Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

1 hour ago, nurmix said:

 

I wasn’t involved in putting together the Skiing pictures for the email, but I believe our amazing art director (Mike Dietz - interview coming soon to The Intellivisionaries Podcast!) cropped the original Skiing images to fit the layout (and gave them a slight skewed angle), but didn’t alter the aspect ratio, as Mr Me observed in his follow up post.

He’s very cognizant of things like this, in fact I’d call him a perfectionist. That said, I will ask him today and see what he says. If it is in fact stretched, I’ll give him a hard time about it.




•Sent from my Intellivision keypad phone

 

It's not stretched.  I was the one who gave him the image. 

32 minutes ago, PlaysWithWolves said:

I thought about posting that I installed the Amico AR ap and Moon Patrol was awesome, but not even I could be so cruel. 😄

HAHAHHAA!!! 

 

2 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Hahahha!

 

btw.... did you read our press release?  Did you like my "no news is good news" reference?  I was literally thinking about you when I was writing that into the release.  Thought to myself... Flojomojo is gonna love this! 

 

 

But no one reads press releases, remember? Haha. Wonder if Pat and the long haired dude ‘won’t read’ this one too...

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

It's not stretched.  I was the one who gave him the image. 

OK, so Mike is in the clear!

Just for the record, when Tommy and I play the original Intellivision at his house - on his very large widescreen TV - we're in 4:3 mode.

22 minutes ago, Lathe26 said:

As a former iPhone app developer... Apple is known to hold up app releases for weeks sometimes.  Sometimes there are "reasons" and other times not.  Best you can do is go back and forth until things are worked out.  I could name all the hassles I've seen but that would be off-topic of the Amico.

 

It doesn't help that you live in fear of angering Apple, resulting in your company getting kicked out.  Honestly, the arbitrary rulings combined with fear is like being in an semi-abusive relationship.

What's most annoying is that they tell you to fix something... then you do... then they reject it again for something else... so you fix that... then they reject it again for something else... and it goes back and forth and back and forth.

If they just gave us a list at the beginning of ALL the things we needed to do in order to please the iPhone gods... it would make the entire process easier for BOTH sides!

 

1 minute ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

What's most annoying is that they tell you to fix something... then you do... then they reject it again for something else... so you fix that... then they reject it again for something else... and it goes back and forth and back and forth.

If they just gave us a list at the beginning of ALL the things we needed to do in order to please the iPhone gods... it would make the entire process easier for BOTH sides!

 

I had a game knocked back for not having a pause menu. I’m not even kidding. It was an old school retro game. I DIDN’T WANT A PAUSE MENU.

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What's most annoying is that they tell you to fix something... then you do... then they reject it again for something else... so you fix that... then they reject it again for something else... and it goes back and forth and back and forth.

I used to have a girlfriend like that. I couldn't take it any longer, so she left me.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Issues with Apple (don't get me started)...

 

52 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

What's most annoying is that they tell you to fix something... then you do... then they reject it again for something else... so you fix that... then they reject it again for something else... and it goes back and forth and back and forth.

If they just gave us a list at the beginning of ALL the things we needed to do in order to please the iPhone gods... it would make the entire process easier for BOTH sides!

 

In the end, we will probably know the whole story !    lol

22 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

What's most annoying is that they tell you to fix something... then you do... then they reject it again for something else... so you fix that... then they reject it again for something else... and it goes back and forth and back and forth.

If they just gave us a list at the beginning of ALL the things we needed to do in order to please the iPhone gods... it would make the entire process easier for BOTH sides!

 

That's my life everyday at work being a Design Engineer.  Thank God I get paid by the hour! 😀

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I'm trying not to anger folks who have Apple's.  So trying to wait and release them together.  Don't want to keep doing multiple e-mail blasts, etc.
But if Apple doesn't come through by the end of the week... I'll release Google.

 

I would have more respect for the Apple app QA process if I didn't suspect it has a lot more to do with making sure apps don't complete with Apple's self interests than than the quality of the apps - and I am the father of a multi iPhone & Mac family.

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

If they just gave us a list at the beginning of ALL the things we needed to do in order to please the iPhone gods... it would make the entire process easier for BOTH sides!

https://developer.apple.com/app-store/review/guidelines/

You didn't make a fart app, did you?

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• 4.3 Spam

  Don’t create multiple Bundle IDs of the same app. If your app has different versions for specific locations, sports teams, universities, etc., consider submitting a single app and provide the variations using in-app purchase. Also avoid piling on to a category that is already saturated; the App Store has enough fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra apps, etc. already. Spamming the store may lead to your removal from the Developer Program.

34 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

I would have more respect for the Apple app QA process if I didn't suspect it has a lot more to do with making sure apps don't complete with Apple's self interests than than the quality of the apps - and I am the father of a multi iPhone & Mac family.

I can't say I disagree with you, Grudge.  We're a Windows PC / iPhone / iPad family (and I work on both Macs and PCs in my business).  There are many things I dislike about both, but I tend to be much more annoyed by things Apple does than Microsoft - personally and in my business with my clients.

18 minutes ago, nurmix said:

I can't say I disagree with you, Grudge.  We're a Windows PC / iPhone / iPad family (and I work on both Macs and PCs in my business).  There are many things I dislike about both, but I tend to be much more annoyed by things Apple does than Microsoft - personally and in my business with my clients.

 

"There's nothing nice about Steve Jobs and there's nothing evil about Bill Gates" - Chuck Peddle, designer of the 6502.

