One of the licensed tables that we’ve always wanted to digitize is Star Trek: The Next Generation. This table was released by Williams in 1993 and is unquestionably one of the greatest pinball tables of all time (in fact it’s currently #3 in user rankings on the Internet Pinball Database!) It was designed by the lengendary Steve Ritchie (who also designed Firepower, Black Knight, High Speed, and Terminator 2). Steve was a lifelong Star Trek fan and he was instrumental in convincing Williams to license the Star Trek property for a new pinball table. Consequently this table features an incredibly deep integration with the Star Trek license. It also has a number of unique play field features, including two aim-able ball-firing cannons and an system of warping balls from one place to another that was so ingenious Williams patented it. It's one of our favorite tables ever!
We’ve succeeded in negotiating all of the licenses we’d need to digitize Star Trek: The Next Generation and bring it to the Pinball Arcade. Unfortunately there are several licenses involved: in addition to the Williams license, we need a license for the Star Trek property and the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, clearances for the actor likenesses on the back glass and play field, and the right to use the actor voiceovers during gameplay. When we add up the costs of each required license and calculate what we’d have to charge for the table, we’ve realized that the Star Trek: The Next Generation is just not commercially viable. The more we charge for the table the fewer people will be able to buy it- and our goal is to expose as many people as possible to this great table, not just a select few.
Here’s where you come in! The licenses for Star Trek: The Next Generation will cost $60,000 (and that’s just for the licenses- we’ll cover all of the development expenses ourselves). Our previous Kickstarter project for the Twilight Zone pinball table raised just under $70,000 thanks to the amazing generosity of pinball fans throughout the world. That was $15,000 more than we needed for the Twilight Zone licenses, and we're applying this towards the license costs of Star Trek: The Next Generation. If we can raise the remaining $45,000 we’ll be able to digitize Star Trek: The Next Generation and preserve one of the greatest pinball tables of all time. If we don't reach our goal no credit cards will be charged, but if we raise more then the goal we’ll be able to digitize other licensed tables as well.
Backer rewards/tiers:
Pledge $10 or more
Get the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball table on a single platform of your choice, plus the satisfaction of knowing you helped make the preservation of this table possible.
Pledge $20 or more
Get the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball table on any two platforms of your choice, PLUS an exclusive Star Trek: The Next Generation Pinball wallpaper for the device of your choice.
Pledge $30 or more
Everything above PLUS an additional copy of the table for the platform of your choice (for a total of three) AND an exclusive Star Trek: The Next Generation edition virtual pinball (which can be used on any of the tables in the Pinball Arcade!)
Pledge $40 or more
Everything above PLUS an additional copy of the table for the platform of your choice (for a total of four) AND your name listed as a backer in the game credits! How cool is that?!?
Pledge $50 or more
Everything above PLUS a special Pro version of the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball table including access to the table operator’s menu on a single platform of your choice,
Pledge $75 or more
Everything above PLUS an entry into the exclusive Pinball Arcade Supporters Tournament!
Pledge $100 or more
Everything above PLUS the special Pro version of the Star Trek: The Next Generation pinball table including access to the table operator’s menu on every platform we support.
Pledge $250 or more
Everything above PLUS a cool Pinball Arcade Development Team shirt. It's the latest in pinball fashion statements- be the envy of all your friends!
Pledge $500 or more
Everything above PLUS be a Beta-tester with early access to the table AND see your name listed in the Development Team portion of the game credits!
Pledge $750 or more
Everything above PLUS a copy of Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection signed by the FarSight development team. We only have a few of these left, and when they're gone they're gone...
Pledge $1,000 or more
Everything above PLUS a conference call with the Pinball Arcade design team during the Star Trek: The Next Generation Beta. Tell us how the table plays, what needs to be improved, and suggest which tables we should do next. Your input can have a real impact!
Pledge $5,000 or more
Everything above PLUS lunch and one-on-one with the FarSight design team! We’ll give you a tour of our studio in Big Bear Lake, California and you'll get an inside look at how we digitize pinball tables. We’ll show you what we’re currently working on (and you’ll be among the first outside the studio to play it!) You are responsible for your travel (but lunch is on us!)
Pledge $10,000 or more
The FarSight team will travel to a location of your choosing (within the continental US please, unless you live someplace really cool). We’ll set up and host a virtual pinball tournament for you and your friends complete with prizes and goodies. We’ll bring along the latest new tables and you’ll be among the first outside the studio to play them! Your name will also be highlighted with a Special Thanks in the credits as someone who really made a difference.
Extra stuff:
Original Williams Star Trek - The Next Generation promo video
An IRC interview with Steve Ritchie from 1995, with a brief discussion on TNG:
D3KARL: I'd like to ask a question that sort of ties in with my all time favorite game, ST:TNG. All shots in ST:TNG have a distinct and good feeling to them (in particular the Picard combo). I'm wondering... do you get this right during early design, or does it take weeks of experimenting with whitewoods before the right feeling is there? Any stories about the design of ST:TNG?
STEVE: What you're talking about is smoothness. Some smoothness always comes in the first pass, after this long designing games. It is always the one thing that must be there for me. In every game, refinements take place that improve the game and, when we get enough
improvements to where it makes sense to build a new wood, we do. The original name for STTNG was Under Seige. We were going to get the license, the game was going to be a battleship game with both cannons on one side. STTNG was a much better (and much more liked by me) license and we pursued it with vigor. We went to get the license, it was not offered. Dwight and myself were the biggest Star Trek fans with the most knowledge on ST and a basic love for all ST lore. The first meeting with Paramount was a TOTAL disaster. three women in charge of licensing were guarding the license with swords and shields. They really thought that we would make 'SPACE PIRATES FROM F***ING HELL' and depict Picard as a trigger-happy theiving rapist. We spent a good deal of time convincing them that we only wanted to portray the crew in the best light. At lunch in the commissary, we got into a terrible argument in which I stopped speaking. Sitting DIRECTLY behind me was Patrick Stewart at another table. I never felt so awkward in my life. We all knew that we had lost any hope of obtaining a license because I wanted to be able to do a Borg/Starfleet scenario. The head licensing woman said No Way to any violence which I thought was super-hypocritical and unbelievably narrow-minded, considering that we would follow the Prime Directive and never instigate violence of any kind. We all left Hollywood that day and Roger Sharpe had to salvage the meeting on the phone in the following days. They finally agreed to let us do ST properly. From then on, it was pretty fun. We got to go on the bridge and all of the sets used in the show. It was thrilling to watch a scene being filmed with Gates McFadden. I had one foot on the transporter while the filming was taking place. Dwight Sullivan, Greg Freres and I also got to meet and talk discuss with Dan Curry, Michael Okuda, Michael Westmore Sr/Jr, and others in the production crew. Our biggest concern was whether or not we would obtain the speech for each and every crew member. And Q too. They were always hesitant to concede that we would get anywhere in this quest. After many months of waiting, the crew finally agreed and we got everyone. Nothing was so important in producing this game. It was a great project!
Can you help Farsight
MAKE IT SO?
Update #1:
Shortly after the Kickstarter... started
Update #2:
20th August
Update #3:
28th August
They posted a
video of the (real) table on their kickstarter page for anyone that doesn't know it.
The kickstarter has been going very slow for the last couple of days. I hope it picks up again soon, because at the current rate it would actually fail to meet its goal (but I guess pledges will go up on the last days anyway).
Update #4:
2nd September
Update #5:
End of KS (17th Sept)
They did it!
