to be able to play this game and my kids to be able to play The Godfather without them needing to be exposed to the adult themed videos and content.
Speaker: So those are settings that are adjustable and you have to have the keys for
Speaker: the coin door in order to change those settings.
Speaker: You can't just hit a flipper button or something like that.
Speaker: And the reason I'm explaining that so intricately is because that's something I had to explain to the licensor because...
Speaker: Most licensors are under the impression that pinball machines go into Chuck E. Cheese's.
Speaker: Well, you can't you can't have people getting shot in the face in a Chuck E. Cheese.
Speaker: And I'm like, you're right.
Speaker: But Chuck E. Cheese would never buy an adult theme.
Speaker: They're not going to buy The Walking Dead.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: That's not a theme you would see in a Chuck E. Cheese.
Speaker: Um, so explaining that these are settings that can be adjusted by the end user.
Speaker: Um, you know, if there's children in the house, if they don't have access to the keys for the coin box, which mom or dad could, you know, hang up on a hook, then they can't adjust these settings and they can't turn on adult and explicit settings.
Speaker: So keeping the licensor aware that, you know, this is not a
Speaker: Everything is there all at once and it is what you get, that these settings are adjustable, that you can turn on or off certain video features was an important point for the licensor to understand that this is how the content will be presented and it'll be up to the end user to show the adult or to hear the adult call-outs.
Speaker: Kind of going away from the mature thing, but I was thinking of...
Speaker: I think one of the complaints when this game first came out was the light show versus the theme.
Speaker: And Carl DeAngelo played it like the next day on stream, right?
Speaker: And Carl's very well respected in the community.
Speaker: And he said, really, guys, the lights are not as embrash as in your face.
Speaker: And it's very well more incorporated.
Speaker: And so I think that was one of my hesitations.
Speaker: But I think the thing with JJP is you have to experience this in person.
Speaker: It's hard to take it for face.
Speaker: Like it's hard to take it for everything it's worth off of a video.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Speaking of the glitter, when we were walking through and doing that, that tour, you guys had some toy stories on the line and it's amazing how much that glitter just pops on those play fields.
Speaker: I think this is definitely, if you're going to Texas Pinball Festival, this is an experience like anything else.
Speaker: JJP is making a product that no one else is making on the market, right?
Speaker: You guys have definitely went above and beyond the call of what pinball is and making it from a game into an experience, an enjoyable experience.
Speaker: And so I commend you guys for that.
Speaker: It's amazing what you guys are doing down there.
Speaker: Thank you, Chesh.
Speaker: Appreciate it.
Speaker: Those collector's editions will also be playable at Midwest Gaming Classic in Milwaukee the next weekend.
Speaker: And there are a couple collector's editions that are touring the world at various shows that are happening.
Speaker: There should be one at...
Speaker: called flip fest it's in france at the end of april and there should be one going to australia as well these are show games these are not um part of the the 1000 these are you know marketing sample prototype builds that people can see and experience it firsthand awesome now are you are going to texas right i am going to texas yeah
Speaker: So if people have questions, they can actually come up and play a game next to the designer.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Or with the designer.
Speaker: With the designer.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: I think you're going to be bumped up the list.
Speaker: You bring him a beer, right?
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: Exactly.
Speaker: There's a line 30 people long, but you come to the front of the list if you bring good beer.
Speaker: it's like the uh the quick pass at disneyland exactly now didn't amanda win a dollar off you playing a game on your game on my game yes we both had terrible terrible games of pirates of the caribbean but hers was slightly less terrible less terrible she wound up with
Speaker: 60,000 points as the winner.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: She left that part of the story out.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: It was a, it was a. Yeah.
Speaker: If you listen to her, tell it, she dunked over like a seven footer.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: So that's okay.
Speaker: What is one thing that you love about Godfather that you haven't been able to really talk about yet?
Speaker: What's something that you just, the audience needs to know about this game.
Speaker: Well, one of the things that we're, I would say we're not allowed to talk about, working with the licensor, we always learn what the scope of the license entails.
Speaker: And the scope of the Godfather license originally did not include Michael Corleone.
Speaker: The original contract that we signed did not include Michael Corleone nor the actor who played him.
Speaker: And so there were there was extra effort.
Speaker: And in fact, in fact, parts had been released for production without Michael Corleone's image used in the game.
Speaker: And we, myself and Jack,
Speaker: were fighting tooth and nail to get Michael's character into this game.
Speaker: And eventually, we got through directly to Mr. Pacino.
Speaker: And we're able to work directly with him and his attorneys in getting him to sign on to be part of The Godfather.
Speaker: Now, Michael Corleone has never been represented in
Speaker: In a licensed product for the Godfather until this game.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: So when we told Paramount
Speaker: we got Pacino to be on board.
Speaker: They're like, stop the presses.
Speaker: This has never been accomplished with our company and with this license.
Speaker: He has not approved his likeness to be used in licensed material.
Speaker: But Jack can be very convincing.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And I...
Speaker: personally wrote a letter to Mr. Pacino outlining how I would use his likeness in the game and how I would represent intellectual property in the best light possible.
Speaker: I showed him how I would use it.
Speaker: Here are scenes I would use.
Speaker: Here's the artwork renditions that I would do that would show you your character in the best light.
Speaker: And it is my mission to present this intellectual property in the best way possible.
Speaker: And frankly, sir, that would be impossible without your character as part of this.
Speaker: And he agreed to be a part of it.
Speaker: And so we changed all of the artwork at the last minute.
Speaker: Wow.
Speaker: And we changed all the video content and the audio content.
Speaker: I mean, I'm talking about...
