Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 31st, 2010, 1:10am
I have stepped back from posting these for a while, as I have had my head down working on some new stuff around here.
Everything is still going great here, and I am happy to say that the first quarter of business is going in the books, and we have yet to lose any money on this deal. Things continue to stay in balance despite a slow spot at the beginning of March. March is typically bad for this kind of business, and I am happy to report we weathered that storm without too much trouble.
I am not sure exactly how tactful I can be on this point, as I am sure it highlights all of my revenge seeking character flaws... but it needs to be said: The select few who were sure this wouldn't work seem to get quieter all the time. That has honestly been one of the more enjoyable parts of this for me. :P Instead of spending my time defending my ability to do this, I talk more and more to people who are just excited about it. The bitter few who were sure I would fail, without knowing the slightest bit about my background, have been replaced by countless new players who return more and more often, spend more and more time here, and are excited about what is going on here. I want to thank all of you sincerely, because if this place does stick around for a while, it will only be because of you. It really has nothing to do with how hard I work, or how good my plan was, it is only dependent on the passion people have for the greatest game ever made.
I am amazed to see the work people are doing out there to spread the word and bring their friends in here. The willingness to suffer through some wonky joysticks and dim MFDs, and give me time to catch up with all of the little details around here. I appreciate it so much and I will continue to say thank you by standing on your head in a hellhound whenever possible ;D
The last couple of weeks here have been amazing. If I look back at the last two weeks we have had many more good nights than bad, and more often than not there are at least a few players hanging around. There is still no real need for reservations at this point as the pods continue to hold up to the onslaught pretty well. Feel free to head out here any day (except Sunday). If you are bringing more than a few people, it helps if you let me know. I know I keep saying it, but make sure you check the website calendar to make sure we are open. I have a few events pending that will shut us down for a day here and there. I don't yet know when they will be scheduled, but I will make sure to spread the word as much as possible ahead of time.
Being closed Sundays has allowed me to get caught up on a lot of things that require taking pods offline. The joysticks are much better now, but still need some break-in after the fresh grease. I have had a lot of help and with another day or two like last Sunday I think it will be fun to see the condition of the pods.
Moving members night to Wednesday seems to have worked, as last week was the best Wed night I can remember. Those who showed up for Monday tandems saw some of the most hilarious BT missions in the history of the pods. BattleMech VolleyBall was a big hit, I will share the details of that one once we work out the rules a little more.
Solstice moved the website over to Joomla, which has left it a little plain for the moment, but we have a lot of new stuff on the way. I am working on better ways to share what is going on around here. I have a new pod service log that I would like to share and it is almost complete tonight, but will likely take another few days to get linked up to the site.
Yesterday I was here until about 6AM filling out a seemingly endless pile of paperwork, one huge stack of which is now being processed by a merchant card services company... that's right... credit cards should be here soon. I would love to say this week, but I am too cynical to predict, after the 4 months it took to get verizon to hook up phone service. Lets say sometime around 1-48 weeks from now we should have that set up.
I announced free mission friday today. Any member who shows up on Fridays will get one mission free (assuming we aren't closed for a private event or something).
I will see you all again soon, for now it looks like I might actually escape before 2AM and get some much needed sleep.
good night,
--ugh
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
2010-03-16
Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 16th, 2010, 2:09am
Well, a lot has happened in the last few days. I have been meaning to get back to posting this regularly, and keep everybody in the loop as much as possible. Being sick recently put me behind on some stuff, but I am finally starting to dig out.
After a 4 month debacle with Verizon we finally have phone and internet service. Our new phone number is 425-823-9999.
I will be working on getting credit card service set up. I don't know how long it takes to get that stuff in place, but that process is in motion. In the meantime we will still be cash or check only, but expect an announcement soon.
We now have free wifi for customers (ask for wep key), so you won't have to deal with the slow connections our neighbors have.
New players continue to show up and support what we are doing here, many are just hearing about us now. We need to do a better job of spreading the word, so we are working on some new fliers with as little time sensitive info as possible. We will print these in large quantity and they will soon be available for anybody who would like a stack to spread around town. I really appreciate the legwork people are doing out there to spread the word already. Many new members should be added to the list soon. We have a boot camp on Saturday that is shaping up to be a great one.
I have learned a lot of new stuff about the pods lately, and I am finally getting a handle on some of the strange little quirks that a few of the pods still seam to have. This work will continue until I am satisfied with the quality of the machines and then transition to some sort of standard maintenance routine.
I have put a lot of thought into the way things have been going lately, and I have decided on some major changes. This week will be the same schedule through Saturday, but then we will be changing the weekly event schedule and our hours.
