Go Behind the Scenes with Insert Coin: The Making of Arcade Paradise

As someone who never really fancies playing management sims but also someone who spent an inordinate amount of my youth at my local arcade… I’m drawn to this.

I would much rather a physical resurgence rather than a game representation. Man I miss pinball, something that's seemingly impossible to emulate. There are far too many in private ownership Vs the arcade. I'll buy one myself when funds and space materialize, but I better get in quick as they are only going up in value!

This looks fun. Hopefully the minigames can capture the magic of the old arcade games that they're based on.

Back when I was a child, my mom worked a second job at Aladdin's Castle at the local mall. I spent so much time in the arcade. Galaga, Defender, Pac-Man, Dig Dug...I remember when Spy Hunter and Dragon's Lair came out in '83...both were literal game changers! And the original Street Fighter? You had to PUNCH the buttons! JUST. DON'T. MISS.

Needless to say, that machine was broken most of the time.

@Blofse try an Oculus Quest 2 with Starwars pinball. There are about 10 real life Starwars arcade pinball machines an ya literally there in ya Starwars man cave that ya decorate with things ya win on pinball. It’s very realistic and very good.

Yes, yes, yes!!!! This game has real potential.

I’m glad they’re making playable games within the arcade. I just wish they could get the licenses to some of the ACTUAL arcade games from the ‘80s and early ‘90s, and as time passes we’d have access to lease/buy the newest and improved games that just came on the market and install them in the arcade.

The BEST part of going to the arcade as a kid was walking around the arcade to see if they’d gotten any new games and which old ones did they remove or move to another area within the arcade. (i.e. Wow, they got a new basketball game called Basket Brawl…but where did Elevator Action go? And where’s Ring King?!) This made every trip to the arcade exciting—always something new to try, to see, to play.

And, can they get the licenses for actual arcade games to play, like the MAME roms? (A legal way to play MAME roms? Yes!!!) And, hey FarSight Studios and Zen Studios, get those Williams, Gottlieb, Bally, Data East, Stern and your own designed pinball machines in there, too!

I could see myself buying 30-40 old arcade games and even more pinball machines to put within my virtual arcade if I can actually move the machines around within the building to suit my needs and then walk up to the machines and stick in the quarter and play ‘em…and make ‘em all part of the arcade management game.

The sky is the limit! Add in pool tables, skee ball, whack a mole, spin to win, fortune teller machines, air hockey, foosball, darts, crane games, trivia quiz MegaTouch machines, those baseball pinball machine things where you pitch the ball and a little pinball comes out and you try to hit it to certain spots on the game to win baseball cards…these could all be added to the arcade…and could be made playable, too. Oh, I’m salivating just thinking of what could be!!

@Blofse Actual pinball machines are great to own…until something goes wrong with ‘em. We got really lucky—the neighbor in the house behind us used to work for the local company that would deliver, install, and fix pinball machines that would go into arcades and bars back in the 1980s-90s. 😎

@sjbsixpack it’s also on PSVR along with the other Pinball FX VR tables. @Blofse

@SoulChimera didn’t know it was on PSVR. Not bought a PSVR game for a while.

@sjbsixpack Yeah, to be fair, it looks great in it too. Just wish those ***** would make all the tables in VR. Pinball VR is one of those where you are playing and loving it, then you stop and realise your neck has been bent in an off position for an hour. Haha.

@Blofse in the UK there's definitely a bit of a resurgence of retro arcades with an entry fee and machines set to freeplay.

I assume you didn't get on with Pinball arcade? I personally LOVED the Star Trek TNG table. Very close to the original physical one imo.

@jgrangervikings1 Hey. I'm the game director on the game. We do have playable pool, air hockey, darts, table football (fusball) and thump-a-gopher in game and so on.

I love how you touched on the excitement of walking in and seeing new stuff... This is something I really wanted to recapture. So the flow of the game is a little like this. You start off with a tiny back room. Like a storage closet with 3 arcade machines.

They make a fair bit of money so you buy more. Each time you buy one we do this totally over the top loot crate type animation of it getting dropped off. When you order new machines it's not always obvious what type of game it's going to be. I mean sure a darts game is but there might be a candy cab of setting where you're just like... Hmm I wonder what this will be like.

We want to recreate that feeling when you were a kid of buying a new game and running home to put it on, or like you say, walking into an arcade and seeing all of this stuff just waiting to be played.

@jgrangervikings1 one reason we didn't try to license and emulate is so we could have way more freedom. Obviously arcade games are amazing. But they were built for sucking up your cash. We wanted to be able to make longer more modern experiences alongside high score chasers. Stuff that you wouldn't actually find in an arcade but that looks and feels like it belongs. So we have several games that might take 2-3 hours to complete just by themselves. That have their own upgrades and progress system and so on.

@dadrester Congrats on the game. Can’t wait to get it!! If you decide to do some dlc or make a sequel and want input on what other types of businesses to mix with an arcade (besides a laundromat), let me know! I used to work as an assistant mgr and later as a janitor at a crappy old 4-plex movie theater with the 1970s-style shoebox auditoriums and it was next door to the best arcade in town, so I know all about the crappy tasks that come with movie theater operation and maintenance. Those tasks could easily be tossed into a “movie theater/arcade” mashup and fleshed out for fun (and accuracy).
…And, the best arcade in town used to be housed within the local roller skating rink, so if you do a “skatin’ world/arcade” mashup, I could give you some thoughts on what I remember, too.

@jgrangervikings1 originally we were thinking of having it in a blockbuster style video library with our of copyright movies you could watch