Speaker: November of last year when parts were already released and they were getting into the building and stopped the presses.
Speaker: We are putting Michael Corleone as the center figure on the limited edition playfield and he is going to be there right behind the Don on the collector's edition playfield.
Speaker: Mr. Franchi redid all of the artwork for both packages to include Michael in the game and
Speaker: Represented large, unlimited edition game.
Speaker: Backlash, sides, playfield.
Speaker: It was a monumental feat to pivot in the 11th hour.
Speaker: But it was an investment that everyone at the company was willing to make because of how important he is to the franchise.
Speaker: Holy crap.
Speaker: That's insane.
Speaker: Yeah, that is amazing.
Speaker: That is going above and beyond.
Speaker: See, that's just JJP, right?
Speaker: For me, the Godfather is Michael Corleone.
Speaker: That's who I think of.
Speaker: I actually don't really think of Marlon Brando.
Speaker: I think of the Godfather storyline is Michael reluctantly becoming the mob boss.
Speaker: Mm hmm.
Speaker: And so that for me, having Michael Corleone is essential to tell the story.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: And that's why I pushed until it finally happened.
Speaker: You just had to call Slash, right?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Slash with Paul McCartney.
Speaker: Slash call Paul McCartney again.
Speaker: Yeah, not this time.
Speaker: Not this time.
Speaker: That is amazing.
Speaker: That is epic.
Speaker: I don't know how else to go.
Speaker: That's the best story to end on right there.
Speaker: Yes, it definitely is.
Speaker: Thank you, Eric, for coming on.
Speaker: We are just absolute fans of what you're doing.
Speaker: The product there is just top notch.
Speaker: And I don't know.
Speaker: I don't know what to say about JJP.
Speaker: I haven't already said because.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: If you get a JJP game, it's a quality game.
Speaker: In many ways, there are certain themes that people want you to get just because of how much theme integration you have been able to do with your previous releases.
Speaker: And that's a testament to how you do things.
Speaker: So if they want to get a hold of you or see you at Texas Pinball Festival, what's the best way to do it?
Speaker: I will be at the Jersey Jack booth as often as I can be.
Speaker: There's a lot of things that happen at shows where I got to go in this direction or that direction.
Speaker: Jersey Jack has a panel discussion at six o'clock on Friday night at TPF.
Speaker: So I'll be there with Jack.
Speaker: Franchi will also be there.
Speaker: And Bill Grupp, who's one of the senior programmers at Jersey Jack, will also be there.
Speaker: So we'll be able to talk shop.
Speaker: Mr. Cromwell and Mr. Mike Fox will be in the booth with us all weekend.
Speaker: Stop by and say hi.
Speaker: You can always reach out to us on our social medias at Jersey Jack.
Speaker: And, you know, ping me on there and I'm sure I'll see it at some point.
Speaker: I get shown a lot of the people want to say things to me for good or for real.
Speaker: I find out about them.
Speaker: So what's what's your favorite beer?
Speaker: So if people want to bring you one down at Texas, my favorite beer that's available in Texas.
Speaker: I do like the Revolver IPA.
Speaker: So that is a Texas based beer.
Speaker: micro brew that's out of i believe it's out of austin i've had that a couple times it's a good one let's see how many of those we can get to you eric at the jjp booth you know your chances of actually beating him at a dollar game consistently go up they do the more drinks he's had that's like jumping over a nickel to pick or over a dollar to pick up a nickel though i brought you 30 of these but yeah to win a dollar game all right here's the dollar let's do this right
Speaker: I think, Eric, that's a win-win situation for you regardless.
Speaker: I agree.
Speaker: Bring a backpack.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: If you want to get a hold of us, we are LoserKidPinballPodcast at gmail.com.
Speaker: We are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch, YouTube now.
Speaker: And we're all at LoserKidPinball.
Speaker: Leave us comments, whatever your heart desires.
Speaker: We keep getting weird stuff here and there.
Speaker: I'm going to hurry and drop this right now.
Speaker: But Scott lost to Travis.
Speaker: Travis.
Speaker: for our top 100.
Speaker: It was a Jersey Jack edition.
Speaker: That's true.
Speaker: It was.
Speaker: It was Guns N' Roses versus Wonka and Guns N' Roses won.
Speaker: Yeah, it was actually kind of hard because I do like Guns N' Roses better than Wonka.
Speaker: And so...
Speaker: I really had to pull out some creative, uh, uh, creative arguments for, for going against, um, yeah.
Speaker: So I've got them both.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: You got a beautiful lineup.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: I mean, I'm slightly jealous.
Speaker: I'm not slightly jealous.
Speaker: I'm, I'm over the top jealous.
Speaker: You have all the Jersey Jacks there, except for your current one, which will come, which will be coming soon.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Well, I didn't want to show all my cards.
Speaker: My, my toy story.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: I'm taking delivery of it very soon.
Speaker: But in fact, every year at my son's school, there is a carnival fundraiser.
Speaker: And I'm like, Toy Story 4 is going to that carnival.
Speaker: It's going to be dollar plays and they're going to raise money for the school.
Speaker: You know, highest score is going to get $25 gift card to maybe they'll get a Jersey Jack shirt or something like that.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: But yeah, we wanted to have the, uh,
Speaker: the carnival from my son's elementary school, have a carnival themed Toy Story 4 pinball machine.
Speaker: Oh, that's awesome.
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: That's great.
Speaker: Thanks again for coming on, Eric.
Speaker: We appreciate all you do and don't have too much fun down in Texas.
Speaker: Of course.
Speaker: I will, I will enjoy myself responsibly.
