bumblebear_games

Brian here. I’d like to address the Fyre map question as well. When I was in my masters program, I had very similar opinions for companies to allow home-brew modifications and opening up a tinker culture around products— specifically citing a robotic dog toy where Sony had sued developers for creating custom robotics modifications to add functionality to their toys. I think a lot of people don’t understand that our business model is different. We often find ourselves in uncharted territory. Unlike many game companies, our customers are not necessarily our players. Yes, keeping players happy is good for business and good for our customers. However opening the door to faux open source modifications on what is basically platform business model, not a consumer product, creates a strain on our existing customer relations with vendors and operators, creates additional work for our team in explaining what is going on, and an expectation of support. 

If Brass Tap in Austin offers Fyre map, Pinballz will also want Fyre map. Suddenly there is unfair competition in the platform we have not control over. How does it feel to other customers who paid $15K and are now not getting the "full experience." This is the direct business example, and doesn’t even touch on the user experience side. The side that players found and fell in love with to begin with. Seeing this big large cab, and playing a polished level with 9 other people— often strangers. Gaming is a tough industry. If someone has a bad early experience, they will never play again. A map on the Killer Queen platform, in our cabinet, with our names on it, playing something that is not created by us, good or not, affects our brand. People will always associate Killer Queen with their experience. Sure, yes, we could trust the community to explain to every person that ever plays with them what’s going on and the long and complicated history of how the modification exists, but the point is, it’s outside of our control. If some operator who isn’t constantly monitoring their game puts the hack on their platform and leaves it on, people are walking up to game that is not Killer Queen despite the advertising and floor space we share with our operators. 

Finally, there’s the issue with the timing. It was a total shock and surprise to us, and it was planned as such. Three of us were at a second back-to-back trade show when this hit. We were exhausted. We spent tens of thousands of dollars to be there plus our time. And we had to spend half a trade show day, where I could not be on the floor selling machines, holding some kind of fire drill. So Fyre map cost us a lot, directly. We love the community and things the players have done, but we need to be kept in the loop (even passively) if people are working on major home-brew features that will affect our products and platforms.

-Brian

We have been discussing a feature like this and would love to find a way to make it work. Doing ABS vs THE BLOOD QUEEN in such a short time means that some features might come later or not make the cut to ensure that we can launch on time. But as of now we're still brainstorming ways we can potentially design a freeplay environment with the right tools (enemies, map elements similar to those found in Killer Queen, etc) for players to use for practice.

-Jyro

Bicycle Race

-nik

Fyre map was particularly painful for us since it felt like direct intellectual property theft rather than a creative expression for a passion. Being protective of our IP means that we can create new experiences such as Abs vs the Blood Queen or maps that are commensurate with the broader experience behind Killer Queen. Unlike games like Mario Maker, which have tons of developers behind it and a completely separate code base from the classics like Super Mario Bros, this is the life's work of the developers and any exploitation is a serious hit to not only their livelihood, but also to their integrity as artists.

-Belia

Prolly not for KQA.

For Killer Queen Black, it’s really up to LiquidBit. KQA operates in a public space, part of it’s appeal is that it's highly curated. 

-nik