Members nights were very slow the last two weeks due to a long list of issues. We have noticed a declining pattern for Sunday, while most of the other nights have increased. After pro bowl sunday, super bowl sunday, valentines day, and the olympics, people have fallen out of the Sunday habbit. A few of the regulars are dealing with some sort of financial issues, or life issues of some other sort. Several have recently lost jobs, and several have had their schedules change in such a way that they can no longer attend on Sundays. Those who have showed up on the last two Sundays have seen some empty pod seats.
I have a lot of new members and they are asking me to do it on a different night simply for the fact that they work early hours Mon-Fri, and they don't want to start the week short on sleep. Friday and Saturday are too busy for members night, and from facebook, phone calls, text messages and forum posts, the general consensus is that Wednesday is a good day for Members night. A couple of our most important customers can't make it on Wed. so we have a new plan for Mondays as well!
(continued below)
Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 16th, 2010, 2:21am
(Continued from above)
Capture the flag mondays were a lot of fun for a while, but as one night a week players chose Sunday over Monday, we found it was all a little premature. It lasted for a few months, but being so new here we just didn't have enough players to go around for two nights in a row. Players were not able to match up for consistent teams, and after a few nights with not enough for 4 vs 4 teams people have just moved to other busier nights during the week.
This got me thinking. I am a little distressed at the lack of teamwork in games here, something that made Seattle famous in the old system. I realize that the lack of a com system makes it tough, but I hope to remedy that situation this summer. In the meantime people are welcome to use their cell phones, I have a handful of players who have had good results with 3 way calling and bluetooth headsets. Or, we can play the same way they play at EVERY other site in the entire world... we can just yell. Honestly this would be doing me a huge favor, as we have noticed that we get better sales from walk in people, who witness our more... umm... vocal... customers. Something about it adds a level of chaos and excitement that grabs people as they walk in.
I think that right now the economy, and the small sized group of players that have found us, makes it really tough to match up for 4 person teams to practice together. After putting a lot of thought into it we came up with Tandem Tuesday, and it has turned a normally slower night into a really fun one. We have a new kind of discount, that allows members playing with a tandem partner to get 9 games for $20. Even cheaper per game prices are available to those who purchase a larger package of games... but since it is individual mission purchase, people who are tight on cash can drop by and buy however many games they wish. I have talked to a lot of the players involved and they all said that they could move it to Monday. We play all sorts of games, but we play more team games. We can pair up tandems for 4v4 games and we can play all of the tandem game types, as well as a few free for alls and the other usual games (and some new ones we invented!)
So starting next Monday it will be Tandem practice monday. If we can get a few more teams for this we will immediately start a ladder style competition, and as soon as I finish getting the pods ready we can hold the tandem tournament series that has been rumored for a while now. So Mondays should turn into some time to practice with other tandems, challenge other tandems in the ladder, AND play in some sort of mini tournament. Major tournaments would likely be held on a different special event night.
We will be closed for a while on Sundays while I catch up on the pod work and get them ready for competition. After a couple of weeks of that I might even take a day off!
Sundays will still be available for any type of private events... and I will reevaluate being closed Sundays in a few weeks. We will also likely open up when there is major Sunday events at the comedy club (rare).
I will now implement a new policy, as I see that I may be hiring somebody in the near future. The Airlock staff... including myself will no longer split the teams for any team games. I am tired of the complaints. 1 out of every 2 teams loses... In the old days, teams of friends who enjoyed playing together, showed up at the site and challenged whoever was in the room. The staff was not in charge of judging the level of play of eight individuals... and .... even harder is predicting how well they will play in the next game, and then (impossibly) balancing the teams to a flip of the coin even game. Often times the number of really good players is odd. 2 bad players do not equal 1 roadkill or solstice.... its impossible.
The best way to balance the teams is to nominate two team captains, and choose just like we did on the playground, but I am sure in most cases people can just match themselves up in some way that seems like it will be an interesting game....roll the dice... match up with friends... whatever. I will no longer be involved in that decision making process (unless I am a team captain or something).
There is a lot of good stuff on the way. I hope you will all be a part of it! thanks for reading!
--ugh
Post by uglyman on Mar 16th, 2010, 2:09am
Well, a lot has happened in the last few days. I have been meaning to get back to posting this regularly, and keep everybody in the loop as much as possible. Being sick recently put me behind on some stuff, but I am finally starting to dig out.
After a 4 month debacle with Verizon we finally have phone and internet service. Our new phone number is 425-823-9999.
