Hello, everyone. I'm certain a lot of you guys are starving to hear from us, as we've been very quiet publicly for some time now, and I apologize straight-away as I'm sure it has made many of you feel very uneasy about the situation as a whole. There are a lot of things going on over here and while I was personally hoping to break the silence with an earth-shattering announcement that we have games moving out the doors at a regular pace and everything is ahead of schedule, every small delay and challenge has amassed into a pretty significant delay in getting finished games out to everyone. I've been pondering long and hard how to address this in a proactive and comforting way for weeks without much success. That being said, with the help of some close friends, I think I finally have an answer.
Since day one, we have generally been regarded as "Pinball of the People," and that wasn't because of our awesome ability to lead people on or butter folks up with outlandish promises. We were given this illustrious title due to how accessible and open we are and the fact that we always lead in with straight-up and open honesty, no matter what. I know, without a doubt, that it was this openness and honesty that earned us your support so early on, so I guess, in a way, I'm going to go back to those roots to just lay it on in one heavy, quick sentence.
Manufacturing pinball machines is hard.
Seriously. There is no other way to spin the fact that even though we now have a firm grasp on what we need to do to take this thing to the finish line, there was no way to know the monumental tasks we faced in making this crazy dream into a reality. There are just so many variables to consider, many of which carry variables of their own, that we weren't even aware of until they caused a roadblock for the project that had to be surmounted immediately or else the entire plan would fail. It's a harsh and humbling reality that has been the most significantly life-changing experience I've ever known.
Over the course of this project, I've learned many things and had many responsibilities. As we push further and further into the production cycle, many of the "fringe" facets of company representation and operation have unfortunately but unavoidably suffered as my time was needed on the shop floor getting everything ready for the build, and now personally building games and quality testing them. This means that all of my other tasks were heavily neglected, and admittedly continue to be neglected. Tasks such as website updates, correspondence, appointments and even my personal phone has gone whole days without being tended to.
To rectify these problems, I'm very excited to say I will be personally sending out bi-weekly build updates to everyone on the list. I'm sure these updates will vary in significance from one email to the next, but if you're into the idea of seeing the nuances of pinball production or if you'd like to see a bunch of guys working on your games, it should be at least entertaining
If you have a vested interest in the project, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take the time to add both Kevin@SkitBPinball.com and Support@SkitBPinball.com to your email address book. The amount of issues we encounter due to spam filters is unbelievably staggering.
Even though we have built a very strong team over the years, we are still a small, dedicated team with a passion that is undeniably unmatched. This affords us the unique ability to control and fine-tune our vision to a degree that has yet to be achieved by anyone else. While we are still working through the build process, I am thrilled to report that there are a handful of games already in various stages of assembly. More on this in the upcoming newsletters!
So what is the takeaway from this incredibly long-winded post...?
Am I making a return to Pinside?
Unfortunately, no. While I never intended to "turn my back" on Pinside, and I sincerely love the pinball community, it's simply not healthy for me, and it sets an unreasonable standard for communication.
Is this a production update?
Not really, although I believe this is the first time I've officially stated that there are games being physically assembled, so there's that.
Is this a public apology?
Sort of. As I stated above, it was our open and honest communication that won us your support in the beginning, and I would be lying if I were to say we haven't betrayed that in some way, even if it was with good intentions. The silence has been deafening for too long, and for that I most sincerely and personally apologize.
At any rate, it's now onward and upward, my friends. We undoubtedly have some serious work ahead of us, but I will not let the hills ahead of us blur my view of the mountains we've crossed. It's time to move on from schematics and sourcing. It's time to put our nose back to the grindstone. It's time to get hyped up again.
It's time to build some games.
I'll leave you guys with a single, simple photo of the contents of just one of the many shipments of parts we have over here. How many machines do you think is in this pile??
Since day one, we have generally been regarded as "Pinball of the People," and that wasn't because of our awesome ability to lead people on or butter folks up with outlandish promises. We were given this illustrious title due to how accessible and open we are and the fact that we always lead in with straight-up and open honesty, no matter what. I know, without a doubt, that it was this openness and honesty that earned us your support so early on, so I guess, in a way, I'm going to go back to those roots to just lay it on in one heavy, quick sentence.
Manufacturing pinball machines is hard.
Seriously. There is no other way to spin the fact that even though we now have a firm grasp on what we need to do to take this thing to the finish line, there was no way to know the monumental tasks we faced in making this crazy dream into a reality. There are just so many variables to consider, many of which carry variables of their own, that we weren't even aware of until they caused a roadblock for the project that had to be surmounted immediately or else the entire plan would fail. It's a harsh and humbling reality that has been the most significantly life-changing experience I've ever known.
Over the course of this project, I've learned many things and had many responsibilities. As we push further and further into the production cycle, many of the "fringe" facets of company representation and operation have unfortunately but unavoidably suffered as my time was needed on the shop floor getting everything ready for the build, and now personally building games and quality testing them. This means that all of my other tasks were heavily neglected, and admittedly continue to be neglected. Tasks such as website updates, correspondence, appointments and even my personal phone has gone whole days without being tended to.
To rectify these problems, I'm very excited to say I will be personally sending out bi-weekly build updates to everyone on the list. I'm sure these updates will vary in significance from one email to the next, but if you're into the idea of seeing the nuances of pinball production or if you'd like to see a bunch of guys working on your games, it should be at least entertaining
If you have a vested interest in the project, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE take the time to add both Kevin@SkitBPinball.com and Support@SkitBPinball.com to your email address book. The amount of issues we encounter due to spam filters is unbelievably staggering.Even though we have built a very strong team over the years, we are still a small, dedicated team with a passion that is undeniably unmatched. This affords us the unique ability to control and fine-tune our vision to a degree that has yet to be achieved by anyone else. While we are still working through the build process, I am thrilled to report that there are a handful of games already in various stages of assembly. More on this in the upcoming newsletters!
So what is the takeaway from this incredibly long-winded post...?
Am I making a return to Pinside?
Unfortunately, no. While I never intended to "turn my back" on Pinside, and I sincerely love the pinball community, it's simply not healthy for me, and it sets an unreasonable standard for communication.
Is this a production update?
Not really, although I believe this is the first time I've officially stated that there are games being physically assembled, so there's that.
Is this a public apology?
Sort of. As I stated above, it was our open and honest communication that won us your support in the beginning, and I would be lying if I were to say we haven't betrayed that in some way, even if it was with good intentions. The silence has been deafening for too long, and for that I most sincerely and personally apologize.
At any rate, it's now onward and upward, my friends. We undoubtedly have some serious work ahead of us, but I will not let the hills ahead of us blur my view of the mountains we've crossed. It's time to move on from schematics and sourcing. It's time to put our nose back to the grindstone. It's time to get hyped up again.
It's time to build some games.
I'll leave you guys with a single, simple photo of the contents of just one of the many shipments of parts we have over here. How many machines do you think is in this pile??
- parts.jpg 145 KB
