Doctor Who Kickstarter

[Tan Coul]

When does this KS begin?

Yep, in the words of Philip J Fry "Shut up and take my money!"

 

[DaPinballWizard]

I LOVE this table.

 

[mmmagnetic]

Yeah, that definitely looks like a Barry Oursler table! Left and middle looks like Pinbot, while the right side reminds me of Junk Yard. I like how asymmetrical it is, I have a soft spot for weird layouts.

The tables of him I played so far have always felt very distinct. I used to hate the Pinbot layout but during Jackbot I've learned to appreciate it.

And man, great sound design. I love the scratchy FM synth sound of that era, and the booming sound effects. Reminds me a bit of Dracula in a way.

And a great color scheme with tons of blue, yellow and red, really pops!

 

[EccentricFlower]

Out of curiosity, are you guys excited for the kickstarter, or the table?

I'm excited for the table, loathe kickstarters. But I've seen in past posts where people are positively excited for kickstarters, which boggles my mind, which made me wonder.

I'm never excited for a Kickstarter - I have a tendency to think that passing the begging bowl is a horrible way to fund anything. (Long, separate rant, which I'll spare you.)

But I want this table, and if a Kickstarter is the only way to get it, then I'm in favor of it. Which was my policy on TAF as well.

(I'm an Old Who fan. I dislike all the new stuff, mostly because I haven't liked any of the actors playing the Doctor in the new series except Eccleston, and they made his one series almost unwatchable by saddling him with the horrible Rose. But that, too, is a topic for other fan forums and unrelated to pinball - thank god.)

 

[invitro]

I'm never excited for a Kickstarter - I have a tendency to think that passing the begging bowl is a horrible way to fund anything. (Long, separate rant, which I'll spare you.)

I for one would like to hear your rant.

 

[Extork]

I for one would like to hear your rant.

This has nothing to do with your comment, but I wanna make a deal with you. I'll pledge $10, to start off. I haven't worked out the details yet, but we could make a competition out of it, going up $5 at a time. Incomplete thought......

*well, you're just way better than me, so how's that gonna work out? I play on a freaking small phone! It was just a thought. I'm still up for something, even if it's random

 

[invitro]

This has nothing to do with your comment, but I wanna make a deal with you. I'll pledge $10, to start off. I haven't worked out the details yet, but we could make a competition out of it, going up $5 at a time.

I don't have any money, man. And whatever I have I need to put in my cookie jar for Season 6 and Stern Pinball Arcade (wishful thinking?). But I'll pray for Doctor Who. How much is that worth?

 

[Extork]

I don't have any money, man. And whatever I have I need to put in my cookie jar for Season 6 and Stern Pinball Arcade (wishful thinking?). But I'll pray for Doctor Who. How much is that worth?

I'll make up for your share. Mano y Mano

I've only ever seen 1 episode, and I was totally lost. I'm a whore

*and I'm broke as Falcon, times is tough

*to answer your question, it's worth a pickle

 

[pyroxian]

I'm never excited for a Kickstarter - I have a tendency to think that passing the begging bowl is a horrible way to fund anything. (Long, separate rant, which I'll spare you.)

Isn't that how most things get funded (Films, Book Advances etc.)? I guess it's called investment, but it's the same thing...

 

[shutyertrap]

Isn't that how most things get funded (Films, Book Advances etc.)? I guess it's called investment, but it's the same thing...

Ah, but with those things you are expecting a return too. I've worked on a few films where they were financed by seeking backers first and and very limited budgets. What the main backers hope for is once the movie is made that it gets picked up for distribution, because that's when they'll get their money back. You've probably heard tale of films at Sundance getting bought for a few million by a studio who will then market and distribute? That's the money that goes back to the original investors. Compare that to a kickstarter where none of the investors get their money back. Big difference.

Now there have been a couple of films that went the kickstarter route. That Veronica Mars movie, Zack Braff had one, and I think Spike Lee tried too. Within the industry it was looked down upon because these were people that could get films made, but chose to crowdfund instead. Not like they didn't already have an in, ya know?

 

[invitro]

Ah, but with those things you are expecting a return too.