I will be working on getting credit card service set up. I don't know how long it takes to get that stuff in place, but that process is in motion. In the meantime we will still be cash or check only, but expect an announcement soon.
We now have free wifi for customers (ask for wep key), so you won't have to deal with the slow connections our neighbors have.
New players continue to show up and support what we are doing here, many are just hearing about us now. We need to do a better job of spreading the word, so we are working on some new fliers with as little time sensitive info as possible. We will print these in large quantity and they will soon be available for anybody who would like a stack to spread around town. I really appreciate the legwork people are doing out there to spread the word already. Many new members should be added to the list soon. We have a boot camp on Saturday that is shaping up to be a great one.
I have learned a lot of new stuff about the pods lately, and I am finally getting a handle on some of the strange little quirks that a few of the pods still seam to have. This work will continue until I am satisfied with the quality of the machines and then transition to some sort of standard maintenance routine.
I have put a lot of thought into the way things have been going lately, and I have decided on some major changes. This week will be the same schedule through Saturday, but then we will be changing the weekly event schedule and our hours.
Members nights were very slow the last two weeks due to a long list of issues. We have noticed a declining pattern for Sunday, while most of the other nights have increased. After pro bowl sunday, super bowl sunday, valentines day, and the olympics, people have fallen out of the Sunday habbit. A few of the regulars are dealing with some sort of financial issues, or life issues of some other sort. Several have recently lost jobs, and several have had their schedules change in such a way that they can no longer attend on Sundays. Those who have showed up on the last two Sundays have seen some empty pod seats.
I have a lot of new members and they are asking me to do it on a different night simply for the fact that they work early hours Mon-Fri, and they don't want to start the week short on sleep. Friday and Saturday are too busy for members night, and from facebook, phone calls, text messages and forum posts, the general consensus is that Wednesday is a good day for Members night. A couple of our most important customers can't make it on Wed. so we have a new plan for Mondays as well!
(continued below)
Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 16th, 2010, 2:21am
(Continued from above)
Capture the flag mondays were a lot of fun for a while, but as one night a week players chose Sunday over Monday, we found it was all a little premature. It lasted for a few months, but being so new here we just didn't have enough players to go around for two nights in a row. Players were not able to match up for consistent teams, and after a few nights with not enough for 4 vs 4 teams people have just moved to other busier nights during the week.
This got me thinking. I am a little distressed at the lack of teamwork in games here, something that made Seattle famous in the old system. I realize that the lack of a com system makes it tough, but I hope to remedy that situation this summer. In the meantime people are welcome to use their cell phones, I have a handful of players who have had good results with 3 way calling and bluetooth headsets. Or, we can play the same way they play at EVERY other site in the entire world... we can just yell. Honestly this would be doing me a huge favor, as we have noticed that we get better sales from walk in people, who witness our more... umm... vocal... customers. Something about it adds a level of chaos and excitement that grabs people as they walk in.
I think that right now the economy, and the small sized group of players that have found us, makes it really tough to match up for 4 person teams to practice together. After putting a lot of thought into it we came up with Tandem Tuesday, and it has turned a normally slower night into a really fun one. We have a new kind of discount, that allows members playing with a tandem partner to get 9 games for $20. Even cheaper per game prices are available to those who purchase a larger package of games... but since it is individual mission purchase, people who are tight on cash can drop by and buy however many games they wish. I have talked to a lot of the players involved and they all said that they could move it to Monday. We play all sorts of games, but we play more team games. We can pair up tandems for 4v4 games and we can play all of the tandem game types, as well as a few free for alls and the other usual games (and some new ones we invented!)
So starting next Monday it will be Tandem practice monday. If we can get a few more teams for this we will immediately start a ladder style competition, and as soon as I finish getting the pods ready we can hold the tandem tournament series that has been rumored for a while now. So Mondays should turn into some time to practice with other tandems, challenge other tandems in the ladder, AND play in some sort of mini tournament. Major tournaments would likely be held on a different special event night.
We will be closed for a while on Sundays while I catch up on the pod work and get them ready for competition. After a couple of weeks of that I might even take a day off!
Sundays will still be available for any type of private events... and I will reevaluate being closed Sundays in a few weeks. We will also likely open up when there is major Sunday events at the comedy club (rare).
I will now implement a new policy, as I see that I may be hiring somebody in the near future. The Airlock staff... including myself will no longer split the teams for any team games. I am tired of the complaints. 1 out of every 2 teams loses... In the old days, teams of friends who enjoyed playing together, showed up at the site and challenged whoever was in the room. The staff was not in charge of judging the level of play of eight individuals... and .... even harder is predicting how well they will play in the next game, and then (impossibly) balancing the teams to a flip of the coin even game. Often times the number of really good players is odd. 2 bad players do not equal 1 roadkill or solstice.... its impossible.
