Tutorials Patreon

General
1

FYI, no hard sell intended or desired :slight_smile:

Basically, I was doing the tutorials on the back end of work trips to Pittsburgh. The contract giving me those trips has run out … so, no more trips. Someone at PAPA suggested asking the world for a handout, so here I am.

Let me know what questions you have, or if you have ideas on how to make this work!

14 Likes
2

I hope these tutorials can continue. They have been as helpful as any other factor in getting me into competitive pinball, and I know lots of players who say the same thing.

Have you thought about using Patreon to buy a recording rig and then cycling games through via local collectors? Obviously, this assumes space and a whole lot of other factors, but it feels like it’d be a lot less expensive than traveling to PA each time. Plus, I think the time involved for you to either travel and set up* or have someone bring a machine to you would compare favorably to your travel time to PA and back.

*And I suspect there a lots of people who would volunteer to help with the setup.

1 Like
3

On a much less significant note, how to you square this award:

with this one:

[quote]
Pledge $20 or more per month
Includes all previous rewards. Your name will be a lot larger on the sponsorship card. You’ll have a random chance of having your initials used in score entry during a tutorial. [/quote]

?

0% feels like a pretty non-random chance. :slight_smile:

4

Grand Champion vs non-Grand Champion

3 Likes
5

Doh!

And thanks for pointing out it. :expressionless:

6

This is the first I’ve ever heard of Patreon. How exactly does this work? Am I obligated for a year or for only as many months as the current funded goal? Or am I obligated forever, and if I stop paying, Bowen shows up at my front door with some of Whitey Bulger’s old cronies and they extract a flipper finger. :dizzy_face:

7

I’ve thought about suggesting something like this for a while. TAKE MY MONEY!!!

2 Likes
8

You’re only on the hook as long as you want to be. But that is a good idea! (It renews monthly.)

9

This was considered. I felt working with PAPA/Replay Foundation was the right choice for several reasons:

  • It would be very difficult for me to guarantee the cycling of games through collectors long-term. While it would work for a short term arrangement, it is not something I feel I could reasonably promise backers as a long-term solution.
  • @mhs puts in many hours of work in setting up, editing, and delivering each video with professional quality. I cannot compete with this quality nor would I want to. As such, the quality of new videos shot by myself would be significantly worse than the existing videos.
  • PAPA/Replay is ultimately responsible for this entire thing happening in the first place, and it felt wrong to cut them out of the process. Doing so would mean creating a new label for new videos – would it even make sense to call them tutorials, then?
  • I don’t have a setup at home that would accommodate cameras. With low ceilings there is almost no clearance for the backbox, so any camera rig would not be well-positioned compared to others’ rigs. Again, a quality issue.

Thanks for the suggestion! It was definitely considered when thinking about how and if to try this. I think this is the way to do it right and do it well. If somehow we get beyond $1500 the things you are talking about become ways to extend the project, but to me the tutorials are the meat of it.

5 Likes
10

You might consider adding a couple slots for folks to sponsor an episode and get to come watch you shoot it at the PAPA facility. Maybe if you’re local or get to go into the facility all the time this seems like old hat, but I for one would love the chance to watch a tutorial, see the games that don’t make the cut, and play a couple of games against the PAPA staff.

2 Likes
11

This is something I want to do, but I’m not sure how to do it in the Patreon monthly model. I’ll think about it some more, thanks!

12

I’m in for patreon and at the same time I’ll offer up the sanctum and and of our 45 games anytime if you ever want to come shoot something. Cameras are all set up and could make a few adjustment for better lighting if we are only running a single game for a film.

6 Likes
13

The second tutorial vote ended today, and KISS is the game to be played. (So, I guess that means I have to learn how to play KISS by Monday).

The first tutorial, X-Men, is in final edit (thanks ReplayFX). Will try to plan around that if possible going forward. All the tutorials are free for everyone, with backers getting early access and some extras (strategy guides, voice-overs to existing videos).

Also, thanks to backers, we’re now on a schedule to film 8 tutorials per year instead of 6, and the next goal is @ZRW’s suggestion about Wizard Mode videos.

Thank you all for your support. I’ll post updates here, and try to keep them rare so it doesn’t seem like I am selling something :slight_smile:

6 Likes
14

dang, I guess my vote for Doddle Bug didn’t win out this time! :smiley:
Thanks Bowen!

2 Likes
15

Doodle Bug or GTFO!

3 Likes
16

I bow to the whims of my backers :slight_smile:

17

Have some backer bone man!

18

Hey @bkerins, first, thanks a lot for doing this and I (and community) highly appreciate the effort from the whole crew.

One question I had which I didn’t quite see answered anywhere is why not record 2-3 tutorials per trip, instead of one? I understand there is setup and post production work involved, but if thats the limiting factor, you could record multiple tutorials per trip, but release them on current schedule, saving some cash in the process.

19

I think this was discussed on the pinside thread about the tutorials. I can’t guarantee how long the videos will take. They can take anywhere up to 8 hours to film. So, promising to make more than one video per trip is not something I am comfortable doing, because I don’t want to under deliver on promises. Later goals are going to add videos (the next goal adds a wizard mode video) making it potentially a two day film if all goes to hell.

Hope that makes sense!

2 Likes
20

How much is the “Come to Pittsburgh and play pinball with Bowen for a few hours” donation? :grinning:

2 Likes