I'm with you, but I'd be more specific: with investments you are expecting, though with less than 100% certainty, a cash profit. People might say that with kickstarters you do get a return: the pinball table, the movie, etc.

 

[Extork]

not sure I'll be able to help much. But it's kind of like a tithing. TPA is my religion, so I'm happy to throw a few bucks into the dish. It'll go towards a good cause, maybe not fixing cancer, but you catch my drift

 

[EccentricFlower]

I for one would like to hear your rant.

You'll be disappointed because, as usual, my thinking is all muddled, with a lot of logical and emotional reactions all swearing at each other.

OK, so, either Kickstarter or the normal investment-in-a-product cycle is the same thing at core: Someone is investing in an idea because they think that investment will be rewarded. So why does one method (conventional investment) not bother me the way Kickstarter often does? I'm not sure, to be honest. Part of the problem may be because of the WAY in which I prefer to spend my money. If I'm going to "vote with my dollars" for a product I would rather it be a real, finished product - I prefer to endorse it by buying it, not by betting on it before it exists.

I think a lot of it comes down to risk. Not my risk; the risk to the "investor" in a Kickstarter is effectively nil the way they do it. It's the lack of *Farsight's* risk that bothers me. If they believed they could sell enough of this table to make back the licensing and development costs, then why not make it using the normal table dev cycle instead of a Kickstarter? It feels like a lack of confidence to me, and/or cowardice: Farsight dodging ALL risk on their part, including ultimately having to make a decision on whether to invest $$$ in making the table. They should already know whether enough people want the table for them to make a profit on it. Maybe that's an unreasonable expectation on my part. I don't know. I'm often unreasonable.

Now, it may be that Farsight thinks the table could be profitable but simply does not have enough cash on hand to pay the licensing costs. If that's so, then Farsight has a lot less money floating around than I'd like to believe - if they're fussing over game budgets as low as $60-70K then they are running on a shoestring, and if a company is running on a shoestring, I start to worry about how much longer the product will be around.

I have come to accept that there are some Kickstarters which have to happen because conservatism of investment is such that the product would never find funding through normal means. I also don't mind Kickstarters which are for projects that fall outside the normal scope of the company's operations - I've given to a "here's some swag we think you'd like, but it's not part of our usual product line and we can't budget for it, so we're doing it this way" Kickstarter, and I've also given to a "we are facing disaster and there's no way we can keep going unless we get emergency funding to replace our entire ancient heating system" one ... those, to me, are different.

But this is something in Farsight's normal line which you'd think they would be willing and able to fund normally, in a perfect world.

 

[canuck]

EccentricFlower, it's clear many companies are getting creative with Kickstarters...but why begrudge them? The economy is precarious, moreso for pinball apps! As long as they find a way to keep going, I'll keep buying the tables and playing.

 

[invitro]

You'll be disappointed because, as usual, my thinking is all muddled, with a lot of logical and emotional reactions all swearing at each other.

On the contrary, I found it very interesting and sound. Thank you for sharing!

 

[David T. Melnick]

EccentricFlower, it's clear many companies are getting creative with Kickstarters...but why begrudge them? The economy is precarious, moreso for pinball apps! As long as they find a way to keep going, I'll keep buying the tables and playing.

----
'Creative'...TPA A sure have made their earlier pinball games a lot better eh .

 

[VanceFox]

I personally can't wait as this was the table that got me to fall in love with pinball. I played the table in my college arcade pretty much daily!

Just a word of advice to whoever does any writing for the Kickstarter page... The main character's name is "the Doctor" or just plain "Doctor". Calling him "Doctor Who" will piss off hard core fans... Like me!

Oooo! I want a TARDIS blue pinball as a stretch goal!

 

[Snorzel]

The guys from Bro, do you even pinball did a pretty good video of Dr. Who.

This is a good vid! Thanks for sharing

 

[Canadian365]

Should be announced by end of this week!

 

[Pinballwiz45b]

GO, GO, GO! IT'S UP!

(in a Dalek voice: EXTRMINATE THE DEFICIT)

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/pinball-arcade-doctor-who?ref=nav_search

Also, Hurricane confirmed. The video in the page shows parts of the table being disassembled.