Intellivision Amico - Tommy Tallarico introduction + Q&A

3 hours ago, MrBeefy said:

I haven't had a chance to play Intv homebrews but if they are anything close to the 2600 and 7800 ones  that I have it would be really cool to see something like that! There is a lot of talent here at AtariAge!

 

Speaking of AtariAge, Tommy have you thought about becoming a subscriber? With the recent success of the FE preorder and a lot of hype coming from these forums it could be a nice gesture towards Al who keeps this forum going. I do really feel like the fun spirit of retro gaming (and in Amico's case new gaming!) continues to be alive here!

 

Anyone wanting to subscribe can scroll down and it will be under 'Forum'/Subscription.

 

 

Yeah... for sure.  Thanks for reminding me.  I just signed up for the maximum package.

My initial concern was that if I sponsored or became a subscriber that folks would somehow connect me paying money to being "protected".   So I didn't want to put that weight on the mods or Albert and give certain folks something else to create a conspiracy theory from.

Now that the controversy seems to be over (thanks to Jaybird and you helping to define the rules to certain folks in "other" threads) your Taco friends seemed to have moved on and things are better than ever.

So.. uh... when do I get my cool decoder ring?

16 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah... for sure.  Thanks for reminding me.  I just signed up for the maximum package.

 

My initial concern was that if I sponsored or became a subscriber that folks would somehow connect me paying money to being "protected".   So I didn't want to put that weight on the mods or Albert and give certain folks something else to create a conspiracy theory from.

Now that the controversy seems to be over (thanks to Jaybird and you helping to define the rules to certain folks in "other" threads) your Taco friends seemed to have moved on and things are better than ever.

 

So.. uh... when do I get my cool decoder ring?

 

 

I’ll trade you mine straight up for FE serial #1. I’ll even throw in a Digiplay Poker. 😂

37 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

if they were willing to only make around $1 - $1.50 for each game

I think they will be, since it's probably more than what they make with $40 physical editions as far as I know... ^^ That being said, a lot of homebrew games are ports, which may be a problem in terms of licencing.

34 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

The key there is "according to Chinese officials".  My folks on the ground who are trapped in Wuhan are telling a very different story... and they really have no reason to stir drama.

We have a few cases in France and I think only an elderly Chinese was in a serious condition. So the "low fatality rate" is confirmed by French officials as well, but it may be of course harder to treat people when they are too many, which is the case in China.

12 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Most of you may only know me from Intellivision... or from some of my soundtracks in the past.

If interested, here's a little look at my "weekend" job I do about once a month now (it used to be once a week!).

I typically play to anywhere from 2,000 - 5,000 people a night.  It's going to be a GREAT way to promote Amico all over the world as I play the trailer at the beginning of the show and at the end of the 20 minute intermission (right before Act II starts) and, I talk about it on stage towards the end of the show... about bringing people together, etc.

 

 

 

 

Dude, if you don't do a show in New Zealand we can't be friends anymore

1 hour ago, MantaNZ said:

Dude, if you don't do a show in New Zealand we can't be friends anymore

I've played Wellington!  But yes.. would LOVE to go back to NZ!

He was invited to get put in his place. But if he actually "talks" at all, that would be incredibly civil.

I'm already laughing.

4 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah!  Totally!  I could see us doing Homebrews for sure.  I think it shows the passion and love for the original system which is important for us to communicate.

 

The issue would be to keep the pricing low... which may be upsetting to the homebrew folks as they typically need to charge a LOT of money ($40 - $80) because of having to do physical carts and development costs due to only a few hundred units sold.  So if they were willing to only make around $1 - $1.50 for each game (that would include taking our cut as well as I could see us selling them for around $2 or $3 each) then I wouldn't have a problem.  But if they were looking to sell them at $9.99 and keeping most of it... it wouldn't make sense for us.  They would need to look at is as "free money" basically.  Especially if we have millions of units out there.  I would think they would make a lot more money at a cheaper price point then they would selling them as physical carts to the homebrew community.

Are there any homebrewers in here?  If so... would like to know your thoughts. 

That’s true, and a good point you make there. Price point would be everything with homebrews. Hoping it can still happen somehow!

Hey Tommy, have you ever finished or at least played a lot one of the games where you put the soundtrack? Can you name a few?

1 hour ago, 1001lives said:

 

He was invited to get put in his place. But if he actually "talks" at all, that would be incredibly civil.

 

I'm already laughing.