The best way to balance the teams is to nominate two team captains, and choose just like we did on the playground, but I am sure in most cases people can just match themselves up in some way that seems like it will be an interesting game....roll the dice... match up with friends... whatever. I will no longer be involved in that decision making process (unless I am a team captain or something).
There is a lot of good stuff on the way. I hope you will all be a part of it! thanks for reading!
--ugh
Monday, March 1, 2010
2010-03-01
Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 1st, 2010, 5:41pm
Ok, its been a while, so I thought I would make some time to post. I wrote half of one the other day and then we got really busy here and eventually I forgot about that tab and closed my browser.
Things are getting busier all the time here. We still might have the occasional slow day, but we have the occasional above average day too. We boot camped around 50 people in the last month. All of the boot camps have gone pretty smoothly I think. We have some new members now. To name just a few: Soto, Justice, TheJaxx, Krhonos, there are a bunch of other people really close now.
Feb sales were better than January, easily covering March expenses, and knocked a couple of nagging things off the todo list leftover from opening this place. Not bad for our second official month of business, and the shortest month of the year. Now that the probowl/superbowl/valentine's day/olympics... (admit it, you have all been watching a lot of TV lately) are over I think we will see some people we haven't seen in a while.
Our ad went out in hometown values magazine, and we saw some new faces because of that. We even sold a party because of it.
I still insist on doing all of this without putting anything on credit, that slows us down on some of the projects around here, but puts us on a stronger financial foundation. I can continue to work long hours as long as it takes to make sure we have pods in Seattle for years to come. I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on the phone/internet/credit card processing problem, which had to be shelved for about 10 reasons too uninteresting to type.
I was sick last week with a sinus infection, I didn't miss work but I may have been a little grumpier than usual. As soon as I had any sign of it, I got on some antibiotics I have never heard of, which are working great but leave me a little lightheaded. These illnesses tend to be a big deal for me due to my allergies to all the standard antibiotics, and my skull's apparent design flaws.
Friday was our best day yet, no special event, but we had a good crowd here playing. It was extra fun due to a visit from a Denver pilot. He arrived known as Harborbomber, but due to his ill-fated name challenge he will be known as KelticPrincess for the next 30 days... perhaps longer knowing those guys in Denver...
We are working on selling some corporate events which will likely shut us down for an odd day here and there. I would like to ask that everybody makes it a habit to check the calendar on the website before heading out. These days will be rare, but I hate to turn anyone away. I will make every effort I can to get the word out on myspace, facebook and twitter as well when I finalize any dates.
continues below:
Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 1st, 2010, 5:42pm
Continued from above:
Please also keep us in mind for any kind of events you can send our way. If you need more space the comedy club is available next door with a lot of added food and drink options. If you know anybody with kids on a sports team, please let them know we can have their end of season parties here. We can order in pizza, or you can bring in any type of food you like, and get all of the kids some game time in the pods. We have had some great kids birthday parties here, and a few office events.
People always ask me what they can do to help, and they always think in terms of technical stuff, usually citing some particular problem which is likely on hold until we can afford replacement parts. This month is likely to be a very expensive month for us, Washington state will get its filthy paws on its insane "use tax" a one time tax that applies to the pod purchase made out of state. Anybody who has poked around the forums here much has probably heard rumors of new software to be released for Tesla II soon. This will be another substantial expense. Don't get me wrong, it is nothing we aren't prepared for, but a little bit of help from the players will go a looooong way this month.
So here are some things you can do to help.
1. we are currently out of fliers, but soon we will get more. Some of the best advertising we have had was people hanging these in the breakroom at work, or at a game store they know... anything like this is really appreciated.
2. Just come down here and play! Seriously, it is always better to have a few extra bodies around, it helps us pull in more of the comedy clubbers that are headed next door, and every dollar spent here makes it more likely we can keep the pods in Seattle. If you have read much in the other subforums you have probably seen the news that RedPlanet is likely to return to the pods at some point in the near future. There will be substantial cost for this, so if you want RP, please support Firestorm for the time being!
3. If you are thinking of purchasing a large package of games, go ahead and do it! The package pricing available to members is a great deal, games as cheap as $2.00 each are available if you buy a large enough package. If you aren't yet a member we have our fast track membership package $150 gets you 50 games and we will throw in the boot camp entry fees. If you just don't want to carry the cash we can take a check for the very large packages, and we will likely have credit card processing by the end of this month anyway (fingers crossed!).