28 minutes ago, nurmix said:

I can't say I disagree with you, Grudge.  We're a Windows PC / iPhone / iPad family (and I work on both Macs and PCs in my business).  There are many things I dislike about both, but I tend to be much more annoyed by things Apple does than Microsoft - personally and in my business with my clients.

6 minutes ago, MantaNZ said:

"There's nothing nice about Steve Jobs and there's nothing evil about Bill Gates" - Chuck Peddle, designer of the 6502.

Yes and Yes - of course I have got some Vista/Windows 8/Windows 10/Office 365 horror stories to tell - so I am not much of a fan of either of these two companies. I am going with "equally evil" ;). That being said still like the iPads (best current value Apple product I think) and Microsoft makes good peripherals & SQL Server is traditionally rock solid - so not all bad. But anyway, back to the Amico...

1 hour ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

What's most annoying is that they tell you to fix something... then you do... then they reject it again for something else... so you fix that... then they reject it again for something else... and it goes back and forth and back and forth.

If they just gave us a list at the beginning of ALL the things we needed to do in order to please the iPhone gods... it would make the entire process easier for BOTH sides!

I've had to deal with similar problems in various process like that for a long, long time.  And when I see junior engineers overlook that in their code they usually end up getting a little irritated with me.

A few years back we also had some major hurdles with App Store / iOS apps at $DAY_JOB.  We eventually abandoned some super cool stuff because of rules. I suspect the rejection process has a huge degree of automation that just bails on the first rule violation simply because it can't decide if subsequent errors are due to the first one. EDIT: And that right there, is why I irritate some people about error handling. Let the person doing their job decide if they're related.  Doing that well is really tough.

7 hours ago, mr_me said:

They don't have to implement the wrong aspect ratio if they don't want to but I wouldn't be surprised if you're correct.  You can compare with any decent emulation project on other modern systems.

 

Edit: Looking at it again the aspect ratio of the lower screen shot might be correct, looks like it's just cropped to a wider aspect ratio.

From the man himself (Intellivision Entertainment's Art Director):
 

2 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I know right!!  

It used to be a 24 hour process... but now it's a week.  We knew that going in, but it's Apple who is giving us issues.  We'll work through it.  No worries.

 

 

if they keep giving you problems you may as well put the apk file on the Amico website and we can download it there

"•Sent from my Intellivision keypad phone"

And what do we have here?  🤔😄😄

1 hour ago, nurmix said:

 (and I work on both Macs and PCs in my business). 

ooh, good to know .. I'll have some business coming your way soon!

Hey Tommy, I know your hands are kinda full with Amico, but any chance of an Intellivision mini in future?  I have the NES, SNES, C64, PS and Mega Drive minis and the PC Engine on pre-order. I love them. Haha.

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

I don't know anything about that... but I can tell you that the folks over there (and I'm dealing with the CEO and main programmers/artists) are super cool and super passionate about Amico.  The game they are working on is kicking major ass.  They are doing Missile Command for us and it's coming out really great.  I'm sorry that folks had a negative experience on Kickstarter.  They were the original developers of Carmageddon so it makes sense that they did a Kickstarter.  Kickstarter is a tricky thing for folks sometimes.  Lots of good people have all the right intentions... but the final execution doesn't always satisfy. 

In my experience they have been working really heard and giving us amazing results and really going the extra mile to make the game the best it can possibly be.  We really love playing it.  Especially with 8 players at once! 

Just wanted to give my personal perspective on what I know about them.

 

 

No, I've backed literally hundreds of projects and this was one of the few times where it was clear that they intentionally screwed their backers.  Literally years without updates and a total failure to respond to e-mails and messages asking for updates.  Then, for $150 all the backers got was some magnets and air fresheners instead of the boxed copy they were promised.  Really, really terrible and not something that people who have all the right intentions would do.  Pretty disappointing that this is the caliber of developers that Amico is actively courting. 

1 hour ago, bojay1997 said:

No, I've backed literally hundreds of projects and this was one of the few times where it was clear that they intentionally screwed their backers.  Literally years without updates and a total failure to respond to e-mails and messages asking for updates.  Then, for $150 all the backers got was some magnets and air fresheners instead of the boxed copy they were promised.  Really, really terrible and not something that people who have all the right intentions would do.  Pretty disappointing that this is the caliber of developers that Amico is actively courting. 

Was the game released physically at all? 

I keep checking the App Store for the Moon Patrol demo, but then I wondered, is there any chance the IntelliSound app will reappear? I loved fooling around with that app, and having the Intellivision keypad on my phone’s screen was cool. Any chance of that happening?

1 hour ago, MantaNZ said:

Was the game released physically at all? 

Yes, the game was released physically in Europe and the United States and they couldn't have even been bothered to ship one of those copies to backers.  Instead, two years after said retail release and seven years after the campaign ended after almost two full years of no communication, a random cardboard box showed up with cheap magnets and air fresheners with a photocopied letter saying that unfortunately that would be all they are delivering to backers.  No explanation, no apology, just here's what you get, too bad.  I mean, I would have understood if they had had the common courtesy of some other campaigns I had backed where the project creator apologized and provided an explanation for why they couldn't deliver, but this was literally the rudest and least appropriate thing I have ever received from a campaign, especially from a company that apparently still exists and is now planning to release games on the Amico.    

10 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Kinda funny huh! 

 

Just an idea for now... might be a little too morbid for family gaming... but we'll focus test it towards the end of the project. 

 

I got a charge from it. . .it was a feature in Oregon Trail, though, and the latest version of that game was E(10+).😃