Why would he want the community of Reddit to know he is talking to me?  A very "attention whore" thing to do.

And I should know!

I hope he tries to keep it civil.  I don't mind giving folks facts/data or my opinion if they are respectful (which so far he has yet to show me).  The points he made against the system are based on not comprehending what I said in interviews.  So hopefully he'll be in the mood to listen to reason as opposed to his yet to be informed conclusions.

24 minutes ago, IntelliMission said:

Hey Tommy, have you ever finished or at least played a lot one of the games where you put the soundtrack? Can you name a few?

Yep!  Every one!  I had to in order to feel how the sounds and music from level to level sounded and transitioned.  Although a lot of times I would use cheat codes... but just based on the time we had to complete the game making.

12 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Why would he want the community of Reddit to know he is talking to me?  A very "attention whore" thing to do.

And I should know!

 

 

I hope he tries to keep it civil.  I don't mind giving folks facts/data or my opinion if they are respectful (which so far he has yet to show me).  The points he made against the system are based on not comprehending what I said in interviews.  So hopefully he'll be in the mood to listen to reason as opposed to his yet to be informed conclusions.

 

 

 

 

To be fair to him, some people have issues processing contextual clues in interviews. Perhaps written in plain language he can comprehend it better. But you were 100% correct in not granting him any of your time outside this forum.

Also, even for Vara it took you six or seven attempts to get her to understand why mature rated games are not for this platform and why it isn't censorship. I believe she still came away with the idea you are censoring developers. Some people just have trouble with stuff they believe they are right about no matter what and won't listen to spoken word.

Edit: I feel bad for saying "to be fair to him..." but I mean to be fair to people LIKE him... I guess.

7 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah!  Totally!  I could see us doing Homebrews for sure.  I think it shows the passion and love for the original system which is important for us to communicate.

 

The issue would be to keep the pricing low... which may be upsetting to the homebrew folks as they typically need to charge a LOT of money ($40 - $80) because of having to do physical carts and development costs due to only a few hundred units sold.  So if they were willing to only make around $1 - $1.50 for each game (that would include taking our cut as well as I could see us selling them for around $2 or $3 each) then I wouldn't have a problem.  But if they were looking to sell them at $9.99 and keeping most of it... it wouldn't make sense for us.  They would need to look at is as "free money" basically.  Especially if we have millions of units out there.  I would think they would make a lot more money at a cheaper price point then they would selling them as physical carts to the homebrew community.

Are there any homebrewers in here?  If so... would like to know your thoughts. 
 

 

 

 

Given the cost of materials (box/manual/cart/PCB) and more importantly the time spent programming, we definitely aren't in it for the money. The $2 to $3 each would be reasonable to me, although a lot of homebrew releases are unofficial ports of games for the arcade or other consoles and would never be allowed into your store. There are some officially licenced ports from Elektronite that might need a re-licence and a few truly original games like Christmas Carol, Princess Quest, and Sydney Hunter & The Sacred Tribe.

Thanks everyone for the answers, and I never knew I could search a thread so thanks for the heads up on that too

15 hours ago, Nolagamer said:

Yes and all games will have single and multiplayer anywhere from 2 to 8 players couch co op

15 hours ago, Alpha82 said:

Yes I know that are updating baseball and hockey and probably others will come and If I remember correctly Bi-Planes is getting its own game and they have a tank game thst is a combo of the tank game and another game 

14 hours ago, mr_me said:

You can see on their website that every amico game will have one-player and local multi-player modes.  You can search this topic for any title you're interested in.

 

Just popping in to say hello and let everyone know my registration went through. I shall return after my day job concludes but I look forward to chatting will everyone and getting some questions answered. 

A cool video from a non gamer, not a retro fan either (the channel is actually about Captain Marvel).

Actually has a lot of good points to say about what went missing with the end of face to face gaming.

Well worth a watch/listen.

36 minutes ago, GrudgeQ said:

A cool video from a non gamer, not a retro fan either (the channel is actually about Captain Marvel).

Actually has a lot of good points to say about what went missing with the end of face to face gaming.

Well worth a watch/listen.

 

 

Very cool find thanks for sharing 

4 hours ago, Tarzilla said:

Given the cost of materials (box/manual/cart/PCB) and more importantly the time spent programming, we definitely aren't in it for the money. The $2 to $3 each would be reasonable to me, although a lot of homebrew releases are unofficial ports of games for the arcade or other consoles and would never be allowed into your store. There are some officially licenced ports from Elektronite that might need a re-licence and a few truly original games like Christmas Carol, Princess Quest, and Sydney Hunter & The Sacred Tribe.