4. This one is huge.... bring friends. Many of the players that are hanging out here never knew about the pods until a friend brought them here.
Thanks to everybody who has already put a lot of time and energy into this. It has been a lot of fun getting people back in the pods after all these years.
--ugh
Post by uglyman on Mar 1st, 2010, 5:41pm
Ok, its been a while, so I thought I would make some time to post. I wrote half of one the other day and then we got really busy here and eventually I forgot about that tab and closed my browser.
Things are getting busier all the time here. We still might have the occasional slow day, but we have the occasional above average day too. We boot camped around 50 people in the last month. All of the boot camps have gone pretty smoothly I think. We have some new members now. To name just a few: Soto, Justice, TheJaxx, Krhonos, there are a bunch of other people really close now.
Feb sales were better than January, easily covering March expenses, and knocked a couple of nagging things off the todo list leftover from opening this place. Not bad for our second official month of business, and the shortest month of the year. Now that the probowl/superbowl/valentine's day/olympics... (admit it, you have all been watching a lot of TV lately) are over I think we will see some people we haven't seen in a while.
Our ad went out in hometown values magazine, and we saw some new faces because of that. We even sold a party because of it.
I still insist on doing all of this without putting anything on credit, that slows us down on some of the projects around here, but puts us on a stronger financial foundation. I can continue to work long hours as long as it takes to make sure we have pods in Seattle for years to come. I am getting closer to pulling the trigger on the phone/internet/credit card processing problem, which had to be shelved for about 10 reasons too uninteresting to type.
I was sick last week with a sinus infection, I didn't miss work but I may have been a little grumpier than usual. As soon as I had any sign of it, I got on some antibiotics I have never heard of, which are working great but leave me a little lightheaded. These illnesses tend to be a big deal for me due to my allergies to all the standard antibiotics, and my skull's apparent design flaws.
Friday was our best day yet, no special event, but we had a good crowd here playing. It was extra fun due to a visit from a Denver pilot. He arrived known as Harborbomber, but due to his ill-fated name challenge he will be known as KelticPrincess for the next 30 days... perhaps longer knowing those guys in Denver...
We are working on selling some corporate events which will likely shut us down for an odd day here and there. I would like to ask that everybody makes it a habit to check the calendar on the website before heading out. These days will be rare, but I hate to turn anyone away. I will make every effort I can to get the word out on myspace, facebook and twitter as well when I finalize any dates.
continues below:
Title: Re: what is uglyman up to?
Post by uglyman on Mar 1st, 2010, 5:42pm
Continued from above:
Please also keep us in mind for any kind of events you can send our way. If you need more space the comedy club is available next door with a lot of added food and drink options. If you know anybody with kids on a sports team, please let them know we can have their end of season parties here. We can order in pizza, or you can bring in any type of food you like, and get all of the kids some game time in the pods. We have had some great kids birthday parties here, and a few office events.
People always ask me what they can do to help, and they always think in terms of technical stuff, usually citing some particular problem which is likely on hold until we can afford replacement parts. This month is likely to be a very expensive month for us, Washington state will get its filthy paws on its insane "use tax" a one time tax that applies to the pod purchase made out of state. Anybody who has poked around the forums here much has probably heard rumors of new software to be released for Tesla II soon. This will be another substantial expense. Don't get me wrong, it is nothing we aren't prepared for, but a little bit of help from the players will go a looooong way this month.
So here are some things you can do to help.
1. we are currently out of fliers, but soon we will get more. Some of the best advertising we have had was people hanging these in the breakroom at work, or at a game store they know... anything like this is really appreciated.
2. Just come down here and play! Seriously, it is always better to have a few extra bodies around, it helps us pull in more of the comedy clubbers that are headed next door, and every dollar spent here makes it more likely we can keep the pods in Seattle. If you have read much in the other subforums you have probably seen the news that RedPlanet is likely to return to the pods at some point in the near future. There will be substantial cost for this, so if you want RP, please support Firestorm for the time being!
3. If you are thinking of purchasing a large package of games, go ahead and do it! The package pricing available to members is a great deal, games as cheap as $2.00 each are available if you buy a large enough package. If you aren't yet a member we have our fast track membership package $150 gets you 50 games and we will throw in the boot camp entry fees. If you just don't want to carry the cash we can take a check for the very large packages, and we will likely have credit card processing by the end of this month anyway (fingers crossed!).
4. This one is huge.... bring friends. Many of the players that are hanging out here never knew about the pods until a friend brought them here.
Thanks to everybody who has already put a lot of time and energy into this. It has been a lot of fun getting people back in the pods after all these years.
--ugh
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