Yeah... I like that Sydney Hunter game... haven't tried Princess Quest yet... is it good?  I have Christmas Carol... would be a cool holiday title.

3 hours ago, jcalder8 said:

Thanks everyone for the answers, and I never knew I could search a thread so thanks for the heads up on that too

 

 

 

Welcome!!  Nice to see new folks in here.  Please feel free to ask me anything that you don't find in the search.

Thanks for stopping by!

3 hours ago, Tonytgd said:

Just popping in to say hello and let everyone know my registration went through. I shall return after my day job concludes but I look forward to chatting will everyone and getting some questions answered. 

Sounds good.  Keep it respectful with us and we'll do that same.

Thanks.

14 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah... I like that Sydney Hunter game... haven't tried Princess Quest yet... is it good?  I have Christmas Carol... would be a cool holiday title.

 

 

Princess Quest is an earlier and fun "Ghost and Goblins"-type game by the very prolific nanochess (who also did programmed Sydney Hunter,) it even has boss battles. @cmart604probably has 30 copies in his dungeon if you need one

15 minutes ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Sounds good.  Keep it respectful with us and we'll do that same.

 

Thanks.

 

 

I'm all for original  homebrew getting some love , but I do have a question about those releases as well as original intellivision packs.... will they be subject to the 1 game every 10 to 14 days or eventually weekly rule....or will those since they will be very very niche be it's on category of releases.  

I know you also mentioned  allowing users to create games and what not but that won't be til later 2021 prob.

But what about game modding.....not to the extent of pc modding....

 But what if some or  all games got the mario maker treatment. ?

It would sort of be dlc.  But not paid and  user made....I'm sure  guidelines would need to be set and an approval process to be uploaded. to keep things  family friendly.

Could offer an option for offline sharing between friends as well for user created content . 

13 hours ago, Tommy Tallarico said:

Yeah!  Totally!  I could see us doing Homebrews for sure.  I think it shows the passion and love for the original system which is important for us to communicate.

 

The issue would be to keep the pricing low... which may be upsetting to the homebrew folks as they typically need to charge a LOT of money ($40 - $80) because of having to do physical carts and development costs due to only a few hundred units sold.  So if they were willing to only make around $1 - $1.50 for each game (that would include taking our cut as well as I could see us selling them for around $2 or $3 each) then I wouldn't have a problem.  But if they were looking to sell them at $9.99 and keeping most of it... it wouldn't make sense for us.  They would need to look at is as "free money" basically.  Especially if we have millions of units out there.  I would think they would make a lot more money at a cheaper price point then they would selling them as physical carts to the homebrew community.

Are there any homebrewers in here?  If so... would like to know your thoughts. 
 

 

 

 

Sounds interesting, but I think this pricing could be adjusted for the more elaborate homebrews (like say, Princess Quest or Sydney Hunter). I could see something like those sell pretty easily at $5!

Meanwhile, you'd avoid the problem Nintendo's Virtual Console presented, where massive, late-release titles like SMB 3 were priced exactly the same as friggin' Ice Climber.

5 hours ago, Tarzilla said:

Given the cost of materials (box/manual/cart/PCB) and more importantly the time spent programming, we definitely aren't in it for the money. The $2 to $3 each would be reasonable to me, although a lot of homebrew releases are unofficial ports of games for the arcade or other consoles and would never be allowed into your store. There are some officially licenced ports from Elektronite that might need a re-licence and a few truly original games like Christmas Carol, Princess Quest, and Sydney Hunter & The Sacred Tribe.

Don't forget the Intellivision games made by Kai Magazine.

2 hours ago, GrudgeQ said:

A cool video from a non gamer, not a retro fan either (the channel is actually about Captain Marvel).

Actually has a lot of good points to say about what went missing with the end of face to face gaming.

Well worth a watch/listen.

 

 

That was super cool!  Thanks for sharing.  Hadn't seen that one yet.

More ammo and proof for those who think we only appeal to a small handful of original Intellivision fans.

59 minutes ago, Tarzilla said:

Princess Quest is an earlier and fun "Ghost and Goblins"-type game by the very prolific nanochess (who also did programmed Sydney Hunter,) it even has boss battles. @cmart604probably has 30 copies in his dungeon if you need one

 

Oh wow!  Looks GREAT!  I'm not sure how this one slipped by me!!  Will need to put it into my Ebay want list!